Coming Later Today –
10 am - d'Whit
- Built For The Future-The Kids Are Alright Pt. 2
12 noon – MLB Draft Insider - Mock 5.0
2 pm - Top 12 RHP in 2014 MLB Draft - Updated 5-19-14
4 pm - Top 10 LHP In 2014 MLB Draft - Updated 5-19-14
6
pm - Cameron
Varga,, Michael Gettys, Brady Aiken, Jeff Hoffman, Adam Haseley, Heath Dwyer
It was interesting
reading the comments made by Sandy Alderson on Tuesday after Stephen Drew re-signed with the Red Sox. When he was asked if he was
interested in the dollar range that the Sox signed Drew, he shot back, “"Which
is what -- $14 million, prorated? I think the short answer is no. I don't think
I ever said we didn't have interest in Drew. Under all the circumstances, [we]
decided not to pursue it."
Look, who knows if
these two guys were still on the same planet, but the bottom line is that Drew
was never worth this kind of money to Alderson. What it doesn’t answer is who
is and will the Mets pursue anyone else during this season.
My guess is no one know right now and whatever happens between
now and June 15th will determine the fate of, not only future
players on this team, but also current ones like Chris Young, Anthony Recker, Juan Centeno, Wilmer Flores, Jake deGrom, and yes, even Bartolo Colon.
My hopes are that the ‘future Mets have begun. I’d like to think
that the current front office could build a team around the pitching of Harvey,
Wheeler, Niese, Gee, Montero, deGrom, Synergaard, Mejia, Familia, and Parnell. Do
any of these really have to be traded? You have the potential of one of the
best 5-man rotations in baseball, plus six more potential lethal relief arms.
Lastly, you have built into your relief crew any emergency starters needed in
case of any 2015 injuries that occur.
Okay the team needs more than David Wright and Daniel Murphy at the plate, and the last
thing this team needs is another free agent that strikes out 200 times a year,
but there has to be some more gap hitters available at free agent time, right?
The Greg Peavey
promotion to the Las Vegas rotation may be (and I emphasize ‘may’ be) the
beginning of a bump up for one of the starters at each level. If it is, look
for St. Lucie’s Steven Matz and Savannah’s John Gant to be the first to come running. All three teams have been
operating with a 6-man rotation, so the movement could stop at any level the
pitching coach decides to go 5-man for a while. We’ll keep an eye on things
here.
Mike Vacarro[i] reminds us Monday that the fault doesn’t lie in the field. I’ll
never understand Mets fans. They’ll tell you all day that the CifiField
dimensions suck, and then, at the same time, tell you how much they agree that
the Mets will be successful because of their dominant starters. Why in God’s
name would you even consider bringing in the fences if you wanted your starters
to dominate when they pitch?
How quickly we
forgot 2009 when the Mets played above .500 ball in CitiField. It was more of a
coincidence that two key members of their everyday lineup, Jose Reyes, and Angel Pagan) lived in the alleys.
Both teams have to
play every game here and, though the Mets have to play half of their total
games all season in CitiField, it’s their job to teach, train, trade for, and
develop batters that can succeed like Daniel Murphy does both at home (as of 5-19: .293) and away (.337 away)
Don’t listen to what’s coming out of the future Yankee’s mouth.
He’s just busting chops.
And lastly...
. Mark Carig of Newsday reminded us on Tuesday that the National League average for slugging at home is .405. The Mets were at .302.
Sully-Chat
-
Comment From john - Thinking of Matt Harvey. He has backed off his comments earlier
about wanting to pitch this year. But lets say its 2015, the Mets are making a
playoff run. Seeing what has happened to the nationals the last two seasons, if
you were Mets FO, do you cap Harvey’s innings next year? I always thought the
Nats made a mistake not having stras pitch in the playoffs. You never know when
you will make it back
Jeff Sullivan: You develop a plan in February to allow for
the possibility of Harvey still having bullets left come October. You schedule
off days and skipped starts peppered through the year just in case.
There are
two ‘non-idiots’ here.
The Mets are not going to
work this guy back into their lineup without a long-term plan similar to the
way the Nationals handled Stephen Strasburg.
And Matt Harvey (and his agent) is not going to screw with career and come back
either too early or too often.
And lastly...
. Mark Carig of Newsday reminded us on Tuesday that the National League average for slugging at home is .405. The Mets were at .302.
Now, I’m sure we can safely assume that the NL average for
slugging at CitiField is below the .405 average, but we can also
assume it’s a lot higher than .302.
.302 is sandlot ugly. It’s grab your younger sister, drag out
her and eight of her friends, throw uniforms on them and make them hit against Randy Johnson ugly.
And I don’t want any of you to start questioning the use of Rafael Montero and Jake deGrom this year. Both of them are
going to learn volumes from playing at this level and no one can fault a rookie
giving up home runs to hitters like Adrian Gonzalez. Maybe if the Mets had more hitters like this in their lineup,
the pitchers wouldn’t held accountable so closely all the time.
It only takes one visit by teams like the Dodgers to make one
realize that the Mets are trying to compete with the equivalence of being
paralyzed from the waist down in a wrestling match. All the upper body strength
in the world isn’t going to make up for the lack of balance needed for a
victory.
We sit here and wonder why Los Angeles has so many great
outfields when, we has a half of one, but stop to realize that the Mets are
only operating here on a limited basis… draft picks, damaged goods free agents,
and low bonus baby international players.
