5/13/14

Morning Report – May 13th – Joc Peterson, Troy Patton, Jeurys Familia



        Coming Later Today –


                Noon -  Top 12 OF in 2014 MLB Draft - revised 5-10-14

                 2:30 PM -  TTF - Mock 8.0

                5 pm - Jeff Hoffman, Brady Aiken, Trea Turner, Aramis Garcia, Grant Holmes

               

Kennesaw St. C Max Pentecost during his current 31 G hit streak: 66-for-135 (.489) w/ 15 2B, 3B, 7 HR, 9 SB, 1.291 OPS.



It was quite the exciting time yesterday prior to the Yankees game. Sandy Alderson announced that SP Rafael Montero would replace Jenrry Mejia Wednesday as the starter against the Yankees. Mejia will go the pen and will possibly be joined by Jacob deGrom, whoi skipped his start last night and awaits the final go ahead.

Alderson said the Mets have no one that can pitch the ninth inning effectively which I assume is why most of this was decided.




The Mets have driven in a runner from third with less than two outs just 46% of the time this season.



Dynasty Sports Empire (thanks to Michael Scannell for the site link) proposed the possible scenario for the trading of OF Joc Peterson to the Mets:

New York Mets: While Curtis Granderson has locked down a spot with the Metropolitans for the next four years, there are no guaranteed long-term options anywhere else in that outfield. The injured Chris Young is only on contract for 2014, and there’s questions as to whether both Eric Young Jr. and Kirk Niuewenhuis even belong on major league rosters. Juan Lagares may provide Gold Glove-caliber fielding, but he shouldn’t be expected to produce a lot on offense. All things considered, the Mets ranked 11th in the NL runs scored in 2013 and need to make offense their focus as they are already developing multiple ace pitchers between the majors and minors. In a desperate situation, the Dodgers could take Dillon Gee or Jon Niese mid-season if they’re performing well enough. Not to mention, they love pitching depth and could probably use one of them as a five-starter if they kept them on board in 2015 and beyond. If neither Dee Gordon nor Alex Guerrero is playing well enough to man second base for Los Angeles down the stretch, Daniel Murphy could be a safe addition as they attempt to make a playoff push. Trading with the Mets may yield an uneven return for the Dodgers in the long run. However, this team has made it clear that they are looking to win now and may be willing to take a half-season rental to help them win a World Series. http://dynastysportsempire.com/four-teams-that-could-potentially-trade-for-joc-pederson/

Look, there are two issues on the 2014 Mets. 

One, the bullpen isn’t successful and two, there isn’t enough talent to score the runs on base.

Chris Young is a mistake, and Eric Young Jr. is a substitute at best. The Mets need, at least, one more full time outfield bat in their lineup.

The Dodgers look like a team that needs a couple of rentals to get the job done this season, sort of like the Pirates did last season. They have no place for Pederson in their lineup and I would think an even up trade for either Niese or Gee would get the job done. The 2015 Mets would have Matt Harvey, Rafael Montero, Jacob deGrom, and Noah Syndergaard all looking for full time work so it would seem to me that this year’s team (which is going nowhere) can afford to deal off a real pitcher for a real outfielder.



Heath Bell was granted free agency on Sunday afternoon after refusing an assignment to AAA. Err… never mind.



Max Wildstein @MaxWildstein  -  Orioles listening to trade offers involving P Troy Patton, per @BNightengale. They may look to get a catcher in return, per @Ken_Rosenthal.

Patton is a 28-year old LHRP that has been very successful for Baltimore:

        2011:                20-G, 3.00, 1.00, 30.0-IP, 22-K, 5-BB
        2012:        54-G, 2.43, 1.02, 55.2-IP, 49-K, 12-BB
                2013:        56-G, 3.70, 1.30, 56.0-IP, 42-K, 16-BB
                2014:        4-G, 3.37, 1.87, 2.2-IP, 1-K, 1-BB

Last December, he was suspended 25 games for using
 amphetamines.

All Baltimore is looking for here is a backup catcher so one must  consider a deal for Anthony Recker. Drugs or no drugs, 28-year old relief pitchers like this don’t grow on trees.



Fangraphs –

        After Kyle Farnsworth‘s shaky week, scuttlebutt in New York is that Jeurys Familia may be in line to garner some save opportunities for the “Amazins.” Familia’s 19.4% K% and 10.5% BB% aren’t really elite (4.21 xFIP) so he’s not some ace reliever the Mets have stashed in the seventh inning. His 12.5% SwStr% does portend better things in the stuff department, so perhaps some work on pitch sequencing is needed to boost the punchout stats. Regardless, the team continues to hurt for stability at the back end of that bullpen. Would it be shocking to see them give Familia a chance? No. Pick him up if you are desperate and hold for a few outings to see if there’s any fire behind the smoke. http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/bullpen-report-may-11-2014/

Numbers are number, but I know in my heart that a lot of relief pitching is based on bravado. I’m telling you… put this guy out there with Jenrry Mejia and Rafael Montero and you will have the back end bullpen you need to build a winner.


