I looked into this a little further and found out that even though there will be Dash-8s operating out of JFK the pilot base will not be JFK. Nobody will be assigned to JFK. Instead you'll have to be assigned to another base (e.g. BDL, PVD, ALB, etc.) and report at that base. As a result commuting out of JFK will not really work well because if you need to report early in the morning, in PVD say, there won't be any flight that can take you there on that day.

The other thing that I've heard is that you can't necessarily bid for the Dash-8 CA if you are a jet FO. This is due to the FO's equipment and seat locks. Actually, there is talk about B1900 FOs being allowed to bid for the F8 CA spot but as it stands now this is not permitted by the contract.

I got my information from a friend who just started with Mesa and he is trying to figure things out himself so he is not the most reliable source. If anyone can correct me please do so.

P.S. Mesa must be pretty desperate to find CA for the Dash-8, as there are rumors they'll drop the ICAO ATP minimums. Instead you you'll just need FAA ATP minimums for the Dash-8 CA position.