Mack Ade – Morning Report – 5-27-13

From The New York Post –

Maybe it was nothing. Maybe Zack Wheeler was having a bad day. But maybe it’s a sign Wheeler might not be ready to handle the bright lights and the microphones that will greet him when he is called up. “I went to do a story on him and he brushed me off,” Todd Dewey of the Las Vegas Review-Journal told the Post yesterday. “He was giving me an attitude for sure, and I’m just one guy in Vegas asking for an interview. What’s he going to do in New York?” It’s valid question. http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/mets/wheeler_flap_adds_to_short_sweep_4LIXopkIrkeGqsDx5gmSEK?utm_medium=rss&utm_content=Mets

Boy, I don’t like the sign of this. You might remember us writing about Wheeler’s outgoing personality, not like Matt Harvey’s quiet reserve. This could play real bad, especially if Wheeler got off to a bad start in Queens.

Susana said – “what I was interested in seeing was a roster with the players Mack had the Mets picking/wanted them to pick”

1B – 2008 - Alan Dykstra – my memory was off a little… Dykstra was the pick after Reese Havens, not Ike Davis. Still Dykstra was by first pick that year and he’s currently in Binghamton hitting .294. None of us need to be reminded what Davis is doing this year.

C – 2010 – Yazmani Grandal – I had Grandal the entire mock season and was quite upset when the Mets picked Matt Harvey. Grandal is now suspended, Harvey is a one man show, and I am deeply humbled.

OF – 2012 – Courtney Hawkins – May Carroll (TX) HS – Mets picked SS Gavin Cecchini who remains in extended camp. Hawkins ended the 2012 season hitting .294 at the A+ level (though he’s only hitting .177 there this season).

OF – 2009 – Levon Washington – The Mets didn’t have a first round pick in 2009. I was hoping they would pick Washington, but instead went for Steven Matz (72^nd pick overall) who has had arm troubles and is now pitching well (2-2, 2.86) in Savannah. Washington actually was picked as the 30^th pick overall by Tampa and Washington is hitting .357 in A-ball.

SP – 2012 - Lance McCullers Jr. – Jefferson (FL) HS – Mets used their second first round pick to chose C Kevin Plawecki, who is hitting .366 in A-Ball. McCullers is 0-4, 1.94 in A-ball this season.

SP – 2011 – Matt Barnes – The Mets picked OF Brandon Nimmo who is currently on the Savannah (.322) DL. I wish I had picked the next pick (Florida – P Jose Fernandez – MLB: 2-2, 3.31), but, instead, I had Barnes who is 3-1, 4.50 at the AA level this year.

SP – 2010 – Ryne Stanek – I Had Stanek as the Mets second pick in 2010 (3^rd round), but the Mets picked C Blake Forsythe (AA - .238). Stanek didn’t sign and is eligible this year again for the draft.

RP – 2012 – Steven Rodriquez – University of Florida – The Mets drafted P Teddy Stankiewicz and failed to sign him after trying to under-slot him. Seven picks later, the Dodgers picked Rodriguez who has already 23 appearances in Los Angeles (3.24, 0.78) this year.

I wish I could give you more than this, but I really didn’t expand my baseball expertise to the draft until 2008.

Possible Promotion List Update:

                I’m writing this around noon on Sunday at the Sand Gnats game. Anything can happen before this goes to print tomorrow morning, but these are the guys that have some kind of chance to be promoted to Queens in the next 10 days:

RF – Andrew Brown – AAA: .371/.442/.655/1.097, 3-E – we’ve seen this movie before… maybe this time we’ll stay until the crdits come on.

1B – Eric Campbell – AAA: .305/.408/.512/.920, 2-E – not on the 40-man roster and, this isn’t going to happen, but I thought I’d send some props out to one of my favorite Mets utility guys.

SS – Omar Quintanilla – AAA: .292/.383/.425/.808, 8-E – I’ve got even odds on this one, though I don’t like the eight errors. Still, if Ike Davis wasn’t playing so bad, the biggest flop story in camp would be Ruben Tejada.

1B – Josh Satin – AAA: .291/.402/.471/.873, 1-E – this also would be a long shot since he isn’t on the 40-man roster

SP – Zack Wheeler – AAA: 9-starts, 3-1, 3.91, 48.1-IP, 49-K – We know this is coming in 2-3 starts and, frankly, the Mets world needs something like this to put a few more smiles on their faces. Boy, I hope and pray this works as well as the bring up of Harvey worked last year.

RHRP – David Aardsma – AAA: 13-appearances, 1-0, 2.65, 17.0-IP, 16-K – why not? Everybody else seems like they have got a turn.

LHRP – Josh Edgin – AAA: 5-appearances, 0-0, 9.00, 12.0-IP, 15-K – the only reason he could be promoted is to replace Robert Carson who is having a miserable time as one of the lefties in the Queens pen. Word is Edgin is starting to get his pitches down again with some snap.

OF – Cesar Puello – AA:  .301/.375/.524/.899, 7-HR, 3-E – Wanna have some fun and really throw the towel in? Let’s give Puello the rest of 2013 to prove he could make a difference in 2014. While we’re at it…

OF – Cory Vaughn – AA:  .288/.369/.453/.823, 5-HR, 2-E – throw in Vaughn, play the two of them with Lagares in the outfield, and put Duda on first base after sending down Davis.  Let the kids play for June and July and see what develops.

I spent Sunday at the Savannah Sand Gnat specific goal of tracking SP Luis Cessa. The bonus of the day was meeting Jayce Boyd’s (3-5, .351) family that came in from the Pensacola, Florida area to watch him play. There was Grandpa Bill, Grandma Jane, Dad David, Mom Cyndi and sisters Maegan and Chrystal.

Anyway, getting back to Cessa. This wasn’t his best outing though it might have been his luckiest. He spent most of the game trying to find the zone with his fastball. It started out too low, moved around, and basically stayed away from the strike zone. It did hit 95 which earned him a couple of wild strikeout swings at high-balls (which I still register as a ‘ball’ not a strike). His curve was quite effective, but, for some strange reason, used sparingly early. It earned him two strikeouts while looking, but, because the fastball just wasn’t working, Augusta eventually just sat on the slow stuff and produced the one run that got off of him. Like I said, Cessa pitched lucky and the combination of his speed and the curve got him stats of: 6.2-IP, 1-ER, 7-K, 2-BB, 4.30. By my count, there were 94 pitches, 54 strikes, and only 18 curves, most or which were + pitches.