1-30-13 – Armondo Rodriguez, Scott Hairston, Michael Bourn, TPA Top Mets Prospects

Gio Gonzalez‏ - @GioGonzalez47

I've never used performance enhancing drugs of any kind and I never will. I've never met or spoken with Tony Bosch or used any substance

Rob Castellano -

RHP Armando Rodriguez - In his first season of relief, the 24-year-old had good success posting career-highs in strikeouts per nine (9.54) as well as walks per nine (2.60) as a member of the Double-A B-Mets bullpen. Remember a couple years ago when Omar Minaya compared his arm to that of Jenrry Mejia? Well obviously that wasn't entirely accurate, made clear by the fact that he went unclaimed in the most recent Rule 5 Draft. However, at the very least Rodriguez offers good command of a very strong fastball -- and not much else -- which, thanks to a spotty relief crew, should be enough to give him a real shot as middle relief fodder at some point in 2013.

I’ve always liked Rodriguez. He came on the scene in 2009 as a 21-year old International free agent from a country (DR) you usually read about teams signing 16-year olds. Where was he for five years? Then again, who was he for five years? That being jokingly said, Rodriguez has basically done nothing wrong during his four year accent to AAA. His career stats are: 19-18, 3.22, 1.13, 361-IP, 365-K… and last year’s stats at Binghamton (2-3, 3.22, 1.09, 72.2-IP, 77-K) got him past that hump. He finished the season pitching in one AAA game which is where he will start off this season. The 6-2 righty does sit in the low 90s where his velo seems to have peaked. We all know that the Mets pen is one of the areas that need improvement. Rodriguez will get his chance sometime in 2013 a la Elvin Ramirez did last season. Hopefully, the results will be different.

Jon Heyman‏ @JonHeymanCBS

Scott Hairston deal with Cubs is for $5M over 2 yrs. incentives, if hit, can add $1M extra.

Wow. I expected this to be a much bigger dollar figure. I know Hairston and his agent wanted many more year than this, but this is chump change based on what some of the other free agent outfielders got this off-season. I thought Hairston was going to bring back any deal to the Mets and, based on last year’s stats and the state of the current Mets outfield, why wouldn’t Sandy Alderson match this? No, there was more here, something we’ll probably never read about.

Fangraph  got into the action regarding the possible adjustment of the Mets 11^th pick:

But, if the idea behind the compensation system was actually to promote competitive balance, then perhaps MLB should immunize the Mets from having to sacrifice their first round pick to sign Michael Bourn. Changing the rules in the middle of an off-season doesn’t seem fair, but the change would be narrow enough that no other team would be affected by the change, as the Mets were the only franchise pushed out of the top 10 by the Pirates failure to sign Appel. No other franchise could claim that the agreed upon rules had a material affect on whether or not their first round pick should be considered their “highest available selection”.  My guess is that MLB will rule against the Mets and declare that their pick is still eligible for forfeit, but it might be a more interesting decision that it seems on its face. If Major League Baseball is serious about continuing the charade that draft pick compensation is for the benefit of losing teams, making an exception for the Mets would be a good way to support that claim.

            Everybody just needs to move on here…

TopProspectAlert - 2013 Top 150 Major League Baseball Prospect

#10 Zack Wheeler – RHP – New York Mets (47) -  Born 5/30/1990 -  Highest Level Reached Triple-A Buffalo Bisons -  2012 Combined Stats:  MILB: 12-8, 3.26ERA, 149IP, 59BB, 148K, .221BAA

#25 Travis d’Arnaud – C – New York Mets (21) -  Born 2/10/1989 -  Highest Level Reached Triple-A Las Vegas 51′s -  2012 Combined Stats:  MILB: .333, 21(2B), 2(3B), 16HR, 52RBI

#44 Noah Syndergaard – RHP – New York Mets (107) -  Born 8/29/1992 -  Highest Level Reached Low-A Lansing Lugnuts -  2012 Combined Stats:  MILB: 8-5, 2.60ERA, 103.2IP, 31BB, 122K, .212BAA

#92 Gavin Cecchini – SS – New York Mets (NR) -  Born 12/22/1993 -  Highest Level Reached Short-A Brooklyn Cyclones -  2012 Combined Stats:  MILB: .240, 9(2B), 2(3B), 1HR, 22RBI

#114 Brandon Nimmo – OF – New York Mets (99) -  Born 3/27/1993 -  Highest Level Reached Short-A Brooklyn Cyclones -  2012 Combined Stats:  MILB: .248, 20(2B), 2(3B), 6HR, 40RBI

       this seemed like a tribute to Alderson's trading, rather than his drafting, ability. I also was surprised that Wilmer Flores didn't make the list.