Minors Stuff

The Herd:

Poor Jonathon Niese. He's getting absolutely killed by being a member of this team. The positional alignments are atrocious. In various box scores I've checked in the last few weeks I've seen Mike Lamb at 2B, Javier Valentin at 3B, and Wily Mo Pena at 1B. In no statistic is this dilemma clearer than Niese's .385 BABIP. Despite the poor results, Niese has maintained many of the things you like to see. Solid K/9 (7.77), BB/9 (2.72), and GB% (57%). The GB% is especially important, because with that kind of defensive infield, it seems likely Niese is probably giving up a ridiculously high rate of hits on groundballs. The good news is, this isn't really a long term concern, and Niese is probably as reasonable a big league option now as he's been all year.

http://www.amazinavenue.com/2009/6/12/906969/mets-minor-league-roll-call-4

International League Nelson Figueroa, Buffalo1-0, 1.98 ERA, 2 G, 2 GS, 13.2 IP, 12 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 16 SOMets farmhand Nelson Figueroa struck out a season-high nine batters in 6 2/3 innings on June 13. The Brooklyn native has been extremely consistent for the Bisons this season -- he's allowed two runs or less in eight of his 10 starts -- and this week was no exception. His two quality starts this week lead to a team-best seven on the season.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090615&content_id=5342280&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp

THE WEEK IN REVIEW: The Bisons split six games last week and are 19-40 overall. They still own the league's worst record and are in sixth place in the North Division.

WHO'S HOT AND WHO'S NOT: 2B Luis Rivera has hit .346 with two RBIs and three runs scored in his last nine games. ... OF Wily Mo Pena has batted .303 with a homer, seven RBIs and three runs scored in his last nine contests. ... OF Jonathan Malo has hit .097 over his last 10 games and begins the week in a 1-for-17 funk.

NEW ROLE FOR DESSENS: Entering this season, RHP Elmer Dessens had only five saves in his 16-year professional career. But he has taken over the Bisons' closer role and, after blowing his first save attempt, has converted nine in a row, including six since May 24. On the season, Dessens is 3-1 with nine saves and a 1.15 ERA in 23 appearances.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "I don't think [the coaching change] was the reason it happened. The law of averages would say we're going to do that a lot more often. Unfortunately, for the first two months, somebody took the blame. I think it fell on the players' shoulders." -- Bisons OF Cory Sullivan to the Buffalo News on June 11. The Herd saw hitting coach Luis Natera replaced by Double-A counterpart Billy Masse and responded with season highs in runs (13) and hits (15) in a win over Durham.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090614&content_id=5333666&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp

Lucy:

· Brant Rustich has been dominant, and could be moving through the system rapidly enough to make the big club this year in the pen, but instead he's being groomed as a starter, which will take time and make him difficult to read. Still, his 1.68 tRA in relief is impressive.

· Nick Carr, also pitching mostly in relief, has also been quite effective, with a 2.82 ERA, 3.70 tRA, and 39 Ks in 38 IP.

· Kirk Niewenhuis, whom I shall henceforth refer to as N!, is turning himself to an interesting prospect. He's hitting .256 / .345 / .440 and has a combination of patience, power, and raw tools that could develop into a solid player as he grows up through the system.

http://www.amazinavenue.com/2009/6/12/906969/mets-minor-league-roll-call-4

1B Ike Davis (Mack’s Mets Prospect #15) hit his 17th double of the season in 3rd inning, as part of a 4-run rally. Davis is very quietly showing the pop the Mets had hoped he’d show when they drafted him in the first round last year. At the point of his double, his stats were up to .288/.369/.488/.857.



Queens:

The Mets have been blasted by an injury tsunami during the past month, and players seemingly have dropped by the hour, from Carlos Delgado to Jose Reyes, J.J. Putz to John Maine. Their 15-0 loss to the Yankees on Sunday had some Mets fans calling into talk radio shows in New York, seemingly trying to decide whether to vault off the Whitestone Bridge or the Throgs Neck Bridge. Tough choice.

But club executives are a little more circumspect. Although the Phillies look like the better team right now, the Mets theoretically remain one good week from making up a four-game deficit in the National League East, and they figure to be right in the thick of the wild-card race. So although the Mets are not necessarily engaged in red-hot trade talks at the moment, it figures that they will soon turn their full attention toward adding a big-time bat. The team is one of the few that have some payroll flexibility, and in recent days, the Mets have begun internal deliberations about whom to target.

Of course, the Mets are struggling with their rotation as well, especially with Maine out. But the Mets don't think Maine's shoulder injury is serious and expect him to return soon, and they feel as though Oliver Perez is making progress in his rehab. What is less apparent is on the hitting side, whether Delgado will be able to help the Mets this season. In his absence, the team has been getting very little production out of first base. That said, here are some names that might fit with the Mets:

For the deals: http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4262136&name=olney_buster&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fespn%2fblog%2findex%3fentryID%3d4262136%26name%3dolney_buster

Baseball America updated their prospect list this week and the following players were ranked higher than in the past:

13. Andrew McCutchen
25. Fernando Martinez
77. Aaron Crow
86. Matt Palmer
87. Mike Minor


Mets Alumni:

The Detroit Tigers released OF Jason Tyner. Tyner was the Mets 1st round pick in 1998, was in the organization through 2000, and played parts of eight seasons with the Mets, Tampa Bay, Minnesota, and Cleveland. His lifetime major league stats (1,358 at bats) are: .275/.314/.323.

The Texas Rangers removed P Kris Benson from their 40-man roster and sold him outright to their AAA club.

You hear a lot more criticism of Manny Acta this year than there was last year. He probably did not do himself any favors when at the beginning of the year he commented that this year’s National team was one of the more talented teams that he’s had. As the season progressed he found that this team had a number of holes.

A GM stated that when they hire you for a baseball position there is only one inevitable conclusion. You will eventually be fired. It’s happened to the best managers in baseball. The most recent manager fired was Clint Hurdle, who was the manager of the Colorado Rockies. He was replaced by Jim Tracy. The personnel on the team haven’t changed but the Rockies have strung together an 11 game winning streak. If they had kept Hurdle do you think this winning streak wouldn’t have happened? And what of the brilliant moves Hurdle made in the magical season when the Rockies advanced to the World Series. He’s lost some brain cells since that accomplishment.

http://myworldofbaseball.com/wordpress/?m=200906

Draft:

22) Zack Von Tersch, RHP, Georgia Tech Buddy Munroe, C from the University of Florida, was the real Twins pick. I ended up going with Von Tersch, sort of a bookend to Von Rosenberg earlier in the draft. Von Tersch has not performed well in college, but has a live arm and is originally from Iowa, and as stated I try to get guys from the upper Midwest. He went in the 22nd round to the Mets in real life. I imagine he might return to college for another year to see if he can boost his draft stock.

http://www.minorleagueball.com/