John Looby to me

Hey Mack, I noticed that you briefly put your GM's hat on when looking at the current 'pen situation and what you would do. Taking this a step further and looking through the entire organization, what moves would you make? I'm not just talking who to bring to the big club, but what moves would you make throughout the minors. Are there players there that you would cut completely as they are clogging up the system. Are there players that you would move up to challenge them?

        Hey John –

Well, let’s first review what I would try to do before the draft and all-star breaks rolled around.

1.    I would reassign Jenrry Mejia to the back end of the bullpen

2.   I would promote Rafael Montero to the parent club and assign him to the back end of the bullpen

3.   I would cement Jeurys Familia as the third member of the back end of the bullpen

4.   I would release designate for assignment RP Jose Valverde.

5.   I would promote Jacob deGrom to the rotation slot left open by the Mejia move to the pen.

6.   I would make every effort to trade for the services of LA Dodgers outfield prospect Joc Peterson by offering SP Dillon Gee.

7.   I also like the idea of pursuing (as I outlined earlier in this post) the services of RP Troy Patton for C Anthony Recker (who I would replace with Taylor Teagarden)

8.   If I could get the Peterson deal done, and it was before the ‘Super 2’ deadline, I would return Dice-K to being a starter and let him return to the rotation until I could promote Noah Syndergaard to Queens within the ‘Super 2’ guidelines.

9.   Once Syndergaard is in the Mets rotation, I would return Dice-K to the front end of the Mets pen and designate Kyle Farnsworth.

10.        I would replace Farnsworth with one of the young members of the Las Vegas pen based on the recommendation of Wally Backman.


Regarding minor league movement from one level to another, it’s still a little early, but if you’d like, I could give you what my ‘early recommendations would me. 

9 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

Mack
Great plan, assuming Joc P is as good as you infer he is. One question: do Farnsworth or Valverde have ANY trade value? Even for low level prospect?
Saw your post on earlier blog about the Yank dimensions...I think Mets' hitters are better than Yanks...the chilling Citifield hitting environment makes it appear they are not. Switch the 2 teams' playing fields and watch the Yanks go thru the same "they can't hit" crap as Mets do.

Anonymous said...

"Chris Young is a mistake"

Hmm....he's the 2nd highest OPS'ing OF on our roster and is slashing .282/.364/.462 in the month of May.

So far I think Chris Young has been the most "bang for our buck" free agent we signed this off-season.

Reese Kaplan said...

You left out one more move -- replacing Terry Collins by promoting Wally Backman. Can you believe Alderson went public with an endorsement of Collins? I can only hope it's one of those people-hanging-by-a-thread public proclamations of a "vote of confidence" only to be fired shortly thereafter.

Robb said...

Lets get this straight, in terms of value trading Gee or niese for peterson is a terrible trade for the mets. ylou cants trade a guy who is a proven major league starter under control for a minor leaguer who isnt a top ten prospect and has no experience in the major leagues. this is like trading f-mart before he got to the majors for mark buerle who while underwhelming sometimes wins 10-17 games a year.

these are terrible value propositions for the mets bc peterson doesnt have any proven value. TDA was the top rated catcher and about 20 sports above peterson on most prospect lists last year to this year and he's hitting 200, would you be happy with gee going 8-3 on the dodgers and peterson now in left batting 8th

Ernest Dove said...

I agree with robb
I don't want to see Niese or Gee leave, but if management/scouts/evaluators etc. Have the confidence long term in wheeler montero matz and company, then make a trade.....but at least trade them for a prospect who is currently playing in the mlb.

Reese Kaplan said...

I don't know why prospect-for-prospect trades so rarely happen, but it would make a lot of sense for one team to deal from strength to fill another team's weakness and vice versa. A de Grom or Montero for Pederson type of deal would make sense on both sides since neither has room for excess at the given positions.

Michael S. said...

Thomas - here are Pederson's stats so far - http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=592626

It might be a bit if hyperbole but I think he's another CarGo in the making. He could come up this year and hit cleanup in 2015.

I'd also revisit the Nick Franklin trade possibility. He can be short term SS and long-term 2B.

I'm seeing:

SS Cecchini
LF Nimmo
3B Wright
CF Pederson
1B Flores
RF Smith
2B Franklin
Ca d'Arnaud

Harvey
Syndergaard
Niese
Wheeler
Matz

In the not too distant future

Mack Ade said...

Pederson, IMO, is a real deal OF prospect less than one season away from stardom.

There's no room for him in LA .

Alderson should be on the phone every day on this one.

John Looby said...

Thanks Mack. I'd enjoy reading your early recommendations.