Morning Report – 4-26-14 – Top 10 in Draft, Relief Pitchers, 1999, Eno-Chat

2030 Willets Point

Coming Up –

        11 am – Reese Kaplan - Dwelling in Anonymity:  Hidden Gems in Las Vegas

2 pm – Top 10 SS in 2014 MLB Draft - Updated 4-23-14

          5pm -  Luke Weaver, Chris Harvey, Brandon Downes, Mike Papi, Andrew Daniel

          8pm –  RHP - Michael Cederoth - San Diego State

Bobby Abreu hasn't been on the DL since 1997


Last two games for Brandon Nimmo:  3-4, 7-BB


GMs of teams with #2, #3, and #4 picks in draft watch Shepherd High School's Tyler Kolek strike out... 16


This was another outstanding night of pitching from the prospect starters in this organization and, every time this happens, scouts from other teams plead for their General Managers to pull the trigger before the cost of trading for one or more of these guys gets too high.

This is all going to pay off big time when the all-star break rolls around and the likes of deGrom, Montero, and Syndergaard start knocking on the door of a bedroom with no empty beds.

You're really going to like the results of all this by the end of the year.

We posted an updated top 10 draft pick list on the right side of page one of the site. This averages all the mock drafts in April:

1. LHSP Carlos Rodon - NC State

2. LHSP Brady Aiken - Cathedral C.H.S. (CA)

3. RHSP Tyler Kolek - Sheppherd (TX) HS

4. RHSP Tyler Beede - Vanderbilt

5. RHSP Jeff Hoffman - East Carolina

6. C Alex Jackson - Rancho Bernardo HS

7. RHSP Grant Holmes Conway (SC) HS

8. SS Nick Gordon - Olympia (FL) HS

9. OF Bradley Zimmer - San Francisco

10. SS Trea Turner - NC State

As usual, the starting pitchers are rising to the top. Grant Holmes has especially gained a stronghold and could wind up in the top five before the draft is called.

I found the decline of shortstops interesting. Early on this mock season, there were three in the top 10, Gordon, Turner, and Jacob Gatewood. I have absolutely no problem with drafting Turner, who could be major league ready by opening day 2016.

Lastly, you would be surprised how close Rodon came from losing the top rank position.

Relief Pitchers –

I’m sorry. I just don’t analyze minor league relief pitchers. There are too many of them and most of them were drafted as filler. I hate to sound so cold, but that’s just the way it is. The money is in the starters and nowhere else.

That being said, let’s discuss a few in the system that have caught my attention, both good and bad.

(first of all… I’m not one of those guys that dance in the halls after three outings in April. Playing minor league baseball is a marathon on steeper hills each level you go up. You analyze these guys on their total package, not what they have done in 15 days in April)

Michael Socolovich – 6-1 RHP 27-yrs old – 217-G, 8.10 K/9, 3.82 BB/9, 3.76, 1.30  -  Don’t you have to give a chance to a pitcher that has pitched for both the Cubs and a team in Hiroshima? He’s holding down a 1.12 WHIP in Vegas this spring. On the surface, he looks like the perfect replacement for the struggling Jeurys Familia.

Jeff Walters – The 26-yr. old Walters came off an all-star 2013 season for Binghamton where he set a team record for 38 saves (53-G, 2.09). No one earned a bump to AAA more than he did, but he is having some growing pains (9-G, 8.0-IP, 5-SV, 9.00-ERA). The good news is 7 0f the 8 runs he has given up this year were in two games, meaning, he has given up only one run in the other seven games he has pitched in. These are pretty good numbers from a guy that started out the season with a 54.00 ERA after his first outing. I expect Walters to continue to go down the right path, on the way to Queens.

Vic Black – the ‘demotion’ has had its upside… 6-G, 7.1-IP, 0-R, 0.00-ERA, 8-K. The only problem is the 7-BB that keeps the ‘wildness’ tag on him this spring. He’s not coming back to Flushing until he pounds the zone while avoiding bats.

John Church – I have no answer for the Rodney Dangerfield of the Mets organization. He really has never pitched bad and, after going 3-0, 3.21 for Las Vegas last year, he was demoted back to Binghamton to start this season. He’s got a 3.42 career ERA with a 7.99 K/9… if I was Church I would at least demand to be the workhorse of the staff so he could at least get that kind of reputation.

Jack Leathersich – Boy, he had us excited, didn’t he? The 23-yr. old is still throwing at a 16.43 K/9 clip this season, and totals, career wise at 15.20 (255-K in 151-IP). The problem is he had a horrible year in Vegas last season and is barely holding his own this year back in Binghamton. I think we’ll always see the high strikeout rate, but ‘Leather’ doesn’t seem capable to be counted on to keep a game going in the right direction.

Randy Fontanez – Scouts are starting to say that the 25-year old South Florida ex-starter has what it takes to be a big league reliever. He’s currently sitting at 2.38, 9-G, with 15-K in 11.1-IP. Career: 9.47 K/9

Akeel Morris – The ex-starter prospect had the walls cave in during 2012 (7.98-ERA), but has come back with a vengeance, mainly due to a 94-98 mph fastball that has A-ball batters swinging wildly at. So far this season, he hasn’t given up a single run in five games he has pitched in. I am going to interview him on the next home stand so feel free to email me any questions you would like me to ask him.

Tony asked –

        Hey Mack… Dice-K… Colon… Abreu… is any of this making sense to you?

Mack – Ha! All any baseball team tries to do each day is win a baseball game against a given team. That means they have to score one more run than the other guys, regardless the age of your players or how many of them are batting under .200.

As a Mets fan, you have to decide what your goals are here.

 Additionally, if pitchers like Dice-K and Farnsworth can get the back end of your bullpen done in a proper manner, who are we to quibble about them being part of the 2014 roster.

I said this on a comment yesterday… I think a good goal right now would be to finish the first half of the season five games above .500. The current Mets pitching and defense seems capable of doing that if only a couple more bats wake up. 

In my opinion, those bats have to be Granderson and Chris Young. They’re getting the big bucks and have the talent to turn three or four potential losses into wins before the all-star break.

This would create a tough call. Do you trade players like Colon and Young and replace them with prospects like Montero and Puello? 

And, if so, did your rush to promote the prospects cost you what got you to the dance, or did the return or the players who were not going to remain on the team in 2015 anyway outweigh their loss?

Replacing Colon with Montero sounds like a good deal on paper.

 Replacing Young with Puello has a little more risk.

For now… party like it’s 1999.

Eno-Chat – 

Comment From Will - How should the Mets call up first if someone in the rotation gets hurt?

       Eno Sarris: Montero is more polished than Syndergaard, I bet he’s up first.

       Comment From Larry - Who was the PTNL the mets got back for Davis

       Eno Sarris: Not known yet, probably from the draft last year. Jacoby Jones or the lefty starter.

       Comment From JL - Is David Wright a significant upgrade over Anthony Rendon at this point?

       Eno Sarris: yes, as much as I like Rendon.

       Comment From john - so you like the mets and you like sandy. can you defend grandy and colon now? they were both omar-type moves when they were signed and i feel vindicated being the only one against them at the time.

       Eno Sarris: One thing I’d say is that Colon is not going to be a problem. Two years, that money, they can release him and the smell of the fart would dissapate quickly. Obviously Granderson is Bay-like, but Bay money now is like 75% as valuable as Bay money then (bad math, just guessing) because year to year inflation is like 10% in baseball. So yeah, slightly Omar-like with Grandy, but tons of pressure to spend money … and from my comments on my grandy piece, you were not alone.