Mejia looking better

[jimbo92107]

Adalberto Mejia (what the heck is his nickname...Bert?) is looking gradually more comfortable on the mound for our favorite baseball team. Watching his performance today, I saw a very well-controlled first inning, then an emotional oscillation in the second inning, and so on. Most importantly, he is clearly getting better at keeping his emotions under control. It's still a struggle, and his teammates should keep telling him, "Make 'em hit a ball at me!" 

 

It will probably be a while before Mejia attains the Zen-like calm of Erv Santana, but Bert looks like he's getting over his early nerves. Welcome to the Show, Bert! Guess what - you belong here! 

[Craig Arko]

100% yes.

[Willihammer]

Bert Mejia's got a nice ring to it.

[DocBauer]

He does belong. Stick with him. His future, and the team's future, means living with him and working with him and giving him a real chance.

[Riverbrian]

Encouraging start and we need encouraging starts. 

 

 

 

[Pardon My Dinger]

I'm all for him.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

Maybe he needs a comic strip giving funny jokes about an incompetent GM

 

I call it:

 

Dalbert

 

 

 

 

It is encouraging to see him improve. He was clearly identified by the FO and his progression has solidified the rotation.

 

At least he's the type of guy you want as you fifth starter, rather than the guy you settle on.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

After watching him cover home plate yesterday, I suggest his nickname be "El Gato".

[Darius]

The way I look at it: He (Mejia) and Gibson are so important. They both have the ability. If they can be relatively good the rest of the way, this is a playoff team. If they struggle, it may not be.

 

I'll take Mejia's start yesterday every time. That'll keep the team in the W column often enough.

[DaveW]

Mejia can slot in nicely as the #5 on this squad. We still need a massive upgrade ove Gibson tho

[stringer bell]

I like Mejía. He's a big, young lefty with good stuff. Still, it seems to take a lot of work to get him through even five innings. That is fifth starter territory. Unless we want to see a permanent eight-man bullpen, the Twins need to get more innings out of the back end of the rotation.

[ashbury]

Watching his performance today, I saw a very well-controlled first inning, then an emotional oscillation in the second inning, and so on.

His first inning was 1-2-3. He faced six batters in the second inning. Might a pitcher's composure look a little different when guys are getting on base?

[Don Walcott]

Credit is due to the transition team after Ryan's firing. I liked the move at the time selling high on Nunez. I'll bet the Giants wish they had that one back.

[jimbo92107]

 

His first inning was 1-2-3. He faced six batters in the second inning. Might a pitcher's composure look a little different when guys are getting on base?

Yes, usually that is the case. The exception is pitchers that manage to control themselves despite when things go wrong. That is what separates a veteran like Santana from a rookie like Mejia. Santana's delivery and mechanics do not change, where Mejia still tends to start short-arming and rushing his delivery when there are men on base. Gimenez even came out to the mound to tell him to slow down, get his rhythm back, and so on. 

 

The good news is, Mejia seems to be winning the battle, but just barely. Good example was the 2nd inning yesterday, when Mejia threw a wild pitch that Gimenez was able to slow down. Catcher raced back, pounced on the ball, flipped it to Mejia just in time to catch the runner from 3rd. After that, Mejia settled down. That's why I was saying his teammates have to keep telling him, "Make 'em hit the ball to me! I want it!" Mejia just needs to realize that he doesn't have to be perfect, his teammates will help, and they will also score runs to make up for his mistakes. 

 

Saturday's game was perfect in that respect. Mejia's teammates did exactly what you'd want them to do - kept the team in the game, then later, scored a few runs late to win it. Mejia saw that, and it should help build up his foundation of inner confidence. Mejia threw a lot of pitches, but he gave up only a couple runs. Good outing from the young horse. 

[ashbury]

The emotional oscillation wouldn't explain the leadoff double. I'm still feeling a "the rooster crows and the sun rises" explanation.

[glunn]

 

Credit is due to the transition team after Ryan's firing. I liked the move at the time selling high on Nunez. I'll bet the Giants wish they had that one back.

Nunez leads the Giants in at bats and is hitting ,278, so I might take that bet.

 

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/teams/stats/SF/san-francisco-giants?&_1:col_1=5&_1:col_2=18

 

So far I think that this was a good trade for both teams.

