How do you solve a problem like Mejia?

[Centerfield]

I think he is arbitration eligible right? Does that make him a risk for non-tender?

I know it's natural to want to dump the guy, but if he can be anything close to what he was without the roids, that's a very valuable piece to be getting mid-season.

What say yous?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Release his ass. If he resurfaces as a killer closer for some other guy that's the risk you take. No more investment in Mejia -- they'd be better off taking on some other team's problem child at this point.

[Edgy MD]

Wish I could find our bizarre, accidental Sound of Music tribute thread.

Schoeneweis
Schoeneweis
Left-hand pitcher forever!

[Guest d'Kong76]

How do you solve a problem like Mejia?
How do you say out loud get out of town?
How do you find the words to tell Mejia?
A roidertistickit! A bit of a dick! A clown!

Edited November 6, 2015 by Guest

[Ceetar]

Centerfield wrote: I think he is arbitration eligible right? Does that make him a risk for non-tender? I know it's natural to want to dump the guy, but if he can be anything close to what he was without the roids, that's a very valuable piece to be getting mid-season. What say yous?

I don't dump a potentially useful piece just because he was taking the traceable stuff instead of the untraceable stuff.

But you can't rely on him. He's too risky. I'd let him ramp up and work out next summer and if he's useful and getting guys out, use him. And use him hard. I wouldn't treat him like a young talented arm but like a veteran on a 1-year deal. milk him for anything value he's got and be done with it. He's not eligible for the postseason anyway.

[Lefty Specialist]

He gets the Slim Pickens Doctor Strangelove treatment- ejected from a great height strapped to something explosive.



Don't care how good he pitches next year, I want him gone.

[Centerfield]

d'Kong76 wrote: How do you solve a problem like Mejia? How do you say out loud get out of town? How do you find the words to tell Mejia? A roidertistickit! A bit of a dick! A clown!

Applause

[Centerfield]

For the record, I'd keep him around. I think he's allowed to pitch in the minors to prepare right? I'd see if he's got anything as he nears eligibility. If you have a need, try him out. He's down to his last shot before a lifetime ban anyway.

And if you don't want the distraction, or you don't want him in your team, you can trade him. Someone will give something of value for a former closer that throws in the mid-90's.

[MFS62]

He got the saves. He got the strikeouts. But his peripherals (ERA, WHIP) weren't that good.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mejiaje01.shtml
He should have received the Rolaids award if only because he made Mets fans buy the antacid in large quantities.
It seemed (true or not) like every appearance was an adventure.
OTOH, he'd probably be a suitable seventh or eighth inning reliever. And his arbitration price will (I'm guessing) comparable to what Sandy would have to pay to replace him.
So, if they resign him, OK.
If they don't resign him, OK.
Chalk me up as a definite maybe.

Later

[Centerfield]

Lifetime ban. Gone.

Idiot.

[Frayed Knot]

Even those of us who don't have addictive personalities or problems can understand when those with drug and alcohol addictions leave burned bridges in their path due to making bad decisions.
But steroids aren't addictive (at least not in the same way) so it's almost incomprehensible that someone facing a loss of a $2.5 mi/yr job can't stay away following repeated warnings.

[Zvon]

Centerfield wrote: Lifetime ban. Gone. Idiot.

Ugh. Exactly. How stupid can one person be? And the Mets were set to give him another chance. What a fool.

[Frayed Knot]

Mejia claiming an MLB-led conspiracy is what led to his ban from the sport and that the Player's Union didn't properly back him up.

Specifically, in an interview on Thursday, he says that only in his first flunked test was he guilty. Then after #2 (last summer), which he claims somehow turned out inaccurate, MLB threatened him with the idea that if he challenged the results of that test they would "find a way to find a third positive”.

And while I don't buy into the notion that MLB is pure and above board on everything, none of this comes even close to ringing true to my ears.
- MLB has nothing to gain by black-balling a reliever with all of one full season under his belt and there's nothing in his past (that I've heard of anyway) that would make baseball want him out of their sport
- nor is there any obvious reason why the union would be in on this. Yeah they may be less antagonistic towards the owners these days and less strident in protecting drug cheats compared to how things were a decade or so back, but that hardly makes them a bunch of passive lap dogs ready to throw one of their own over so as to gain favor.
- and while the book I read on the BioGenesis scandal a year or two back detailed a willingness on MLB's part to go to great lengths to find what they wanted, it didn't extend to making up crimes where none existed. An analogy might be more that they sometimes acted along the lines of cops obtaining evidence that they knew to be true via quasi-legal tactics, but not as ones given to planting false evidence on otherwise innocent suspects.

[Ceetar]

I mean, I could see baseball wanting to make an example of him. I could see the Players Union not particularly caring. I could see how they both feel seeming harsh on drugs. What's the term for exposing a small bit of crime so the biggest deeds go unnoticed? Catch a few sloppy drug cheats and you don't have to get super worried about all the drugs you don't forbid or the guys that are using real masking agents or nothing such things. Kind of like how going above and beyond to hunt down one of the best ever and suspend him for a year makes you look tough? Having someone actually banned from the game seemingly reinforces their threats to keep the game clean.

