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| 1952 Milwaukee Braves |
Coming
Up –
10 am –
12 noon – John Sickles - Top
Washington Nationals Prospects
5pm - Kyle Freeland, Matt Chapman, Daniel Mengden, J.J. Schwarz,
Mike Papi
8pm – OF
- Mike Papi – Virginia
Cam-Chat
–
Comment From Logan - Do you have any
thoughts on Nick Franklin getting called up?
Thoughts on him as an outfielder?
Dave
Cameron: He played a few innings there
in spring training, but he’s not an outfielder, and they shouldn’t just stick
him out there and assume he’ll be fine.
Comment From Guest - How
many options does Nick Franklin have left? Can
he be sent down again and again?
Dave Cameron: Players
have option years, not number of options. So in a year where the option is used
once, it can be used an unlimited number of times.
Dilson Herrera has hit .415 since moving to the leadoff spot on 4-8 for St. Lucie.
From Adam Rubin[i]
From Adam Rubin[i]
“the club's offensive approach has not
resulted in actual success. The Mets have scored dramatically fewer runs each
year under [Sandy] Alderson, [Paul] DePodesta and [Dave] Hudgens, going from
718 in 2011 to 650 in '12, down to 619 last season.”
Alderson
and Company are new three years in and have no excuses. This is their team,
either through the players they have kept around, one’s traded for, or one’s
signed as a free agent. What’s not represented here are the players they have
passed on, which would be an entire different metric.
The
good news is, not only is the talented core of young starters still intact, Noah Syndergaard was added to the
mix via a trade.
Add to
this a healthy list of ETA 2016-2017 future bats, and the team looks like they
will become someone to fear in the future.
Still,
very little seems to have been done correctly to make this a better team… now…
in 2014.
No matter how hard we try to avoid the subject, we always seem to work our way back to SS.
We talked about this yesterday and I suggested that Mr. Alderson revisit the Nick Franklin situation buy offering up either Wilmer Flores AND Ike Davis, or Ike Davis AND Jake deGrom.
I did get a couple of emails saying that I was suggesting too much.
I'm not folks. I'm trying to solve one major problem on the parent Mets team by offering two players that can help a team immediately. Remember... there are 25 baseball players on Las Vegas, all of which are not going to ever play for the New York Mets. Teams can afford to trade multiple players for one key bat. That's how the system works.
Would I go 3-for-1? Of course I would, if I got, in return, the right player to help fill out my roster.
The Mets need to put this shortstop mess behind them. Forget the 90-win bullshit and just stay inside the .500 percentage window. If this team can finish the first half of this season at .500 and, oh, let's say, 5-6 games behind the second playoff slot... well... here comes Rafael Montero, Noah Syndergaard, Cesar Puello in July latest, and Matt Harvey in September... and you have a pennant race on your hands.
The Mets sent a few people to watch Joel Hanrahan's showcase today. Forget 2013 (Boston, 2-G, 9.82). It’s 2012 (Pittsburgh, 63-G, 2.72) everybody’s looking for. The Mets are looking for one more missing piece for their 2014 pen and the 32-yr. old could fit the bill. Hell, he’s old enough!
We talked about this yesterday and I suggested that Mr. Alderson revisit the Nick Franklin situation buy offering up either Wilmer Flores AND Ike Davis, or Ike Davis AND Jake deGrom.
I did get a couple of emails saying that I was suggesting too much.
I'm not folks. I'm trying to solve one major problem on the parent Mets team by offering two players that can help a team immediately. Remember... there are 25 baseball players on Las Vegas, all of which are not going to ever play for the New York Mets. Teams can afford to trade multiple players for one key bat. That's how the system works.
Would I go 3-for-1? Of course I would, if I got, in return, the right player to help fill out my roster.
