Morning Report - Apr 30

Coming Up Today:

      10 am - Reese Kaplan – Mr. Alderson, Do Something!

      12 noon – Through The Fence - Mock 7.0

       3 pm - Top 10 C in 2014 MLB Draft - Updated 4-26-14

      6 pm – Grant Holmes, Joey Pankake, Jace Fry, Matt Chapman, Drew Rasmussen

      8 pm - RHP - Aaron Nola - LSU

Well, I am back.

I had expected to be offline a little longer; however, things worked out that I only had as many off days as the Mets… one.

I had a chance to catch up a little on the situation out in Los Angeles regarding outfielders. I know we are currently redefining the definition of the 8^th best team in baseball, but the Mets really do need to someday improve on the productivity of their outfield.

The Dodgers, on the other hand, are raining outfielders. We started this discussion around four months ago when we wondered how they were going to find playing time for their ‘four starters’ (Yasiel Puig (.265), Matt Kemp (.221), Andre Ethier (.211), and Carl Crawford (.206). We discussed this because we wanted to get our hands on top prospect Joc Peterson (.389), who is still currently stuck at the AAA level

Now, it’s even more complicated. Along comes, out of nowhere, 27-year old Scott Van Slyke (.281) who is 4^th in team hitting. What the hell are the Dodgers going to do now with Peterson?

Look, this looks like a no-brainer. Sandy Alderson has one (or two) young pitchers from a list of many. One would think that Peterson would be a perfect target the Mets that could be orchestrated during the trading season this summer.

Obviously this would complicate the Mets outfield, but I really don’t care. I know the Mets are going to keep playing Curtis Granderson for the length of his contract. Past that, the Mets need a potential all-star. Peterson offers that and current Mets outfielders can either be sold off (both Youngs) or cast aside.

Every draft season has one kid that climbs the mock drafts at the last minute (or, in our case, April). This season’s meteor is Stone Bridge HS (VA) RHP Jacob Bakauskas. I never heard bupkis about Bakauskas until someone wrote that he was routinely ‘hitting 100 with good secondary stuff’. That usually is enough to get you on the Day One draft board and, right now, he’s projected to be at least a comp 1^st round pick. Not bad for a kid that just seems to have found the zone.

Bob Sugar asked -

Is Matt Reynolds SS for Bingo a real prospect for us? I know he was a high draft pick but he fell off the radar. Looks like he is putting it together in AA

      Mack – No he is not, but don’t tell him that.

He actually was a 2^nd round draft pick and was given a hefty $525K to sign and join the Mets in 2012 in Savannah (.259). He had a particularly bad season last year for St. Lucie (433-AB, .226, 20-E on SS) which didn’t project him well for New York State; however, he’s currently 2^nd in the league in hitting (.389). 

Look, he didn’t that well in college at Arkansas (2010: .203, 2011: .243, 2012: .323) unless you consider being a late bloomer warranting a 2^nd round pick.

He’s made four errors in 20 games Leads team) which is pretty normal for a middle infielder.

I’d just let him play at this level for the remainder of the year to see if he can sustain this kind of batting average at the AA-level.

I don’t see him taking over in Queens someday, but I’ve been wrong before.



Look, I'm not sure what's going on right now. There are seven guys in the lineup hitting between .130 and .230 and this is supposed to be one of the top team in baseball.

We said it in 2011 under 2014 avatars... pitching, pitching, and more pitching. And, the best one's are still on the farm.

We'll talk more around noon after another surgery this morning.