Two Draftees Off to Slow Start

☛ In Brooklyn, neither J. B. Brown nor Cory Vaughn, two of the Mets 2010 draft choices, has gotten off to a good start. After three games, Brown is 1 for 10; Vaughn is 1 for 13. Each has three strikeouts. The plus is that it's early in the season. But the reality is that playing baseball in the New York-Penn League is quite different from playing at the college level.

It's unfortunate that the Cyclones don't provide game logs on their website, but that could be because the NY-Penn League doesn't. A game log would allow fans who weren't at a game to see how a hitter did each at bat in a game.

☛ The Mets finally decided to return Jenrry Mejia to the minors, something they should have done earlier. (Why did they wait so long?) He'll be starting for Binghamton. They'll need a replacement for him. Given the lack of Major League-ready pitchers in their farm system, it will be interesting to see whom they'll bring up. They might return John Maine to the roster; however, stuff-wise, he doesn't appear ready.

Here are Manuel's and Minaya's comments on Mejia being sent down:

"We felt that his development and progression kind of leveled off," Manuel said. "It was a tremendous experience for him and he gave us everything he had. But to get him to the next level, he needs to pitch on a regular basis."

Omar Minaya agreed. "We just felt that it was the right time to get him down there and continue his development," he said. "He's done very well here. We see him long-term as a starter." 

☛ In LA, Brian Stokes, whom the Mets traded for Gary Matthews Jr., isn't pitching well. In 16 innings his ERA is 7.31. Maybe the Angels would sell him back to the Mets. In his two seasons with the Mets his ERA was 3.51 and 3.97. That trade was another mistake by Minaya.

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