![[DNEBA Enterprises logo]](images/delogo-button.gif "DNEBA Enterprises logo"){kind=small}
Jenrry Mejia???
Yesterday Cerrone pointed out that Baseball Prospectus’ Kevin Goldstein was confused by the hype surrounding Met pitching prospect Jennry Mejia.
If you’re unfamiliar with the 20-year old fireballer the buzz is he’s expected to be our next untouchable prospect. A future front end rotation guy with 100+mph lighting in his arm.
But according to Goldstein his arm is”a bit of a spectacular mess” - ouch!
Unfortunately I believe the reason there’s so much hype on this kid is because the Met farm system BLOWS!!! (Special shout out to Tony Bernazard and Omar Minaya for that one)
No one loves a prospect more than BMF. But while I’ve heard Mejia is impressive from people who’ve seen him throw in person, I certainly wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he’s become a standout due to a barren system.
The good news is the Mets may be following what I believe is a long standing yankee formula of throwing the prospect PR spin into hyperdrive in an effort to net as much as possible in trades.
There is a long list of over-hyped players the yanks dumped on other franchises only see them fail to develop into anything.
I’m talking about guys like Ricky Ledee, Sterling Hitchcock, Steve Balboni and so on…
Who knows what will become of Jenrry Mejia but at least he’s generating some buzz for us…
***
Meanwhile Brett “Beat Your Wife” Meyers got into it with Cole Hamels in the clubhouse when he said, “You’re still here? I thought you quit.”
Pretty funny stuff but it reinforces the notion that Hamels quotes weren’t so blatantly taken out of context.
Meanwhile if you’re the Phillie’s skipper and you get to a game 7 do you start Hamels or not???
It sure seems like his head and heart aren’t into it but maybe he’d respond to this controversy with the game of his life to win the WS… BMF is hoping we get the chance to find out.
![[Buy the Go Big Pelf T-shirt]](images/BigPelf/BigPelf Tile.jpg "Buy the Go Big Pelf T-shirt")
![[May the Best Man Win movie]](wp-content/themes/bmf/images/bestMan.jpg "May the Best Man Win movie")
Emma takes her Mets VERY seriously!
November 4th, 2009 at 9:17 am
The Mets, too, have a long history of overhyping their prospects. From Tim Leary to Paul Wilson, from Jay Payton to Alex Escobar, from Gregg Jeffries to Kaz Matsui. You have heard, have you not that Jonathan NIese is “the next Jerry Koosman”? Ah, well, all clubs do it, and why not, especially if it nets you more in trades for these potential h.o.f ‘ers. But still, when they don’t get traded, and they come with such hype “Generation K” or every “5-tool” Payton type or “game changer”–I’m talking about you, Roger Cedeno, that it’s painful to watch their struggles. Sometimes they arrive way to early, because the hype is too much. I think the whole reason that the Lastings Milledge fact of the day was so funny was for precisely this reason. Behind all of the bragging about potential lay the likelihood that he too would turn out to be a flop. One of the reasons the Mets are where they are this season is because they believed their own hype about Pelf and Murphy, who may be good players but are not as yet quite what the organization would like them to be. To say nothing of “F-Mart”…………..
November 4th, 2009 at 10:30 am
Jeffries and Wilson were elite prospects. They were can’t miss guys that missed (which is why you don’t get too excited by Single A prospects). All of baseball believed in them. They weren’t a creation of Mets hype.
November 4th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
If the Philthies can get a Game 7 and lose anyway, it will still be a blow to yank fans who honestly they would of had Game 5 in the bag….of course the game itself never really matters to most yankee fans..just all the hype and cheezy memorbilia that they hawk on TV and the radio.
