Correction: Jennry Mejia will remain in the pen

Last week it seemed like the Mets were about to do something wise and send Jennry Mejia down to the minors in order to allow him to revert back into a starting pitcher, thereby providing the promise of greater value to the organization one day. Then they backed up a little and said, no, we may just turn him into a starter at the major league level. Not as wise, but in the grand scheme of things I suppose that’s better than keeping him in the pen.

Forget any wisdom now, however, because they’re just gonna keep him in the pen after all:

“We’ve discussed him at length many times, as far as what’s right for him, what’s right for the team . . . basically, [keeping him in the pen] was the plan all along. We felt that Igarashi can handle the eighth, and we need someone to handle the seventh and I wanted to see Mejia pitch in this environment.”

Says the New York Post: “The deciding factor, according to Manuel, was that Mejia has been much more effective in short outings than long ones.” Which is true for just about every pitcher. Bullpens are full of guys who couldn’t cut it was starters for exactly this reason, so I’m not sure why it weighs so heavily in Mejia’s case.

This is shortsighted decision by a guy who to whom short term success is more important than the long term health of the organization. And that applies whether it was Omar Minaya or Jerry Manuel’s decision.