Memories of Jenrry Mejia

[Zvon]

Went looking for the reeling .gif but not finding it.





One thing I can say about him is he had flair.

[Guest El Segundo Escupidor]

Was at his first start (with Bucket, I think).

Edgy MD wrote: Mejia, 26, apparently had an old-fashioned approach to drug cheating. In each case, he was caught using anabolic steroids, substances that have long been easy to detect in a urine sample. Two of his positive tests involved boldenone, a steroid that has been used in horse racing. So weird.

He was either dining on horses with Ryan Braun or he relying on dodgy masking agent.

Fwiw, under the terms on the new collective bargaining agreement players who have previously tested positive are subject to non-random OOC testing. His agent/trainer/dealer probably didn't get the memo.

[Zvon]

Greg, the article you linked (must have been fb) says Mejia is also banned from playing in Korea, Mexico or Japan. Why is that? Is that part of the MLB punishment?

I figured the kid could still make a decent living playing ball, but not if he can't play anywhere else.

OE:good piece. But I felt bad for Mejia the first and second time. 3rd time I was kinda angry.

[Frayed Knot]

Zvon wrote: Greg, the article you linked (must have been fb) says Mejia is also banned from playing in Korea, Mexico or Japan. Why is that? Is that part of the MLB punishment? I figured the kid could still make a decent living playing ball, but not if he can't play anywhere else. OE:good piece. But I felt bad for Mejia the first and second time. 3rd time I was kinda angry.

The Japanese & Korean leagues both honor MLB rules and such.
American indie leagues are available to him since they're not affiliated w/MLB but that's about it.

btw, Mejia (and other suspended players) get ML service time even during their suspensions.

[Edgy MD]

There are also Latin American leagues (excluding Mexico) and the Chinese Baseball League open to him.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Maybe he can join a bowling league!

[Centerfield]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Maybe he can join a bowling league!

We at the Oakhill Township Adult Bowling League take objection to the characterization that any disgraced athlete can simply sign up and join the league. The OTABL has always adhered to the strictest, most cutting edge, measures when it comes to performance-enhancing drugs. We would like to remind the public that we started testing in 1996, six years before Major League Baseball.

We are disappointed in Benjamin Grimm's comments in the wake of the Jenrry Mejia suspension. Although we know those comments were made in jest, they still cast a negative light on the elite athletes of the OTABL. We hope that Mr. Grimm, being in a position of influence, will be more careful with his words in the future.

[bmfc1]

This game (7/26/13):
http://www.leaptoad.com/mets/gamedetail.php?gameno=8303&tabno=D
Mejia pitches 7 shutout innings. I was there--great game.

[seawolf17]

Frayed Knot wrote: American indie leagues are available to him since they're not affiliated w/MLB but that's about it.

Jenrry Mejia, Long Island Duck.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Centerfield wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: Maybe he can join a bowling league! We at the Oakhill Township Adult Bowling League take objection to the characterization that any disgraced athlete can simply sign up and join the league. The OTABL has always adhered to the strictest, most cutting edge, measures when it comes to performance-enhancing drugs. We would like to remind the public that we started testing in 1996, six years before Major League Baseball. We are disappointed in Benjamin Grimm's comments in the wake of the Jenrry Mejia suspension. Although we know those comments were made in jest, they still cast a negative light on the elite athletes of the OTABL. We hope that Mr. Grimm, being in a position of influence, will be more careful with his words in the future.

One thing I've learned recently from Donald Trump is that if you're challenged on anything you say, you have to double down.

Bowling leagues are for losers who need to sit down after taking only four steps! Sad! Bowlers beg me to join their league but I'd never consider it! Pathetic!

[Centerfield]

Wow. That's crazy. With that double-down you just took New Hampshire.

[Frayed Knot]

[fimg=500:3iott5ud]http://www.writtalin.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/big-lebowski-1.jpg[/fimg:3iott5ud]

SHUT THE FUCK UP DONNY YOU'RE OUT OF YOUR ELEMENT!

[dgwphotography]

Hey, I own a bowling alley, and still got the babe.

[G-Fafif]

Thoughtful, non-amneisac piece from Ted Berg.

If the particular circumstances of my life and career were different, I might be shocked or angered by the news, or I’d be right there with all those joking about how anyone could be so stupid as to continue taking steroids after already getting popped for them twice in one year. I mean… how could anyone be so stupid? But the particular circumstances of my life and career include six years covering the Mets exclusively and three more covering them fairly frequently, and as such, I’ve dealt with Mejia a bunch of times. I hardly know him personally and I really am not qualified to speak to his intellect or his character, but he certainly never seemed particularly dumb or terribly evil. Unlike a lot of Dominican kids, Mejia didn’t even like baseball growing up. He shined shoes for $8 a day at a cafe in Santo Domingo, and prided himself on earning money without resorting to pickpocketing like some of his friends did. As detailed by Brian Costa at NJ.com in 2010, Mejia took up baseball only after learning that his countryman Pedro Martinez had signed a four-year, $53 million free-agent deal with the Mets in 2004. Mejia started playing baseball to make money, then, by getting himself banned, left about $1 million in prorated 2016 salary on the table, money he would have earned upon his return from suspension no matter how he performed. The Mets signed Mejia as an amateur in 2007. Armed with preternatural movement on his fastball, he blitzed through the low levels of the minor leagues. I first met him when he was a 19-year-old in Class AA Binghamton in 2009. I don’t remember much about our conversation, except this: While many of Mejia’s Spanish-speaking teammates on the B-Mets spoke to me with a coach translating, Mejia — only a couple of years after he was shining shoes for a living — insisted on conducting the interview in English without a translator because he was dedicated to learning the language. He spoke it haltingly, but seemed determined to do it well, and drawn to the spotlight much in the same way Matt Harvey would be while coming through the same system a couple of years later. And now you’re telling me that same guy, driven enough to want to speak English in an interview despite no pressure from me or his team or anyone besides himself to do so, is so reckless as to ruin his career by choosing to take steroids three times in the same freaking year. It’s impossible to rationalize.