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10/23/09

Minors Stuff - Friday




New York Mets

ESPN's Keith Law, former special assistant to the GM in Toronto, mentioned a few interesting Blue Jays' non-trades in his chat today. He says that the Mets once offered 19-year-old David Wright for Jose Cruz Jr., but J.P. Ricciardi said "I'm not trading a major league player for some guy in the (Low Class-A) Sally League."


PP: Who are a couple sleeper pitchers to look for in 2010?

Hyde: A healthy Dillon Gee might be very useful upper level depth for the Mets. Lefty Adam Bostick deserves a shot in spring training to win a bullpen role. Southpaws Urbina and Matz are the two most exciting arms the Mets added this summer.

PP: Lastly, an updated top 5 Mets prospect list would look like what?

Hyde: Martinez is still up there at the top along with Niese as both fell short of losing their rookie eligibility due to season-ending injuries. Mejia and Davis are also in my top five. I haven't decided who gets the last spot yet. Candidates include Thole, Tejada, Wilmer Flores and Holt.
Wilmer Flores SS (Mets) - Wilmer is still listed at short but most feel he will need to move to third or first base if he wishes to reach the major leagues. He played in the South Atlantic League and went from .307 in the Low A and rookie Leagues, but only hit .264 in the more advanced South Atlantic League. He still has a proclivity to strikeout, going down on strikes 72 times. He’ll also need to improve on his .305 OBA and his .332 slugging was a huge disappointment. Most think he will grow into his power but based on his 2009 numbers his power is being sapped. He needs to show more next year if he wants to stay on the prospect map.

Aragua 12, Zulia 6 - Mets farmhand Chris Carter went 4-for-5 with a solo homer and three runs scored, powering the Tigres to their second straight win. Giants prospect Ramon Castro chipped in three RBIs as part of an 18-hit attack for Aragua, while Kenny Perez (Rockies) and Ernesto Mejia (Braves) hit two-run homers for Zulia. Box score

Magallanes 9, Caribes 2 - Blue Jays prospect Brian Dopirak homered and drove in three runs and Nationals farmhand Gustavo Molina hit a three-run shot, powering the Navegantes to their fifth straight win. Jose Sanchez (Mets) tossed four scoreless innings for Magallanes, while Reds prospect Daniel Dorn was 3-for-3 with a walk for the Caribes. Box score

Cardinals prospect Tyler Henley homered and knocked in three runs Wednesday as the Surprise Rafters held on for a 10-9 victory over the Peoria Saguaros. Henley and former Mets first-round pick Ike Davis teamed up twice to help the Rafters build a 7-0 cushion by the fifth inning. Surprise took a 1-0 lead in the second on doubles by Davis and Henley. Davis, who went 3-for-4, singled again in the fifth before Henley ripped his first Arizona Fall League homer, a two-run shot off Evan Englebrook (Astros) that made it 7-0.

http://www.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091021&content_id=7517940&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb


Blogs:

If what Davidoff reports is true and Holliday prefers the Yankees over the Mets, the Mets have already lost. There is no way that the Mets can outbid the Yankees in a bidding war, especially with a very soft free agent market like this. Even though last season Yankee GM Brian Cashman said after the spending spree they went on the Yankees do have a budget, Matsui and Johnny Damon are both coming off the payroll and as of right now it doesn't look like the Yankees plan on resigning either outfielder.

· The Mets now expect to meet with Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman and his agent later this week after initially saying they had no plans to do so, according to a person familiar with the situation. Chapman already is in New York, and has set up meetings with the Yankees, as well as a sitdown with Red Sox officials in Boston.

Chapman, a 21-year-old lefthander that throws in the high 90s, could be be one of the most coveted free agents this winter. But teams are uncertain just how ready he will be for the major leagues and that should affect his asking price.

Strasburg threw 36 heaters in today's outing. I'm not sure of the two- and four-seam split yet -- right now I think he threw five sinkers, but that's not for sure. In any case, the fastballs from Strasburg came out of his hand at no less than 95, maxing out around 99.6. He sat around 97/98, which is nasty.

This was clearly an off day for Strasburg, so don't make too much of this. Only 48% of his fastballs found the strike zone. Even though hitters took a lot of fastballs in the zone (53% !) his B:CS ratio landed at a hefty (for a fastball) 2.7.

Despite control issues, the whiff rate of .143 against his fastball (swing rate .389) was pretty good, and he got the ball in play on the ground (.667). Still, each ball in play resulted in one base, on average, for an even SLGCON of 1.000.

http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/


2010 Draft:

It was a learning experience for the Nationals' Stephen Strasburg on Thursday at Peoria Stadium. In his second Arizona Fall League start for the Phoenix Desert Dogs, the No. 1 pick in the nation plummeted to earth.
Strasburg allowed eight earned runs and seven hits, including three homers (one a grand slam), in a 9-6 loss to the Peoria Javelinas. It was his first look at that kind of disaster. Take note that he gave up only 16 earned runs in 15 college starts this season for San Diego State, for which he was 13-1 with a 1.32 ERA during his junior year.
In his two AFL starts, he's 1-1 with a 10.50 ERA. Welcome to professional baseball.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091022&content_id=7527876&vkey=news_was&fext=.jsp&c_id=was&partnerId=rss_was

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