1-31-13 – Cory Mazzoni, Bullpen Candidates, Brian Schnieder, Carlos Gomez

Jonathan Mayo - ‏@JonathanMayoB3

Every-day 2B RT @JGuarino24: @JonathanMayoB3 what future do you see for Gavin Cecchini?

Rob Castellano

RHP Cory Mazzoni - Mazzoni is an interesting name for 2013 after a rather underwhelming 2012 debut for the '11 second rounder. A strikeout per nine mark around 6.5 between High-A and Double-A is a big red flag. Additionally, he seemed to have problems putting away Double-A hitters (.281 opponent average, 1.00 home run per nine), an unexpected turn for a guy known for a nice mix of polish as well as mid-90s heat. For that reason, scouts think his stuff would play up in shorter bursts. And should the Mets make that transition, expect Mazzoni's mix of command, velocity, and decent secondary stuff to move very quickly

I really don’t know where to project Mazzoni in 2013. The Binghamton rotation is kind of wide open right now. Rafael Montero should go back to St. Lucie, but probably will be rushed to Binghamton. Other candidates other than Mazzoni are Angel Cuan, Chase Huchington, Eric Goeddel, Tyler Pill, John Church, and Brandon Moore.There’s no rush here. I would slot him in as SP2 behind Montero and let him pitch the entire season in Binghamton. Long term, I see his future as a member of the pen.

The current candidates for the Mets bullpen:

Bobby Parnell             R, 29, 5-yrs, 13-19, 3.83, 1.46, 256.0-IP, 235-K103-BB         

Josh Edgin                  L, 26, 1-yr, 1-2, 4.50, 1.12, 26.0-IP, 30-K, 10-BB       

Frank Francisco          R, 33, 8-yrs, 19-22, 3.94, 1.33, 375.0-IP, 415-K, 166-BB

Pedro Feliciano          L, 36, 8-yrs, 22-19, 3.32, 1.38, 371.0-IP, 341-K, 154-BB       

Scott Atchison            R, 37, 6-yrs, 7-7, 3.47, 1.23, 210.0-IP, 164-K, 59-BB

Robert Carson            L, 24, 1-yr, 0-0, 4.85, 1.31, 13.1-IP, 5-K, 4-BB

Jeurys Familia             R, 23, 1-yr, 0-0, 6.00, 1.58, 12.0-IP, 10-K, 9-BB

Jeremy Hefner            R, 27, 1-yr, 4-7, 5.07, 1.36, 94.0-IP, 62-K, 18-BB      

Elvin Ramirez             R, 26, 1-yr, 0-1, 5.57, 2.10, 21.0-IP, 22-K, 20-BB

Greg Burke                 R, 30, 1-yr, 3-3, 4.11, 1.54, 46.0-IP, 33-K, 23-BB

Jenrry Mejia               R, 24, 2-yrs, 1-6, 4.91, 1.73, 55.0-IP, 30-K, 29-BB

Darin Gorski               L, 26, 0-yrs (minors: 4-yrs, 29-23, 3.68, 1.23, 455.0-IP, 417-K
LaTroy Hawkins          R, 40, 18-yrs, 65-88, 4.46, 1.43, 1301-IP, 862-K, 426-BB

Adam Rubin's projected pen: Francisco, Parnell, Edgin, Feliciano, Atchison, Hawkins, then long man like Hefner/Laffey

Brian Schneider:

“It hasn’t been an easy decision, but there are a lot of factors,” said the 36-year-old free agent. “You don’t want to retire, but you think of your family and I think more than anything it’s physically how you feel. I’d kind of like to leave on my own terms and not have my last impression of baseball be someone telling me I can’t play. But there is a lot going on in my life and I’m very fortunate to have a great family and start being a dad and being around more often and being a good husband.”

I really liked the trade of Schneider and OF Ryan Church to the Mets for bad—boy Lastings Milledge. I thought the Mets got rid of a trouble that would only get worse and received two legitimate front line every day players. I expected both to become long time Mets players and his first season with the Mets (.257, 9-HR, 38-RBI) showed promise, but then everything went south in 2009. As for Church, a couple of concussions caused his career to come to an end in 2010.

Danny Abriano

Carlos Gomez- In the event that Ellsbury has injury woes again in 2013, or commands a contract that’s outlandish, Gomez (28 years old heading into 2014 and another Boras client) would be a solid fallback option.  One of the players the Mets dealt to Minnesota in the Johan Santana trade, Gomez has established himself as an elite defensive center fielder.  It’s taken a while for Gomez’ offense to catch up to his defense, but he made huge strides in 2012.  For his career, he’s still only a .247 hitter with a .294 OBP, but he flashed above average power last year (cracking 19 home runs) while upping his average to .260.  Another Boras client, the Mets should be open to bringing Gomez back and sticking him in center field if Ellsbury isn’t brought in.

I don’t care what any of the minor league weenies will tell you now. We were all upset when this trade (Gomez, pitchers Deolis Guerra, Phillip Humber and Kevin Mulvey were sent to the Twins for the two time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana) went down. We are in the weenie business and these were the four best in the organization at the time.  But, like the Brian Schneider – Ryan Church story above, no one is certain in this business. Still, I would love to see Gomez back in centerfield for the Mets. I see him as a 20-25HR, .280 tops guy with impeccable defense (please don’t forget how many games this team has lost the past three years because of poor defense)