Mack Ade – Morning Report – 5-29-13

How is it the Yankees can go out and sign success stories like Lyle Overbay and Vernon Wells, and we get Matt Fox? 

Wow. The Mets discounted Subway Series tickets for the night Mike Harvey pitched


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It’s interesting that MLBTR is already using the word ‘non-tendor’ and Ike Davis in the same sentence. From http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/05/potential-non-tender-candidates.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter  yesterday:

If Davis doesn't turn things around this year, what will the Mets do in the offseason?  One thing about a player having a terrible year is that he doesn't get a big arbitration raise afterward.  So if Davis' salary for next year is to remain below $4MM, the Mets would at least be able to find a team willing to see if a change of scenery helps.

Are they asking the right question here? How do you ‘turnaround’ a career that has never produced a decent MLB season? Could Davis just be another of those thousands of players that simply peak at the AAA level. Yeah, I know, he hit a billion home runs in the second half of a season that didn’t count. My vote here is still to cut bait and put Lucas Duda back at his natural position, then, take the four million per year and add it to the free agent pool you will use in the off-season.

I also think that the thing that is upsetting most Mets fans is the lack of any action by the manager or front office other than having the owner tell a Yankees pitcher that “we’re” not going to see them in the World Series this year. Wilpon’s mouth is one issue, but can’t Sandy Alderson DO SOMETHING? It really doesn’t matter what the fans think at this point. Ruben Tejada and Davis should not be playing major league baseball right now.

I’m sitting here watching Matt Harvey trying to keep a team alive in a game he probably is going to get little or no support. I’m far past caring if they win any more games this year (and it’s still only May)… I just want to see some other people get a shot at doing this better. It was a fun ending, but it's always either Wright, Harvey, Murphy, or Parnell. You need more than four baseball players. 

Baseball America http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/work-to-do-a-disappointing-prospect-from-each-organization/ wrote a piece on the most under-performing prospect for each team (what a wonderful assignment…). Here’s the Mets entry:

Shifted to the bullpen full-time this season, 23-year-old righthander Jeurys Familia has struggled to find his footing in the big leagues, striking out seven in 10 innings but also allowing 17 baserunners and two home runs.

Is Familia still considered a prospect? And, isn’t ‘baserunners’ and ‘righthander’ separate words or hyphened? And I thought I spelled bad.          

I’m pleased to announce that Stephen Guilbert has returned to Mack’s Mets as a staff writer. For now, he will be posting his end of the mock season draft and will hopefully rejoin the site in other posts and comments as well. Stephen was one of the finest writers we ever had on this site and I’m extremely happy to sign another ‘free agent’. Mack’s Mets is committed to producing original adult content from seasoned Mets pundits. If you’d like to join the growing list of all-stars, please email me at: macksmets@gmail.com. Current weekly post times still available are Saturday 12noon and Sunday 12noon (they don’t have to be written that day, they just have to be scheduled then). We will open up the 2pm slot once both weekend ones are filled. We also welcome random posters like Jack Flynn. 

Keeping my eyes on…

AAA – SS – Omar Quintanilla – ‘Quint’ seems to be doing everything he can to get back to Queens and, frankly, it couldn’t be happening at a better time. He went 3-4 on Monday, raising his seasonal BA to .331. That’s 17^th in the league and ranked second in the league for shortstops (Chris Owings). Couple this with the under-performance by Ruben Tejada so far this season and I wouldn’t be surprised we don’t see a move here soon.

AAA – 2B – Wilmer Flores – Just an update here… Flores continues to play exclusively at second base and just finished hitting .350/.381/.550/.931, 1-HR, 6-RBI in his past 10 games. Season BA now up to .283 and the even better news is he only has five errors so far this season.

AA – 1B – Alan Dykstra – I hate to keep beating the same drum, but Dykstra went 3-5 on Monday, raising his stat line to .298/.440/.519/.960, 5-HR, 26-RBI. Dykstra has always been a home run hitter but seems to be successfully converting his game to a gap hitter. The .298 represents his highest pro BA in a 6-year career.

 

AAA – SP – Zack Wheeler  - Nothing has changed regarding his lackluster start this week. He is still on target to be promoted to Flushing after one or two more starts (you would think the King was crossing the channel after all this hoopla).

 

John Sickles – Prospect Smackdown – Joc Peterson vs. Cesar Puello - LINK -

SUMMARY - In the end this is a matter of taste, but I prefer Pederson's profile. I see him as a future regular who contributes in many categories. While his highest maximal ceiling may not be quite as good as Puello's, his floor is also higher and it isn't like Pederson's tools are substandard. I do think Puello has made progress, but ultimately I'm more confident that Pederson will actually fulfill his potential. The fact that he is a full year younger than Puello also makes a big difference.

Andy Martino is smoking that weird shit again -

“We have reported in the past that the Mets are big-game hunting for top outfielders in the Giancarlo Stanton/Carlos Gonzalez category, depending on who becomes available.  In talking to Mets people on Monday, it was clear that remained true, and that a midseason trade would not preclude the team from pursuing a free agent like Shin-Soo Choo this winter.” - LINK

He goes on to emphasize that these ‘mid-season’ trades for top talent are not going to come at the expense of people like Zack Wheeler and Travis d’Arnaud. Martino is a trip. He seems to done everything he can do to have replace Adam Rubin as the most despised beat report in the clubhouse. The emphasis here has never seem to be on the truth rather that the ‘hear it first here’ insider type fodder that the Mets world is obsessed with.

Would someone try to explain to me just who in the hell the Mets are successfully going to trade for a player… in mid-season… like CarGo or Stanton, especially if the trade doesn’t include the Mets top prospect talent?

David Wright or Mike Harvey? The fans would burn the stadium down.

Do you expect a team to accept a package of Lucas Duda, Ruben Tejada, and Ike Davis, who combined batting average are little less than Jessica Simpson’s ass?

Oh, I get it… they’ll let the Mets package a minor leaguer trying to learn how to play second base (Wilmer Flores), and another who can’ t play anywhere (Aderlin Rodriguez), a catcher who can’t throw a ball (Cam Maron), and two or three pitchers that haven’t passed the AA test.

So, what do we have left?

Mike Baxter, Jordany Valdespin and Logan Verrett for Stanton?

Rick Ankiel, Jay Horvitz, and Metstradamus  for Carlos Gonzales.

Pass that lid over here Andy. You’re a funny guy.

 Keith Hernandez was calling the game on WPIX on Memorial Day when Daniel Murphy had his bat shattered in two major pieces. The camera focused on one of those pieces while Hernandez said… and I repeat, on Memorial Day…

                                "Well, folks. That is a dead soldier right there, folks, laying on that infield dirt
 

Hernandez refused to comment on it after the broadcast and a spokesman for SNY said they had plans to sit down with him before he goes back on the air.

Look, let’s not go overboard with all this politically correct BS. Hernandez is one of the good guys and I’m sure it was just a simply mistake with a bad choice of old words that were once used for this kind of thing. The Mets are having enough problems this year without turning Keith into Jody Arias.

Get an apology out of him and let’s move on.