I May Be Wrong, But… Goeddel, FU Money, A.J., Draft Bonus Pool

·                     I emailed SP Erik Goeddel and asked what his goals were this ST. He emailed back:

Hey Mack, This spring training my main focus is on my off-speed pitches. With the change up I'm looking to get consistent with my movement on the ball. Sometimes it breaks straight down (which is what I want) and sometimes it cuts. Im trying to get rid of the cutting changes. Then with my slider and curveball, my main focus is going to be improving my command so in situations where I need to get one over for a called strike I can, and so when I need a swing and miss I can throw them just out of the zone and not catch too much plate.

Erik seems to have his pitcher head on straight. You can get to AA someday, but you will never survive there without command. 

·                  Christopher Roy emailed me:

·                     I'm confused when i read that teams may be willing to pay between $20M - $24M  over 4 yrs for a 19 yr old kid .. this makes no sense to me when u consider that the 1st 3 years will be spent in the minors .. so that means some team is willing to pay a minor leaguer $5M - $6M per year or $15M - $18M total… am i missing something?

Mack:  No, you’re missing everything.

Chris, this is all supply and demand. If someone what you more that you want them, the bucks go up immediately. Ten more home wins person, and create two playoff games, make these kind of investments look like chump change. It’s baseball craps. You roll the dice and hope you make your number.

When I was in broadcasting, friends would pay me $1000 to speak to their sales staffs. Trangers, who never met me, but read my resume, aid me $10,000.

That’s how the “supply and demand” works.

·                     I couldn’t help but notice A.J. Burnett’s comments about being a Yankees pitcher… "I let a few too many people tinker with me...''

A note to all pitching coaches:  Not everybody does this the same way. What works for one doesn’t for the other and please remember why you either drafted or signed these guys. They did pitch well the year before they came under your control, right? 

I know your heart is in the right place, but you can’t make every pitcher throw with the same mechanics as Pedro Martinez or Johan Santana.

If you don’t like the way they throw (Heilman, Holt, Wheeler), than don’t add them to your team.

·                     Here is how much the Mets spent last year on draft bonuses, both in   the first 10 rounds and in total.

Bonus Pool  $7,151,400

2011/Top 10  $5,070,000

2011/Total  $6,782,500

This is the 9^th largest pool number in the league this year which will give the Mets an edge come draft day. The new collective bargaining agreement rewards teams that do not participate heavily in free agency, so we look for the Mets to stay in this range for at least two years.