Roto Riteup: August 19, 2013

Today’s Roto Riteup aims to make your Monday just a little less deplorable.

On today’s agenda
1. Jenrry Mejia to DL, season likely over
2. A James Paxton update
3. Andrew Lambo back to AAA

Jenrry Mejia to DL, season likely over
The surprisingly youthful Mejia is likely out for the season after being placed on the 15-day DL yesterday. The Mets’ right-hander has been pitching with bone chips in his elbow, and after being bothered by the pain in his last start, it appears surgery is likely. Mejia, 23, was simply outstanding in his five big league starts this year, finally making good on the promise he’s teased us with for all too long. Mejia didn’t face much in the way of stiff competition in the majors, but he was still mowing down hitters at the highest level in the world. If healthy, Mejia will slot behind Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler in the 2014 Mets rotation, and I expect we’ll be hearing Jenrry’s name come up quite a bit in keeper conversations.

A James Paxton update
Returning readers may know by now that I am intrigued by the idea of James Paxton, Major League Starting Pitcher, so a status report should not come as a complete surprise. Through July, Paxton had shown he was an improved starter, throwing more strikes, walking less batters, and still racking up the strikeouts in Triple-A Tacoma. For Paxton’s second scheduled August start, the Mariners changed up his routine a bit by asking the left-hander to come out of the bullpen after using Tom Wilhelmsen as the starter. Paxton did not pitch great out of the pen, and the prospect has struggled in each of his two starts since. In his last two starts, Paxton has walked eight batters in 13 innings, striking out only seven. Followers of my twitter feed will know I felt strongly about the Mariners not screwing with Paxton’s routine, and while it’s only two starts, I find myself slightly concerned. Paxton still has a power arsenal that should allow him to be a good late-inning reliever, but this author hopes to see him trotting out in the first inning.

Andrew Lambo back to AAA
After a quick stint in the bigs, the 25-year-old is going back to the minors to continue working on his craft. Lambo has been crushing the ball at both the Double-A and Triple-A levels this year, but those numbers do need to be taken with a single solitary grain of salt due to Lambo’s age; while not old for AAA, Lambo was quite advanced for a AA player. Lambo’s strikeouts are still a serious concern, but the tall left-hander has quite a bit of power in his bat. If the Pirates don’t go searching for a bat at the corner this offseason, Lambo could go into Spring Training competing with Jose Tabata for ABs at the big league level.