Mets: Terrific on Pitching, 2013 Free Agents, Richie Ashburn, Taylor Whitenton, Valentino Pascucci

Q. What do you think about their pitching prospects, including Jeurys Familia, Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler? - A. I’m a huge advocate of pitching. You have to have good pitching as the solid core, the foundation. It keeps you in every game. Go back to ’69. We were in every game we played. That raises the level of play of everybody else on the ball club. Because you’re going to win by one run, or two runs. So that makes you hit the cutoff man, move the runner over and do the things that fundamentally make the ball club win. I’m sure that Sandy will be very strong at that.  http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/21/q-a-with-tom-seaver/#more-56509

I have comprised a list of the top eight players the Mets should pursue as free agents, assuming they become available and assuming the team is back in business next offseason. Now, I’m not suggesting 7-10 year contracts. But to land some of these players, it will take more than the standard 1 year contract Sandy Alderson has been generally floating out there.  

8. RHP Brandon League: Mariners. The hard throwing reliever finally broke through when given the chance to be the Mariners closer in 2011. He was an all star, who finished the season with 37 saves, replacing injured RHP David Aardsma. He has a good fastball and has always been known to miss bats. Scouts have always liked his stuff and he has shown signs of becoming as good as the scouts have said.  

7. LHP Sean Marshall: Reds. It’s safe to say Marshall is a reliever now. He may get a chance to close some for the Reds this year, along with Aroldis Chapman. The last two seasons, he has pitched in 80 and 78 games, respectively and has also struck out more batters than innings pitched. Similarly to League, scouts have been high on Marshall and he is starting to prove them right. - http://baseballreflections.com/2012/01/23/are-the-mets-considering-the-post-2012-free-agent-market/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

When my colleague and fellow baseball historian Adam Darowski wrote that Richie Ashburn was a better player than he had thought, I was pleased. Like the BBWAA writers, I have my biases and one is Ashburn. But using the standard that Adam developed for the “Small” Hall of Fame that I favor, Ashburn came up quite sort. Adam set 105 wWAR as the minimum for entry to the Small Hall; Ashburn had 84.8. Ashburn, if nothing else, was one of the most dependable players of his era. During the ten year period from 1949 through 1958, he played in 98.6 percent of the Phillies’ games. Only seven players had higher percentages over a similar period: Lou Gehrig, Billy Williams, Nellie Fox, Cap Anson, Stan Musial, John Morrill and Ron Santo. Ashburn must have been a manager’s dream. Phillies’ pilots Eddie Sawyer, Steve O’Neil, Mayo Smith and, for a season with the Mets, Casey Stengel knew they could pencil Ashburn into the lineup and he would deliver http://baseballpastandpresent.com/2012/01/23/richie-ashburn-non-wwar-overview/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

1-23-12 - http://www.amazinavenue.com/2012/1/23/2693134/2012-amazin-avenue-top-50-mets-prospects  - #41) RHP Taylor Whitenton - The 23-yr old former 39th rounder emerged in 2011 as a legit prospect based on one of the most dominant pitching lines in the entire system. As evidenced by his 9.56 K/9 -- which was right in line with his career marks -- as well as his SAL-leading .193 opp. average, hitters just don't pick up the ball well out of the 6'3" righty's hand. Additionally, he cleaned up his control quite a bit in 2011 posting a 3.86 BB/9 compared to a career mark above 5. 

Val (Valentino) Pascucci is a Minor League Veteran, who is on the outside looking this Spring. Pascucci put together a really strong 2011 season, but he is not on the 40-man roster, so for him to break spring with the Mets going North, he is going to have to have a really strong Spring Training. Val is 33 years old and led all of the Mets system in RBI with 91 and was second in the Mets system with 21 homers. He also finished the season with a brief stint with the major league club:  

Minors: 443 AB, 58 R, 117 H, 29 2B, 1 3B, 21 HR, 91 RBI, .264 BA, .375 OBP

 Majors: 11 AB, 1 R, 3 H, 1 HR

What Pascucci has going for him, is what he has always had going for him. He packs some pop in his back. In fact, back in 2007 he had 34 minor league homers. In his time in the Minors, he has smacked 234 balls over the wall. http://www.213milesfromshea.com/2012/01/23/get-to-know-a-mets-minor-league-player-val-pascucci/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter