The Mack Attack - 1-3-9

The Future of the Mets – On Second:

The good news is the Mets have five legitimate second base prospects in the system.The bad news is none of them are named Luis Castillo.Most fans aren’t too happy about that, but there’s no one in the minor leagues ready to take over. However; boy, is there a glut of talent in the lower levels.Ex-prospect Emmanuel Garcia should be the every day Bison, with an outside chance that Jonathan Malo will return as his backup. Mack’s Mets prospect #12, Greg Veloz, will hold down the B-Met job, and right now, he’s numero uno to make Queens in 2011. J.R. Voyles may be still around to back Veloz up. Behind Greg are three more prospects, Joshua Satin ( MMP #30), Kyle Suire (MMP #33), and Alonzo Harris (MMP #37). All have earned a starting job and will play at Binghamton, Lucy, Savannah, and Brooklyn, respectfully. Michael Parker should go utility in Savannah, ex-prospect Hector Pellot should repeat Lucy, another ex-prospect, Ignacio Medrano, has no place to go other than Brooklyn, and Jordany Valdespin and Michael Moras might be back at either K-Port or the GCL team.Needless to say, the Mets do not need to draft high in 2009 at this position. There’s an absolutely greay shot that one of these five studs will become the full time Mets second baseman in the next couple of years. Until then, live with Luis.


MLB – NY Mets:

According to Cardinals Best News Links: - But the most interesting element for the New York readership is that the Mets really did have interest in Jason Marquis and - all things being near equal - Cubs GM Jim Hendry was trying to direct a Staten Island kid home.

Art Heyman on WFAN: SP Pedro Martinez is willing to do a 1-year deal.

From: Howard Megdal: - For players in Caribbean winter leagues like Pedro Feliciano, each game is an exercise in multitasking. Feliciano, who is currently pitching for Leones de Ponce in Puerto Rico, has the immediate task in front of him—helping his team to the Puerto Rican playoffs. Feliciano also has the unenviable task of putting a difficult 2008 behind him. And add to that Feliciano’s expected lead role in the bullpen for Puerto Rico in this spring’s World Baseball Classic, and it can be hard even for him to keep track of just who he’s pitching for on any given day. Still, Feliciano and the Leones staff have coordinated their efforts to serve all three masters at once.

From The Waiver Wire: - Oliver Perez is supposedly asking teams for a five year contract worth $70 million. That a number of teams are considering offering him something close to this just blows my mind. Going into 2009, this is a guy who hasn't had any xFIP below 4.65 since 2004. He combines wildness (4.8 BB/9 in 2008) with extreme flyball tendencies (between 30.1% and 35.7% every year since 2004). He doesn't even have an absurdly high strikeout rate anymore...he hasn't broken 9.0 for a season since 2004. Put him in a better hitters' park, and this could be a real disaster. Either way, someone is going to be very, very disappointed in a year or two. I'm not saying Oliver Perez is a bad pitcher, but he certainly isn't a very good one.

AAA – Buffalo:

Mets Geek on 3B Shawn Bowman: Bowman is a former 12th round pick whose career started with a bang but has crashed and burned over the past three seasons. After averaging 17.5 HR per season as a nineteen- and twenty-year-old, his eight home runs over the past three seasons due to fracturing the same vertebrate in his back not once but twice leaves his current value at zero, although some Mets fans seem to think his power could recover. In 200 2008 at bats, he had only four homers while posting a 58/6 strikeout to walk ratio in High-A and Double-A. His advanced age, injury history, and lack of production have left him looking like an organizational player at best. Even when Bowman was at his best, he still had major holes in his offensive approach. His OPS’ stayed in the low- to mid-.700’s, with far too many strikeouts to be truly relevant. Don’t be fooled by his winter league numbers; Bowman was fresh in winter leagues notorious for players who are tired and simply going through the motions.

Toby Hyde on OF Fernando Martinez: - - Martinez set new career highs in the DWL in all three major rate categories (AVG/OBP/SLG). Martinez set a new career high triples in fewer than half the plate appearances he had in in AA in 2008. Never before has he had nearly as many triples as doubles. I read this as evidence that he’s running well and is fully healthy. A potential alternative explanation is that there’s something in the DWL ballpark environments that favors triples. Reader challenge: to eliminate this hypothesis by checking the number of triples/gm or AB in the DWL vs. the Eastern League. Martinez set new career highs in XBH% and BB%. Despite the relatively small margins over his previous bests, these were still improvements. Martinez set a new career high (for a season) in HR%. It is no accident that Martinez’s HR rate and BB rate rose together. He’s seeing more pitches, and has become better at choosing those pitches he has a chance to drive (out of the ballpark).

A+ - Lucy:

Mets Geek on C Josh Thole: - At 22, Thole is an interesting player. A left-handed hitting catcher with on-base ability has some value for sure. I also compliment him for turning himself from a first baseman with no pop in the Sally League to a catcher with potential gap power and a significantly brighter future. In 2007, I think I even watched Thole play a couple of games in Savannah. I don’t remember much about him, but I remember shaking my head at a first baseman with no home runs as part of one of the five worst minor league teams in baseball that season. In my mind, it was only fitting. However, Thole has made himself into arguably the organization’s top minor league catcher. Does this mean he’s a prospect worth of consideration for the Mets top 20 prospects? Absolutely not! He catches, but not particularly well. He finds ways to reach base, but is little more than a singles hitter. He batted .300 in A+, but he was 22, which is no spring chicken for the league. Each positive is countered by just as strong of a negative leaving him a pretty blah kind of guy. With that said, I can certainly see a scenario in 2012 or 2013 where a Francisco Pena/Josh Thole tandem is putting up 80% of the offense the Mets are currently receiving from their current Brian Schneider/Ramon Castro tandem. While those totals are nothing to write home about, having the catching position covered at 10% of what they currently shell out for a few years looks great compared to eight million or so currently invested in the position. if Eric Simon, President of the Josh Thole fanclub, held a gun to my head, I’d put Thole’s top-end projection at a left handed hitting Mike Redmond. While not exactly a world-beater, the Mets, and Thole would be pretty ecstatic with this outcome. Not only has Redmond logged almost a decade of major league service with no end in sight, he has a .292/.348/.365 career line and will earn over ten million dollars before all is said and done. For a former first baseman with a .311 slugging percentage in 2007, this outcome would be pretty remarkable

2010 Free Agents:

Center fielders: - Rick Ankiel (30) - Marlon Byrd (32) - Mike Cameron (37) - Endy Chavez (32) - Coco Crisp (30) - $8MM club option with a $500K buyout - Darin Erstad (36) - Ryan Freel (34) - Reed Johnson (33) - Andruw Jones (33) - Corey Patterson (30)

General Baseball News:

From The Waiver Wire: - At the same time that Oliver Perez is getting a lot of interest despite his demands for $70 million over five years, Randy Wolf is being described as 'ballsy' (by Rotoworld) for asking for $30 million over three years. By today's standards, that's chump change, and Wolf is actually a pretty good pitcher...very likely better than Perez. His control is better (3.3 walks per nine innings in 2008), and he allows slightly fewer flyballs (38% ground ball rate in 2008). His strikeout rate isn't even that much worse than Perez', as he struck out 7.6 per game in 2008 and 8.0 per game the previous season. Wolf is going to be a bargain as long as he can stay reasonably healthy.

Mack
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