Utleygate

So Chase Utley's dirty slide inspires a major rule change, but MLB can't bring itself to uphold Utley's measly two-game suspension. As the Daily News's Anthony McCarron writes, "you can pretty much circle May 9 as the date when Utley will get the real penalty for the dirty slide that broke Ruben Tejada’s leg last October." That's the day the Mets and Dodgers meet for the first time this season. As Squawker Lisa would say, get your popcorn ready!

At least I hope it's May 9, or whenever Utley first steps up to the plate against the Mets. Not a rerun of the season and a half it took to get any sort of retaliation against Roger Clemens after his 2000 roid rage. And all most people remember about that is Shawn Estes throwing behind Clemens, and not Estes and Mike Piazza homering off of Clemens in that June 15, 2002 game.

For what it's worth, the Mets' failure to respond against Clemens in a timely and appropriate fashion coincided with the team sinking from the 2000 pennant into years of losing. But with pitchers like Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard, the 2016 Mets figure to write a different story.

Let me emphasize that I am not rooting for Utley to get hurt or for the Mets to throw at his head. I just want the Met pitchers to let Utley know that they were not happy about what happened and, new rules or not, here's what happens if you try it again.

Coincidentally, May 9 is also the day Aroldis Chapman is eligible to be reinstated from his suspension. Looks like a potentially big baseball day around here!

Meanwhile, Jennry Mejia, banned for life, claims he's the victim of an MLB witch hunt. Mejia admits he failed his first drug test, but disputes the next two failed tests, claiming that MLB faked the third failed test after he appealed the second one. The Times notes that two of the tests found evidence of boldenone, a steroid used in horse racing. Lisa, I think I know what you would have to say about whether Mejia's allegations have any validity - neigh!

As Lisa noted, Subway Squawkers recently celebrated our tenth anniversary. During that time, we have generally steered clear of politics, but it's a strange and troubling political time, so I'm glad Lisa went off topic Saturday with  #NeverTrump: Donald Trump for president? That joke isn't funny anymore.

Jennry Mejia, Duaner Sanchez and losing a setup man just before the trade deadline

On July 30, 2006, almost exactly nine years ago, the Mets lost valuable setup reliever Duaner Sanchez when he separated his shoulder in a taxi accident. With just a day to go before the trade deadline, the Mets scrambled to find a replacement, trading starting rightfielder Xavier Nady for reliever Roberto Hernandez and a struggling starting pitcher named Oliver Perez.

At least this time around, Sandy Alderson already had a replacement lined up when Jennry Mejia was suspended again for PEDs. I wasn't sure why Alderson was worrying about the bullpen with the lineup in such disarray, but perhaps he knew the Mejia suspension was coming. The Tyler Clippard trade looks that much better now.

Hernandez, 41 years old at the time of the trade, had a 3.48 ERA in 22 games with the 2006 Mets. The real replacement for Sanchez turned out to be Guillermo Mota, who was acquired in late August and had an ERA of 1.00 in 18 games down the stretch.

After the 2006 season, Mota was suspended for steroids, but the Mets still gave him a new two-year contract. Mota never approached his 2006 form and was traded away the following season.

Somehow, I don't think Mejia will be getting a new contract from the Mets. But Mejia does have something in common with Mota. In 2012, Mota, now with the Giants, was suspended for steroids a second time.

Generation BC: Bartolo Colon aces the opener

The Yankees are supposed to be the old team (first eight players in yesterday’s lineup were over 30), while the Mets have been rebuilding around young pitching. But it was soon to be 42-year-old Bartolo Colon who justified the Mets' controversial choice to make him the Opening Day starter.  Colon allowed three hits and one run in six innings, striking out eight, to lead the Mets over $210 million Max Scherzer and the heavy division favorite Nationals, 3-1.

In the sixth inning, it looked as if it might be an inauspicious opening day, since Scherzer had a no-hitter going. Imagine how Texas Ranger fans feel today, with Oakland's Sonny Gray taking a no-hitter into the eighth yesterday and winning, 8-0. But the Mets had Colon, and the Nationals had shortstop Ian Desmond making two errors that led to three unearned runs.

