Mack Ade – AM Report – 8-15-13 – Akeel Morris, Noah Syndergaard, Brian Custer, Terry Collins, 2014 Draft

 

Brian Custer/SNY –

This is a little emotional for me but I felt compelled to let you know what's going on. In June, I had my annual health/prostate exam. In July, I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. I was truly shocked! My doctor told me had I not gotten my annual exam and not been in the shape I'm in now, I would've been dead within 5 years. My doctors have expedited my surgery and I'm having it today! The Bible talks about redemptive suffering and God wants you to help other people going through the same hurt. I'm imploring all black and latino men 40 years old or older to get an annual prostate exam, and get your PSA checked (its just a simple blood test). I need all white men 50 years or older to do the same. They call prostate cancer the silent killer because many times you don't know you have it until its too late! My goal is to kick this and bring awareness to this disease. Lets beat Cancer! I'm holding on to my faith, family, good friends, and evictus!  God Bless, I will beat this...

 

Some random thoughts...

-Don’t look for many moves in August from the minor league franchises. Most of them are involved in their own pennant race and they will keep their best playoffs for their post series.

 

                -Also, don’t look for starters to be shut down in August. Instead, their innings will be lowered so they too can be used in the playoffs.

 

                -Las Vegas SP Rafael Montero seems to be peaking at the right time. He’s now given up only two earned runs in his last three games (22.0-IP), while striking out 21 and walking only two. He’s at 138.2 innings pitched so I can’t see him coming north after any playoff games he may play out west. Still, he has definitely complicated the formulation of the 2014 rotation while, at the same time, thrust his name out there as major trade bait.

 

                Every summer some high school baseball player comes along and wows the scouting world in the showcases that go on throughout the summer. This year, it started with RHP Michael Gettys, until a lefthander from Hilo, Hawaii named Kodi Medeiros turned heads at all the showcases he pitched in. In 2011, it was ex-Lawrence Central (IN) HS RHP Christian Montgomery who, early on, was ranked in the top 15-20 players on all the mock drafts coming out in June and July 2010. He easily sat around 94 and he looked like a shoe-in to go early in the first round. Well, all of a sudden his arm went what was described as ‘head’ and he didn’t pitch the rest of his senior year. The Mets, taking a page out of the success that Washington has had drafting ‘reclamation projects’ like Anthony Renaudo, Matt Purke, and Lucas Giolito, picked him in the 11^th round and walked away thinking they had a steal. As it turned out, Montgomery was juicing and wound up suspended for 50 games. It was the second time he tested positive.

                Well, now Montgomery is back and he pitched last night for the GCL Mets… one inning… our hits… 7 runs… five earned… 45.00, 6.00.

                I always wished I had a little more information about the drugs taken in these suspensions. Are they designed to make him throw it harder so he looked better that summer of 2010, or was it something he used to help heal the injury he suffered during his senior season. Either way, like others in the past, this looks like a failed pick, though, at 11, WTF, right?

 

                Brooklyn SS Gavin Cecchini continues to come out of his shell…  2-4 last night, raising his seasonal BA to .290. Monthly splits… June: .292, July: .077, August: .400… guess what month he was injured? The Mets have a decision to make here in 2014. 20-year old  Phillip Evans (.211) hasn’t made too many headlines in Savannah and the Mets might want to let him repeat there and jump Cecchini directly to St. Lucie.

 

                Ex-Haines City (FL) HS RHP, 19-yr. old Robert Whalen continues to throw up quality starts after quality starts for Kingsport. He’s started ten games for K-Port now and his ERA sits at 1.67 (64-K, 16-BB, 59.1-IP). So far, this looks like a tremendous 12^th round pick in 2012.

 

Akeel Morris – Brooklyn – 11-G, 3-0, 0.54, 0.96, 1-SV, 33.1-IP, 47-K, 14-BB

                                       Mack – It will interesting what the Mets do with the 20-year old come winter ball. He’ll pitch somewhere, but will he be returned to a starter role?

 

Shannon –  ‏@Miss_Met   

“The amount of time I've wasted watching meaningless Mets games in my life.”

