5/29/14

Morning Report – May 29th – Dave Hudgens, Noah Syndergaard, After Dark-Chat, Cesar Puello


                                                                                             
Coming Later Today –  
                                                           
        9 30 am – Herb G – Minor League Report   

        11 am –   Mat Gadd  -  Campbell Would Be Better

         3 pm - 2015 Draft Profile - Thomas Szapucki, LHP, Dwyer HS (FL) –
         6 pm – Scott Blewett, Braxton Davidson, Milton Ramos, Trea Turner, Connor Joe, Derek Fisher



Chris @tpgMets  - Bartolo Colon (thru 5-28)

3 BAD starts:

15.1 IP, 32 H, 23 R, 12.91 ERA, 3 BB, 10 K

7 good starts:

49.1 IP, 44 H, 12 R, 2.19 ERA, 4 BB, 42 K


Can you live with this through 2015? I mean, if you scored 3 runs a game, your record with Colon pitching this year would probably be 7-3. I can easily live with that.



David Wright has 36 hits this month, second most in the National League behind the Dodgers' Yasiel Puig.


I assume we should start keeping an eye on Sandy Alderson and how he conducts his business now. The Dave Hudgens exiting and guest radio spot was embarrassing. How is this the fans fault? And blaming Keith Hernandez? WTF?

I’m sort of sick of all the Terry Collins ‘man up or get out’ press conferences. I’d rather see him on the field throwing batting practice than tossing around all this horseshit all the time.

This sure would be a great time to be in the Mets clubhouse and feel the vibes. Will Sandy be walking the halls with that famous smirk on his face? Or will the owner or his son show up for a few words out of their foot?

Me? I’d like the see some things change operationally. None of this could have possibly been orchestrated without the knowledge of either Fred or Jeff Wilpon and the signing off of Alderson. This didn’t happen because Valverde threw a bad pitch or Hudgens dissed the pitchers in the dugout. No, this was a plan waiting for the right dramatic moment.

And I’ll give Terry this. He knows he took a bullet here and he’s next. He has his contract to fall back on and no one in baseball is going to hold against him that he couldn’t build a winner in New York City for the Wilpon family. Jaime Laninster couldn’t have built a winner with these set of rules.

No, after listening to all this, I don’t think TC had a thing to do with this. Hudgens was hired by Alderson and the decision to fire him was also his. I’m not even sure if the line of command had Hudgens under Collins. This is all Alderson’s team, reporting to a family who has a tight fist on the purse strings. And he proved that when he said yesterday that ‘revenue has to precede spending’. God, he’s even starting to sound like an owner.

So, here’s the deal.

YOU have to reach back in your pockets and come up with the hundreds of dollars it takes to drive to the stadium, buy tickets for you and your family, and eat overpriced food before the owners, who are billionaires and don’t owe a penny in the world, take your money and bring in the players needed to improve the team you root for.



The good news is that SP Noah Syndergaard passed his MRI, but don’t expect to see much more of him this season. Word is that he will not begin his throwing program until sometime after the Super 2 dates that were set and you won’t see him back in a Las Vegas uniform until sometime after the AAA all-star game. There really isn’t any rush to send him to Queens. The important thing is he is 100% in April 2015.



The Binghmaton game was suspended after two innings Tuesday night which was two innings more than C Travis d’Arnaud wanted to watch Kevin Plawecki hit in the same lineup with him. Plawecki has gone 10-17 since May 23rd, including a 2-2, HR, 5-RBI display before the rains took over on Tuesday. I can’t think of a better wake-up call for d’A.



After Dark-Chat –

Comment From Young Joc - When does Joc Pederson get called up? Are we waiting for the LAD OF situation to get cleared up or the Super 2?

Paul Swydan: The second they trade Carl Crawford or the second Matt Kemp hits the disabled list?

