The Mack Report – Manuel Alvarez, Jordy Valdy Spin, Juan Urbina, 40-man Movement, Blog-Pool





Manuel Alvarez was quietly placed on the 40-man roster, protecting him from the Rule V draft (I have moved him 39th on “The Keepers” list to 24th).

This was a good move. Frankly, there isn’t a ton of top talent in the Mets’ minor league pens, but Alvarez has definitely won himself an opportunity to compete for a slot in ST.

He’s only 24 and went 6-14, 2.17 last season for St. Lucie, Binghamton, and Buffalo. He also had 17 saves in 21 chances, and 84-Ks in 78.2-IP. He walked only 12 batters.

4-15-10: - I would have bet real money before the season started that Rhiner Cruz would have been the Lucy closer this season, but the Mackster was wrong again. It's Alvarez, who, after four outings, has finished all four games, recording three saves and creating stats of: 4.2-IP, 0.00, 0.64, 5-K.

4-18-10: - there isn’t much lights out pitching going on in St. Lucie right now, but Alvarez is the exception: In 9 appearances, Alvarez still hasn’t given up a run and stats ut at: 2-0, 0.00, 15-K, 12.1-IP.

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Michael G. Baron



 The obvious star of the winter leagues so far has been 2B/SS Jordany Valdespin.Note: Deadline to protect players from the Rule V draft: November 19th.

“Jordy” or “Spin” or whatever the hell they call him ( I asked him directly about five days ago and he didn’t answer me) is banging it away in the AFL. Through Wednesday he’s: .362/.397/.464/.861 in 69-AB with 11-RBIs and 7-SB.

Word is he’s playing exclusively at second base this winter, which will obviously complete the conversion from shortstop. If you check the web site for Mesa, they have no second baseman other than Josh Satin; however, Satin is right now playing mostly at first base. (Did I mention Valdespin is leading the team in errors?). Is all of this enough to warrant a 40-man spot and protect him from the Rule V draft? I think so, especially after the dumping of five guys yesterday. Look, the competition in the winter leagues isn’t exactly major league caliber, but it does tend to represent the same level you just finished playing against. Valdespin has proven he can hit at all levels thrown at him, and I’d love to see open up at Binghamton ( did have 112-Abs there in 2010) at second base with Reese Havens back on short. He turns 23 two days before Christmas and his ETA is 2012.
                                                      
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 In my continuing series comparing my top prospect list to John Sickles. Here’s John’s number seven pick:



Allan Greene

 7) Juan Urbina, LHP, Grade B-: Highly projectable but a long way from the majors. Grade is somewhat aggressive but I like what I hear about him.


Same ballpark. I have Urbina 8th.


I wrote in the past:


7-2-09: - Urbina was signed this past year as a 16-year old international free agent. Reports are that he is already “hitting 90”, but that’s what everybody says about everybody, including their grandmother. The same experts have said that he was the top pitcher to come out of the international kiddie signing day. In the past, the Mets used to start these newbies off in Latin America, but not anymore. Watch for him to debit in Florida with the GCL Mets.


6-23-10: - Last year’s big 16-year old international signee, SP Juan Urbina, debuted yesterday for the GCL Mets and done well. His stats were impressive: 5.0-IP, 2-H, 0-ER, 0-R, 3-K, 1-BB. He turned 17 last month. Everybody says this kid is going to be the real deal, but we’ll just have to wait four more years… when he turns 21! Urbina is already hitting the low 90’s and we’ll keep a special look out on him throughout the season.


6-30-10: - Super-prospect Juan Urbina continues to impress at the GCL-level. On Monday, Urbina tossed: 4.2-IP, 1-ER, 6-K and finished the day with a seasonal 0.93 ERA for his first two starts.


8-5-10: - Stock Up – Urbina had another great outing yesterday, going 5.2-IP, 0-ER, 3-K, 0-BB, 4-H. Remember, he’s only 17. His ERA is high (4.84), but that’s due to three horrendous outings where he gave up 16-ER in 10.0-IP. His other eight outings produced 3-ER in 25.1-IP.


In 2010, Urbina pitched for the GCL Mets and faired well for an 18-year old: 5-3, 11-starts, 5.03, 38-K, 14-BB, 48.1-IP.


2011 Forecast: - I can't even imagine what it's like for a kid to come to a brand new country and pitch for the New York Mets. Urbina did exactly what the Mets had hoped for when they signed him and he's one of the top young prospects in the system. The good news is he's blocked pretty solid by the plethora (great Howard Cosell word) of young starters ahead of him, and I'm sure you'll see him as part of the rotation in Brooklyn come the spring.
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 The Mets removed five ballplayers from the 40-man and shuffled them off to Buffalo. They are RP Eddie Kunz, P Raul Valdez, 1B/3B Mike Hessman, OF Jesus Feliciano, and C Omir Santos.


All five of these move makes sense. I don’t see any of these guys making the Mets in the spring. The exception might be Omir Santos, if Henry Blanco signs elsewhere.


The Mets also lost 2B Joaquin Arias to waivers. Again, no big deal and not part of the big picture.


Think 2012.


If you do, all these moves make sense.
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 I was extremely surprised when David Rubin called me yesterday to tell me about the Dave Howard “conference call” with various Mets bloggers regarding ticket sales.


This was obviously the first time the Mets have reached out to a community that, until yesterday, was considered a fringe element of the media community.


I have been blessed for the past four years to be part of both, first as a beat reporter for one of the Mets minor league franchises, and secondly, as the founder of this blog. This has given me the opportunity to be part of the Mets press crew during spring training which is priceless.


It will be interesting to see where this goes and I suggest, if anyone from the Mets are reading this, that you assign to Matt Cerrone of http://www.metsblog.com/  the job of determining which blogs would be in the press pool.


Or is it the blog pool?


Not all Mets blogs approach this as a professional business and conduct themselves in a proper manner.


On the other side, many do a great job and should be included on this list.


Matt knows where all the blog-dogs are buried and no one in the community would question his judgement.


But, that’s just me.