Mack's Morning Report - 12-18-13 - Sources, Leather, Dom Smith, Batting Prospects

 

Tad asked -   Hey Mack, I saw that 18-year old that was breaking trades during the winter meetings. How do you guys get this kind of information?

            Mack – Thanks for the question, Ted.

            The simple answer is someone tells you something that they haven’t told anyone else yet and you are given a certain amount of time to ‘break’ the information in the media.

In the old days, this took a newspaper column or a live appearance on a radio or television station. Now, with the Internet in general, and Twitter, in particular, the information can go out instantly.

None of us that have done this either full or part time ever give up our sources, even if we retire and go away. You honor the person that shared that information with you to your grave.

Because of age and ill health, I no longer ‘follow the trail’. I really only did this after I left the broadcast industry in 2001 and took up Mets blogging in 2005. I walked into the offices of the Morris Communications, that’s owned the Savannah Morning News and suburban newspapers in Bluffton, Hardeeville, and Ridgeland, South Carolina and walked out the ‘beat reporter’ for the last three newspapers I just mentioned. My job was to cover local sports in Jasper County, South Carolina (one full page a week) plus cover the Savannah Sand Gnats (another full page per week). I was paid $75 per page, or $150 per week and all expenses were on me, including the 68 mile round trip to Savannah every day.

I had a laptop at the time and was given access to the press box which had an online connection (before Wifi) so I would go to the stadium early for batting practice and write my Mack’s Mets stuff there. Manager Tim Teufel granted me clubhouse access which I tried not to abuse. I would stand over in the corner and practiced the same ‘rules’ I learned in St. Lucie during spring training… leave the players alone unless they turn their stools facing in the direction away from their locker and sit facing you. That ‘unofficially’ means you can approach them.

Securing source contacts is nothing more than good old fashioned networking. You meet the person, you share a business card, and you try and get to know them a little on that first contact. I quickly came to realize that the 4-5 hours before game time was a great time to seek out various people associated with the players of the game. Scouts would come early to watch both batting and pitching practice… family in town would show up to take pictures… agents would accompany the parents of one of their clients… and roving coaches would hang around the dugout. Not all were talkative or friendly, but most became friendlier as time went on and no one told them you had written something with their name in it.

For some reason, people who know things want to share that information with members of the press, You would think they would run in the opposite direction when we walked in the room. I practiced one simple rule… I downplayed whatever I was writing about 95% of the time. I didn’t say ‘a source has told me’ or use words like ’exclusive’. I would just say something like ‘don’t be surprised if you don’t see so-and-so wind up on the disabled list after sliding into second last night and tightening up in the dugout’. No one is going to run around saying Mack had the exclusive on that, but, over time, they will learn that what comes out of your pen tends to be correct.

I had one major screw up. I was told that the replacement for Omar Minaya was going to be a trio of Vice Presidents and I had one of the names wrong. If I kept the report as a troika of Veeps, it would have been an exclusive.

My big correct exclusive was coming out with the story that Oliver Perez was going to resign with the Mets. I had the story a day ahead of everyone else and got a hat tip from Matt Cerrone to Adam Rubin.

My last was the exclusive that pitcher Michael Fulmer was on a plane to New York for surgery. He lands and his phone went nuts. Again, Rubin and most of the Mets blogging world thought that was a big scoop.

I remember the first time Teufel and I sat down for a Q and A. Around the sixth or seventh question was being answered by Teufel when he interested himself and told me that one of his Savannah Sand Gnats had just been tested positive for PEDs but he asked me not to report on that. I did find the information tempting, but I did not include it in the final full page story and I left a copy of it on Teufel’s desk. I ran into him early the next day and he told me he enjoyed the column and thanked me for my passing on printing that information. To this day I think that was the reason I was granted internal access to the team. Access, by the way, I never had again and he departed at the end of the 2007 season.

There’s no iron rule on the ‘two source’ thing. The important thing is the quality of the person who is telling this information to you. Trust me, if Sandy Alderson told me something I could use without including his name, I wouldn’t waste any time trying to find someone else to confirm what Alderson just told me.

Frankly, I don’t fully understand the importance of being the first at reporting something. My goal was always to first be accurate.

