It seems like I just watched this same Broadway musical 1 year ago. 

Remember last season when the Mets started Mike Jacobs at first base, and batting cleanup? Remember how everyone was fuming that Ike Davis didn't make the opening day roster and start at first base, which we all knew he deserved? 

I feel like it's all happening again in 2011. Instead of giving the 2B job to Justin "Red Rocket" Turner, who clearly was the top performer in Spring Training, we went to a decision to merely protect a player we acquired specifically to compete at that spot. It's just a story that keeps repeating itself each year, and I expect the same thing to happen next year. While a lot of us hoped Nick Evans would make the roster, he was bumped for Willie Harris, who we signed in the off season. Rather than give the ball to Dillon Gee as our #5 pitcher, a roster spot he clearly earned in Spring Training, we gave it to two pitchers with injury-riddled careers — and now one of them, Chris Young, is done for the year. 

Sometimes I really question our organization's ability to put the right players on the field. They played around too much with Fernando Martinez, and are doing it again by wasting the 22-year old's talent on our bench, and they continuously burn out the first month of the season trying to preserve the untalented players they acquired in the off season. Maybe they are trying to prove that they were right to acquire these players, but it seems to always result in making a big roster change. That change has happened, and for the better. Dillon Gee has been very good for us, coming out of Triple-A Buffalo and making 8 appearances, 5 starts. During his time here he has a 3-0 record with a 3.44 ERA and a 1.265 WHIP. While he is allowing roughly the same amount of walks and hits per inning pitched as last year, his strikeout ratio has gone up already. Last year he struck out 4.6 batters per 9 innings, this year he has 6.6 per 9 innings. 

Justin Turner is finally getting the starting time he deserves, and I have to admit I think he should remain in the lineup on a daily-basis, at second base, when Ike Davis returns to the lineup. He has just been too good to throw back on the bench or play in a platoon situation. Turner simply has this confidence that can't be taken away, and if he continues to hit even half as well as he has the last 10 days then I want him in my lineup every day. The kid's got 55 at bats, 1 home run, .364 AVG, 14 RBIs & 7 doubles already. 

I just hope the Mets stop making the same mistakes in April. They seem to correct them come May, but it's just becoming an old act at this point. All the fans knew who belonged and didn't belong here on Opening Day, and yet management still screwed up. Granted, they can't be perfect — but sometimes their mistakes are just silly. With Emaus and Young, they were silly. 

Yesterday the Mets got some upsetting news that their top pitching prospect, Jenrry Mejia, had torn his MCL in his right elbow.

Mejia went for an MRI and one doctor said that he will need surgery to repair the tear. Mejia will go for a second opinion, but that doctor will most likely tell him the same thing.

With an injury like this Tommy John Surgery is recommended to fix it, and it will most likely be the option that Mejia chooses. In any event, Mejia's 2011 season is over.

Mejia was off to a great start in Triple-A Buffalo. The 21-year old started five games, pitching 28.1 innings with an 1-2 record, a 2.86 ERA, with 21 strike outs, and 14 walks.

It takes about a year to recover from Tommy John, so Mejia should be able to pitch in the 2012, but I doubt it will be a major league level.

It looked like Mejia was going to pitch a full season as a starter down in Triple-A and then start the 2012 season in the Mets rotation. Now, it appears highly unlikely that he will in 2012, and it might not be until 2013 that Mejia will be in the rotation.

I guess the good news here is that Mejia is still young, so coming back from this surgery won't be the hardest thing in the world. The problem with this type of surgery is that it can greatly change who you are as a pitcher. Some players get Tommy John and are never the same when they come back from it. In recent years, the surgery has had higher success rates, with pitchers coming back at the same level they were before the surgery, sometimes even better.

Personally I don't think this injury will jeopardize Mejia's career, but Mets fans are going to have to high a bit longer to see their best pitching prospect take the mound at Citi Field.

Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen told the Daily News that:

"Mejia works really hard to throw the baseball, and I worry about the volume of pitches during the course of a year. I think you find a lot of torque on your elbow and your shoulder."

