Mack Ade – Morning Report – 6-12-13

This is what happens when you play players out of position...

St. Lucie SP Noah Syndergaard had a ‘rough’ outing the other night. He gave up four runs in six innings, which isn’t the first rough outing he’s had. Actually, there have been two more in his last 10: May 22^nd – 4 runs in 7 innings…  and a whopping seven runs in eight innings. Between those three outings, he gave up 6 earned in 39 innings. The bottom line is, though he’s been erratic and up and down, the overall stats are: 3-3, 3.29, 54.2-IP, 51-K, 11-BB. Syndergaard now has 12 outings and is in line to fill in the slot that will open up on the Binghamton rotation when Rafael Montero is promoted.

Speaking of the St. Lucie rotation, it’s been pretty impressive this year. All seven pitchers serving there have an ERA under four: Angel Cuan – 3.67, Domingo Tapia – 3.30, Mathew Bowman – 2.61, Hansel Robles – 3.38, Alex Panteliodes – 3.06, and now, Rainy Lara – 1.35. The team is third in the league with a 3.30 ERA and 2^nd in strikeouts.

My guess at this point is only Tapia has a chance of ending the season with Binghamton. He has 10 starts under his A+ belt.

  

There’s been some chatter online that SP Michael Fulmer will be back real soon. It’s simply not true. As of today, he isn’t throwing. At all.

Hansel Robles had a bullpen session today, but his velocity continues to be far less than it was back in his Brooklyn days. Scouts say that he simply isn’t the same pitcher they scouted then


Great moments in Mets history... this week... SP Angel Cuan, who 'sits' at 85, struck out Giancarlo Stanton TWO TIMES with 89-mph fastballs...  .


Cesar Puello had to be removed from the game last night after sliding into third and hurting his hand and wrist... details to follow...

2B-1B Wilmer Flores is ranked 3^rd in the PCL with 46-RBIs

Peter Gammons‏@pgammo4m - George Greer got Ike Davis straightened out once. He can do it again

Bob Klapisch –

Now Davis is Wally Backman’s problem, although it’s worth asking the question that could lead to a more intriguing dialogue: What happens if Backman and his old-school, man’s-man approach actually fixes Davis? Then what? Such a reclamation project would be more of a reflection of Backman’s interpersonal skills than Davis’ ability to hit for a respectable average. At least we know Davis has talent – we’ve seen it in the past, albeit not consistently since the second half of last season. But Backman is the wild card here, especially because he’s been languishing in the Mets’ farm system for four summers hoping to prove to someone, anyone, that he’s long since outrun his darker demons. LINK

The Mets’ beat press love to stir up a story and just what we need is a Backman vs. TC story floating around based on Davis finding his swing. Trust me, Davis’ swing couldn’t be worse so anything that happens at this point would be a positive. Will this be because Backman taught Davis something? The last time I looked, George Greer was the batting coach and he’s legendary down these part for the job he did at ‘the Wake’. I’m sure Backman will get the credit from certain ‘reporters’, but the fact is, Tim Teufel is next up for an internal promotion. No, any replacement for TC will come from outside this organization. Everything that has happened Sandy-wise has been fair-to-average.

Martin L. Monaco Jr. – to me -

Mack, I love the draft work that you and your team have put in. With your wife’s health issues  you are to be commended for the job that you do every day for the Mets fans who love minor league and amateur baseball.  

We  see many teams stockpile player on the  7 day DL (Mets included), so is Reese Havens being eased out now that Wilmer Flores and Vandy are ahead of him as prospects or is he really hurt.?

Keep up the great job that you do every day.

                Thank you, Martin.

Reese Havens does have back issues and will so for the remainder of his life. I had lower back surgery around nine years ago and, though it was 100% successful, my competitive sports days were immediately over. Havens has done everything he could to build up his back strength and, in fact was 100% healthy all of last season. He just forgot how to hit.

This year, he just was sort of going through the motions as a part time player (the team had sot of moved on) and tightness set in again. He isn’t a critical peg in the future of this team anymore so it was just easier to DL him and let Danny Muno have all the 2B reps.

Michael Scannell here on Mack’s Mets is high on Muno. I consider him an organizational player. On the other hand, we both agree that Flores is one of the top bats in ‘our’ system, though he will never play in the field worthy of a major league starting job. Not at second, never at short or third, and probably not at first. He’s a DH only and every other team knows it.

Jared King -

“So much to be thankful for to be considered a part of Virginia Baseball. The last five years have been the best ride of my life and I couldn't be happier with the experience. I wouldn't trade it for the world and know they are in great hands and will only continue to get better.”