Imagine that - a shortstop helps blow the game with two errors and it wasn't Wilmer Flores. 

Adding to the age theme, the second-oldest pitcher on the Mets' roster, 37-year-old Buddy Carlyle, got the save. But Carlyle was only pressed into action because Jenrry Mejia was unavailable after feeling tightness in his right elbow. Mejia is getting an MRI today.  

Last year, Bobby Parnell blew the save on Opening Day, then was found to need Tommy John surgery and was done for the year.  Let's hope losing your closer to TJ on Opening Day is not becoming a new Mets' trend.  And considering that Mejia already had the surgery in 2011, the odds of him making a Harvey-like return would not be so good. 

At least the Mets' bullpen is in much better shape than it was a year ago. Last year, when the Mets lost their closer, they had to turn to Jose Valverde and Kyle Farnsworth.

Speaking of the Mets' revamped bullpen, new Met Jerry Blevins pitched against the Mets in last year's opener and gave up a home run to David Wright.

Yesterday was a great day, but the Mejia situation puts a cloud over it. And if the worst fears are confirmed, the Mets will need to start trying to figure out why, even though TJ surgery is widespread these days, the Mets have far more cases than most other teams.

At least, Squawker Lisa, the Mets were not trotting out an Opening Day starter with a partially torn UCL who admits to reduced velocity.  What could possibly go wrong?

Mets continue to mishandle Jenrry Mejia

Last night, Jenrry Mejia came of age when he got out of a jam by striking out Mark Teixeira and getting Alex Rodriguez to ground out. Of course, Mejia's the one who got into the jam in the first place by giving up a hit to Kevin Russo and a walk to Derek Jeter. But Mejia apparently did show enough for Mets management to leave Mejia in the bullpen as of now, despite frequent speculation of late that he will be sent down to be stretched out as a starter. And that's a mistake.

Mejia has shown great promise, but so far, he is not the sort of phenom that Joba Chamberlain was in 2007 or Neftali Feliz was in 2009.

Joba's 2007 numbers: 0.38 ERA, 0.75 WHIP with 34 strikeouts and 6 walks in 24 innings.

Feliz's 2009 numbers: 1.74 ERA, 0.68 WHIP with 39 strikeouts and 8 walks in 31 innings.

Mejia's 2010 numbers: 3.60 ERA, 1.70 WHIP with 15 strikeouts and 12 walks in 20 innings.

Joba became the setup man while Feliz is now closing for Texas. Mejia is not going to be the closer and is very unlikely to be the setup man this year.

Keeping Mejia in the majors only makes sense if he is going to be a critical part of a bullpen of a contending team. As of now, he's not a critical part and it's unclear at best if the Mets are a contender.

And if the Mets really want to protect their prized young arm, they should keep him out of Jerry Manuel's bullpen. Last night, Pedro Feliciano pitched for the fifth time in six days. Perhaps that had something to do with him being unable to get anyone out.

Fernando "Nightly" Nieve has an 8.00 ERA in May, giving him a 5.32 ERA for the season. Last night, he faced two batters and walked one of them - with the bases loaded. Nieve has now allowed at least one walk in six straight appearances.

If Mejia does start pitching like 2007 Joba, will Manuel be able to resist turning him into Everyday Mejia?

The Mets do have a variety of options in the bullpen, more so than in the rotation. The Mets need to start turning Mejia into a starter sooner or later. Might as well be sooner.

*

One brief note on the Fox telecast. Joe Buck and Tim McCarver neglected to put the John Maine situation in context. All Fox viewers heard was that, after "someone" made a reference to pitching lefthanded, Manuel joked that perhaps Maine would have better stuff that way. What the announcers neglected to mention was that it was Maine who brought up the idea, saying he wanted to pitch and would pitch lefthanded if necessary.

Maine is justly praised for wanting to pitch, but if you can't use your pitching arm, you're not likely to help the team a whole lot. Manuel's response was appropriate, if harsh. But Buck and McCarver made Manuel sound like the bad guy.

Manuel is far from perfect as a manager, but he's right to be frustrated with Maine. If only he would realize that, with Maine out of the rotation, possibly indefinitely, the real need for Mejia is as a starter.