[jimbo92107]

 

The emotional oscillation wouldn't explain the leadoff double. I'm still feeling a "the rooster crows and the sun rises" explanation.

True, there may be no causative connection. The sun rises whether the rooster crows or not. The rooster crows whether the sun rises or not. Of the two, sunrise is more dependable, for sometimes the absence of the rooster's crow signals a change in his status on the 40-man...rooster, where the absence of a sunrise would signal...significant disruptions of the entire baseball season. 

 

You say that an emotional oscillation wouldn't explain the leadoff double, but we can't be sure that Mejia's emotions were under control at the beginning of the inning. Maybe he got too uptight about the idea of getting ahead early, and so threw himself off his game right from the start. In contrast, Santana's zen-like calm seemed to persist all through his start, with only a brief interruption when he inexplicably fixated on a base runner on 2nd, and then threw a wild pitch. For his own part, Mejia did manage to pull himself together at key times, which to me shows progress. Hopefully Mejia will continue to calm down on the mound, and then we'll all have something to crow about. <-- hehe, I did a funny

[ashbury]

You say that an emotional oscillation wouldn't explain the leadoff double, but we can't be sure that Mejia's emotions were under control at the beginning of the inning. ...

 

and then we'll all have something to crow about. <-- hehe, I did a funny

Before, it was about his response when things go wrong, now it's even at the start of the inning. This is a little too much like results-merchanting for me. We're probably in agree-to-disagree territory by now.

 

Your groan-worthy pun was highly appreciated by this incorrigible punster*, however.

 

^{* _{So don't incorrige me}}

[jimbo92107]

 

Before, it was about his response when things go wrong, now it's even at the start of the inning. This is a little too much like results-merchanting for me. We're probably in agree-to-disagree territory by now.

 

Your groan-worthy pun was highly appreciated by this incorrigible punster*, however.

 

^{* _{So don't incorrige me}}

Point to you - I did change the scope of my argument. Still, the pursuit of zen-like calm does seem worthwhile, given what it appears to do for Santana. 

[Don Walcott]

 

Nunez leads the Giants in at bats and is hitting ,278, so I might take that bet.

 

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/teams/stats/SF/san-francisco-giants?&_1:col_1=5&_1:col_2=18

 

So far I think that this was a good trade for both teams.

 

You may be right.  He did help them last year with a .744 OPS, playing pretty well at 3b, and he's very good at stealing bases and running the bases generally (helmet on or off).  And they did barely make the playoffs so that they could win the Wild Card game and then get trounced by the Cubs.  However, as good as that would sound to us, that's actually not success as defined in San Francisco, especially in even numbered years.

 

And now, Nunez is a 29-year-old utility infielder who is sticking at 3B for the Giants for lack of other options.  His .675 OPS is 20th among 3Bs.  The Giants are 11 games out of first already, and 9 games out of a wild card position, both of which belong right now to other NL West teams.  They have a handful of aging players who are definitely trade bait this season, as they have very little chance of catching up with Col, LA and Az in the next month or so.  So they'll be looking to rebuild, and Nunez isn't particularly helpful in that process for them.  I think they'd trade him back for Mejia in a heartbeat, and the Twins would laugh at that offer.

[DocBauer]

Generally, I like what I've seen from him. He's got decent stuff and a sturdy build that should allow him to throw a lot of pitches/IP. Greater consistency and economy of his pitches is the key, but that comes with time and experience. He is only 24, a rookie, and has less than 100IP at AAA between last season and this season. I think you could fairly state he's been promoted aggressively.

 

But he's not just important for a team short on SO options this season. He's important for 2018 and beyond. There could be some growing pains here and there, and I hope the Twins be patient with him and stick with him.

 

Despite such a good, fun and successful season thus far, I think it could be argued this team is still building for 2018 and beyond.

[diehardtwinsfan]

I think we need him to gut through 5... He's a rookie, and while he has decent stuff, he doesn't have killer stuff.... that means we are probably going to sit through some clunkers from time to time, but my expectation would be that he's getting better as the season progresses.  I'm fine with that for 2017 and Mejia.  That takes away one question mark for 2018...

 

Now Gibson...  man... no words.

[bighat]

At this point the Twins can't be as patient with him as they'd like, because right now he may very well be the 3rd best starter on this team.   Santana, Berrios, and Mejia - that's my top 3 without question right now as far as starters go.  Believe it or not, I'm praying Hughes gets healthy pronto because we need him too.  We got pitching problems, folks!