The Dodgers prospect draft picks can’t even break the ice set by
the state-of-the-art free agent signings, no less the signing of one of the
most exciting players out of Cuba. The Mets never go down either of these two
roads so shame on them for their lack of talented players.
And like I said about Montero… don’t fault him. He would have
been pitching this past week to the likes of Jeff Francoeur instead of Gonzalez.
Hi Mack
ReplyDeleteYou must have Met ownership on the brain, calling Matz Katz. It happens. Just don't call Matz Wilpon!
IMO, if the Mets' upcoming elite pitchers are burdened with shorter fences that the hitters can benefit from, I am all for that trade off. Move the fences in and let the kids show how elite they are by keeping it in the park. The Reyes/Pagan speed types are relatively few, and prone to leg injuries that make such prowess short-lived. HR hitters have a longer shelf life typically.
Campbell now on 7 of 13 times, with 1 K. Will he get a few starts?
I still hope that Met ownership loosens the purse strings, so that much better pitching that's coming, with some sort of top tier free hitting agent signings, will get them from anemic to authentic next year at the latest. This year is slipping away - 5 and 13 stretches can do that to a weak team.
Andrew Brown, your .722 slugging % and .451 OBP means nothing when we have Chris Young and his .374/.284 because Chris signed the big contract, you see. More $$ this year than you've ever made, buddy. Chris is clearly better. Hey he hit .200 last year, isn't that more proof how much better he is than you are, Andrew? So don't get your hopes up...someday, you too will improve. Maybe you'll warrant a Sept call up again - but it would help if you could get that slugging % up to .800, or even .900, buddy.
I like the post Mack. I have a lot to say on it but I'll be brief. Can Sandy and Co. be trusted with the future of the Mets? Ownership and I say that lightly has to make that call. And is just me but is David Wright hitting the softest 285 you'll ever see? Not clutch in my opinion
ReplyDeleteI know we can't evaluate Montero on 2 starts and Wheeler doesnt even have a full season under his belt but are there any concerns that our group of stud pitchers just end up being average? The league ERA overall is down significantly the last couple of years and it seems like finding impact bats is now the harder thing to do. Gee and Niese have put together a good season ranking 12th and 13th in the league in ERA but also play in a cavernous ballpark.
ReplyDeleteI might just be down because of how poorly the Mets have played in pretty much every respect. Defense, baserunning, hitting and pitching have all been pretty poor for a majority of the games lately. This Campbell guy has been playing very well, would love to see him get some more playing time. Its not like anyone other than Murph and Lagares is even hitting the ball. I looked through the OPS of the Dodgers line up and almost the whole team was outperforming our best hitter. Dodgers make us look like a minor league club in comparison. Feels like we have a long ways to go.
Thomas - I'll make the correction.
ReplyDeleteThe whole shortstop situation reminds me of the one with Jordany Valdespin. The guy produced but Collins never played him. Now Flores gets the same treatment (though by all accounts he's not a creep nor thug like the departed Valdespin), so if it's not for ego reasons, what possible explanation is there for having him on the major league roster and not use him?
ReplyDeleteOh wait, of course, it's crystal clear now -- the clause in Quintanilla's contract that, like Farnsworth's, was set to kick in for some guaranteed money . I get that part. What I don't get is why Tejada continues to get the majority of the starts. What haven't they seen of him yet? Then again, I could ask the same question about Eric Young, Jr.
Just a thought regarding the whole Citifield dimensions conversation...
ReplyDeleteI just don't get the arguement supported by Mike Vacarro. To me a pitcher's ballpark means that a team can get away with lesser quality pitchers but NEED higher avg hitters.
A bigger "pitcher's ballpark" allows lesser quality pitchers' stats to become artificially inflated and allow that pitcher's confidence to grow allowing him to pitch with less fear which in turn, helps them to develop their lesser quality pitches by not being as afraid to make occasional mistakes.
In these "pitcher's parks" a team should focus on maximizing the appearance of a lower quality pitcher in order to use this "eye-candy" as trade material for better quality hitters.
To me, the opposite is true about a smaller "band-box" type of park. Better Pitchers are needed.
These smaller stadiums are where true "Aces" are needed. In these parks, sure a pitcher may be prone to give up more runs than usual, but a top-tier pitcher giving up 25% more runs brings an ERA of 3.00 only up to a 3.75. An ERA of 4.00 however becomes an ERA of 5.00!
The opportunity here is with lower quality hitters. These lower quality hitters will have their stats increased which makes them the "eye-candy" trade material. Now the hitters become who you trade to acquire better pitchers.
Bob -
ReplyDeleteI'll give you my thoughts on your question in tomorrow morning's report.
Dallas -
ReplyDeleteAnd sadly, after all this, we do have a long way to go, but the only way the Mets are going to win in this decade, with this ownership, is through pitching. we have no choice than to pitch them and not give up on them.
Oh, one more thing... your shortbread is on the way :)
Bob -
ReplyDeleteI don't have a clear definition on how I feel about the definition of the field.
I know I live by the fact that two teams are playing there at the same time. If the Dodgers can come into Flushing and beat up on the field, then it's not the field but the Mets players that need to be upgraded.
Look, I'm the guy saying...GOING IN... that Montero should be pitching at the back end of the bullpen. He pitches 91-92 and lives on the corners of the zones. This makes for every effect 2-inning stinits.
You start this team by building on it's strengths... Familia, Montero, and Mejia in the back end of the bullpen. You... oh, I'll write about this tomorrow morning...