Mack – Okay, let’s say the Wilpons see the error of their ways and want to give the Mets fan a ceremonial addition to the offense. If Crawford (injured last night) is the only Dodger outfielder available, do you take on this contract? He’s 32-years old, hitting .267, 4-HR, 18-RBIs in 150-Abs this year, and he’s being paid $21,000+/yr. for this year through 2017. The good news would be an outfield of Crawford, Granderson, and Lagares sort of ends the need for one until Brandon Nimmo comes around.

        Thoughts?


Comment From Long time Mets Fan - Any hope for us in near future?

Paul Swydan: Well, like I said, hopefully the next commissioner won’t be best buddies with the Wilpons, and he/she will put pressure on them to either stop F’ing around or sell the team. So, let’s wait and see who the next commish is. Not much hope until then, unfortunately.

Mack – And sadly, this is the general consensus around baseball.

In defense of Sandy Alderson (and I know this is a tough time to defend him), I truly feel he thought he brought in the right guys this off-season (Colon, C. Young, Granderson) to fit in with the young talent on this team. The fact is now proven he was wrong.

The lack of 2014 revenue isn’t going to push the 2014 payroll over $100mil, but, if Sandy can miraculously get a new home for Colon, C. Young, EYJ, and Dice-K, over $20mil will come off the 2015 payroll and there could be four more ‘prospects’ in the system.

I say take that money and bring in one good bat like Crawford. Invest what you have left in arbitration money and a possible new reliever. Then step back and let the 2015 rotation lead this team out of the box.



Mets ‘insider’ on Cesar Puello:

        “Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Matt den Dekker and Andrew Brown are better. Brandon Allen and Allan Dykstra are better. Puello stats don’t even do justice to how bad he has been. Lots of broken bats. Lots of infield hits. His hits have been against bad pitchers. He is overmatched.”

        Wow. Have you ever heard harsher ‘wake your ass up’ words out of a clubhouse? It’s hard to believe that a ballplayer can fall this far from the kind of year he had last season and not believe that the PEDs had an ill effect.

        Let’s track this guy for the next 10 games and see if this gets his act together.




34 comments:

Anonymous said...

In RE: to Puello

The guy has been dealing with a lot of off the field stuff so far this year. He's been involved in the Biogenisis court case and has had to make a court appearance for it and he's had a death in his family that caused him to miss a few games.

His hasn't had the opportunity to focus solely on baseball and it's hurt him so far this year. With the recent promotions/injuries he's back in the everyday starting line-up and I'm looking to see if an extended look, + the dawn of the summer months, kick-starts his bat back up.

So far though, the stock is down at this point in time.

Tom Brennan said...

Re: Carl Crawford

His #'s show he's slipped a lot. I'd be up for the Mets getting him if the Dodgers ate all but, say, $3MM a year of that $21MM. He is another guy that got paid based on past high performance levels that he'll never see again. Steals down, power down, on base down. His #'as the past 3 years are not much different than EY JR's frankly.

I agree with Chris on the need to play Puello daily - and for months. He seemed to have the highest ceiling of any Met minor league OF besides Nimmo - and is now playing poorly (and he was worse in winter ball). But the minors are not for guys to do almost good enough to get to the big leagues, or get there and flounder due to lack of talent. Talent wins and this team needs a potent OF bat. Puello looked like that bat last year as a 22 year old in AA. He and Nimmo seem to be the only 2 guys in the Mets minors in the OF that have the potential to be everyday solid-to-star level players.

So I would give him every chance to show if he can get there. nimmo looked lost last year, for different reasons. Guys can really rebound.

I remember guys posting before the 2013 season started that Juan Lagares should not be on the 40 man roster! I reminded them that players have off years (Juan hit in the .270's in 2012), and the year before, Juan had hit .350. .350 is a helluva indicator of possible future strong offensive performance. It is now clear 2012 was an off year and that he can hit - I just did not know he was Willie Mays with a glove in CF too, a major added bonus.

All we are saying....is give Cesar a chance!

reg b said...