I’ve seen so many young people start life off so excited about this team only to eventually come to realize that there is more to life than sitting up late three nights in a row to watch west coast baseball games (no less extra innings games).

 

Dave Caldwell –

Syndergaard, acquired in the R.A. Dickey deal with the Blue Jays in December, said of being compared to Harvey and Wheeler: "Just to be mentioned in the same sentence as them, I can't really describe it." But he also knows he is not quite ready to join them. One of the reasons the Mets want to limit his innings now is so he can pitch for the B-Mets in the postseason, giving him some additional big-game experience. He has almost everything else.  As delicious as it is to think of a Mets rotation with him in it, the idea is for him to learn a little more, mix in his pitches, hold base runners better and continue to overcome what he calls "shaky" outings. It is all cool with him. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323455104579012541669365628.html?mod=itp

 

Terry Collins –

                "We've got a lot of guys playing on low petrol."

Mack – Am I missing something here? Doesn’t every team in baseball play the same amount of games and do the same amount of travel? Now, I give TC this… there’s been an awful lot of extra inning baseball, but all that would have changed if someone knocked in one more fucking run per game.

No, I’m sorry here. I love this team and will defend it to the end, but being ‘out of petrol’ is a manager’s excuse, especially on the same day you can that you are going to play the veterans during the remainder of the season and sit the kids.

The one thing I’m starting to realize is that Collins is capable of talking out of every orifice on his head. This was a tough loss… tougher than most of the other tough loses. ‘Out of petrol’ is a poor way of putting things.

The Mets are now 18.5 games out of first place, and 12 down in the loss column for a wild card slot with a month and a half to go. 

Stop making excuses and just play the string out with some dignity.

Try to make a deal before the end of the month.

Bring up Travis d’Arnaud and John Church who are full of petrol.

 

I’ve been doing a lot of work compiling information on the various baseball tournaments (New Balance Area Code Games, East Coast Showcase, Perfect Game Nationals) that go on this time of the year, plus I’ve been comparing notes with other draft dudes like Jeff Sullivan and Matt Grabusky. The one thing we all agree on is that the 2014 draft is going to be much more talented, and deeper, than 2013. We continue to see a huge return of African-Americans to this sport, which simply increase the talent pool and make more teams competitive. There’s a bunch of talents players here, but, conservatively, there are at least 20 high school starters in this draft that are already sitting in the 93-96 range. It’s simply amazing how much
talent is coming out of these ‘baseball schools’ (Harvard-Westlake, Clovis, Serra) that literally recruit their players from throughout the country. Five names to remember…  RHPs Touki Toussaint, Dylan Cease, Tyler Kolek and LHPs David Peterson and Kodi Medeiros.

 

Dominican third baseman Anderson Franco, the No. 29 international prospect for July 2, has signed with the Nationals for $900,000. Franco became eligible to sign today, his 16th birthday. At 6-foot-1, 185 pounds, Franco’s best tools are his raw power and his arm strength, with steady defense at third base. Franco trained with Arquimedes Guerrero (who is known as “Pla”), was represented by Rob Plummer and plays in the International Prospect League.

 

Paul West –

Travis D’Arnaud seems to be just what they’re looking for in this department, and bringing him up would not only generate fan excitement but give him a chance to get his feet wet as an everyday major-league player. If he struggles mightily, they can deal with the situation accordingly. But if he prospers, then not only will the Mets’ offense address a glaring necessity but he’ll gather a bit of seasoning down the stretch. This will help build his confidence and make him a bit more comfortable when he begins his first full year with the team. In the meantime, Recker can be sent back to the minors, to further cultivate his game and possibly explore his own upside. If Travis D’Arnaud is truly healthy enough to play, there’s almost no downside to promoting him immediately. Whether he starts, platoons or begins as a second-stringer, the experience will be valuable for him — and the excitement will be valuable for the fans.  http://throughthefencebaseball.com/promote-travis-darnaud/36548#CLzb0dqFkBUBT1OV.99

 

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