Morning Report – 4-6-14 – Collette-Chat, Montero, deGrom, Flexen

1920 Chicago 

Coming Up –

        11 am –  Top 10 SS in 2014 MLB Draft - Updated 4-5-14

         2 pm –   TTF's Dan Kirby Top 20 Draft Picks

          5 pm –   Michael Gettys, Aaron Nola, Alex Jackson, Derek Fisher, Nick Gordon

         8 pm  -  OF - Brad Zimmer - San Francisco

I want to go back and talk a little more about a conversation I had on Friday… with ‘someone… and I reported it on the site. It said that this person felt that there would (or could) be a major evaluation of this team, and its players, after the first 20 games are played. It sounded like something I should share will all of you and I’d write about it again.

He was talking about changes within the organization with the emphasis on players that were currently either riding the bench or playing in Las Vegas. We all know the team doesn’t have a ton of talent, so keep an eye on what’s going on in Las Vegas. This is where any new players (if any) will come from.

Collette-Chat –

Comment From john - Please tell me I am dreaming. Lucas Duda over Ike Davis? There is nothing that Duda does better than Davis. Even saber-knowledgable Sandy Alderson idolaters must be going insane. Can this team get any worse?

Jason Collette: When you have three first basemen, you really have no first basemen. Still, they’re in a better position than Milwaukee or Pittsburgh at the moment at the position. Can the Mets get worse? Are you double-dog daring them to?

Comment From Gabe - Why are Mets fans so sad? Baseball is back! Please tell my compadres to stop whining and go back to being the lovable losers of yesteryear.

        Jason Collette: They’re conditioned to be that way.

Comment From Lewie - Rafael Montero an underrated pitcher in keeper leagues?

        Jason Collette: He has a 3rd starter ceiling for me.

Juan Lagares (up): With Chris Young on the disabled list, Lagares appears to be the everyday center fielder. He also occasionally bats leadoff. Besides those two factors, he’s no great shakes in fantasy. http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/risers-and-fallers-from-week-one/

Savannah Sand Gnats outfielder Jared King had no triples in 222 at-bats last year for Brooklyn (.266). He had two Friday night for Savannah.

The 5-11 switch hitting King came out of Wichita State as the Mets 5^th round pick ($450K bonus). He had three outstanding years there (.307, .377, , 335), and, though he was never known to be a home run hitter, he just didn’t strike out and he loved to take a fourth ball… OPS over the three years were: .900, 1.030, and .962. What a perfect Sandy-pick!

King took some time off after last season, but then prepared for 2014 by working out with some old friends at the Wichita State complex.

He’s also relatively young for a college junior, playing Savannah this year as a 22-year old. I expect him to move quickly to St. Lucie (where, IMO, he should be playing now) if he hits in the .275-.325 range before the all-star break.

Through Friday (more than 5 at-bats) –

       Batting Average –

1.  Kirk Nieuwenhuis  Las Vegas        .625

2.  Zach Lutz:            Las Vegas         .625

3.  T.J. Rivera           St. Lucie           .625

4.  Patrick Biondi       Savannah          .571

5.  Brandon Nimmo    St. Lucie           .500

       OBP –

1.  Kirk Nieuwenhuis  Las Vegas         .667

2.  Zach Lutz             Las Vegas         .667

3.  T.J. Rivera           St. Lucie           .625

4.  Brandon Nimmo    St. Lucie           .625

5.  Patrick Biondi       Savannah          .625

       Slugging percentage –

1.   Kirk Nieuwenhuis Las Vegas         1.125

2.  Zach Lutz             Las Vegas         1.125

3.  T.J. Rivera           St. Lucie           1.125

4.  Patrick Biondi       Savannah          1.000

5.  Jared King            Savannah          1.000

       OPS –

1.  Kirk Nieuwenhuis  Las Vegas         1.792

2.  Zach Lutz             Las Vegas         1.792

3.  T.J. Rivera           St. Lucie           1.750

4.  Patrick Biondi       Savannah          1.625

5.  Jared King            Savannah          1.500

Collins on Montero and deGrom –

“So, right now, with those two young guys, because we’re looking down the road that perhaps they’re going to have to come up here and pitch out of the bullpen, the first thing you want to do is get them out there and get them comfortable. Get them a couple of starts. And that includes Montero. That includes all of those young guys. And then at some time they’re going to pitch out of the bullpen in Triple-A, so when they get here they’re accustomed to it. They know how to warm up. They get themselves ready.

“Can they pitch back-to-back days? We don’t know that yet. We don’t know that from any of those kids. Now you’re talking about subjecting them to injury. Jenrry Mejia, he’s had some injury issues. Is it because he had to pitch out of the bullpen early in his career? I don’t know. Certainly we know one thing: to keep pitchers healthy, starting might be easier sometimes than relieving because you don’t have to get up as many times.

“So there’s no perfect answer to your question. I just think when those guys are ready, and if we need help, Sandy has said, ‘Hey, look, if they’re ready to pitch out of the bullpen, we’ll bring them up.’”

Mack – It sounds like TC and I are on the same page over this. Making these two guys into relief pitchers in 2014 has nothing to do with 2015 or beyond that. All the Mets are trying to do is win ball games and you can’t keep bringing in old guys who give up 2-run homers (Lannan) and still give them credit for a ‘hold’.

Frankly, I won’t be happy until they are all gone… Lannan, Farnsworth, Valverde, Colon… even Alvarado, Matsuzaka, and Eveland off the AAA roster. None of these guysare going to help this team in the future. None of them.

I got a chance to see SP Chris Flexen pitch on Saturday.

He stared out well in the first, with a sitting 91-93 fastball, but he began to unravel in the second inning. The unraveling continued in the fourth and he finished off at: 4.2-IP, 5-R, 3-BB (all scored), only 3-K. I sat directly behind home plate and his secondary pitches missed on both sides of the plate. Frankly, he managed to get a couple of Lakewood hitters to wing at some bad pitches so it actually could have gone a lot worse than the 9.64-ERA that was produced on Saturday. Oh well, you have to start somewhere, right?

In attendance Saturday at the Sand Gnats game was ex-New York Met Lee Mazzilli and his wife, on hand to cheer his son LJ on (and sneek radio listens to the UConn Final Four game. We talked briefly about his son and he thanked me for my past interview with him.