Mack’s Morning Report – 2-21-14 – Injuries, Cory Vaughn, Cesar Puello, Dustin Lawley, Cameron-Chat, SI

As we have alerted you this week, today was the last day we accepted anonymous comments. The Blogger system simply doesn’t handle the ever-growing spam problem here and this was a necessary evil. I know we will lose some of our better comments from those of you that would rather remain identified. Please do consider at least making up a handle and keeping active through the comments portion of this site. We’re never a site that is flooded that way, probably because the majority of readers of MMs are happy just being a reader of what we punch out here.

Anyway, thanks to those of you that participated that way, some of which I know well. You will be missed.

Coming up later today:

            10 am  - Christopher Soto – Mack’s Mets Top 25- #12 OF Cory Vaughn

            12 noon - Herb G - Memo to Ike: Don’t Unpack Your Suitcase Just Yet.

            2 pm - Student Sports - Top 100 HS Ballplayers in 2014 Draft

            5 pm - The 2014 Preseason Golden Spike Award Watch List

            8 pm - Draft 14 – Cameron Varga, Alex Jackson, Monte Harrison, Alex Verdugo

            11pm - A Quick Look - RHP - Lukas Shiraldi – Texas

Bill Price –

We still don't know if d'Arnaud can hit like he's supposed to hit, we still don't know if Bobby Parnell can pitch like he's supposed to pitch, and we still don't know which Young will be in the outfield. The bullpen? A crap shoot of course, but I like the young arms the Mets have out there, and with more arms in camp than the Mets know what to do with the bullpen will shake out. http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/bitterbill/2014/02/with-mets-almost-as-boring-as-jeter-can-the-games-finally-begin-0

Mack – The most important thing coming out of this camp so far is the positive energy and the lack of injuries (don’t anyone bring up foot boots). Yes, there are battles to be won, but they are all in camp by relatively young, talented ballplayers. We’ll come out of this with a system that works.

D’Arnaud has no competition at the catcher spot other than his own production with a bat in his hand. The pitchers love him behind the plate and he squares up like a master. It’s up to him if he fights others for the 8^th slot in the lineup.

Stop with all the Young and Young stories. It’s starting to sound like an accounting firm instead of a baseball team. There will be four outfielders. They will be rotated until one falls down. End of story.

There will be a left hand hitting first baseman that knows how to hit home runs and hit .230. Sorry, that’s what we have here until Dominic Smith arrives someday.

And yes, there are a ton of young relief arms that probably will be ignored once again in favor for Terry Collins’ AARP crew of under achievers.

Still, as we’ve been pointing out these past few weeks, this will be a far more talented ‘on the field’, no dead money team and seems capable of reaching at least the .500 level (need some luck here… hello luck…).

Now, all we need is a healthy camp and a clean start out of the gate.

I’ve added three more names to the ‘spring training battle’ lists located on the right column of the lead page on Mack’s Mets. All are outfielders that probably have little or no chance of leaving camp and flying to Queens this spring, but they may represent the future of this team and need to be followed closely, beginning next Friday at 1pm (first spring game).

In no particular order, they are:

           Cory Vaughn – Vaughn has remained streaky throughout his four year minor league career, though his total stat line is a respectable .260/.362/.447/.809. It’s the 390 strikeouts in 1,505 at bats that keeps the Mets wary of his eventual value to the team. Still, 123-RBIs in the last two seasons is nothing to shake a bat at. My guess he will start the season in Vegas (25-years old come May).

           Cesar Puello – Take away one trip to Biogenesis and Puello would have had a good chance of being considered for one of the outfield slots this spring in Flushing. Instead, he’s going to have to prove himself big time in Vegas for probably the entire season. And, the Mets are going to have to keep a separate stat book on away games played in normal air and humidity to see if he can produce the kind of numbers he did consistently in Binghamton last year. Another Vegas starter.

           Dustin Lawley – The wild card. The converted third baseman became some kind of a power bat last season, hitting 26-HRs and 96-RBIs. Most o this was done in St. Lucie and a last minute promotion to Las Vegas produced 1-HR and 4-RBIs in 20-AB. Technically, he should play Binghamton this season, but he turns 25 in April and why not put the likes of Darrell Cecilliani, Alonzo Harris, and Kirk Nieuwenhuis behind us and let these three guys play Vegas together in 2014.

They seem to be your future so why not let them be your present also.

Cameron-Chat –

Comment From bill - How do the Mets compete in 2015 and beyond? The arms are great and coming, but FA market looks barren. Can you trade for 1b, SS and 2-3 outfielders? Ahh

Dave Cameron: Of course you can. You can also develop them

Sports Illustrated – Teams That Could Surprise -

New York Mets (74-88) - What was a poor offensive team last year (14th in average, 14th in slugging and 11th in runs) should be improved slightly with the addition of outfielder Curtis Granderson. (The Mets would sign up today for Chris Young to match the offense they found in Marlon Byrd last year.) But without ace Matt Harvey, gone for the year because of elbow surgery, the Mets are stuck in another transitional year, with a goal of getting pitchers Noah Syndergaard and Zack Wheeler and catcher Travis D'Arnaud established as building blocks for a run in 2015.  http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mlb/news/20140218/surprise-teams-mariners-giants-angels-padres-mets/#ixzz2ts9JRU2Y