Jenrry Mejia is suspended again. (Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports)
NEW YORK — For the New York Mets, Tuesday night should have been reserved for discussing electric rookie right-handed pitcher Noah Syndergaard, who retired the first 18 San Diego Padres batters he faced at Citi Field and ended up throwing eight shutout innings of three-hit ball in earning the win at Citi Field.
If the Mets really wanted to change the subject, they could have talked about the arrival of their newest player and the first step in the return of their oldest one.
Right-handed pitcher Tyler Clippard, whom New York acquired from the Oakland Athletics on Monday, made his Mets debut with a scoreless ninth. Hours earlier, third baseman David Wright, who hasn’t played since April 14 due to a hamstring injury and spinal stenosis, resumed baseball activity at Citi Field.
But these are the Mets, for whom every ray of sunshine is preceded and followed by a drenching thunderstorm. And so the Mets spent plenty of time before and after the blanking of the Padres thinking about and talking about the stunning lack of judgment displayed by their former closer — right-handed pitcher Jenrry Mejia, who earned a 162-game suspension from Major League Baseball on Tuesday for failing a second PED test.
Asked for his reaction to the Mejia news following the game Tuesday, manager Terry Collins paused for four seconds.
“Well we just had a tremendous game,” Collins said. “I don’t need to get socked in the gut again tonight.”
Mejia is not the first big leaguer suspended a full season for PED use — that, of course, was New York Yankees designated hitter Alex Rodriguez, who was kicked out of the game for the entire 2014 season following his involvement with the Biogenesis scandal. But Mejia is the first player suspended a full season following two failed PED tests.
This time, Mejia tested positive for both Stanozolol and Boldenone. He was suspended 80 games on April 11 after testing positive for Stanozolol.
In the interim, Mejia — who had 28 saves last season — lost his closer’s job to right-hander Jeurys Familia, but he looked as if he was ready to become Familia’s top set-up man by throwing 7 1/3 scoreless innings following his return to the major league roster on July 7.
When he was first suspended, Mejia said he had no idea how the drug got into his body. Presumably, he knows how these drugs worked their way into his system, though neither Mejia, his agents nor the Major League Baseball Players Association issued statements on Tuesday.
The talking was left up to his manager and teammates — who are very likely to become his ex-manager and his ex-teammates this winter, when Mejia is arbitration-eligible for the first time and the Mets can simply not tender him a contract.
Injured left fielder Michael Cuddyer, the nicest and most easy-going player in the Mets clubhouse, spoke with uncharacteristic sharpness after the game.
“It’s a choice,” Cuddyer said. “I don’t buy into the ‘mistake’ thing. It’s a choice.
“I would say there’s a bit of anger (in the clubhouse).”
Collins, who moved Mejia to closer was the Mets’ minor league field coordinator when Mejia debuted in the majors as a 20-year-old in 2010 and sounded more hurt than angry.
“First of all, I love Jenrry Mejia — I love him as a player, I love him as a person,” Collins said. “Extremely, extremely disappointed in what’s happened. This team’s had enough bad breaks and bad luck this year to last a long time.”
Actually, the Mets got a bit lucky with the timing. General manager Sandy Alderson, who spoke shortly before the game, said the trade for Clippard was essentially completed just hours before he learned of Mejia’s impending suspension on Monday evening.
“Our track in talking with Oakland about Tyler as well as other players was independent of this situation,” Alderson said.
But getting Clippard just before the price for him would have shot through the roof didn’t provide Alderson or the Mets much consolation Tuesday.
“Not surprisingly, there’s a tremendous amount of disappointment — I think to some extent anger, to some extent amazement — that this could happen so soon after a previous suspension was completed,” Alderson said, “And some sadness. This is having a tremendously adverse effect on a very promising major league career.”
