The Mack Report – December 3, 2010

The Mack Report – December 3, 2010



ARB Players - I talked to someone last night who told me that I should look for the new Mets management team to concentrate their free agent efforts on the players that turned down arbitration earlier this year. For some reason, we don’t lop these guys into the normal articles written about the free agents available in the market, but, in reality, they too are up for grabs. Sure, teams can lose draft picks, but the best deals for the Mets, financially, may be looking at some of these fine players.

John Maine – It’s no big surprise to anyone that was at the spring training pitchers/catchers and the first few opening days that Maine wasn’t tendered. Maine was supposed to pitch during the pitcher/catchers time, but didn’t show up for undefined reasons, but when he did report and pitch the first week of official reporting, it didn’t take long for anyone to realize that he simply didn’t have the velocity anymore that would be needed to compete in the major leagues. Maine has always attempted to be a team workhorse and he’s the last person you ask “how are you feeling”. Known, in a nice way, as a chronic liar, he’ll always tell you he’s 100%, which has pissed off a few Mets suits in the past. I applaud what he has done for the team in the past, but I realized last year his time was done here. Good luck in life, John.

Okay, we’re down to 21 more Mets to look at and decide where they would best be played, in 2011, to meet the Mets needs, in 2012. We will then be left with 52 more Mets players, who are still in the system, but I have deemed to remain in extended camp for further development. Some are there due to injuries, others due to poor past performance, but we’ll look at them at the end of this process and see if we should change our mind and slot them into any roster slots that might still be left open.

And, yes, there will be openings, especially in Buffalo.

Tejada:   Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson has confirmed that the best thing in 2011 is to start infielder Ruben Tejada at AAA-Buffalo, rather than wallow on the Mets bench behind both Luis Castillo (yes, he’s staying…) and Daniel Murphy.
This means we have to go back and change a few things on the projected Mets minor league rosters.

Again, I’m doing this with 2012 in mind… so, with Jose Reyes in the last year of his contract, I’m going to put Tejada back on SS.

Regarding second base, figuring that the combo of Castillo/Murphy/Luis Hernandez will handle the 2011 duties, I then put Reese Havens back on shortstop, his natural position, and let him start AAA-Buffalo in 2011.

This makes Jordany Valdespin the third middle infield option, Zach Lutz remains on third, and Justin Turner is the odd man out of the Buffalo roster. Assuming he’d report, I send Turner back to Binghamton to be the every day second baseman and Matt Bouchard becomes the utility infielder:

Buffalo (21):

Rotation: (4) - SP Jenrry Mejia, Josh Stinson, Mike Antonini, Dylan Owen

Relievers: (5) – Manny Alvarez, Jose De La Torre, Roy Merritt, Michael O’Connor, Eric Niesen

Catchers: (1) – Mike Nickeas

Infielders: (6) – 1B/UT Eric Campbell, 1B/UT Josh Satin, 2B Ruben Tejada, SS Reese Havens, 2B/SS Jordany Valdespin, 3B Zach Lutz

Outfielders: (5) – Fernando Martinez, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Lucas Duda, D.J. Wabick, Val Pasccuchi



Binghamton (24):

Rotation: (6) – Jeurys Familia, Robert Carson, Eric Beaulac, Mark Cohoon, Brandon Moore, Chris Schwinden

Relievers: (7) – Nick Carr, Brant Rustich, Brad Holt, Scott Moviel, Eric Turgeon, Rhiner Cruz, Ryan Coultas

Catchers: (2) – Kai Gronauer, Francesco Pena

Infielders (4) – 1B Michael Fisher, 2B Justin Turner, SS Rylan Sandoval, 3B Wilmer Flores, UT Matt Bouchard

Outfielders (4) – Sean Ratliff, Pedro Zapata, Rafael Fernandez, Carlos Guzman



St. Lucie (20):

Rotation (5) – Matt Harvey, Kyle Allen, Yohan Almonte, Collin McHugh, Jimmy Fuller

Relievers (6) – Eric Goeddel, Ryan Fraser, Michael Powers, Gabriel Zabala, Daniel Carela, Brandon Sage

Catchers (1) – Blake Forsythe

Infielders (2) – 1B Stefan Welsh, 2B Alonzo Harris, SS Robbie Shields, 3B Joe Bonfe

Outfielders (4) – Cesar Puello, Cory Vaughn, Matt den Dekker, Juan Lagares



Savannah (20):

Rotation: (6) – Greg Peavey, Chris Hilliard, Angel Cuan, John Church, A.J. Pinera, Mitch Houck

Closer: (1) – Ryan Fraser
Relievers: (4) – T.J. Chism, Samuel Tavares, Nelson Pereira, Orlando Tovar,


Catchers: (2) – Albert Cordero, Juan Centeno


Infielders: (4) – 1B Jeff Flagg, 2B J.B. Brown, SS Wilfredo Tovar, 3B Aderlin Rodriquez


Outfielders: (3) – Darrell Ceciliani, Javier Rodriguez, Jenry Marte




Continuing our prospect slotting… tomorrow.