Mack Ade – Morning Report – 4-18-13

Jack Leathersich ‏@LeatherRocket

Reppin this on my game hat.  Pray for Boston. Words can't express how sorry I am for the people  http://instagram.com/p/YLES9vMdDl/


I try to work ahead because of my work schedule and I have two 'Q and A' posts coming up later otday. One of them asked who I thought St. Lucie would add as a starter after two of their pitchers (Mateo, Mazzoni) went down. I said I thought it would be a piggy of Camrena and Fontanez. Low and behold, Marcos pitched last night as the starter. I love it when I am right.

-Pedro Feliciano and Frank Francisco in the same game. Wow.

-Terry Collins made a mention on Wedneday that we might be seeing Zack Wheeler a little earlier than planned if the rotation doesn’t clean its act up. Let’s face it, the results from Aaron Laffey (4.82), Jeremy Hefner (6.00), and Dillon Gee (8.36) leave a lot to be desired. For some strange reason this ‘pitchers team’ is ranked high in many of the hitting statistics in the league while, at the same time, holding their head for Shaun Marcum and his neck to arrive. We’ve seen what Matt Harvey can do and we’ve heard all the scouts tell us that Wheeler is both more talented… and ready. Pitching him in Las Vegas is just going to distort his stats anyway and trading him will get Joe D over at Metsmerized to put out a contract on my ass. . Bring him up and slot him SP3 behind Jon Niese. Let’s start building that all-star rotation we keep writing about.

-Scouts continue to rave about what 2B/3B Wilmer Flores is doing at the AAA level. Frankly some are saying that they have never seen a player this young carry himself with a bat as well as Flores is doing and they are comparing him to some of the great players in the game that went on to become all-stars of this game. Flores doesn’t seem to get any press anymore, be it good or bad. His defense has improved but we are never going to write a feature about it. Still, this just might be the second baseman next year for the New York Mets. He’s currently fourth on the team in hitting and this is against some of the better pitching prospects in baseball. What’s interesting is he’s doing this with limited pop (which should come later on in the season) and he’s struck out only three times while walking five. I never hear him being mentioned in trade talks so we just may be stuck with this guy. What a shame.

-St. Lucie continues to stink it up when it comes to hitting, but the only guys that are hitting are the ones blocking Brandon Nimmo, Kevin Plawecki and Jayce Boyd. CF Gilbert Gomez is leading the team with a .333 average, catcher Cam Maron is hitting .286, and 1B Brian Harrison is off the extended list and now hitting .278. Frankly, Gomez can be moved to one of the corner positions, Maron can replace Juan Centeno in Binghamton as soon as the Mets call up Travis d’Arnaud, and Harrision can move back to 3B and replace the fading Aderlin Rodriguez (.159). This is a team with eight players hitting .229 or lower.

-We don’t spend enough time talking up the relief pitchers in the minors. He’s some stat lines to smile at:

                Las Vegas – Robert Carson (7-G, 7.1-IP, 1-ER, 1.23, 6-K) – Jeurys Familia (4-G, 5.0-IP, 0-R, 0.00, 4-K – called up on Wednesday)

                Binghamton – Jack Leathersich (5-G, 5.2-IP, 0-R, 0.00, 8-K) – Shawn Teufel (1-G, 2.0-IP, 0-R, 0.00, 2-K) – Jeffrey Walters (5-G, 6.1-IP, 1-ER, 1.42, 8-K)

                St. Lucie –  Hamilton Bennett (4-G, 5.1-IP, 0-R, 6-K, 0.00) – Chasen Bradford (5-G, 1-0, 6.1-IP, 1-R, 1.42, 5-K) – Jim Fuller (3-G, 6.1-IP, 0-R, 0.00, 4-K) – Randy Fontanez (4-G, 6.1-IP, 0-R, 0.00, 10-K)

                Savannah – Beck Wheeler (3-G, 5.2-IP, 0-R, 0.00, 7-K) – Paul Seward (2-G, 5.1-IP, 0-R, 0-0, 8-K, IR) – Hunter Carnevale (4-G, 4.2-IP, 0-R, 0.00, 6-K)

                

Kevin Kernan‏ @WheresKernan

Mets Ruben Tejada seems very disinterested in making himself the player he could be. Focus is not there.

Kernan always chooses his words carefully so, coming from him, this is important. It also may be a language barrier and just the way Tejada carries himself. Remember, these beat reports write trash all the time on these guys, and the reporters don’t remember what they said in the past as much as the players do.

Kevin Kernan ‏@WheresKernan

I think it's the way he plays RT @JohnMackinAde: @WheresKernan - could it language barrier or just the way he carries himself?

It is becoming more apparent every day that CF Brandon Nimmo is more talented than the Sally League can throw at him. This has nothing to do with age and experience and we last saw something like this in Washington with teenager Bryce Harper. The ball is coming of the bat with such speed that it increase the chance for a hit by one-third. You don’t want to be an infielder (I was) playing against a player in this kind of zone. You can’t help but to take a step back once his swing starts causing everything you do to be defensive. Infielders tend to look very bad against batters hitting this well and balls get through because you simply can’t get to it fast enough. I’m not a big fan of rushing anyone, but the Mets need to consider moving him to their home camp in St. Lucie and playing him there well before the all-star break. Anybody that has seen him this year says his head is on straight, he’s having a ball, and he’s ready. God knows, the Mets are ready for a bat in center field.

Astros have a $24.3M payroll, a 4-10 record and a -19 run differential. Angels have $142.2M payroll, 4-10 record and a -27 run differential.

Keep an eye on SP Matt Bowman for the Savannah Sand Gnats. He’s a13th round smart guy out of Princeton U. that has a 2013 stat line of: 3-G, 2-0, 1.62, 16.2-IP, 14-K, 4-BB. No one (incuding me) had him projected as a starter after pitching out of the Cyclones pen last year (2.45, 30-K, 29.1-IP, 2-BB). We’ve learned in the past not to get too excited at this level (think Mark Cohoon), but this is a pleasant surprised on a team loaded with talent.

I can’t get excited about Frank Francisco starting rehab tonight. Frankly, I didn’t even remember he was still on the team. I usually don’t make predictions but here’s one…  three appearances… 6+ ERA…  complains of sore arm… never seen again.

It amazes me sometimes what people say about the dead. I just finished reading all the wonderful things said about ex-New York Giant kicker and broadcast legend, Pat Summerall. I had the opportunity to be 'behind the scenes' during many Heritage Golf Tournaments (ironically this week) that Summerall co-hosted with Ken Venturi (from Hilton Head, South Carolina). These were back in his ‘drinking’ days and he and Venturi were well known for polishing off a quart of vodka while performing their duties. I will give both of them this. They were always calm and collected when the camera was on. It was once the light went off that the humidity in the room raised depending upon whether or not the ice in his drink had melted down. A good friend of mine at the time, Al Irrizary, had to produce that show and we would laugh afterwards about what went on at that set.  They say that all of us represent two people. I hope some of you write some of the good things about me like his cohorts did on Facebook. They obviously never worked for him when the camera was off and the ice was low.

This was my pick also - link  -  You like Matt Harvey, Mets fans? You nearly had catcher Yasmani Grandal instead.  According to a major league source, the Mets were strongly considering taking Grandal with the seventh overall pick in the 2010 draft, before changing their minds and picking Harvey. Grandal was selected 12th overall by Cincinnati, and later traded to San Diego.  He is currently serving a 50-game suspension for violating MLB’s drug policy, and has also been linked to the Biogenesis clinic in Miami.