2-14-13 – Bobby Parnell, Mike Carp, Mets Young Pitchers, Johan Santana, Dustin Lawley

Rotoworld: - Terry Collins wants Bobby Parnell to be Mets' closer. I also read somewhere that Parnell said he always wanted to be a closer. That’s funny, I remember when all he wanted to be was a starter. I don’t like Parnell as a closer because he’s incapable of throwing a fast ball that has any late sink. It’s no big thing in the major leagues hitting a fast straight ball. Hopefully, John Buck can get Parnell to be more comfortable with his other pitches and he can mix them up better. The problem in the past is you just knew when Parnell was going to throw it as hard as he could. That’s not good enough. Still, 2012 were decent stats: 5-4, 2.49, 1.24, 74-games, 7-saves, 23 –GF

Kevin Burkhardt - ‏@KBurkhardtSNY

If Parnell is the future closer of the @Mets, Jason Isringhausen gets a huge assist.Teaching Bobby the knuckle-curve took him to a new level

The Seattle Mariners DFA’s ex-Met OF-1B Mike Carp. Bats left. Big Mets year was 2008-Binghamton (22-yrs old) - .299, 17-HR, 72-RBI… On December 10, 2008, Carp was traded to the Seattle Mariners in a three-team trade which also included RHP J.J. Putz, RHP Sean Green and OF Jeremy Reed from the Mariners for RHP Aaron Heilman, OF Endy Chávez, LHP Jason Vargas, OF Ezequiel Carrera and RHP Maikel Cleto and sent RHP Joe Smith to the Indians. (gee… I forgot the Mets had Vargas in 2007… 2012-Seattle - 14-11, 3.85, 1.18.

Tampa Bay VP of baseball operations Andrew Friedman on Mets pitching:

“The Mets have a tremendous amount of young talent. I   think those guys have done a tremendous job of acquiring some high-end young players that they can grow with, and I think that [front office] is extremely good at supplementing around those guys and also having enough good young depth. The one thing about young players is that they have tremendous upside but they also have tremendous downside. There is far from certainty from these players. For us, it’s our only way of doing business. It’s not a choice. It’s a survival mechanism.”

 Jared Diamond - Assuming Santana stays healthy, the Mets will spend the next six months trying to figure out how to handle the trade deadline. They went through a similar situation in 2011 with outfielder Carlos Beltran, and then managed to swing him to the San Francisco Giants for right-hander Zack Wheeler, a top pitching prospect. Considering the current state of the Mets' outfield—both in the majors and minors—they probably could use some reinforcements. Of course, if the Mets make a surprise run at the postseason, they could benefit from a healthy ace.

Here’s the difficulty here. You can’t limit your choice of a trade partner to one of your immediate needs. Remember, the team you would be trading Santana to will be better that the Mets (and closer to the playoff). They are going to want to keep their parent club talent on the field for the pennant race. No, this is another classic trade situation for a prospect, and nothing more.  

The real ballsy move will be trading for a top prospect that plays a position you don’t need, like C, 3B, or 1B. Uneducated Mets fans would go bonkers but Sandy Alderson know if it’s the right person, you can find another home for them for the right positional prospect you will want in the off season.

Mack - Love all the work you do. I know it is a labor of love and you probably feel unappreciated  , but there are many of us out here that check your website first every morning. Before someone jumps on you I just wanted to point out that when you were forecasting the minor league outfield this morning you omitted Dustin Lawley from PSL. That is unless you project him at 3B. My projections are dead on with yours except have Zapata staying at AA and Pron moving up to PSL with Thurber repeating Savannah. Thanks again and I enjoy your work. Your views  make a difference as to how many of us look at the organization that we love. – Marty

          Marty, you are spot on about Lawley, who I keep thinking as a third baseman. As of right now, he has played 102-professional games in the outfield, while only 72 at third. Lawley repeated Savannah last year at 23-years old (.261/.333/.434/.767, 14-HR, 66-RBI), so he really needs to giddy-up to St. Lucie (which may not happen until Darrell Ceciliani is promoted).