Will the Mets Soon Make Another Mistake?

The Mets confusion continues, with Cliff Lee now at its core.

Mets upper management seems to believe that Cliff Lee could be the team's savior. Among the players rumored to be involved in a potential trade is Jenrry Mejia, the Mets top prospect. But the Mets wouldn't even have to consider sacrificing top prospects once again if Minaya had done a better job of building a quality rotation.

Imagine if Derek Lowe were a member of this season's rotation. Instead, he's pitching for the Braves. With them, he's 9-5. It's rumored that he's not a member of the Mets because of his age (37) and the contract he wanted (four years, $60 million). Because the Mets didn't sign him, they instead have to go with a starting rotation that includes R. A. Dickey — before you get too excited about him, check his pitching history — and Hisanori Takahashi, who've both won six games. (Each of those two has more wins this season than the Johan Santana, who's admitted his pitching arm hasn't fully recovered from last season's elbow surgery.)

Among the Mets other current "non-starters" are Oliver Perez, whom Minaya signed to a three-year contract (Why?), and John Maine, who might never pitch for the Mets again.

Returning to Lee, he's an excellent pitcher; however, the Mariners will want top prospects for him and then Lee will want a hefty contract. However, don't be surprised if the Mets once again torpedo their minor league ship to bring aboard one player. It's just their way of doing business.

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Two Met Prospects Hitting Well

Though the B-Mets lost, Josh Satin continues to have a hot bat. After going 1 for 4, his average is now .353 in 34 at bats in Double-A. Satin started the season with St. Lucie, hitting .316 for them, including five homers. Surprisingly, Satin, a righty, is hitting right-handed pitchers much better than left-handed ones. Against, righties, he's hitting .407; whereas, against lefties, he's hitting only .143. He's one of the Mets best second base prospects. This is Satin's third season in pro ball.

Manning centerfield for the B-Mets is Sean Ratliff. In yesterday's game, Ratliff, who's hitting .314, batted second. He, too, got a hit in four at bats. A left-handed hitter, he's hitting well from both sides with the B-Mets. Left-handed, he's hitting .313; right-handed, he's hitting .308. Ratliff's in his third pro season. He was drafted in the fourth round of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft.



☛ Jenrry Mejia made his Binghamton debut. He was the first of six pitchers. In 2.1 innings, he yielded two hits, a run, and struck out three.

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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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