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12/23/13

Mack’s Morning Report – 12-23 – Brian Daubach, Scott Boras, Carlos Beltran, Daniel Murphy, Dillon Gee


 
Tim Heilman

Former B-Met 1B Brian Daubach named Harrisburg Senators manager. Led 1995 B-Mets w/ 72 RBI. Led 1996 B-Mets w/ 22 HR + 47 extra-base hits. Daubach also led 1996 B-Mets in OBP (403), SLG (507), OPS (910), K's (103), BB (74) and IBB (9). Ranks 7th all-time in career RBI (148) B-Mets franchise record-holder in career int'l walks (14), putouts (2,245) AND total chances (2,479)
 

Scott Boras trying to engage #mets ownership in talks over 2 big remaining free agents, Stephen Drew and Kendrys Morales. Drew would be a nice upgrade at SS, but price will be issue after Mets spent $87.5M on Granderson, Colon and Chris Young. Mets appear to have little or no interest in Morales. They plan to go with Lucas Duda at 1B if they deal Ike Davis.

Mack – I have no problem with either/both these guys, but the Mets would have to throw out their budget goals and prove out to be liars in the end.

Morales is everything Davis was supposed to be… a .275 hitter than also hits home runs. He’s also a switch hitter and will play 2014 as a 31-yr old.

For the sake of dreaming, let’s say tat Boras and the Mets can structure a deal that gives the Mets some relief in 2014 for both these guys. The Mets still are not going to sign anyone past 2017. Anyone



Bob Smizik -
                
The suggestion posted yesterday that the Pirates should trade for a first baseman was not met with much enthusiasm. Many, if not most, readers did not want to part with a prospect for the first basemen mentioned: Ike Davis, Mitch Moreland or Justin Smoak.

What is it about prospects that so fascinates baseball fans? How many of them have to fail before people come to grips with the fact they are not all sure things?
In the course of the discussion, someone wanted to know what was the big deal about Davis?

How about this: He hit 32 home runs in 2012.

Or this: After a horrendous start in 2013, he had a .954 OPS in the second half of the season.  http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/smizik-on-sports/2013/12/20/Bob-Smizk/stories/201312200140?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter#ixzz2oEPxBroI


I read some of the press this weekend that included some quotes from Carlos Beltran and it became quite obvious that the Mets never had a chance of resigning him this year. There is some deep hurt here, though Beltran chose not to identify who on the Mets spoke smack about him. I do remember the David Wright comment that all three of the Mets that missed that Walter Reed Hospital visit should have been there and, frankly, after that, I never saw a knee heal any slower, so I’m not sure this was a wedding day for either party.

Beltran was always a hard one to read. Player liked him but press found him quiet, distant, and borderline arrogant. I happen to think that the Mets fan base treated him like crap and it really hurt Beltran deep inside.

I do wish him well in New York, though I do still wish he was wearing the blue and orange.

 

Michael Freire  -

Mack; Daniel Murphy should be praised for all of his hard work, his consistent and continued improvement and his dedication to the Mets organization.   As of this writing, he is one of the better second baseman in MLB and figures to only get better defensively now that he has been allowed to stay at one position for more than one season. It seems to me we have larger issues at SS and 1B that won't adequately be addressed by creating another hole in the lineup and the infield. I don't understand why are we trying to get rid of a guy like that, when he can hold down the fort for another three years until Dilson Herrera is ready (and then Daniel can stick around as a utility guy on the bench). With that in mind, would you sign him to a moderate extension now (say three or four years around 6 or 7 million per year) and "put the position to bed" for the foreseeable future? – Mike

            Mack – Good hearing from you, Mike.

I’m with you on this issue and I don’t understand why both the Mets and their fans give this guy a break.

What if someone called up Sandy and said ‘hey, we got a 29-year old that that five years in the Bigs, plays both second and first base, and has a lifetime stat line of .290/.333/.424/.757. He also had the most home runs and runs batted it he has ever had last season.

Sure, he had 16 errors (.976 FPect) but Sandy never cared about defense, right?

Me? I would sign him through 2017…  let’s say 4-yrs, $30mil (6-7-8-9). This would run through his 32nd birthday. By then either Herrera, LJ Mazzilli, or Leon Canelon might be making headlines.

Either way, this guy isn’t the problem on the 2014 Mets.