What do u guys here about J.McNiel and V.Crusado both at savannh. Are they considered prospects.

Unknown said...

Definitely give Ceaser the rest of season to see what we got with him and hopefully he finds his stroke.
Stay away from Crawford, the only two I would go for is Kemp and Pedersen. Kemp could be the cleanup bat we need and maybe at a nice cheap Wilpons price.
But for now just keep starting Abreau in right field. I think he is our best option right now.
Also Mack I haven't heard you mention anything about what Hudgens and the grandy man said about the fans booing the hometown players, I for one agree 100% with what they are saying, why the hell would we boo one of our own? I could understand if he was hot dogging it out there and not running the bases or something like that, but why would you want to get into his head even more? I know they say we are very knowledgeable fans but WTF, why make the situation worse. They are human beings just like us and that just puts more added pressure on them. We should just boo the other team and the Wilpons. We should be getting in their heads as the 10th player on the field.

Anonymous said...

@Reg B

At this point in time I would only consider McNeil as a true prospect. So far he is showing 4 possible plus tools. He is not only hitting for a high average in the pitching friendly SAL, but he's slugging a massive .470 in a ballpark where power dies. The speed/power combo is also attractive with 12 SB and 17 XBH. Last but not least he has a good eye at the plate with a low 13.3% K rate.

Cruzado was a bonus baby signing in 2010 that just hasn't stood out in his time with the DSL teams. He performed well in Rk ball last year but at 21 yrs of age he was old for the league. He's showing good power in Savannah but he's being exposed on breaking pitches which is producing a K rate above 20%. He's not on my radar just yet.

Tom Brennan said...

John

Great point on booing. In towns like St Louis (and it appears, per Ike, like Pittsburgh) booing is much less of a negative factor. Just like every player is different when it comes to the ability to "work a pitcher," some players could really be adversely affected by booing. Our fans may be the opposing team's 10th man.

Ike has 16 RBIs this year, by the way, 8 on two grand slams, so having only 8 RBIs in his other 150 plate appearances in the middle of a line up is frankly pathetic. So let me boo Ike here. B..O..O!

Anonymous said...

@Tom

HEY!! Don't boo Ike just yet!

Remember we finally get to find out who the PTBNL is in 7-10 more days!

bgreg98180 said...

Mack
I can't agree on even sniffing around Crawford. Even if the Dodgers paid half his salary.
Crawford should be avoided like radioactive waste.
The Mets and fans have to stop settling. Set the team's sites on what they actually WANT. A player they are sure of because of their research and plan of action.
I would rather over pay in resources (money, traded players) on players that are Wanted, than to waste resources on players that require the Mets to hope and pray about.

Robb said...

If Crawford couldnt take the pressure for a good team in Boston how will he react to playing on a bad team in NY. You have to pass on him no matter the money. He isnt built for this city. Granderson who was supposed to be the perfect kind of big money free agent for ny as he'd already played here, is a great guy off the field and familiar w the type of media expectation is struggling with it. so take that grain of salt.

Take that 20 mm you are talking about and sign a shortstop if you cant trade for Andrus.

doesnt look like we are going to need to worry about protecting a draft pick for next year anyway.

Mack Ade said...

Victor Perez · University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez

Carl crawford is overrated and hugely overpaid at 21 mill rather they got kemp than him

Reese Kaplan said...

Broderick Crawford would be just as effective as Carl Crawford on this team. Pass.

Mack Ade said...

Well, no one likes Crawford... we'll talk about Kemp tomorrow,

Re: Puello - it sounds to me like he's on somebody's shit list (guess who?) and all this 'inside stuff' being said may be being done just to wake him up

Re: Booing - I've never considered the New York fans of any sport respectful of the home town players. From the player's perspective, it's a horrible place to play when things aren't going well.

Tom Brennan said...

