What we know: For all the talk about first base, shortstop, and the back of the bullpen, people tend to forget the back end of the rotation. Nowadays, teams need to be six or seven deep in the starting pitching department, due to injuries. The Mets currently have ace Bartolo Colon, Jon Neise, Zack Wheeler, Dillon Gee, and then Jenrry Mejia. Mejia hasn't been healthy for a full season, so why believe this will be the year? With a tremendous upside, Mejia will hopefully win the job out of spring training and hold onto it.
Signings: The Mets have also signed veterans John Lannan, and Dice-K Matsuzaka for insurance purposes. Both will likely begin the season in AAA until there is an injury, or a need for some bullpen help.
From the farm: At some point this season there is going to be a cluster of starting pitching at the major league level. Phenoms Noah Syndergaard and Rafael Montero are major league ready. If history does indeed repeat itself, we should see these two young studs in New York by June/July. My best guess is Bartolo Colon will either be injured or traded to make room for one, if not two, of the Mets' top prospects. As mentioned above, Mejia is not bet to stay healthy either, which could leave room for one of the two.
The verdict: Mejia will win the job out of camp. He just has more talent and promise than his competitors at this point. The Mets' rotation is the least of their worries, and come July, it could possibly be the strongest in the National League East, if not the National League itself.
I'm not 100% sure that we'll see Jenrry Mejia take a starting role when Opening Day roles around, though. I honestly see Dice-K making the squad after finishing the season strong in his last few starts last year. I think that is the reason why Alderson re-signed him: to see if he can carry that strong pitching into 2014. But that's just me. We will see when Spring Training is all said and done.
ReplyDeleteI could see Meija getting hurt again. I think that Dice-K will take the 5th spot coming out of spring training.
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