The Flushing 14

Please find the “Flushing 14”.

These are the prospects that need to step up beginning this April and return the Mets to a playoff team by 2014. All are paid the minimal and come out of the system.

The team can survive if they all fair, but, if 80% live up to their projections, the Mets will enter the 2014 season with a playoff contender in the $45-50mil payroll range.

We will update this post weekly throughout the season. 

Week ending  2-5-12:

SP  Matt Harvey – Harvey was interviewed by MLB.com and he says he is 100% ready to return to AA-ball this spring. The video can be found on Mack’s Mets.

SP  Zack Wheeler – The Binghamton Examner wrote on 1-31-12 that Wheeler is expected to itch the April 5^th opener vs. Akron.  He talked to Milb.com about his secondary pitches:

  I'd never been able to throw a curve ball or anything really. I threw a pretty good one in high school, scouts said, but once you get up to where I am now people will be hitting it. My fastball is my best pitch and it's up in the air after that. I throw the curve ball at certain times and I throw the slider at certain times.  They're both pretty good now. I can use my curve for strike three or I could use it to set a guy up early in the count and then come back with a harder slider or a fastball. I hope to be able to use it a bunch of different ways. That's what I'm trying to figure out right around now so that I can be prepared later on.

SP Jeurys Familia – Baseball America has reported that Familia’s short stint during the end of winter ball was a full success. It was only five inning over five games, but they were great ones J

SP Jenrry Mejia –  Right now, Mejia is on schedule to return to active duty in late June. Retro from Hardball Times:

  6/24/09 - I will admit it, I missed the boat on Mejia. Earlier this year I glanced at his High-A numbers, which were impressive on the surface but not all that spectacular peripherally, and then moved on to the next player that caught my eye. But, at the age of 19 I should have at least added him to the bubble. I didn't even consciously realize that he was promoted to Double-A Binghamton until a few starts in. That's when my eyes were opened. Right on cue, kindly Hardball Times reader Suchit Patel emailed me no more than an hour later looking for my thoughts on Mejia. Dear Suchit, go get Jenrry Mejia. I will admit another thing, I haven't even seen him pitch yet, but I'm hoping to catch his next start. I am being aggressive with this ranking, as I've essentially moved him ahead of Fernando Martinez as the team's No. 1 prospect, but the numbers and the age don't lie. He's riding on a lot of hype, and I usually don't just blindly buy into hype, but this time I will take the plunge

RP Josh Edgin –  Josh told MMO earlier this week:

  My goals for next season are to pitch to the best of my ability. I know what I have in me, and I expect that out of me every pitch. The general approach will be to go after the hitters. If you try to think or over-analyze, that is when you get hurt as a pitcher. It all starts with strike one. I am excited to make the jump to AA (if all goes well) but I’m not sure if I will have to do anything differently until I get there, whenever that may be. I don’t want to get my hopes up about going up there. Just take it one day at a time.        

RP Jack Leathersich – the word is that he will start in the spring in order to build up some innings pitched a la what Ryan Fraser did last season. The problem is where to pitch him since the system is so filled up with a bunch of “C-B” rated pitching prospects.

RP – Brant Rustich – Brant advised to me directly that his first mini-camp well and he is very excited about the new feeling he has in his pitching hand. He considers his progress ahead of schedule and says he is 100% ready for spring training.

2B – Reese Havens – Reports are that he is 100% and ready to play.

SS  Jordany Valdespin – there is chatter that "Spin" will compete during ST for the Queens second base job, but most of us believe that Daniel Murphy has won that role already. Jordy didn't fair that well aftr being promoted late in 2011 to AAA and he needs another season under his very talented belt.

3B – Wilmer Flores – Flores made the conversion to 3B in winter ball and is scheduled to play that position in Binghamton come April.

Wilmer told me on Saturday that he is 100% ready for the challenges of 2012. 

C  Juan Centeno – Centeno is the closest the Mets have to a real catching prospect. He should get the lion share of play time in Binghamton in 2012.

OF Kirk Nieuwenhuis – The current plan for Kirk is to work his way back in May and play the 2012 season in Buffalo. His kind of injury demands to play everyday so sitting on a Flushing bench will do him, nor the team, any good. 

OF Matt den Dekker – Matt has a legitimate chance to open 2013 in the Mets centerfield. His self-proclaimed two goals in 2012 are to cut down his strikeouts and increase his stolen bases.

OF Cesar Puello - Cesar will concentrate his spring training on plate maintenance. He will move on to Binghamton for the beginning of the 2012 season.