Morning Report – 3-1-14 – STG-1, Starlin Castro, Payroll Value, BABIP

Coming Up –

          10 am – Top 10 RHP in 2014 Draft - Revised 2-24-14

          12 noon – Top 10 Shortstops in 2014 MLB Draft - Revised 2-24-14

            2 pm - Top 10 First Basemen in the 2014 MLB Draft - Revised 2-24-14

            4 pm – Draft 14 – Jacob Gatewood, Jake Cosart, Matt Chapman, Chandler Avant

            6 pm – A Quick Look - LHP - Carlos Rodon - NC State

            8 pm -  FANGRAPHS - Top 10 Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects

If you’re Sandy Alderson, you walk away from the first pre-season baseball game with three thoughts…

1.     You place a telephone call to your counterpart in Pittsburgh and make sure they still aren’t looking to upgrade their LHH-1Bman

2.     You call all the GM’s that have an extra shortstop and ask them if they would like tape on Jacob deGrom.

3.     You have a meeting with all your inner circle and discuss what you just saw Rafael Montero do.

Mike Puma ‏@NYPost_Mets  - Syndergaard's performance opened eyes. "What I saw yesterday, he's Dwight Gooden when he was 19 years old," a NYM talent evaluator said.

         

Mack's Mets ‏@JohnMackinAde  1m

@BleacherNation - Brett, have you heard anything about Mets monitoring Castro? 

 Brett Taylor ‏@BleacherNation  1m

@JohnMackinAde I have not. Value so low right now, very hard to see Cubs moving him.

Mack's Mets ‏@JohnMackinAde  3m

@BleacherNation  Hmm - I had 'source' tell me that yesterday - Thanks 

 Brett Taylor ‏@BleacherNation  1m

@JohnMackinAde Thanks. Makes sense, given Mets' situation. My guess is gap btw Cubs' needed price and Mets' valuation huge. Cubs will want to give him a chance to rebound this year.

Kevin Kernan ‏@WheresKernan  - Only a small, bitter minority of fans “@SalMarinello: @WheresKernan Met fans seem very testy, on edge lately.”

  Mack's Mets ‏@JohnMackinAde  - @WheresKernan @SalMarinello - just the ones that read me 

 Kevin Kernan ‏@WheresKernan  - Mack deals with the belly of the beast lol “@JohnMackinAde: @WheresKernan @SalMarinello - just the ones that read me”

Frank Cashen's first 3 years: 173-254 (.405 winning %)

Sandy Alderson's first 3 years: 225-261 (.462 winning %)

It was interesting listening to Zack Wheeler being interviewed on the Hot Stove Show by Kevin Burkhardt at Duffy’s Thursday night. The thing that caught me was the fact that the game that afternoon was the first time he had ever seen Noah Syndergaard pitch. We forget how quickly some members of this team have been put together. Wheeler was very impressed with Thor and also was thrilled that he has taken the media juice away from what used to go Wheeler’s way. Boy, is this going to be some pitching staff.

Another very positive sign that night was the personality and character displayed by outfielder Curtis Granderson. He almost sounded like a Mets motivational speaker. When quizzed by Burkhardt and asked who impressed him the most so far, he quickly said Cesar Puello overall and the bat of Lucas Duda, two very important people if this team is going to be a factor in 2014. In fact, he stressed that fans would run to the fence every time Duda would begin launching balls over the right field fence. Ike Davis may have his work cut out for him this spring.

Revised Blackout Rules –

That would be maddening enough, but it has been the national weekend games, specifically the MLB on FOX game of the week that falls mid-day on Saturdays that have raised the most ire (see MLB’s current national weekend broadcast schedule, here). FOX had the exclusive rights to any MLB games starting between 4:00 and 7:00 p.m. ET on Saturdays, and with that, everyone that paid for MLB Extra Innings or MLB.TV Premium was blacked out for all games during the window. You wanted to watch baseball during that time you had to find a television showing the FOX game of the week. http://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2014/02/27/with-2014-baseball-season-a-slight-thawing-in-broadcast-blackout-policy/

Eno-Chat –

            Comment From Smack Breinke - Are you ready for the 90 win Mets?!

Eno Sarris: In 2016? F yeah.

Comment From DB - What’s your take an Eric Young? Sneaky stolen base add late in the draft, or the second coming of Rajai Davis? Will he start and hold off Lagares?

Eno Sarris: As a Met fan I want him as a backup. He’s not a good defender, has no patience or power, and is a one-tooler. Lagares might only be a one-tooler (glove) but he also is younger and has more upside.

Comment From john - Mets interest in Franklin – posturing to bring Drew’s price down? Legit? If he really can’t play short, whats the point?

Eno Sarris: One wrinkle in the Mets interest is that I’m not sure how much they value defense. Some decisions in past, like playing Duda in the outfield and letting him take fly balls there now, seem to suggest maybe they don’t value it as much as some teams. That might mean Eric Young plays more, and it might mean Franklin can play short for them.

BABIP –

           What is BABIP? What does BABIP measure? How is BABIP useful? 

They're all interrelated concepts, so I'll try to break it down as best I can.

As I mentioned at the top, BABIP (I pronounce it phonetically, for what it's worth) quite literally stands for Batting Average on Balls In Play. While that sounds like some newfangled sabermetric stat, I hesitate to really call it a purely a "stat," per se.

To me, BABIP is more of a measurement tool than a statistic. Yes, it's expressed in a number, but like any baseball-related statistic, it requires a little more nuance to properly contextualize what it's really measuring. BABIP to me is an inexact, but important, rough outline of a player's batted ball profile. http://thesheafaithful.com/articles/babip-is-your-friend