Mack Ade – AM Report – 7-9-13 – Akeel Morris, Michael Fulmer, Jeremy Hefner

I talked with P Akeel Morris and he has confirmed that he is being piggy-backed right now in Brooklyn. This is potential great news for the ex-starter prospect who has once again turned some heads with his blazing speed. This time he’s doing it with command and the results so far: 4-G, 2-0, 0.00, 10.2-IP, 18-K, 3-BB. Watch out world… Akeel is back!
 

MLB Power Ranking – 25.  New York Mets 37 – 48 (26) +1:  Sending Ike Davis to Las Vegas may have worked. LINK
 

Still hot for K-Port is starter Carlos Gomez who still hasn’t given up a run in three starts (3-starts, 17.IP, all goose eggs only 7-K’s but a flawless control game.
 

The Cubs trade OF  Scott Hairston to the Nationals for 21-year-old RHP Ivan Pineyro (A-ball: 5-3, 3.14, 1.12, 66IP/65K) – non top 20 prospect
 

We were looking to see how St. Lucie would handle the rotation once Michael Fulmer came back. Well, Fulmer pitched 5.0 on Sunday, followed by ex-starter Angel Cuan (2.0-IP, 3-K, 0-R, 4.04). This leaves Fulmer, Hansel Robles, Domingo Tapia, Rainy Lara, Matt Bowman, and Alex Panteleodis in their 6-man rotation. Next up should be Steven Matz and, since none of these guys are ready to step up to AA, my guess is that Pants will hit the pen later this month.

We have to stop looking for a new home for SP Jeremy Hefner. He continues to do very little wrong in June. Since June 4^th, he leads the majors with a 1.64 ERA. We’re not talking about Matt Harvey here. He just turned 28 in March and is under team control until way past 2018. The name just doesn’t roll off our tongue because he never was considered a prospect of this organization. He’s also not one of those speed freaks so we don’t drool when his name hits the box score, but what you have to do is come up with a new name for this guy if you have to make you realize that he’s for real. Call him Jerry Koosman, or Rafael Montero, or someone who immediately brings a smile to your Mets face. Your team has just found a future member of your rotation who isn’t going to break the bank. And… and this is the most important part of this… this is not someone that should be traded. Rotations work when you have different kinds of pitchers following each other.
 

Five guys that throw 96-98 is high speed batting practice and, eventually, in a 3-4 game series, the other team’s batters will hit your pitchers. But, if you put up some heat (Harvey), follow it with finesse (Hefney), go back to heat (Wheeler), go lefty (Niese) and then end with control (Gee), you have an excellent major league rotation.
 

What this does is set up 2014 as a workable excellent rotation that could be enhanced with someone like Montero. It also serves up Montero as possible trade bait which makes much more sense than trading someone that has already proved he can dominate at the major league level.

Let’s go back and review this again… ‘Jerry Koosman’ or whatever the hell you call him, leads the major league since June 4^th with the lowest ERA. That’s something already proved, not something wishfully thought of.

Troy Renck        ✔ @TroyRenck  - Are looking. Not many arms available. A lot of buyers RT @halljw9: With Oswalt out, Nolasco a Dodger. #Rockies Hand forced to make a trade?

                Hmm… the Rockies looking for a starter… how about Jeremy Hefner for Kyle Parker or Tim Wheeler?

 

By the way, we are currently working on an upgrade of the Mack’s Mets web site to Word Press. There’s a good chance it will be completed by the end of this month and we will ‘double post’ all the good stuff on this old Blogspot site as well as the new one. We will let you know when to change your address to our site.