Mack Ade – Morning Report – 5-7-13

 

I’d like to find someone to redesign this site. It’s a Blogger site so it has its limitations. I would love another go at Word Press (tried once with a sub site but pulled back when I found out the platform was owned by a college and I could be deleted at a moment notice). I don’t have a lot of money but I could throw you a couple of hundred dollars.

We’re really not an exclusive Mets minor league site anymore. Toby Hyde and I had the exclusive on that for years but now everybody has a minor league expert (most of which will tell you they are better than this crappy place J.

I want the title to be – Mack’s Baseball – A Home for Baseball in General and All Thing Mets

It would be fun to try this once more.

Contact me at: macksmets@gmail.com if interested.

Also, we are still looking for a weekly featured writer on Saturday and Sunday 12noon EST. You can write it any day and we’ll just schedule it there. Again: macksmets@gmail.com

I’m also going to spend far less time on Twitter. It simply doesn’t do my reputation any good arguing with the riff and the raff over there. I mean, if they want to read what I think, I should at least get a ‘hit’ out of them on this blog, right?

Regulars here know that, due to my work schedule, I tend to write a day behind (or is it ahead?) about things. For example, I’m writing this on Monday morning about games that took place on Sunday night and the post will post up on Tuesday morning. Sorry. It’s the best I can do.

 

We’re in May now, so we should start to see some movement in the system. I anticipate the following moves:

 

                AAA – RHP Zack Wheeler to Mets – the only thing left on his AAA agenda is to string a couple of more good outings and to keep building on his ‘moxie’. The Mets want him to develop the same pitching attitude of Mike Harvey. What a pair these guys are going to make!

                AA – OF Cory Vaughn to Las Vegas – Why not? He’s just about hitting .300 again and he’s returned to doing a lot more good than just hitting home runs. The Vegas outfield is becoming like one of those airplane graveyards they have out there, filled with rusting out of date hulls of former war craft. Let’s send in some new blood, at least until Juan Lagares falls from graces

AA – Logan Verrett to Las Vegas – Someone has to fill the slot left opened with the Wheeler promotion and I choose the seasoned Verrett over Rafael Montero. Let’s leave Montero alone for another month and then let him finish the season at AAA. We need to see if Verrett is for real anyway.

AA – CL Jeff Walters to Las Vegas – I really like this guy and see nothing but blue skies for him as a Met. In fact, I see him possibly getting to Queens quicker than Jack Leathersich, so that say a lot.

A+ - RHSP Domingo Tapia to Binghamon – Tapia is far ahead of Noah Syndergaard at this point and has earned the first pitching promotion out of Lucy. By the way, I still believe that Tapia has a higher ceiling than Montero.

A+ - LHRP Pedro Feliciano to Mets – Martinez’s rehab has reached five outings with excellent results (4.2-IP, 4-K, 1.93). The Mets desperately need pen help and here comes answer number one.

A+ - RHRP Frank Francisco to Mets – Here’s answer number two for the Mets pen. Equaly impressive rehab (3-G, 3.0-IP, 0.00, 0.00, 4-K, 0-BB).

A – C Kevin Plawecki to St. Lucie – It really doesn’t matter if the catcher position is blocked up in the system (Cam Maron-Blake Forsythe-Juan Centeno), the Mets need to get Plawecki out of the wild Sally League and try and figure out if this guy is or real (I think they will keep Jayce Boyd and Brandon Nimmo where they are so they can play in the all-star game and then move them right after it).

 

Yu Darvish has 72 K in 45.1 IP. Twins starting pitchers have 76 K in 146 IP

           

Mike Baxter –

To me, Mike Baxter is the poster boy for a failed organizational approach. I feel cruel saying this, but Mike Baxter doesn’t belong on a major league roster. His only strength is that he doesn’t swing the bat and sometimes, unaccountably, pitchers nibble. It’s not like he’s going to park it over the fence. Baxter is fortunate enough to be with an organization that actively seeks to foster the dubious skill of standing there with the bat on your shoulder. He got a few early walks and that artificially inflated his early-season OBP. Baxter can’t field, can’t hit for power, and can’t help a team win games. I mean, he seems like a terrific human being, he’s easy to like, but this is professional sports, not a Sunday softball league. http://2guystalkingmetsbaseball.com/3-guys-talking-about-the-outfield-brian-joura-of-mets360-joins-the-conversation/

 

I see that a couple of Mets beat guys are now saying that the Mets defense sucks. Really? This is something they just got around to figuring out. The Mets’ brass has refused to field a team based on good play and we have outlined here for four years how many games were lost because of poor judgment or lack of talent in the field. It doesn’t matter if it’s Lucas Duda misplaying a fly ball in left or Luis Castillo dropping a pop up against the Yankees. This has been going on that long and no one seems to want to deal with it. A suggestion in 2014… make your rotation Harvey, Wheeler, Montero, Niese, and Gee. Then, put your  best defensive team on the field with the tie breaker being the bat. Example: Duda’s natural position is 1B so do you field him or Davis? Trust me, you have a rotation that goes at least 6 innings, with a below 3.50 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, and add to that superb defense, you will make the playoffs.

 

Chris ‏@tpgMets  - So if the Mets call up Zack Wheeler on June 4th & he stays up, he'll have 2 yrs, 118 days of service time after 2015. That would avoid Super 2 IF the 2015 cutoff is the same as the projected 2013 cutoff. In reality, it varies.