Mark Mokris asked -
Hello Mack, I hope is all is well with you and your
family. With Adam
Rubin reporting that it's possible that all three of Andrew Brown, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, and Matt den Dekker may be ticketed to AAA that leads to
my question. Exactly how is that going to work?
There also has been rumblings that Lagares will be shipped to Las Vegas
if he is not starting so he can get steady at bats. So let's look at potential outfielders for
Vegas:
1. Juan Lagares (CF
but can play all positions)
2. Matt den Dekker (CF)
3. Kirk Nieuwenhuis (CF)
4. Cesar Puello (CF and RF)
5. Dustin Lawley (LF,
3b)
6. Eric Campbell (LF,
corner infielder)
7. Cory Vaughn (RF)
8. Andrew Brown (RF
or LF)
9. Darrell Cecilliani (LF,
CF)
10. Travis Taijeron (LF, RF)
Whoever doesn't make
it here gets potentially bumped to AA which just causes issues there.
Mack – Hey
Mark. It’s good to hear from you. I hope the new project you talked about last
time ‘we talked’ is progressing better than figuring out the 25-man squads of
these teams.
Let’s first talk outfield and, all we can
do, is discuss the players in the organization now. I don’t expect any
additional outfielders added to the mix, but you never know.
Queens – We know
that Curtis Granderson, Eric Young Jr. and Chris Young will be three of the outfielders in Flushing. Juan Lagares will survive
all this media-drama and could wind up starting more games than either of the
Youngs. And Rubin may be reporting that ‘it is possible’ that Brown, Kirk, and
DC will play AAA, but, in my world, ‘possible’ is far off from ‘probable. I see
the Mets going early with the hottest bats, which will create a late inning
need for a defensive specialist like den Dekker.
(minor league teams usually operate with
five outfielders, one of which tends to be a multi-positional guy like Eric Campbell, who plays
in both the infield and outfield. They also float in and out of the 7-day DL)
I pick the AAA and AA outfielders on sheet
talent, tools and major league projection.
Las Vegas – Cesar
Puello is a no-brainer here.
Eric
Campbell will once again be the AAAA
IF/1B/OF utility player
Inviting Cory
Vaughn and Dustin
Lawley to the Big Boy camp tells me their
days in Binghamton are over.
Kirk Nieuwenhuis or Andrew Brown will be the 4th
outfielder coming off the bench. The other will play for Binghamton.
Binghamton
-
Travis Taijerson and Darrell Cecilliani are going to have to wait their
turn and play the B-Mets again in 2014.
Kyle Johnson and Gilbert Gomez
will move up from St. Lucie.
Kirk Nieuwenhuis or Andrew Brown will be the 4th outfielder coming off the
bench. The other will play for Las
Vegas.
Released Prior To
Opening Day –
Alonzo Harris
Joe Bonfe
First base with all
of the minor league free agent signings is no better:
1. Lucas Duda
(assuming Mets stash him in AAA)
2. Allen Dykstra
(the kid has nothing left to prove at AA)
3. Zach Lutz
3. Eric Campbell
4. Brandon Allen
5. Matt Clark
6. Chris Garcia
Mack
- As of
today:
Queens –
Ike
Davis is the left handed platooned first
baseman
Josh
Satin is the right hand hitting platooned
first baseman
Las
Vegas –
Lucas
Duda is the left hand hitting first baseman
Alan Dykstra is the right
hand hitting first baseman
Eric Campbell is the
overall IF/OF/1B utility player
Binghamton
–
Jayce
Boyd and
Aderlin Rodriquez will split time at first
base
Chris Garcia will split
time with Cole Frenzel in St. Lucie.
Released
before Opening Day –
Brandon Allen, Matt Clark
Add to that the
congestion at third base:
1. Zach Lutz
2. Anthony
Seratelli
3. Brian Burgamy
4. Jairo Perez
5. Eric Campbell
6. Dustin Lawley
Mack
– As of today:
Queens –
David Wright is your starter.
It looks like Anthony Seratelli will be
one of the infield utility players. He specializes in third base.
Josh Satin started as both
a second and third baseman.
Las Vegas –
Zach Lutz is
the current starting third baseman; however, he could be pushed out the door
this spring by Jairo Perez. It’s too close to call right now. Lutz is AAAA at best…
Perez has tools.
Eric Campbell fills
in as the backup third baseman.
Dustin Lawley would
be the emergency third baseman. He’s a full time outfielder now.
Binghamton –
Robbie Shields will be the starter for the B-Mets
Right now, Binghamton doesn’t have a
utility infielder on their roster, so Brian
Burgamy could fit in nice here.
With Danny Muno the
presumptive starter at second and Wilfredo Tovar at shortstop all of a sudden
it makes one wonder where Wilmer Flores will be getting his playing time. I am sure he would start at either second or
third over the other options but when you then look at the huge logjam of
starting pitchers in AAA I think something needs to give at Las Vegas. What's your best guess at how things shake
out in Vegas?
Mack – Well, I broke out the outfield, 3B, and 1B above.
I have Wilmer Flores… right now… and I
change on this daily… making the Queens job as the 4th infielder/DH.
I think the Mets can showcase him for a future trade best in that role (I see
David Wright slowing down a little amd there is a good chance that Flores
starts the season at short).
My Vegas middle infielders would then be
Muno at second, Tovar at short, Rylan Sandoval as utility and probably
Quintanilla cut because Perez is around.
There should be some
interesting calls. Do you stash more
major league ready players at AAA like Brown, Lutz or challenge players like
Puello and Lawley? To me there are too
many players for too few positions. The
legitimate prospects need their at bats and as presently constituted I don't
see it happening. If Lagares ends up at
AAA then don't the majority of at bats have to go to Lagares in center, Lawley
in left, and Puello in right? I don't
see how you can take necessary at bats away from them to further develop
Captain Kirk or Matt D. I just don't see
any rhyme or reason to the over flow of players potentially ticketed for Las
Vegas.
Mack – I don’t
want to get into individual players that I think have reached their peak. A lot
of these guys read MMs and those out there that know they are running out of
options have to turn up their game or suffer the consequences.
For me, it’s time for the Mets to stop
respecting the age and longevity of the players in the system and go with the
projected talent. A perfect example of this would be the Vegas outfield of
Lawley, Vaughn, and Puello. These, IMO, are the guys that have the potential to
play this game full time at the major league level.
Thanks.
1 comment:
Great analysis, Mack, and I am in agreement on the 3 who s/b starting in OF at AAA, and for those exact reasons. I am just puzzled at why the Mets are allowing such a logjam in so many places, but I imagine they will sort it out somehow by April. Still beats looking down there are seeing tumbleweed blowing thru the minors, as we have in the past ("where's the talent?" has turned into "wow, a lot to sort out"))
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