Mack Ade – Morning Report – 10-26-13 – John Hart, Daniel Murphy, Wally Backman, Stephen Drew, Jose Medina

 

Q: Do you think the Mets will make a significant move this offseason?

John Hart - A: If they had a healthy (Matt) Harvey to go along with (Zack) Wheeler it might be different, but I think they are a year away. There are some pretty significant holes among the position players. That doesn’t mean they aren’t going to jump out, if they target the right guy, who they think can help next year and down the line.

                Mack – Hart seems to have a good grasp of this situation. Look, Dillon Gee and Jon Niese are good pitchers, but no one expects them to carry the Mets to the World Series. They are SP3’s at best. The Mets can not return to the top third of this sport without an all-star one-two punch in the rotation and, frankly, with the future addition of Noah Syndergaard, it might even go 1-2-3.

I agree with Hart. Make selective trades and free agent signings that can help the team fill immediate holes and target your goals to 2015.

 

Daniel Murphy  -

Murphy is a converted corner infielder whose bat played a role in landing in the middle infield.  Brought through the system as a third basemen, his hitting proved too valuable to leave off of the lineup card.  With the corner spot taken by David Wright, the Mets needed to find somewhere for him to play.  After a failed experiment in the outfield, Murphy has settled in nicely at second base.  The transition came with a learning curve, but over the last few years his defense has turned from a liability, to a very serviceable attribute.  For the moment, second base seems to be one of the few questions the major league team has going into the 2014 season. http://metsminors.net/mets-organizational-depth-chart-second-base/

                Mack – This may be a typo. I consider second base one of the few area the Mets don’t have to work on for 2014. You have Murphy and Wilmer Flores and they should be able to work out one of these guys here. I always liked Murphy here and have learned to realize that Flores just may be a man without a National League position.

 

The Mets expect Wally Backman to return as manager of Triple-A Las Vegas in 2014, a team insider said (Rubin, Oct. 19). According to Rubin’s source, no other organization has asked to interview Backman for a manager, although it’s possible Backman could still be hired to be part of another big league coaching staff. http://metsblog.com/metsblog/nationals-to-hire-matt-williams-as-manager/

                Mack – I would have expected that two old war horses like Wally and TC would be tight, but I guess I’m wrong. People in both Binghamton and Las Vegas have said he has done great work with the kids, but he just doesn’t seem to fit into the Sandy-Mets anymore. I will be surprised if he’s 2014. I really will be.

 

Eric Simon -

If I’m making an educated guess on which player from the 2013 World Series rosters was most likely to be a New York Met in 2014, my pick would be Boston Red Sox shortstop Stephen Drew. Drew is a free agent this offseason and fits a number of the Mets' parameters: He fills a position of significant need, he has skillsets the Mets like and he will come at an affordable price. http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/79068/most-likely-a-met-stephen-drew

                Mack – I can see this happening.

                Drew is obviously an improvement both defensively and offensively. He did hit much better in the band box they call Fenway, but he represents a cost effective solution to the position for the next 2-3 years ($20-30mil range).

                Add to this the fact that his beard is the same size as Daniel Murphy and that alone should end the debate, right?

                Look, go back and look at the tape of Game 2… this guy wound be a wonderful addition in the field and a WAR improvement over either Ruben Tejada or Omar Quintanilla.

                He also could hold the fort down until the kiddies grow (Gavin Cecchini, Amed Rosario).

 

Brian Joura -

Given Matz’ health issues, it’s entirely possible that 17-year-old Jose Medina is the best lefty starter in the system. While he pitched this year in the Dominican, Medina is from Mexico, where he was signed by scout Gabriel Low. This year in the DSL, he appeared in 12 games, all starts, and posted a 0.35 ERA with a 6.8 K/BB ratio. That performance led him to be the starting pitcher in the DSL All-Star game and also his selection as a Sterling Award winner. On the press release announcing the Sterling Awards, it said that his 0.35 ERA was the lowest in minor league baseball among pitchers with at least 50 IP. http://mets360.com/?p=19451

                Mack – Brian knows that if you have to reach into the DSL system to find your best current prospects, it speaks volumes to how bad your current system is stocked.

I can’t get excited about anyone in the DSL system. I remind people all the time… go to www.Milb.com and click on ‘stats’.  Tune up the DSL league and click on their stat leaders. You will see you can go back around 10 years and see the season leaders in all hitting and pitching categories. The bottom line is no one has heard anything from most of these guys since.

Medina has a good chance to come stateside in the spring. I believe he was in Florida last month. I clearly list Matz as the top lefthander in the system and I’ll revisit this guy around a year from now.

 

Terry Collins –

                “We’ve got to find us somebody who can keep the opposing pitchers from pitching around David Wright. That’s one of the things we will be looking for in the offseason.”

                Mack – Interesting quote today. Collins wouldn’t be saying this if it was in the plans.

                It doesn’t take much to make this a better offense. You place a viable #4 after Wright, followed by a rejuvenated Duda or Davis, all of a sudden you have a potential lethal #6 in d’Arnaud.

                But, of course, this was the 2013 lineup with Marlon Byrd.