November 4th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Oldtimer: yes, you are right, both Wilson and Jeffries were stud prospects. But it’s also true that both were part of a tremendous hype machine, especially Wilson. The Jeffries saga was fairly pathetic, he had all this minor league success, and came up to the Mets with all this fanfare. They needed to find him a spot so Backman was traded. Then he hit like .250 or something. Despite some success, he wasn’t a flat-out star. He alienated teammates and fans. He had all of these maturity issues, some of which it could reasonably be argued were the result of believing his own hype, that doomed him as a Met.
Wilson’s case is more disturbing. He, along with Pulsipher and Isringhausen were dubbed as the saviors of the franchise and given that moniker of “Generation K” as well as the cover of the yearbook treatment. Pulse was allowed to throw well over 400 inning in his two minor league years, and soon blew out his elbow with the big club. Wilson was signed in the June draft as the number one pick. He’d already thrown 140 + innings with the Seminoles of Florida State and after the signing he threw another 50 with the rookie league and with St. Lucie. I’m looking at an article from the NYT in 94 describing a “drained and clearly frustrated” Wilson, describing a “season that will never end.” More from the article: “the Mets look at his 0-3 record and staff high 4.62 earned run average on their St. Lucie Class A team well aware that he didn’t do markedly better–0-2, 3.00 era–in the gulf coast rookie league and they say these numbers mean absolutely nothing.” All they could see was the hype. So, ready or not, in the spring it was a trip to double A, then to Norfolk, along the way logging close to 200 innings. It was a dominating year for him for K’s, and much excitment was generated. But at the same time there were discussions among scouts of his “faulty mechanics”–I remember that Joe McIlvaine, for example, loved his stuff but worried about what he called his “low arm angle.” Anyway, despite some of these concerns, it was full speed ahead, and like so many before him, it was soon onto the disabled list with first elbow and then shoulder injuries. I remember reading an analysis that suggests that part of the reason for all today’s pitch counts, come from the spectacular failure of the “Generation K” trio.
Ultimately, blue chippers or not, there is little to be gained, other than on the trade market from being overly hyped. It can put a tremendous amount of pressure on youngsters to produce and to do so right away. This can lead to pressing and injury, or loss of confidence , or early alienation from the fans. Or all of the above. Teammates can resent these “can’t-miss” labels and respond: “KNow your place, rook” comes to mind.
So, for me I’d prefer to see the Mets organization step back from the hype and watch their kids develop without all of the pressure. Also, the club sometimes believes their own hype and so, like this year, goes into a season thinking that Murphy is ready to star, Pelfrey will only move forward, and F-Mart will come in to save the day, should we need him. We’ve all seen where that gets them.
November 4th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
What’s funny is that organizations send scouts to watch these guys multiple times if they’re going to trade for them, so hype shouldn’t matter at all, except to the fans. But then again, fooling the fans is what most organizations do best anyway!
November 4th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Funny picture of the Met fan at the Marathon .. I remember him from last year ..
November 4th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
That man was carted off the roadway, around the 18th mile or so. He tore his hamstring; and is now “day-to-day” according to Met doctors.
November 4th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Dr. K: now that’s funny– but at least here, he’s in front of the Yankees.
November 4th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
oh how i long the day for steve balboni. nice memory adam.
November 4th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
I hope Mejia is better than Sid Finch
November 4th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
The Mets can’t overhype any prospects…everybody in baseball knows Omar is a moron and the Mets have no minor league talent. Daniel Murphy, Nick Evans…give me a Fu***ng break
November 5th, 2009 at 12:19 am
Looks like the curse of 2000 will be broken…;(
6 months of garbage spewing jankee fans … Man, this will be hell.
November 5th, 2009 at 1:00 am
May the Curse of 2000 be broken for ALL of NYC.
May the Timo rest in peace.
November 5th, 2009 at 1:35 am
OK BMF,
Let’s see what you have to say today…Maybe the world is coming to an end in 2012 ..let’s hope the Mets win a WS by then.. or maybe the yanks made a pact with the Devil to get this year in beforehand…fore The Evil Empire has Struck Back.