Mets Not Seriously Considering Sending Mejia Down

After a 20-inning performance on Saturday night it was clear the Mets were going to need to call in some support after the night where they used every reliever and Mike Pelfrey to finish off the Cardinals.

The Mets ended up designating first baseman Mike Jacobs for assignment to make room on the roster for Tobi Stoner, who was called up to provide support. They could have chosen to send Jenrry Mejia down instead as the 19-year-old probably needs more minor league seasoning and perhaps could even be sent down to stretch out for a starter role down the road.

Even though it might have been a good idea to at least consider that option, Mets manager Jerry Manuel told the NY Post that was an idea they quickly passed on.

“He has done very well,” Manuel said. “A lot of things are talked about and given some attention, but not given a great amount of attention. [Mejia] is doing very well and getting a great deal of experience.”

Thoughts: For a guy who the organization labels as a future starter with front-end-of-the-rotation-type stuff I don’t see how he is really being helped develop into that role. As part of the Mets bullpen he is pitching sporadically and he is not getting any development as a starter at all.

The longer he stays in the team’s bullpen the less innings he’s going to accumulate. For a guy who has never thrown more than 90 innings in a single season, he’s going to need to put in a full season as a starter before he’s ready to be a permanent member of the team’s rotation. That means if he pitches the full season in the Mets bullpen it realistically won’t be until 2012 until the Mets will really be able to count on him as a member of their rotation.

Even if he pitches successfully all year long in the pen, he’s not likely to get many more than 75 innings this year. At that point it wouldn’t be prudent for him to get much more than 125 innings next year and it probably wouldn’t even be smart to throw him for 200 innings the next year.

When it comes to Mejia and his future, it seems like not even the Mets know what they’re going to do with him.

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