Mack’s Morning Report – 1-10 – Mike Piazza, Minors OFs, Bobby Parnell, Danny Muno, Leather

I gave all the other writers on the site the first 24 hours to write about the Mike Piazza voting (or lack of it). I never expected him to get in, nor do I until the rules change. Everybody keeps telling me that he was the greatest hitting catcher in the history of the game, so I guess Mickey Cochrane’s lifetime batting average of .320 and OBP of .419 means squat. Still, this isn’t the reason Piazza will never get what is needed to get in. They may love him in New York and remember him fondly in Los Angeles, but everywhere else he was a suspected drug abuser (Jon Heyman said on ‘Hot Stove’ that he didn’t vote for anyone that was even suspected of drug use) and was rumored to ‘walk on the wild side’ when it came to sexual partners. Yeah I know, no one ever proved either and my guess he was innocent of both ‘charges’, but, as long as the voting process is done by sports writers that cover other baseball teams, Piazza is not going to get home court advantage. I’m sorry folks, but he got the shaft here… though I probably could have chosen a better way to describe it.

Chris Cotillo ‏@ChrisCotillo  -  Mets are bringing Cory Vaughn (@sugarfreeCV) to big league camp, according to @AdamRubinESPN

Most minor league teams vary between carrying four and five oufielders on their active roster. Currently, there are six ‘on paper’ for Vegas (Cesar Puello, Dustin Lawley, Darrell Cecilliani, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Anthony Seratelli, Alonzo Harris) and you also have UT-1B-3B Eric Campbell that can play both corners.

Additionally, I could be wrong here and both Lawley and Harris might start in Binghamton. If so, what do you do with Cory Vaughn, Travis Taijerson, Kyle Johnson, Gilbert Gomez, and Joe Bonfe?

Lastly, the projected St. Lucie outfield has six more outfielders… Brandon Nimmo, Jorge Rivero, Maikis De La Cruz, Eudy Pina, Charley Thurber, and Greg Pron.

Lots of things have to change here in camp.

New York Mets closer Bobby Parnell, who underwent Sept. 10 surgery in California for a herniated disk in his neck, has been fully cleared for baseball activities. http://www.metstoday.com/9080/uncategorized/bobby-parnell-cleared-to-pitch/

Boy was my ‘source’ all wrong about Parnell. I was flatly told three times that Parnell would not be ready come opening day. Of course, being ‘cleared for baseball activities’ is not game ready, but it looks like the Mets have their closer back.

If that’s true, my assumption is Vic Black becomes the early favorite for the 8^th inning dude and your seven-man bullpen could look like these tow plus Josh Edgin, Scott Rice, Carlos Torres, Jeurys Familia, and Gonzalez Germen.

Will they carry eight?

Adam Rubin –

Infielder Danny Muno has joined Cory Vaughn as prospects getting an invite to big-league spring training camp without being on the 40-man roster. http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/80412/muno-invited-to-big-league-camp?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Mack – I wouldn’t get too excited about this. There simply isn’t that many infielders right now on this team and Muno can help eat up the late innings.

            You should see a lot of Wilfredo Tovar as well.

Adam Rubin –

            Strikeout machine Jack Leatherisch, a lefty reliever, also has been invited to big-league camp. Leathersich, a fifth-round pick in 2011 out of UMass-Lowell, has struck out 241 of 625 batters he has faced over three seasons.

Non-roster free-agent signings Anthony Seratelli, Taylor Teagarden, Miguel Socolovich, Joel Carreno and Brandon Allen also should be in camp.

Mack – The last five names standard operating procedure for non-roster signees. The ‘Leather’ invite could be interesting, especially if he finds the zone. Players at the MLB level are not going to free-swing as much as he’s faced.

            Oh yeah… did I mention he was a lefty?

More Adam Rubin - 

OF Dustin Lawley also received a big boy clubhouse invite.

Now, this is like the Leathersich invite. What happens if 'Leather' produces a 14 K/9 with a less than 3.0 BB/9... and Lawley hits 10+ homers in ST?