Here are some notable stats from the Mets minor leaguers who played yesterday:

Triple-A Buffalo: Lost 3-2

• Lucas Duda ~ 2-4 with a single and a solo home run, his first of the year.
• Jesus Feliciano ~ 2-3 with a single, a double, and an RBI.
• Fernando Martinez pinch-hit in the ninth inning and struck out.
• Manny Acosta pitched one inning, giving up no runs, one walk and two strike outs.

Double-A Binghamton: Lost 9-4

• Allan Dykstra went 3-3 with two doubles and two runs scored.
• Jordany Valdespin went 2-3 with a double and two RBI.
• Brad Holt had his first bad start of the season, going just 2.1 innings giving up seven runs (six of them were earned) on six hits, four walks, and no strike outs.
• Eric Niesen pitched an inning of work, giving up no runs, no hits, no walks, and two strike outs.

Single-A Advanced St. Lucie: Won 9-4

• Matt Den Dekker went 2-4 with an RBI double and a three-run home run, his first of the year.
• Jefry Marte went 2-5 with a double and an RBI.
• Juan Langares went 3-4 with an RBI and a walk.
• Darin Gorski started for St. Lucie going four innings, giving up one run on three hits, one walk, and struck out TEN. Of the 12 outs he recorded, only two of them were not via strike out.

Josh Satin (Binghamton B-Mets) and Matt Den Dekker (St. Lucie Mets), were recently awarded the offensive players of the week in their respective leagues for the week of April 18, 2011 to April 24, 2011.  See below for their excerpts from milb.com.

Matt Harvey, the 7th overall pick of the 2011 draft, was named the Pitcher of the Week, last week, after getting off to an incredible 2-0 start.  Since then, Harvey has not cooled off.  He now boasts a 4-0 record with an ERA of 0.00.  Yup, he hasn't allowed an earned run yet in 22 innings of work, which also includes 27 Ks and only 8 walks.  He will look to up his record to a perfect 5-0 tomorrow night when St. Lucie takes on the Bradenton Marauders in the 2nd game of their series.

Speaking of St. Lucie, after sweeping a doulbe header from the Jupiter Hammerheads (Marlins farm team) yesterday, St. Lucie now has an unbelievable record of 17-2 on the year.  It is by far the best start in team's history and is the top record in all of baseball at the moment, at any level.  Along with Harvey and Den Dekker, St. Lucie holds a handful of some other up and coming Met hopefuls including: (Jeurys Familia, Wilmer Flores and Cesar Puello). 

For all the minor league action, be sure to check out the Mets Forum at metsparadise.com

Eastern League
Josh Satin, Binghamton
.643/.706/1.143, 4 G, 9-for-14, 4 2B, 0 3B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 4 RS, 3 BB, 4 SO, 1 SB, 0 CS
The B-Mets' Josh Satin, who hit .308 over 79 games at Double-A last season, enters the new week with 14 hits in his last eight games, with nine of them coming over his most recent four games. He doubled, homered (good for his second longball in as many days) and worked a walk on Monday, and between Thursday and Friday he combined for three more doubles, three singles, a stolen base and a run scored.

Florida State League
Matt Den Dekker, St. Lucie
.478/.500/.696, 5 G, 11-for-23, 5 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 7 RBI, 6 RS, 1 BB, 3 K, 0 SB, 1 CS
Mets prospect Matt Den Dekker opened the week by notching multiple hits in four straight games, and he had a double in his final tilt of the week. He's currently on an eight-game hitting streak — he has 21 hits in 15 games this season — and he's knocked in at least one run in five straight. He was 2-for-4 with a double in his first game of the week and 3-for-5 with another double and three runs scored in his second. He doubled twice more and scored two more runs in another 3-for-5 game Thursday.

Matt Harvey has been making a lot of noise down in the minors, but a guy who has been pitching almost as impressively is Jeurys Familia. 

Last night, pitching the day after Harvey, Familia went seven innings, giving up no runs on three hits, three walks, and eight strike outs. Familia has given up one earned run in 25.2 innings this season. That's a 0.35 ERA. The 20 year-old right hander out of the Dominican Republic, struggled last season with a 5.58 ERA, but the two seasons before that he had an ERA under three.

This season Familia is off to a dominating start and that one-two punch of Harvey-Familia has to be one of the best in the Single-A league.