Calero, Niese, Figueroa and Mejia

The Mets signed Kiko Calero to a minor league contract, with $850 K if he makes the team and $650 K for performance bonuses. This is a great move by Omar Minaya and the Mets, and can shore up the back end of the rotation. Calero, 35, had a 2.39 tRA, 2.56 FIP, and a 3.92 xFIP. He also had a 1.95 ERA, which makes it interesting that no one else wanted to sign him.

Fernando Nieve pitched yesterday, and went 3 innings against the Cardinals, giving up 1 run while walking 2 and striking out 2. Nelson Figueroa, in the same game went 4 innings, striking out 5 and walking 1, though it was against a more weaker lineup as Pujols and Holliday were taken out.
Jon Niese went 2.2 innings, giving up a run, striking out 5, and walking 2, against the Marlins. Jenry Mejia went 2.1 innings, and striking out 4 and walking none. Despite Mejia's impressive beginning, he should stay in the minors this year, to keep his inning number down, and maybe can come up as a reliever later in the year a la Joba Chamberlain.

Meanwhile in the race for the number 5 starter, Fernando Nieve is going to make the team, as a long man or starter, because he's out of options. Figueroa should also make the team, as he's a solid pitcher who can start or relieve and had better peripheals last year than Nieve. And Jon Niese, who I would love to be the number 5 starter, will probably be in AAA, though will come up if one of the starters gets injured.

Jenry Mejia Pitch F/x

Mejia pitched yesterday for the Suprise Rafters, and didn't do that bad, going 3 innings giving up 4 hits, a walk, a run while striking out 3 in a 2-1 loss to the Peoria Javelinas.
Pitch F/x

Jenry Mejia, 10/26/09
Pitch Type	Avg Speed	Max Speed	Pitch Fx_x	Pitch FX_Z	Count	Strikes / %	Swinging Strikes / %
FF (FourSeam Fastball)	93.99	97.6	-6.18	5.58	37	22 / 59.46%	4 / 10.81%
CH (Changeup)	87.17	88.1	-9.71	3.52	9	7 / 77.78%	3 / 33.33%
CU (Curveball)	77.50	80.2	2.81	-8.18	5	2 / 40.00%	0 / 0.00%
FT (TwoSeam Fastball)	87.75	88.7	-10.93	5.17	2	2 / 100.00%	1 / 50.00%

His fastball has some pretty good sink on it, as Sam Page at Amazin Avenue pointed out in a post a while back. His Curveball also has some insane movement, but he only threw 5 so not much can be read into that, and his changeup has some sink too. He had 14.3% Swinging Strikes.