Mack Ade – Morning Report – 3-21-13

There has been conversation online about the lack of a long term contract for manager Terry Collins. It’s my opinion that that team plays better when they know who is in charge, especially if it is for more than a year. Whether you like it or not, a manager is judged on wins and loses and 2013 will not be a pretty season for TC. I don’t know why I feel this way, but I have never looked upon Collins as your classic Mets manager. I see him as a bridge to the next generation of power managers that tend to survive best in the media giants like New York. Who I don’t know, but there is no one in the organization that fits that bill. Tim Teufel would be a great cheap, but offers no big city experience at the helm. Tony La Russa minus 15 years would fit great.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis went 1-for-5 w/a single at DH in a minor-league game


Another $20 donation today... God bless.

Chatter has begun in the clubhouse about who is heading north. One of the players that has been pulled aside and told he needs to secure housing in the big Apple is Marlon Byrd (it figures that MetsBlog posts that he’s got a 99.9% chance of going north while I’m saving this for tomorrow morning’s report). He won it for two reasons; he’s looked great and most everyone else hasn’t, so Byrd will be the starting right fielder until something better comes along, or he falters.Lucas Duda will be the left fielder regardless of what he hits in ST,, which leaves center plus two utility slots. Technically, one has already been won (Jordany Valdespin), but he most probably will open the season on second base. Remember now, Daniel Murphy has always been a slow healer and he’s showing no signs of being ready for opening day. It will be interesting to see what they do with the Collin Cowgill/Mike Baxter situation. Cowgill looked like he was a sure fit early, but has calmed down lately and still hasn’t locked up a slot. On the other hand, Baxter refuses to hit hard enough to even earn a pinch hitter role.

The Dodgers released ex-prospect infielder Dallas McPherson.

Seattle reassigned C Mike Zunino and RHP Logan Bawcom to minor league camp.

Eric Simon on Matt Harvey - link - Harvey is off to a great start, but when you add it up — the hype surrounding him being a first round draft pick and the expectations of him helping to cement the Mets rotation as an excellent ones for years and years to come — there's a mountain of expectation piled on a guy who's been in the majors for only a little over two months. Matt served us a great opening appetizer, and now we're expecting the meal to be the best thing we've eaten in a long long time.

BTBS on the Toronto Blue Jays – link - 

Bold Prediction: The Jays make the World Series. I’m a total homer for saying that, so allow me some smaller bold predictions: R.A. Dickey struggles in the early months but finds his groove by mid-season. Steve Delabar becomes a reliable late-inning reliever. Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion combine for 80 home runs but J.P. Arencibia and Adam Lind combine for only 25. Mark Buehrle struggles but still throws 200 innings for the 13th straight season.


Thoughts on Wednesday's game:

-It was good to see Collin Cowgill come out of his funk, Ruben Tejada start the third inning off with a double, and Matt den Dekker drive in two with a classic dD 3-baser. Also, The Spinster continues his Jose Reyes imitation and Jeurys Familia continues to make it hard to send him down.

-the bad news is all Dillon Gee. He will have two more starts to turn this around.

THREE-YEAR TOTALS FOR RUNS SCORED PER PARK
MOST RUNS	LGE	LVL	R/G	FEWEST RUNS	LGE	LVL	R/G
High Desert	CAL	HiA	14.65	Savannah	SAL	LoA	7.00
Albuquerque	PCL	AAA	14.17	Palm Beach	FSL	HiA	7.50
Colorado Springs*	PCL	AAA	13.45	Scranton/Wilkes-Barre#	IL	AAA	7.58
Reno	PCL	AAA	13.32	Arkansas	TL	AA	7.67
Lancaster	CAL	HiA	13.24	Wilmington	CAR	HiA	7.73
Las Vegas	PCL	AAA	12.81	Jupiter	FSL	HiA	7.76
Asheville	SAL	LoA	11.97	Lehigh Valley	IL	AAA	7.78
Salt Lake	PCL	AAA	11.77	Richmond	EL	AA	7.87
Tucson^	PCL	AAA	11.69	Augusta	SAL	LoA	7.92
Northwest Arkansas	TL	AA	10.86	Brevard County	FSL	HiA	7.94