Mack Ade – Morning Report – 5-2-13

I have to tell you, it’s simply getting impossible for me to follow Twitter and read all the slime oozing out of most of the Mets beat reporters and bloggers. If they aren’t trashing the team and players, they are trying to outwit each other with one-liners. It just simply never stops.

One of the reasons I’m proud of Mack’s Mets is we just report about the team here and offer intelligent comments from grown-up Mets fans. I can tolerate an asinine twit from an adolescent over the Internet, but a grown-up being paid by a newspaper chain to write stories instead of being a stand-up comic? I don’t have to single out the perpetrators here since the majority of all of them fall in this category. There are exceptions. Michael Barron and Matt Cerrone of MetsBlog write professionally and stay away from stale humor. Kevin Kernan of the NYPost simply reports the news and what’s on his mind as a pro. The rest are competing for the next gig at the Funny Bone.

 Bloggers? I’m not even going to go there. They expose themselves every day as a negative fan with no respect for players that go out there every day and do the best they can to win a game on an inferior team. I blame the owners and General Management and have been highly critical, but I can’t blame, let’s say, Daniel Murphy, if he’s simply trying hard to win. These, well, jerks, actually call these players ugly names and insult them to each other as if any of the players cared what they said. Then, on a different day, they send tweets to the same players, sucking up and asking them to tweet back so they can tell their friends they actually ‘talked’ to a real live Met.

Do they actually think any of the Mets, be them in Queens or in the organization, actually gives a flying fuck what they think, especially when they are willing to insult them just as often as they spend sucking up? Is this the new approach that will someday lead to a beat reporter position so you can work longer hours on your comedy routine?

The Mets have a ways to go to get back to the playoffs, and we’re going to keep writing about them, but we’ll look to Twitter to find information rather than supply it. My comedy days are far past me.

I write sports.

The Dodgers sign 17-year-old Dominican RHP Osiris Ramirez for $100,000

The more Jordany Valdespin hits home runs in crucial situations, the more important be becomes at the all-star break. IMO, Valdespin will never be the complete player and incapable of ever earning a captain ‘C’ on his jersey. This is not a team leader, but he can be the spark that some teams need to get them over the hump. Take me serious here. He has the talent to get the Mets one of the outfielders they need in 2014. I can’t think of a better player for teams loaded with Hispanic starters. They would eat his shit up.

(Daniel) Murphy might be an inferior overall player to Prado, but it's still conceivable the fan favorite/nemesis will be able to command between $11 and $13 million over the next two seasons through arbitration. In addition, aside from Robinson Cano, who will likely become the next $200 million man, there isn't much in the free agent second baseman pool in the foreseeable future. Assuming the Mets don't consider the likes of near-future free agents Mark Ellis, Omar Infante, Kelly Johnson, Emilio Bonifacio, or even Chase Utley as upgrades over Murphy, a four-year extension for Murphy in the $20 to $25 million range might be a fair agreement for both parties. link

My Thoughts on Round 1 – I’m going to use a portion of the morning report to give you my thoughts on how the first round of the 2013 draft will go leading up to the Mets’ 11^th pick. Today we will discuss the first three picks in the draft:

                #1 – Houston Astros – Bonus Pool: 10 picks - $11,698,800 – 2013 Team Salary - $ 26,105,600 – This pick is all about affordability, not best man available. If it was, Stanford’s Mark Appel would be the pick and the Astros would be spending a shit load of money here. Last year’s pick (SS Carlos Correa) was an under slot and I expect this one to be the same. You shouldn’t see them picking one of the high school phenoms and get into a pissing war with their agent.  No, look for a safe pick that will sign below the allotted level – 3B/OF Kris Bryant – San Diego.

                #2 - Chicago Cubs – Bonus Pool:     10 picks - $10,556,500 – 2013 Team Salary: $106,837,810 – There’s been a tremendous amount of money spent to build this shitty team. Manager Dale Sveum has pretty much confirmed that they will pick either Mark Appel or Jonathan Gray, depending upon which one is picked by Houston. Since I have neither one going to the Astros, I expect  they will go with the safe, and expensive pick: - RHSP Mark Appel – Stanford

3. Colorado Rockies – Bonus Pool: 11 picks - $10,199,400 – 2013 Team Salary: $ 73,949,071 – This is another team with a very limited team payroll; however, they did shell out $2.6mil to their 1^st round pick (10^th overall) last year, high school OF David Dahl. There are no big rumors floating around about this pick so we have to turn to the obvious ‘best player available’, someone the Rockies simply can’t afford to pass on – RHSP Jonathan Gray - Oklahoma