Mack’s Morning Report – 2-14-14 – Pitchers/Catchers, John Lannan, David Wright, Dee Gordon

Coming Up Later - 

    11am  -  Christopher Soto - Mack's Met's Top 25- #17 3B/LF Dustin Lawley


Mike Piazza ‏@mikepiazza31  - Heard the news about Derek Jeter and want to wish him the best!  He was a credit to his team and the city!  Class guy, God Bless!

Here are the OBP leaders or the organization in 2013: - Alan Dykstra – Binghamton  .436, Eric Campbell -   Las Vegas - .435, Jayce Boyd – Sav/St. Lucie - .410, Cesar Puello – Binghamton - .403, Dominic Smith – GCL/K-Port - .398, Brandon Nimmo – Savannah - .397… How come we never hear anything about these top three guys?

A little reminder about the importance of ‘pitcher-catcher’ reporting days. The process is pretty simple. All pitchers that were invited, be them hard core veterans or free agent minor league invitees, are assigned a mound to report to at a specific time. Those mounds are usually located at one of two locations… the four or five located just outside the back door of the main clubhouse (located between the stadium and main backfield, next to the team parking lot) or on the stealth mounds tucked in between two back fields two-thirds the way down towards the minor league complex. Mets officials don’t like reporters there. I had my yearly get together with pitching coach Rick Waits one year there and one of the Mets bross asked me to leave (and leave Rick alone as well).

The days that pitchers report can start something really big. I was there when a relatively unknown R.A. Dickey took one of those mounds outside the clubhouse.

John Delcos –

John Lannan: He’s 29, left-handed and comes with a reasonable contract. The Mets signed him as Mejia insurance, but he has shown signs of becoming a solid starter. From 2008-2011, he started 31, 33, 25 and 33 games respectively for some pretty bad Washington teams, and three times worked at least 180 innings. There’s promise here, and because of his age, he’s worth keeping. The significant question: Will he get a chance to show his durability? http://www.newyorkmetsreport.com/2014/02/13/mets-have-numbers-but-also-questions-in-rotation/

Mack – Delcos wrote about all the questions that surround the 2014 Mets rotation, but these were his specific thoughts on Lannon. I really like this minor league signing and consider Lannan the early on favorite for the opening day SP5 slot. Lannan became expendable in Washington after they signed Gio Gonzales and Edwin Johnson. Prior to that, he pitched 10-13, 33-starts, 3.70 for a crud team.

Don’t look for mad stats here from the lefty. The fastball barely hits 90, but he’s learned how to produce the innings needed for a successful SP5. He doesn’t eat a ton, throws pitchers with less than an hour between them, and s still north of thirty. Adam Rubin also reported that Lannan is ‘fully recovered’ from last August’s knee surgery.

David Wright - 

                   The discussion, as usual, begins with David Wright, the face of the franchise and the team’s best position player. Although he’s no longer the five-category, first-round monster he was in the closing years of the Bush administration, Wright still delivers enough at a typically shallow position to rank just outside third base Studsville, having delivered a .307/.390/.514 slash line with a .391 wOBA last year. Regrettably, those numbers were crammed into less than 500 plate appearances, as a right hamstring injury zapped more than a month and a half and limited him to 18 homers, 58 RBIs and 17 steals. Yes, it’s been four years since Wright approached 30 homers and crossed the 100 RBI threshold, and if you’re concerned about injuries for the 31-year-old – he has, it must be said, averaged just 123 games over the past three seasons – that’s understandable. But on draft day, the third base options after Wright lack Captain America’s upside or ability to spread production up and down a 5×5 sheet.  http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/mets-infield-david-wright-and-some-upside/  

Jeff C asked - .

Here is a question revolving around the SS position.

Now that the Dodgers have made another international signing, do you think that Dee Gordon would be available? If so, what are your thoughts on him as a potential SS for the Mets? He is a career .300 hitter in the minors, good speed, flashes of great D. He just seems like a guy with a high ceiling that would be worth a shot at

      Mack – Jeff, thanks for a very good question.

Before we get into Gordon, right now my main concern is chemistry. This whole Stephen Drew-Ruben Tejada mess is just going to leave a bad taste in my mouth no matter how it plays out. At this point, I want a fresh face, and maybe Gordon could be the guy.

Gordan has some positive things going for himself (is that proper english?) (do you capitalize ‘English’?). First, he only turns 26 in April. He also bats left, has great speed on the basepath, and is a natural shortstop. Past that, there are some questions.

First, he followed up a nice 2011 (224-AB, .304) with a meh 2012 (303-AB, .228). He spent most of 2013 back at the AAA level and only had 94-at bats with the Dodgers (.234, .314/OBP). He also had a thumb injury and lost his SS job to Hanley Ramirez.

Not everyone considers him a good defensive shortstop and word out of Los Angeles is that he is being converted to second base.

Is he a better option than Tejada?

Right now, my guess is I’d offer someone like Jake deGrom or Cory Mazzoni.