Mathew Budgell, John Franco, Ruben Tejada, Farm System, Ike Update

Mathew Budgell:


7-8-11: - The Mets announced they have signed their 10th round draft pick. – 6-2, 150 (yikes!) – Woodbridge High School, Irvine, Ca. – signed for $225,000 – third over slot signing - 40 IP, 48 H (16 XBH), 18 BB, 33 K, 4.02 ERA


John Franco:


John Franco (1990-01, 03-04): Franco came to the Mets prior to the 1990 season in a trade with the Cincinnati Reds. He proceeded to rack up 276 saves with the Amazins, tops in the team’s history. He also owned a 3.10 ERA, 1.365 WHIP and 7.6 K/9. He also pitched well in the postseason, and allowed no runs during his three World Series appearances in 2000. He may not have been the dominant pitcher that Benitez was in terms of strikeouts and power, but Franco was crafty and knew how to get the job done. His 424 career saves ranks fourth on the all-time list, and are the most compiled by a lefty. - http://risingapple.com/2011/07/07/top-five-closers-in-mets-history  


Ruben Tejada:


7-7-11: - http://metsmerizedonline.com/2011/07/the-kids-are-all-right.html  - Ruben Tejada was supposed to be the kid with the slick glove who wasn’t supposed to do much with the bat. But in addition to his fielding prowess, his offense has been a pleasant surprise. In 45 games hitting mostly in the eighth spot in the batting order, Tejada has collected 18 RBI, the result of a .314 batting average with runners in scoring position and a .318 average with men on base. Also, unlike most free-swinging young players, the 21-year-old Tejada has made excellent contact this season, striking out only 25 times


Farm System:


The Mets came into the season with an interesting dynamic, as the new front office inherited a large number of raw, high-upside players acquired by the previous regime. At this point, 2011 has gone reasonably well. The primary bright spots have been breakouts from Jeurys Familia and Matt Harvey. The Mets also have a number of high-upside hitting prospects like Wilmer Flores, Cesar Puello, Cory Vaughn, etc. The primary negative was losing Jennry Mejia when he was about to help their rotation. In the draft, the team added a high-upside outfielder in Brandon Nimmo. It’s hard to say how this system will look in five years. There are a lot of potentially productive players, but since many of the high upside guys are speculative, it’ll take time to see how it turns out. On the whole, I think the new front office has the Mets headed in the right direction. - http://www.deepleagues.com/?p=3511  

Ike Update:


Ike Davis has been doing treadmill work on a specialized machine that puts less force on his legs than his body weight normally would supply. And Terry Collins said the sessions to test Davis' troublesome left ankle on Thursday and Friday have gone well. ”Another very, very good report today that the ankle is responding very, very well," Collins said. "There's no discomfort." - http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/28891/collins-ike-davis-making-progress