The Mets need to put this shortstop mess behind them. Forget the 90-win bullshit and just stay inside the .500 percentage window. If this team can finish the first half of this season at .500 and, oh, let's say, 5-6 games behind the second playoff slot... well... here comes Rafael Montero, Noah Syndergaard, Cesar Puello in July latest, and Matt Harvey in September... and you have a pennant race on your hands.
The Mets sent a few people to watch Joel Hanrahan's showcase today. Forget 2013 (Boston, 2-G, 9.82). It’s 2012 (Pittsburgh, 63-G, 2.72) everybody’s looking for. The Mets are looking for one more missing piece for their 2014 pen and the 32-yr. old could fit the bill. Hell, he’s old enough!
The plan first is
for Vic Black to return, who hasn’t
given up a run in his four AAA outings (3.1-IP, 5-K). The only problem is he is
still walking too many batters (4-BB).
Nick
Cafardo @nickcafardo - Joel
Hanrahan "looked great" according to someone who witnessed his
workout today. Several teams on hand
Could not agree on the SS matter more, Mack. There is a HUGE surge of pitching coming - key reason the Met far teams have won close to 70% of their games so far. Use that bounty to fix this team as soon as possible, and SS is the first spot. Maybe with Nick Franklin from Day 1, they'd have been 10-5 now, and not 8-7. With him in this line up, it is at least average in NL - and with the Monteros and Thors coming along, they'll have plenty of pitching should they have to give up Degrom to get Franklin, a future power bat at a typically non-power position..
ReplyDeleteThey should just bring up Flores already and just let him play everyday. Let tejada fill in from 7th inning on when we have a lead.
ReplyDeleteI've noticed Flores' bat is starting to heat up. A few weeks of his expected offensive production and Zozo may be onto something.
ReplyDeleteYes, Flores' bat is coming around at the AAA level. I agree with John. I would play him everyday in Queens if, for no other reason that to have his bat in the lineup.
ReplyDeleteThis seems lime such a non-brain issue for a team that was willing to allow someone to play second base while learning it.
Hi folks
ReplyDeleteFlores does not have to learn how to play SS - he's already played the equivalent of 3 full seasons there...just get some rust off (I'd say his 12 games there should have done that for the most part) and work on refining his ability to field as well as possible. After 7 hits and a walk in last 5 games, the affect of the adjustment to SS on his hitting seems largely done.
Maybe call him up after this Atlanta series, or at the latest after this 10 game homestand end with the Miami series, when they go on the road on the 28th. By then he should be as comfortable as he's gonna get. Get him up here to see what he can do before Franklin gets traded to the Yanks.
Hi Mack and others - a question:
ReplyDeleteIs Matt Bowman equal to Rafael Montero, other than just being a year behind him? Do we have another Raffie on our hands, which would be wonderful. Tremendous start to Matt's AA career.
Thomas -
ReplyDeleteAs I have written, I agree that the Mets should play Flores in Queens at SS, but... this isn't a matter of getting the rust off.
He was a HORRIBLE shortstop in the years he played there. This is not a matter of shaking rust off. This is learning how to play the position at an acceptable level, and nothing more. His feet will always prevent him from making the quality plays and winning a Gold Glove, but he can hit 20-25 home runs and knock in 85-95 RBIs which will make up for the 30 errors he produces (or the 10-15 double plays he doesn't turn)
Thomas -
ReplyDeleteThat's funny... I just finished writing something last night about Bowman that will be in tomorrow morning's report :)
the Bowman write up should be a fascinating read. look forward to it
ReplyDeleteIts not that thats too much for a shortstop, its just too much for a guy that might not really be able to stick at shortstop.
ReplyDeleteId trade both those guys for a young short stop who could hit 270 w a little pop, or 275 lead off, but he has to be able to actually make all the plays at short and franklin cant or he'd have won the job in seattle considering hes supposed to be the better hitter.
Good point, Robb.
ReplyDeleteBoy, we sure could use Bud Harrelson right now.
0r Roy MacMillan...he was great at making plays at deep SS, even in his twilight years
ReplyDelete