Reese

I hear you on Broderick Crawford. What about Cindy Crawford? She'd hit about as well, and put more fans in the seats is my guess.

Anonymous said...

1. No on Crawford, average player at ridiculous salary who might block Nimmo in 2016
2. Puello did not heat up until June of last year
3. may be longer than 10 days to find out Player to be Named; Pirates didn't sign all picks until July 8
4. Kemp is interesting, but risky on health. seems like he is odd man out in LA. may even end up as a 1B man
5. Brad Miller and Nick Franklin are currently hitting .151 and .167 respectively
6. Dice K should move back to SP rotation to build value for ASB trade. backend starters with a resume will have some value in the 2nd half

TP said...

Mack,
Absolutely no way I go anywhere near Crawford...wouldn't even take him at league minimum if it cost a prospect. As we see more clearly now than ever, Jeff Wilpon is still VERY involved in baseball operations and decisions, either via temper tantrums or providing access to payroll money. I have been very critical of Alderson, but as you said above, no one can succeed in these conditions. That said, Alderson needs two acquisitions that can change the complexion of the offense and the entire team. He needs to bring in a SS/leadoff hitter, preferable a LH bat, as there is a decent chance that Lagares can handle leadoff vs LHP. He also needs to find a real cleanup bat. Grandy is not a true cleanup bat, Duda is the only guy with the club that profiles for the spot, but at this point he is just too unreliable in "clutch" situations. The catch for Alderson is that since these guys don't grow on trees, and since everyone in the game overprices their assets, he needs to find a way of doing this without depleting the key prospects that are currently with the Mets. So, what to do? It is extremely important for Colon to pitch well for the next two months, as Alderson desperately needs his money to commit towards the two big position holds. Second, he needs to convince the three stooges to open up the pursestrings, take some of that money saved by dealing Ike, releasing Farnsworth, and trading Colon, and invest it in the needed position players in order to preserve the depth of prospects that will be needed to sustain winning by integrating them into the big team and dealing off others as the become more expensive. Alderson is really doing all this, but his FA signings have been weak (I'm not yet calling Grandy and Colon busts) because the budget limits forced him to second tier players. If they can swing a deal for a guy like Didi G. and sign a bat or trade for a bat that is pricey and won't cost too many prospects, I'd be thrilled. Two good moves and this team has a totally different outlook.

Bob Sugar said...

Meanwhile and I know Mack brought him up Plawecki is absolutely kicking ass at every level he has been at for us. He does not get the ink he deserves because TA is young and in place. Plawecki is a monster hitter and could be our catcher of the future. Yes it too early to give up on TA but Plawecki's bat is another level.

Mack Ade said...

Anonymous -

I think you got your wish on Dice-K, at least until Gee comes back.

My hope is, when Gee does come back, that the Mets continue to fortify the back end of their bullpen with Montero and keep showcasing both Dice and Colon.

Mack Ade said...

TP -

I don't defend Alderson too often anymore, but he did sign two supposed pop bats this off season, Granderson and C Young.

Grandy is coming around but it doesn't look like he will ever earn what they are paying him.

I REALLY don't like the Young signing. He looks so bad out there.

As a web host, I like to come up with subjects we can talk about daily other than bitch all the time about the bad side of this team. Today, it was Crawford. Tomorrow, it will be Kemp.

Mack Ade said...

Sugar -

You would have to believe that Juan Centeno will now be part of some future deal so he doesn't block Plawecki from progressing to Vegas.

It will be interesting to see if d'Arnaud got a wake-up call after playing in the same lineup with Kevin.

Unknown said...

How how about a trade with Dodgers we get Pedersen and Seager for Flores, TDA, Dice K, and Cecchini? Because if they sign Hanley like we think they will, they won't need Seager any more. But we will give them a 3rd basemen and a catcher they can build around. I think our surplusses and theirs match up pretty well.

Mack Ade said...

Zozo -

My suggestion is we concentrate on possible trades that could happen, not ones we want.

