Mack Ade - More On A Saturday Morning

I work the Saturday and Sunday overnight shift as a security guard. This week, I also worked on Thursday. I apologize for the lack of coverage this week, especially about the parent team. I try and leave that portion of the Mets coverage to the other writers, but they’ve been busy with their normal lives. Hopefully, things will pick up here soon and we’ll have more for you to read.

I’ve had to give up my writing for www.bigleaguefutures.net. There is just so much time in Mack’s day these days. I want to thank the people over there for the opportunity to serve them with draft information. I will continue to post up various information I dig up on those kids here, but the draft coverage here will be limited until around May.

I will be attending my first Sand Gnats game probably Tuesday night so I’ll be able to give you a first hand report on the “swing” of Brandon Nimmo. I also will have the opportunity to interview one player so let me know who you would like me to talk to and any questions you would like asked.

We’re heading into calmer waters folks. I just feel it. The 3-4-5-6 of Wright-Davis-Buck-Duda is starting to establish itself as a definite threat in the league. Tejada and Murphy need to continue to concentrate on their on-base percentage, be it hits, walks or errors. If they get on base, they will score.

The runs generated is a little high-low right now. A team with decent pitching needs to generate five runs a game. You do that, you win 60% of your games.

The rotation (so far) looks just fine for a team that shouldn’t be in contention until next year. Of course, ask me again once they go three or four times around the rotation, and, let’s remember, we’ve only played the Padres and Marlins so far.

We continue to lose due to shoddy defense and lack of skills in the infield. Plays so far by Tejada and Turner (that weren’t scored an error) cost us two games. Major league players are supposed to get to foul balls and make better decisions than they did. You know I’m a stickler on this and I counted well over 20 games last year the Mets lost in the field. Forget the pitching and the hits. Field the ball.

And lastly, it’s going to take a few times around the pen to figure that one out. Familia should be gone once Marcum is activated. He’s not ready and shouldn’t have been placed in that position. The Mets need a productive Hawkins and Felciano to back up their starters this year. Jack Leathersich and others won’t be ready until next year so the pitching coaches still need to figure this out.

You must have two pitches warming up every time you are close to  making a change. The last thing a pitching coach should do is call back to his bullpen coach and ask him (not the player) who is pounding the zone. Every pitcher doesn’t come out sharp and it first shows warming up. The players will always tell you they are ready so it takes the pen coach to figure out who to send in. Familia didn’t have it in the pen, so he never should have got into the game. If the pen coach doesn't see it, the catcher should. 

Anyway, these are the kind of things me and the writers here will point out throughout the season. I welcome all the new readers this season. We seem to have doubled our readership from this time last year so I hope you keep coming back for more.

Remember… our first goal here is not to root for the Mets.  It’s to write about the Mets.

Have a great Saturday.