Is it completely absurd that Mejia's blood still could test positive from the first time? I don't particularly think Mejia's got much of a case, but it absolutely wouldn't surprise me that someone within MLB threatened him either.

[MFS62]

The only reason that both MLB and the Union would do this (tell him that if he disputed the first claim they would find a third positive) is that the process is broken, and neither party wants to admit it. After all, they were under pressure from Congress and the public to put something in place. They did. And if it doesn't work or gives inaccurate results, there will be a lot of red faces.
I'm not big into conspiracy theories, but given the parties involved (and don't forget to include the networks who stand to lose money too if the game goes out of favor) I can easily be convinced there is one here. Mejia just happened to be the unlucky victim. We all seem to agree that nobody can be THAT stupid.

Later

[ashie62]

To Mejia I would say "where there is smoke there is fire."

[dinosaur jesus]

So either he's extremely stupid or there's a big conspiracy with him as the target. Those are the basic options, right? It's a tough call, but I'm going to go with stupid.

[Edgy MD]

If you want to consider the conspiracy angle, look for an enemy — an agent he dumped; a player he beaned or gloated over; a woman he pledged falsely too, swore oaths to in bad faith, used in the a manner that would shame even the lowest of blackguards. A woman, perhaps, with a vindictive brother. Oh, it's all coming together now.

It only takes a conspiracy of one to taint a latte.

[Guest d'Kong76]

[youtube:2j18n16e]DelYvJHTvH0[/youtube:2j18n16e]

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

"They didn't do their job, defending me when I did something pretty much inexcusable, in a way that left me with no outs. Then did it again."

[Centerfield]

When this story is exposed, you all are going to be sorry you doubted Jenrry.

INVESTIGATION REVEALS FAR-REACHING CONSPIRACY TO BAN METS' RELIEVER
OFFICIALS ADMIT MOTIVE WAS "JUST TO BE A DICK"

[Edgy MD]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: "They didn't do their job, defending me when I did something pretty much inexcusable, in a way that left me with no outs. Then did it again."

Listen to Mr. Presumption of Guilt, formerly Mr. No Right to Representation.

I'll represent you, Jank!

[RealityChuck]

Ashie62 wrote: To Mejia I would say "where there is smoke there is fire."

As Colonel Dreyfuss said . . .

[Vic Sage]

Occam's Razor = Among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected.

What's more likely: a massive conspiracy to target a mediocre relief pitcher, which, if exposed, would lead to lawsuits and a collapse of the MLB drug policy (as well as cost jobs of those implicated), OR
that Mejia is (1) stupid, (2) a liar, and/or (3) addicted to steroids (which is a real thing), and thus engaging in the kind of paranoid, self-destructive behavior that addicts typically engage in?

I don't know how his allegations could be reasonably credited by ANYBODY.

[Edgy MD]

If I have to make a choice, I don't believe him either, but I don't, so I'm happy to entertain alternative theories, and I don't think a conspiracy to ruin his career has to be massive at all.

[Ceetar]

Vic Sage wrote: I don't know how his allegations could be reasonably credited by ANYBODY.

Because of the long ester chain bonded to equipoise, it can take as long as 6 weeks for the product to fully leave your body and up to 16-18 months for detection.

I mean, I haven't seen an in depth explanation for how the drug testing policy avoids dinging a guy a second (or third) time for the same violation. I somehow doubt MLB is only looking at the quantity of it in your system. This doesn't mean Mejia is right, or that MLB was falsifying a violation or even forcing a repeat test earlier in hopes it hadn't left his system, but I could definitely see the player association not really feeling like it's in their best interest to push back against the policy they collectively bargained for the sake of one reliever. Especially coming up on a new negotiation. Everything is ammo and "We're letting you drug test us at will" is a bullet.

[Benjamin Grimm]

It wouldn't have to be a massive conspiracy, but I'm not really seeing a plausible motive.

[Edgy MD]

I put some further up in the thread: a spurned agent, a vindictive opponent, a wronged woman.

His suggestion — an MLB investigator (or investigators) who sold him down the river because he didn't rat out his sources — may or may not sound less plausible than those, but it's a motive.

I mean, there was certainly irregularities in the Biogenesis investigation. And we know the default condition of cops isn't by definition purity.

[Frayed Knot]

Mets, Mejia agree to contract! ... one that he'll never receive.

It's unclear from the AP article exactly Why Mejia remains on the NYM 'restricted list' roster rather than being flat-out released at some point. This whole thread began with that question in mind and that was 14 months and one positive test ago. But the fact that it IS being treated that way and that players get credited with service time during suspensions, Mejia currently has the status of a 4th year player eligible for arbitration so apparently the formality is necessary.
The agreed upon contract, which he won't receive, is for $1.976 million, a figure that represents the maximum 20% cut from the 2016 contract of $2.47 million which he also didn't receive. With two more years to go until he's eligible for free-agency this dance of phantom contracts will presumably go on the next two off-seasons or until he is reinstated. 2018 is the first year where he's eligible to apply for reinstatement.

[Centerfield]

I'm guessing it wasn't really a protracted negotiation for the agent. I'm guessing he doesn't get paid if Mejia is banned.

If he does, I need to start representing banned MLB players.