[LaBombo]

The discussion of whether/when Mejia will become a major league starter and what his ceiling might be reminds me a little of the debate about Deduno, and the ongoing candlelight vigil for his Twins career that lasted right up until the moment he was claimed from waivers, made three starts for the Astros, and then vanished from the majors. 

 

No, they're not terribly similar pitchers, and Mejia is much younger than Deduno was when the Twins go hold of him.  But like Deduno, Mejia is more promise than pitching at the moment. and the Twins have been largely dreadful at converting the former to the latter as of late.  Any projection of Mejia's ceiling beyond a Tommy Milone-type pitcher at this moment is strictly a product of his youth.

[John Kelsey]

Another good start from him last night, he's looking like a solid rotation piece. 

[nicksaviking]

 

The discussion of whether/when Mejia will become a major league starter and what his ceiling might be reminds me a little of the debate about Deduno, and the ongoing candlelight vigil for his Twins career that lasted right up until the moment he was claimed from waivers, made three starts for the Astros, and then vanished from the majors. 

 

No, they're not terribly similar pitchers, and Mejia is much younger than Deduno was when the Twins go hold of him.  But like Deduno, Mejia is more promise than pitching at the moment. and the Twins have been largely dreadful at converting the former to the latter as of late.  Any projection of Mejia's ceiling beyond a Tommy Milone-type pitcher at this moment is strictly a product of his youth.

 

I'd think it's quite the opposite. Mejia doesn't have promising nasty stuff that may never translate, what he does have is four pitches and good command. That seems to imply he's more pitcher than promise. He looks to have the makings of an unsexy but quite stable lefty rotation staple for the foreseeable future.

 

[akmanak]

I would not call him an ace just yet. He got bailed out a number of times due to stellar defense.

[FlauerPauer]

 

I'd think it's quite the opposite. Mejia doesn't have promising nasty stuff that may never translate, what he does have is four pitches and good command. That seems to imply he's more pitcher than promise. He looks to have the makings of an unsexy but quite stable lefty rotation staple for the foreseeable future.

 

 

Nothing wrong with him being a #3/4.  Teams need those guys too.  Plus, he's a lefty that throws 93-94.

[bird]

 

You may be right.  He did help them last year with a .744 OPS, playing pretty well at 3b, and he's very good at stealing bases and running the bases generally (helmet on or off).  And they did barely make the playoffs so that they could win the Wild Card game and then get trounced by the Cubs.  However, as good as that would sound to us, that's actually not success as defined in San Francisco, especially in even numbered years.

 

And now, Nunez is a 29-year-old utility infielder who is sticking at 3B for the Giants for lack of other options.  His .675 OPS is 20th among 3Bs.  The Giants are 11 games out of first already, and 9 games out of a wild card position, both of which belong right now to other NL West teams.  They have a handful of aging players who are definitely trade bait this season, as they have very little chance of catching up with Col, LA and Az in the next month or so.  So they'll be looking to rebuild, and Nunez isn't particularly helpful in that process for them.  I think they'd trade him back for Mejia in a heartbeat, and the Twins would laugh at that offer.

 

 

This trade is a perfect example of why I think the FO should always look to trade from surplus for a prospect overpay at the deadline, regardless of the standings. In this day and age of the level playing field caused by allotments and more efficient information-gathering, teams need to try to create a long-term advantage for themselves by finding motivated buyers for their excess merchandize in the way they did with this Nunez/Mejia trade. The Giants knew they were overpaying.

[drivlikejehu]

 

The discussion of whether/when Mejia will become a major league starter and what his ceiling might be reminds me a little of the debate about Deduno, and the ongoing candlelight vigil for his Twins career that lasted right up until the moment he was claimed from waivers, made three starts for the Astros, and then vanished from the majors. 

 

No, they're not terribly similar pitchers, and Mejia is much younger than Deduno was when the Twins go hold of him.  But like Deduno, Mejia is more promise than pitching at the moment. and the Twins have been largely dreadful at converting the former to the latter as of late.  Any projection of Mejia's ceiling beyond a Tommy Milone-type pitcher at this moment is strictly a product of his youth.

 

Mejia is younger and better across the board. No comparison at all to either Deduno or Milone.