4/14/14

Morning Report – 4-14-14 – Martires, LH Bullpen Help, Jairo

1932 Brooklyn Dodgers 


Coming Up –

        10 am –Jack Flynn – What Does Jack Think?

         12 noon – Craig Mitchell -- Decision time for Terry Collins

           5pm -  Jeff Hoffman, Michael Chavis, Max Pentacost, Justin Smith, Kel Johnson

         8pm –  OF - Monte Harrison - Lee's Summit West (MO) HS


New York Mets - Signed: RHP Martires Arias (released by Nationals, March 20) - Back to square one for Arias, who re-signed with the Mets after being released by Nationals two weeks ago. He originally signed with New York out of the Dominican Republic back in 2008, spending five years with the organization—he advanced only to Rookie-level Kingsport—before being selected by Washington in the minor league Rule 5 draft last December.[i]

Arias will play 2014 as a 23 year old, so he needs to giddy-up. The 6-7 right hander was 2-2, 2.76 for Kingsport in 2012, but ballooned to 1-7, 5.81 in 2013.



The Mets traded cather Blake Forsythe to Oakland for 'future considerations. Forsythe started this season on the DL and he hasn't had the most successful career as a Met. Hopefully, he'll get a fresh start in Oakland. Nice guy




         OF Chris Young rehabbed yesterday at Las Vegas...  5-5 with two home runs... when does the plane leave?


The Mets have made it very clear that they intend on solving their problems from within the organization. It’s only mid-April, which is far too early to overreact, but it is starting to seem obvious that the first area the Mets may need to address are left handed throwing pitchers out of the bullpen.

Right now (as of end of schedule 4-13) the two lefties in the pen have not produced the kind of results that are needed for a team trying to be competitive with a limited amount of depth and talent:

                John Lannan – 5-G, 3.0-IP, 7-ER, 15.75

                Scott Rice – 6-G, 2.2-IP, 4-ER, 13.50

These are two pitchers that have only been in the game for a combined 5.2 innings and they have produced 11 earned runs. This can’t keep happening.

I know Lannan gave the Mets two good innings Saturday night, but his cumulative effort so far this season has been sub-par.

So, if a team is to look inward for a solution, than it’s pitchers from both Las Vegas and Binghamton that have to be monitored during the remainder of this first critical month. They, and their current record through 4-13, are:

                Josh Edgin – 6-G, 3.1-IP, 5-ER, 3-K, 3-BB, 13.50, 2.00
                Dana Eveland – 4-G, 5.1-IP, 5-ER, 6-K, 1-BB, 8.44
                T.J. Chism – 4-G, 5.1-IP, 4-ER, 5-K, 5-BB, 6.75, 2.31
                Darin Gorski – 2-G, 9.2-IP, 1-ER, 12-K, 5-BB, 0.93, 1.34
                Adam Kolarek – 3-G, 4.1-IP, 0-R, 4-K, 1-BB, 0.00, 0.92
                Jack Leathersich – 4-G, 5.2-IP, 3-ER, 13-K, 5-BB, 4.76, 1.59

Like I said, it’s early in the season but, so far, the pickings are slim. Right now, your two options would be Gorski and Kolarek, and, since I don’t see Gorski having a future option in the Mets rotation, what better time to move him to the pen than now when a strike thrower is needed.



        St. Lucie 3B/1B Jairo Perez pulled up lame on Thursday night and left the game, walking off on his own. He’s not going on the DL as of this writing. Perez has been a breath of fresh air (.375/.400/.458/.858) after Sandy Alderson signed him after hitting .309 for Kansas City of the American Association in 2013. He is converting to first base this year as well as playing second and third.




I usually use Sunday to pontificate a little regardless when all these teams won or lost. It’s especially harder to write about games that are played on the west coast.

        I’ve said this in the past… a two run double by Juan Lagares doesn’t excite me anymore, nor does a three-run homer with two out in the ninth against Jose Valverde upset me. My job has morphed into simple objective reporting about a team with limited talent and a questionable future. Your job is to take my thoughts and translate them into your Mets world.

        I will say this. There’s been at least two more games that have been one errant pitch away from a victory that would make this entire start of the season an above .500 accomplishment. And, all of that would have been done with half of the starting bats hitting well below where any of the projection engines like Steamer had them before the season started.

It’s very, very young in the season, which should take some of the sting away from what you have been watching. Me? I simply can’t make excuses for a team that didn’t put the best product they could afford on the team.

My suggestion at this point:

1.  Consider releasing John Lannan
2.  Then, call up Josh Edgin who has pitched better in his last two outings for Vegas
3.  Promote Adam Kolarek to Vegas
4.  I would have then promoted one of the lefty relievers from St. Lucie to Binghamton… but they have none! (What’s wrong with this organization?)


11 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

This organization has righties galore in minors, and other than Matz, little in lefty-land. Weird

Anonymous said...

If your looking for a lefty then look no further than Chase Huchingson.

When Chase isn't smoking pot and getting suspended for it, he's mowing down lefties in the minors.

2013: 89 Batters Faced, .125 AVG, 26 K's (29%), 10 BB (11.2%), 0 HR

TP said...

Mack,
This bullpen needed addressing before the season began, by the GM, who essentially brought in MLB scrap heap guys and mumbled about assessing what he has blah blah blah. Alderson has delivered nothing but lousy bullpens each year he has been here, and this may be the worst yet. He relied on Rice and Edgin as his lefties. Rice, a career minor leaguer who was overused last year to the point of abuse, and Edgin, a guy that throws hard sometimes but so far is not MLB caliber. He has nothin gin th esystem close to providing help from the left side at the MLB level. Regardless of how well Valverde and Farnworth do, he provided no legit backup to Parnell, returning from a serious surgery that very likely resulted in his elbow injury. It would be hard to do worse. And everyone complains about Collins' use. Collins is no genius with the pen, but who is he going suppose to give the ball to?

Michi L. said...

The Forsythe trade is intresting. He has no future on this Team. Hope Sandy gets some bonus pool money for the draft to make up for the loss of the 2nd round pick.

Tom Brennan said...

For bullpen hope, maybe Hansel Robles? I know he is starting, but he seems completely back, with 2 outstanding starts in Binghamton, which is close to the bigs. No runs, 14 K's in 10 innings.

Reese Kaplan said...

I advocated Gorski as a reliever for awhile now. What have you got to lose?

Mack Ade said...

TP -

I agree, but we can't go back. We need someone now.

Mack Ade said...

Thomas -

Robles was tagged to become a reliever by Mets people last year...sometime down the road

Mack Ade said...

I like the Gorski idea, as I also think that the road to the majors for Verrett, Montero, and deGrom are through the minors, but I guess that's another discussion

TP said...

Mack - I agree, the past is the past, but there are actions that need to be taken now to upgrade this unit. So far Alderson has done nothing, he is "evaluating options". Word is they will watch Hanrahan throw this week, and so will others. What are the chances they will make a move as opposed to the chances that they will find a reason not to act?

Mack Ade said...

TP -

I don't see Hanrahan as any solution but I'd try anything until I found 4-5 good relief pitchers