12/26/11

Cutnpaste: - Angel Cuan, Monies Due, Alex Ochoa, Cyclones, Justin Turner



12-19-11: - http://www.amazinavenue.com/2011/12/19/2622862/2011 -mets-minor-league-season-in-review-savannah-sand-gnatsLHP Angel Cuan - STOCK HOLDING - Another year, another solid performance from the little lefty who I'd say is not far from serious consideration as a future LOOGY candidate. You could make the case for a stock up here as he mastered another new level and I didn't only because his stuff is still fringy at best. However, he made the most of it posting a spectacular 1.16 BB/9, a very strong .73 HR/9 all with a BABIP right around .302 so luck was not a factor here, as you can see by his 3.14 FIP.

“The Wilpons have a situation in terms of medium-term debt that’s totally unsustainable,” Megdal says. “They owe $430 million in principal against their team, due back in 2014. They owe $450 million in principal due back to (TV network) SNY in June of 2015. And then they owe $25 million every six months against Citi Field. They need these minority investors right now in order to be paying short-term bills that are essentially structured as loans.” http://www.nj.com/mets/index.ssf/2011/12/bradley_mets_financial_trouble.html?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

Bob McClure will be the pitching coach and Tim Bogar will serve as bench coach for the Boston Red Sox as manager Bobby Valentine cements his staff for the coming season. The team also announced Friday that Alex Ochoa will be the team's first base coach, while Jerry Royster will either wave runners home or put up the stop sign as third base coach. McClure is making a lateral move, as he served in the same position with the Kansas City Royals for the past six seasons. Bogar was the BoSox third base coach the last two seasons and is in his fourth year with the organization. Ochoa is being promoted from Boston's Class-A affiliate in Salem of the Carolina League, where he served as hitting coach. Royster, meanwhile, adds more managerial experience to the mix as he was skipper of the Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization from 2008-10. Bogar and Ochoa played for Valentine when he managed the New York Mets, his last major league gig before getting the opportunity to take over in Boston. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=sportsxchange-000511134_red-sox-manager-valentine-names-bogar-bench-coach

Brooklyn has notoriously been considered to be the Wyoming of talent -- there's usually nothing there. Whether the prospects competing for Brooklyn are old for Penn leaguers or simply bland as far as talent goes, year after year the Cyclones sell out their oceanside ballpark with a rather disappointing team on the field. Last week, the Mets made headlines after claiming they were going to eliminate their GCL team from the organization, basically getting rid of twenty-plus players from the organization in the process. This comes as a surprise considering just about every organization features a GCL or AZL team on their list of development locations. Also, when teams nix an affiliate, it's usually a short-season team in the Northwest, Pioneer, New York-Penn or Appy league team (depending on the affiliate) since they like having an affiliate at their Spring Training complex. On his famous Podcast last week,  Baseball Prospectus' Kevin Goldstein suggested Brooklyn would become a popular destination for talent considering it's one of their only two remaining short-season teams.  http://pennleaguereport.typepad.com/penn-league-report

It seems that the Mets brass would prefer to see Dan Murphy win the second base job, so once again Justin Turner goes into spring training as the backup plan. Personally, I think Turner is still, currently, the Mets’ best option at second – at least until Reese Havens remains healthy enough to get more seasoning and/or Jordany Valdespin grows up. Turner may or may not be good enough to be an everyday second baseman; I’d be curious to see him play another full year at the position, but further down in the lineup, to see what might happen. I believe his ceiling is somewhere between Mark Loretta and Mark DeRosa, which isn’t too awful. Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, Turner reminds me a lot of Ty Wigginton‘s first year as a Met — a hard-nosed hustler full of piss and vinegar; though, Wiggy showed more power and less discipline at the plate.  Turner just turned 27, so he is moving into the prime of his career. If it were up to me, Turner would be penciled in as the Mets’ starting second baseman going into spring training; in other words, his job to lose http://www.metstoday.com/7318/11-12-offseason/2011-evaluation-justin-turner

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