Lastly, I did go to Twitter today and I saw a considerable amount of ‘source’ posts from that young 18-year old. He seems to be having a lot of fun with this and he’s also being encouraged by people like Matt Cerrone to pass on journalism school and just stay on the unorganized path he’s on now. I would hope he would reconsider that and try to also develop a writing skill that can get him a legitimate job in the sports world.

He’s welcomed to write a column here on Mack’s Mets. I’ll pay him the same I pay everyone else




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Fangraphs -

Jack Leathersich misses a lot of bats. If he can do a better job not missing the strike zone, he could have a bright future in the New York Mets bullpen. The 23-year-old lefthander has an eye-popping 15.2 K/9 in 143 professional innings. He also has averaged five walks for every nine innings pitched.

A fifth-round pick in 2011 out of the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, Leathersich split last season between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Las Vegas. He dominated Eastern League hitters, but his command issues flared up after his promotion. His numbers in Sin City included 47 strikeouts in 29 innings, but also 29 walks.

Leathersich talked about the need to fine-tune his command — and his strikeout-inducing arsenal — earlier this month. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/qa-jack-leathersich-new-york-mets-pitching-prospect/

Mack – A very interesting Q and A with Leathersich, who points out what he has to do to get his BB/9 in check while keeping his K/9 high. He’ll get a shot at Queens after the all-star game… if… he can accomplish his goals at the AAA level (good luck with that). 

Mark Hulet -

The Year in Review: Drafted 11th overall out of high school in 2013, Dominic Smith entered pro ball and was rarely fazed. He produced a .384 on-base percentage while displaying flashes of his power potential. He also impressed with his defensive work. After 48 games in the Gulf Coast League, he earned a late promotion to the advanced-rookie Appalachian League where he appeared in three games. 

The Scouting Report: Dominic Smith was even more advanced at the plate than expected. He should hit for average and power while also getting on-base at a healthy clip. His power is generated by quick bat speed and he doesn’t have to pull the ball to hit it out of the park. Like many young hitters, he has work to do against same-handed pitchers. At first base, he could develop into on of the best fielder in the game at his position thanks to his athleticism around the bag and soft hands.

The Year Ahead: Smith is advanced and mature enough to handle a jump to full-season ball in his first full pro season. He could move fairly quickly for such a young player and could reach the Majors in late 2016.

The Career Outlook: Smith has a chance to be an impact player both as a middle-of-the-order hitter and as a defensive whiz at first base. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/2014-top-10-prospects-new-york-mets/

            Mack – The underlined red portion is the important statement. If this is true, there is no reason to be worrying about signing long term any of your internal first base candidates. There also is no reason to sign anyone from the outside for more than three years.

 
Below are the current 2014 projections for select Mets batting prospects. All projections have been prorated to 550 plate appearances (and 450 for catchers) for sake of uniformity. Defensive figures (denoted by Def) account both for positional adjustment and UZR, and are presented relative to league average. Note that, in many cases, defensive value has been calculated entirely by positional adjustment based on the relevant player’s minor-league defensive starts in 2013. Prospects are listed in order of projected WAR. The symbol # denotes the relevant prospect’s ranking on Hulet’s list. Figures might diverge slightly (although not signficantly) from those which appear on player pages. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/steamer-projects-new-york-mets-prospects/ 

#	Name	Age	POS	PA	BB%	K%	BABIP	wRC+	BsR	Off	Def*	WAR
2	Travis d’Arnaud	25	C	450	8.3%	18.8%	.289	108	0	4	8	2.9
10	Wilmer Flores	22	3B	550	4.8%	14.2%	.281	92	0	-5	2	1.6
6	Kevin Plawecki	23	C	450	5.1%	12.6%	.247	68	0	-16	8	0.7
11	Dilson Herrera	20	2B	550	4.7%	22.9%	.250	47	0	-33	2	-1.3
14	Brandon Nimmo	21	CF	550	7.2%	28.3%	.261	46	0	-34	2	-1.4
9	Gavin Cecchini	20	SS	550	3.5%	16.4%	.219	24	0	-47	6	-2.4
4	Amed Rosario	18	SS	550	2.9%	18.4%	.208	19	0	-50	6	-2.8