 

Chuck Booth -

The Expos continued to draft and sign players better than most clubs.  The ownership tried to convince the government and MLB, that the team could be economically viable if a downtown stadium was built.  Charles Bronfman was bought out and the consortium of owners sold all of their shares to New York art dealer Jeffrey Loria.   Soon all efforts to keep the Expos in Montreal were put to rest when MLB decided to vote on contraction after the 2001 season.  Minnesota and Montreal had been agreed to be contracted by the other 28 club owners.  While Minnesota rallied around the club, the Expos wallowed in self  misery.  Jeffrey Loria sold the Expos to MLB and bought the Florida Marlins.  In 2004, MLB decided with sagging attendance in Montreal, that the team would play some of their home games in Puerto Rico at Hiram Bithorn Stadium.  By this year, the last great player of the franchise (Vlad Guerrero) had left for greener pastures.  He had seen Pedro Martinez, Moises Alou and 2000 hit man (Mark Grudzielanek) leave before him. http://mlbreports.com/2012/06/29/expos-demise/

Mack – This is a nice three-part story on the old Montreal Expos. Check it out.

 

Fangraphs –

                       Gallardo, as it happens, isn’t the only young starter to be coming off a strikeout decline, where “young” is defined as “under 30″. Between 2012-2013, Gallardo’s strikeout rate lost 5.1 percentage points. Stephen Strasburg, David Price, and Dillon Gee each lost 4.1 percentage points. But Strasburg had a big second half, and might’ve been cutting his strikeouts deliberately to get quicker grounders. Price claims to have been working for efficiency, and he countered the strikeout decline by throwing strikes almost exclusively. Gee actually got fewer strikeouts in the second half, so he’s a guy to keep in mind here, too. But Gee already had his shoulder operated on in 2012, and he fought a known elbow issue as well. Gallardo’s never missed time with an arm issue, yet last year his velocity was down across the board. With Gallardo, there was the same workload, but less stuff and fewer whiffs. There’s no apparent easy explanation. In this way Gallardo stands alone.

                                   Mack – Just something to keep an eye on Gee for…

9 comments:

  1. I'm standing pat with Sandy on the Ike Davis situation.

    After he worked with Dave Greere down in AAA his swing became more consistent and he actually was very good posting a slash line of .286/.449/.505 after the All-Star break.

    He's capable of posting that line, he's capable of playing All-Star defense, and he's capable of hitting 40 HRs in a season. You get the three players to meet and you have yourself one of the best players in baseball.

    No GM in their right mind would just GIVE that away. The only way you trade a player like that is if you are getting something significant in return which is exactly what Sandy is asking for.

    If you don't get it then you roll into the season with him as your starter and keep him away from Hudgens.

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  2. What does Wilmer Flores still have to prove in AAA after leading the league in RBIs and hitting over .300?

    I don't care whether he plays 1B and Murphy plsys 2B or vice versa, but I want to see both of them in the lineup. What I don't want to see is Lucas Duda. If I have to see Ike Davis one more time, so be it.

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  3. Thats the thing Reese.

    At this point in time there is no room in the line-up for Flores.

    Your right he has nothing left to prove offensively at AAA. BUT he still has lots to learn manning the 2B position or learning a whole new position in 1B. In either case the MLB is not the place to experiment with players at new positions.

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  4. Jeffrey Loria is a cancer on baseball. I can't believe that MLB is letting him destroy two clubs. Living in Albany I do miss being able to drive 4 hours to see the Mets play the Expos and a few times a year.

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  5. Reese -

    Flores has a long way to go defensively at both positions.

    He needs another year at the AAA to learn how to... play baseball at the major league level

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  6. Dallas -

    I can't understand how Mets fans think that the Commish is going to someday step in and make the Wilpons sell when, at the same time, Loria can live on in baseball.

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  7. Interesting that the scuttlebut is that Boras met with ownership and not with Alderson. I wonder if there is any significance to that, since in the past ownership has only gotten involved when there is a deal close at hand. IMO, Boras can pitch Morales to ownership all he wants, Kendrys makes absolutely no sense to me. If you look at their career numbers or those of last year, we would get better production from a platoon of Duda/Satin than Morales would give us, at less than half the salary and we wouldn't have to sacrifice a draft pick. Drew, on the other hand, makes sense at a reasonable price. He is a surer bet to give us the productionj we need at SS than some of the young kids we have been discussing, like Owings, Gregorius, Franklin or Miller.

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  8. I'd take Drew's steady .250 15 homers, 65 RBI's a year in a heartbeat. Having him in your 7 hole would make this lineup 100 times better top to bottom. Maybe even a real contender.

    Do it Fred!

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  9. Soto, I hope you're correct about Davis repeating his slash line from the second half of last year, but including ABs against most lefties. If that is the case, may be we can flip him at the deadline to Pirates for someone like Polanco (of course, we'd have to include a prospect in that package). In an ideal world, Flores will play 1B at Vegas to start the season and will be ready to take over 1B when Davis is trade. I know, this is all just wishful dreaming.
    Chavez06

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