Mack’s Morning Report – 1-29-14 – Keith Law, Relievers Still On The Market, BP Mock

Jon Santucci ‏@JonSantucci - Mets C Anthony Recker isn't worried about Bartolo Colon's age: "He's a big man, but he keeps himself in shape. He can handle it for sure…Recker on Zack Wheeler: "He could be one of the best. He's got that it-factor."

Keith Law on Mets System –

“The turnaround in this system is remarkable, especially when you consider they have not had a top-10 pick since they took Matt Harvey in 2010, and it puts the Mets in excellent shape relative to the other four teams in their division. The decisions to trade R.A. Dickey and Marlon Byrd look even better in hindsight. The Mets also have one of the minors’ best collections of pitchers who throw strikes but aren’t strictly finesse guys. – 6^th”

Mack – We all know that the Mets haven’t been Keith Law’s cup of tea for a very long time, so this is quite impressive. The Mets will be able to find trade partners for their ‘collection of pitchers’ a lot easier if writers like Law fall in behind them.

Relievers Still Out There -

Grant Balfour – 36-yrs old – 2013: 65-G, 1-3, 2.59, 1.20, 62.2-IP, 72-K

Fernando Rodney – 33-yrs old – 2013:  68-G, 5-4, 3.37, 1.33, 66.2-IP, 82-K

Carlos Marmol – 31-yrs old – 2013: 21-G, 0-0, 2.53, 1.55, 21.1-IP, 27-K

Andrew Bailey – 30-yrs old – 2013: 30-G, 3-1, 3.77, 1.22, 28.2-IP, 39-K

Jeremy Bonderman – 31-yrs old – 2013: 11-G, 1-1, 6.48, 1.68, 16.2-IP

Bruce Chen – 37-yrs old – 2013: 34-G, 9-4, 3.27, 1.18, 121.0-IP, 78-K

Kyle Farnsworth – 38-Yrs old – 9-G (Pitt), 1-1, 1.04, 1.04, 8.2-IP, 9-K

Joel Hanrahan – 32-yrs old – 9-G, 0-1, 9.82, 2.18, 7.1-IP, 5-K

BP Mock -

3.34) Travis d’Arnaud, C, New York Mets (J.D. Sussman, Bullpen Banter)- “D'Arnaud is a potential 20-home-run bat and solid contributor in batting average, runs, and RBI at the catcher position. Due to his strong defense, the Met is a lock to keep catcher eligibility for the large portion of his career, and his bat carries fantasy value at that position. While there are other catchers available with more upside (i.e. Alfaro, Sanchez), d'Arnaud's near-elite production isn't as speculative because he is on the precipice of being a major-league starter. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=22666

Monday morning will be the start of our annual Top Prospect Review. We will be doing 1 prospect per weekday during the month of February starting with the guys who just missed the cut on February 3rd. We love to have our readers chime in with their thoughts as these lists are becoming harder and harder to compile as the system becomes stronger.

Our criteria for the list is as follows:

A) Our list is a "rolling" list. This means if a player is ranked #10, he will hold that rank year over year unless further development or poor seasons give us reason to jump/drop him. This prevents massive drops or jumps due to 1 outlier good or bad season and/or injury.

B) A player MUST complete in a full season league (Savannah or Higher) before consideration in the Top 5

C) A player is list eligible until either his 26th birthday or until he is fully a part of the parent team's plans for the upcoming season. (In other words, although d'Arnaud is still rookie eligible, he is not eligible for this year's list because the Mets plan to use him as a starter)

D) Lastly, our rankings are based on a mixture of ceiling to floor disparity, maximum projection, and relative proximity to the MLB level. So if Player A and Player B have the same ceiling and floor but one is in AAA and the other is in A.....The player in AAA will be ranked higher.

In closing…

I’m very proud the direction this site has been going these past few years. What started out as a place for me to write about Mets minor leaguers has become a home for 14 other great writers that have taken the site in a direction I always hoped it would go. 

We’re about to start the 10^th season that Mack’s Mets has been around (in some form) and we have so much exciting stuff planned this year. Christopher Soto will continue post up our top 25 prospect list. Craig Mitchell, Ernest Dove, and Matthew Silva will be posting up a weekly column. Reese Kaplan and Matt Gad will write two per week. Craig will also return with his Mets recap after each game and Herb G will finished the evening off with a recap of the minor league teams. Of course, I will intersperse between posts all the pre-game and post-game press releases from each of the minor league teams. 

God willing, I’ll be around for my 53^rd Mets season.