Mack's Morning Report - 1-14-14 - All-time W-L Pct, Wlmer Flores, Alan Dykstra,

ALL Time List W-L Pct. List:

RANK	PLAYER (YRS, AGE)	WIN-LOSS %	THROWS
1.	Al Spalding+ (8)	.7950	R
2.	Spud Chandler (11)	.7171	R
3.	Whitey Ford+ (16)	.6901	L
	Dave Foutz (13)	.6901	R
5.	Bob Caruthers (10)	.6877	R
6.	Pedro Martinez (18)	.6865	R
7.	Don Gullett (9)	.6855	L
8.	Lefty Grove+ (17)	.6803	L
9.	Jim Hughes (4)	.6748	R
10.	Smoky Joe Wood (14)	.6724	R
11.	Babe Ruth+ (22)	.6714	L
12.	Bill Hoffer (6)	.6667	R
	Vic Raschi (10)	.6667	R
14.	Larry Corcoran (8)	.6654	R
15.	Christy Mathewson+ (17)	.6649	R
16.	Sam Leever (13)	.6599	R
17.	Roy Halladay (16, 36)	.6591	R
18.	Roger Clemens (24)	.6580	R
19.	Sal Maglie (10)	.6575	R
20.	Dick McBride (6)	.6564	R
21.	Sandy Koufax+ (12)	.6548	L
22.	Johnny Allen (13)	.6544	R
23.	Jered Weaver (8, 30)	.6532	R

http://mlbreports.com/2014/01/12/top10activewinpctg/ 

Jeff C asked - Love the site Mack, first thing I read every morning. I'll pose a question to you that may be way off base, but would seem to be an idea that Joe Maddon in Tampa Bay would consider to get his best team on the field. If one of the goals is to get Wilmer Flores bat in the lineup, how about moving David Wright to first? Put Flores at 3B, leave Murphy at 2B, fill SS with either Drew or a trade. Keep Satin and Tejada as utility guys off the bench, maybe keep Duda for some LH pop. Just trying to think out of the box a little.

            Mack – Thanks for the compliment and question Jeff.

There has been a lot of talk over the years about switching Wright to first base, but all of that talk has come from reporters, bloggers, and fans. No team official has ever had the guts to hand Wright a first baseman’s glove.

I’m much safer answering these questions without speculating what ‘outsider’ might be playing here, so, for now, Ruben Tejada is the Mets shortstop. That makes Wilfredo Tovar or possibly Eric Campbell the UT guy.

I will gladly re-answer this if the Mets do sign any additional shortstop, but just don’t expect it at this point in the ‘pre’ pre-season. We’re getting real close to when pitchers and catchers are going to report, which means we are also getting real close to when David Wright shows up.

Now trust me on this…  Tejada, or his agent, or his mother, is going to make sure he’s in the camp this year well before the reporting date. In fact, he’s in fat camp right now (Detroit) with Lucas Duda and you might see the Mets send him directly from Motown to Lucy.

Also… the Mets could revisit shortstop during the season, talking both with clubs and the agents of players that are scheduled to become free agents after the 2014 season. Guys like Asdrubal Cabrera, Yunel Escobar, J.J. Hardy, Jed Lowrie, or Hanley Ramirez (fat chance on this one).Try to work out some kind of sign and extend deal that gets you your starter until either Gavin Cecchini or Amed Rosario mature.  

IMO, there is absolutely no chance that Wright will play first base in 2014. The Mets want his as comfortable as possible on the field so can concentrate on his health and his position in the lineup hitting ahead of Curtis Granderson and Chris Young. Wright will get more pitches this year which could be scary good.

Jeff, in the long run, you wouldn’t be happy with Flores at third. His feet just don’t move fast enough to cover that position and his arm is meh at best. He’s not a left sided infielder at the major league level. He’s just not.

You’re going to have to either move Daniel Murphy (which would be wrong and just isn’t going to happen at this point) or return him to Vegas and repackage him as a first baseman for 2015-2017. That’s what I would like to see


Herb asked  - .Mack - As I recall, Allan Dykstra broke a bone in his foot in winter ball. Do you have any word on his status? Will he be ready to play by Spring Training? Also, do you think his defensive limitations will prevent him from ever getting the chance to play in the majors? As he has climbed the ladder, his hitting has improved, and he has always been a high OBP guy with pretty good pop

                  Mack - Herb, I checked around and it's simply too early to determine. None of these people have reported and, if you call them on the phone or tweet them, they will all say they are game ready.

I should know more about this next week.

I expect Dykstra to be ready to play AAA, but so is Wilmer Flores and, possibly Jayce Boyd. The safe vote would be to hold back Boyd and let him start in Binghamton, but Vegas is wide open.

The funny thing about Dykstra... no one has ever mistaken him for a potential major league first baseman. He sort of has that Mike Hessman reputation. I can't seem to find anything he has done wrong, but, once again, what do I know about these things?

Adam Rubin - Catcher Taylor Teagarden, who recently signed a minor league deal with the Mets with a spring-training invite, can declare himself a free agent if he is not on the major league roster by June 15, Joel Sherman notes

Tommyb asked -

Hey Mack… Would going after the Cub SS prospect with Syndergaard be a good or bad idea, and would it be enough to get it done? We don't want to lose elite pitchers, but with a soon-coming surplus even without Harvey and Noah, would it make sense?

Mack – Tommy, we’ve been waiting for this ‘super three’ to be part of the Mets rotation. Why would we want to break it up now? There is plenty of other pitchers that the Mets can trade, but, in my opinion, Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler and Noah Syndergaard are the future of this franchise in the later part of this decade. I would leave it alone.

On the Harvey tweet with the Yank fan from Babylon, I know a lot of nice people in Babylon, but some of the mean-spirited ones do tend to babble on, if you catch my drift, like this clown. If the Babylon guy has 1% the success of a Harvey, he has a right to talk. My guess is he then doesn't have that right.

Mack - Tommy, it took me a long time to get used to places like Twitter. I have the thinnest of skins and have a history of fighting back with a bunch of faceless people on the Internet. All I did was lose around half of my following, membership in some major sites, and the respect of many of my peers. You simply can’t take these people serious.

It irked me no end when Mets won the last game of the season, after trailing late, and slipped 3 draft spots to #10. I've had the flu, and have been self-reading posts, but I believe it was you who wrote that there was one guy you really liked but thought would be unavailable at #10 - my guess is he would be available at #7...and while I am all for playing the game to win, I'd have tanked that game for 3 spots in the draft. Just smart.

Mack – You could never get or ask the players on your team to tank a game. First, you’d be fired and, secondly, it just isn’t the way the game is played. I understand and shared your frustration that day. The guy I wanted then probably was Michael Gettys, who probably be gone by the 10^th pick.

One interesting article might be to ask readers who among Met prospects not in Mets' top 20 do they feel will have a real major league impact anyway.

Another one might be to look at Mets' first, second, and third round picks historically, for which the team should at best get a "D" and share your thoughts on how any organization could draft so poorly for so long.

            Tommy, you would be surprised how bad most teams have done throughout the history of the draft. The fact is, most players drafted don’t make it to the majors. They just don’t. I’ll do some future work on this..

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