Mack Ade – AM Report – 9-8-13 – Dirty Laundry, The Best of the B-Mets (cont.), Frank Francisco

Projected 2014 Super Two cutoff:  2.121

  

Mark Trumbo follows with his 30th HR of the season, a 3-run shot to LCF to give Angels 5-3 lead over Rangers – 18^th round – Mets 17^th round pick: P Joe Williams… Mets 16^th round pick – OF Parris Austin… Mets 15^th round – SS – Grant Psomas.

 

Rotoworld - Mets manager Terry Collins said Saturday that Wilmer Flores (ankle) could be shut down for as long as a week or possibly for the remainder of the season.

Mack – There is no reason that he Mets should be playing anyone at this point in the season that is injured or could more injure something that is already causing discomfort. Yes, this was critical time to show him off, but that might now have past. Shut him down, put Zach Lutz on third, and call up either Brian Bixler or Brandon Hicks and tell them to grab their glove and get on an airplane.

 

I want to thank Herb G and Craig Mitchell for their nightly post throughout the season. It’s not easy being committed to something like this every day of the week and the site would be far less professional with either one of them (I hope they can come up with something during the off-season to still post occasionally).

As you have noticed, some of the regular writers have faded as the season farted out. This was expected. Hopefully, they too will stay with us and be recharged when Sandy Alderson finally gets around to signing someone in the off season.

I hope to see more from out new writer, Dave Whitman,  and I send out a special plea for some of the old regulars to return… my old sidekick, David Rubin, Stephen Guillbert, David Groveman, Jack Flynn, Anthony Carnacchio, Rammy Yogendra, and Mike Friere. I miss them all.

Lastly, I have decided to stop writing for www.bigleaguefutures.net and concentrate my draft coverage here during the off season.

 

This is scary… Jenrry Mejia plays Candy Crush on Facebook.

 

The Mets are unlikely to promote either Kirk Nieuwenhuis or Robert Carson in September.

Mack – This spoke volumes as to the future of these two players in the organization. Nieuwenhuis just hasn’t made that extra jum needed to go from a decent AAA player to an even marginal major leaguer and you may see him quietl cut in the off season as buys like Cesar Puello, Cory Vaughn and Darrell Ceceilliani all move up to Vegas for their shot for glory. As for Carson, no one had lost more games giving up home runs, both on the Met and Vegas and his fastball is simply too early to hit. I wish him well, but I also see him as an off-season cut. Adam Kolarek will step into the role as chief lefty out of the Vegas pen.

 

The best of the B-Mets:

               

                RHSP Rafael Montero – 22/yrs. old - 11-ST, 7-3, 2.43, 0.92 – Montero has passed the test in 2013, and he did so at the two critical levels, the ‘prospect league’ of AA (2.43) and the light-air league of the PCL (3.05). He particularly finished strong in Vegas, posting a 2.18 ERA in his last 10 outings. He had 27 starts in total for the year so he’s ready for the majors. At this point, we all have to assume that Matt Harvey won’t be pitching on opening day. That makes room for Montero to take his slot along with Zack Wheeler, Jon Niese, Dillon Gee, and a returning Jenrry Mejia. We hope.

 

                RHRP – Jeff Walters – 25-yrs. old – 53-G, 2.09, 1.11, 56.0-IP, 60-K, 38-SV – Walters has pretty much as good a year as a pitcher can have. He set a new record for the most saves any Mets-AA pitcher has ever had and earned himself a promotion last night to Las Vegas for their playoff series that continues. A great way to analyze a closer is whether or not he was the team pitcher at the end of the game he was pitching in. Remember, not every situation is a close, but it is a good sign if the pitcher wasn’t knocked out of the game. Walters pitched in 53 games… he was the last B-Mets pitcher in 52 of these games. The converted starter does hit 96 which doesn’t suck.

 

                RHRP John Church – 26-yrs. old – 55-G, 3.34, 64.2-IP, 68-K – Church has pitched very well this year for both Binghamton and Las Vegas. He had a basically untouchable July for Vegas (1.38) though he did seem to level off a little in August. Combined stats for the season: 55-G, 5-4, 3.34, 64.2-IP, 68-K, 26-BB. The only downside about the 6-2 righty seems to be the fact that I’m the only person that ever writes anything about this guy. His ERA in 2012 was 2.97… 201o: 2.64… am I missing something here? Church is getting a little long in the tooth but should get a shot at spring training. I expect him to be assigned back to Vegas to start the season, but a fast start could earn him a one way to Queens after the first DL call.

 

                LHRP Adam Kolarek – 24-yrs. old – 44-G, 1.71, 1.10, 63.0-IP, 63-K – Kolarek had an outstanding season for Binghamton; however, his one hiccup came during a short stint (filling in due to AAA injuries) with AAA-Las Vegas (2-G, 4-IP, 5-R, 11.25). Kolarek returned to the ‘safety’ of AA-ball and continued a dominant year. Everyone loves a 6-3 lefty especially one that specializes in pounding the zone and control. He will most likely be assigned to Las Vegas out of spring training and get the opportunity to the lead lefty in the 51’s pen.

 

More 'best of the B-Mets' tomorrow...

 

Frank Francisco has returns to the Mets 25-man roster. It’s hard for me to understand the logic here unless there is a trade in the works and Sandy Alderson has promised some team a look-see at him before the trade is executed. Francisco would not be eligible at this point for any team’s playoff roster, so is all this really necessary? There has to be more than to just let him pitch a couple of times for the team he screwed for two years.

Let’s wait this one out. There could be 10 good outings left in Francisco for a team like Baltimore or Cleveland who are just below the cut line. Who knows… maybe there’s another Dilson Herrera in this for us.