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4/30/14

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 8th 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 4th 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 1st 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 2nd 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 2nd 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 2nd 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.

12 comments:

  1. Hey Mack
    All the best with the surgery. I'm sure it will be a success and, after a 12 month rehab with Matt Harvey, you'll be touching triple digits again. You're a high first rounder, no doubt.

    I am all for trading surplus pitching for the right offensive guy - Peterson sounds like it.

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  2. Hoping for a speedy recovery Macky.
    You know what stinks Van Slyke was DFA'd about 2 years ago, I would of grabbed him on pedigree alone.

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  3. Which is the higher priority -- outfielders or shortstop? In general the the former are easier to find and we've been going on something like 300 ABs of .200 hitting from Ruben Tejada. If you're going to make a deal, I'd prefer it would be for Chris Owings or Nick Franklin or one of Cleveland's shortstops.

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  4. Thomas -

    Thank you - this morning was a quickie foot procedure.

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  5. Well Zozo, we all know it's easy to look back...

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    Replies
    1. No I asked for it at the time it happened, no Monday morning quarterbacking for me.
      While we are talking about what if's
      It was so awesome that sandy sent his top guys to watch Abreau this offseason, too bad it was the wrong Abreau

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  6. Reese - I'm going to answer your question as part of tomorrow's Morning Report. I'm getting less questions via email these days and yours sounds like a good one to talk about.

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  7. what would you trade for peterson? for ownings? none of this second tier prospect bs.

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  8. Robb -

    I'll add your question to Reese's on tomorrow morning's Morning Report

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  9. I had commented on my own article on Sandy Alderson, Do Something that the Mets could solve three problems at once by trading for a shortstop who can lead off. Then both Tejada and Young become valuable bench pieces and your outfield matter is settled.

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  10. Thanks for the shout out Mack.
    What's up guys. Good energy around the big club and the minors these days. Refreshing. Daniel Murphy, Niese, and Dice K have been really good to date.

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  11. And some great news - after tonite's almost certain rain out, there is the antithesis of last year's Colorado deep freeze - I think it will be about 58 degrees at game time tomorrow, and highs in upper 70's to mid 80's the next 3 days. Break out the batting gloves, boys. Let's take 3 of 4 there. It is perfect sweeping weather.

    It is super-early, but with Bryce Harper out for several weeks, this race is looking a bit more possible. Playoffs in 2014?

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