I want Peterson, but all I've read is that the Dodgers are not going to move him and they will not call him up until he is 1) ready and 2) can play every day. That means someone else has to go.

They simply aren't trading him.

Ernest Dove said...

If/when Plawecki finally makes his way to the desert, I think Centeno should be 1x/wk playing backup (should be future lefty hitting defensive guy future backup anyway) and teagarden should be released, or release himself based on his out clause. Nice PCL stats for teagarden, but good luck and God bless on your way to another team.

That Adam Smith said...

It's not impossible, but I have trouble believing that any GM is going to give up anything of value for Colon at the deadline this year regardless of how well he's pitching. The guy is 41, and faded down the stretch last season, and he'll be owed another $10mm next year. Surely there will be guys headed into free agency who can give a playoff bound team a more dependable two months without taking on the albatross contract.

On Puello, it certainly would appear that he's pissed someone off - perhaps multiple someones. And it's very possible - maybe likely - that whomever is bashing him in the press is really just trying to wake him up. But seriously, I have never seen a team on which "insiders" continually bash their own players, or players recently departed to this degree. It doesn't make it seem like an organization that you would want to play for. There's no way that a guy, at his age, who is above average defensively from all accounts, puts up the numbers he did in AA without being a prospect. And it's not like we are swimming in real position prospects at the highest levels. I hope that whatever the problem is, they can clear it up and get him on the field for a chance to show what he might become.

It's been fun watching Pawlecki seemingly get it all together in Bingo. I can't imagine they'll keep him there past the All Star break. TDA gets the rest of the season to show he belongs, and if not, there's gotta be a good chance that the kid breaks camp as the starting catcher next season.

Mack Ade said...

Adam -

You're touching on something that is very important when free agency comes around.

The field... the owner... the press... the fans... the drama...

No one thinks a World Series is going through this town anymore.

bgreg98180 said...

Mack

You are absolutely correct. More and more fans make the decision not to be bothered with the Mets with each of the past few years. This number increases exponentially each year this ownership proves incompetent.
The ownership has to finally realize that the fans are NOT going to come back until after the team starts to win regularly. Even then the return will be slow and require years to grow back.
Alderson stated the other day that spending more money does not guarantee increased winning,
But
he went on to admit that spending more may increase the probability of winning more.
Considering the state of things.... The Mets desperately needs to increase the probability of winning any way they can.

Mack Ade said...

Bob -

And that includes writers.

I spoke on the phone yesterday with one of ours and he simply doesn't care about the team anymore. There seems to be more important things in his life than rooting for the Mets.

Steve from Norfolk said...

Mack,

No FA is going to want to play here until it looks like the Wilpons have taken a step back and are going to trust the baseball people to run the team. Our main problem is that Fred and Jeff think that THEY are baseball people.

We are in the same kind of position we were in during 2003-2004, only much worse. No good FA's wanted to come here because the team was being run so poorly. It took a complete regime change to turn that around with the promotion of Minaya and the hiring of Willie Randolph. When Fred started letting Omar spend Madoff's funny money on FA's, particularly with Beltran's signing, things started to turn around. That, along with the new homegrown rising stars Wright and Reyes, got players to take a second look at the Mets as a place to play.

We are worse off now. By far. Besides the resurgence of the Wilpon's meddling in baseball operations, and the resulting chaos, we are now playing in a park that no hitter wants to play in. Not only do we need to convince the players we want that Fred and Jeff will leave the running of the team to the baseball people, we need to pull in the fences again. Hudgins was right about the right-center fence. The entire rightfield fence needs to come in about 20 feet from the Mo Zone back to the CF fence, if not to the LF foulpole. That would give us roughly Shea's dimensions. Shea was always considered a pitcher's park - it should suit our current and future staff.

As far as a regime change, that may take a new Commissioner that is not so much of a tool - of the owners, I mean. I think his cronyism is so serious that if Congress were so inclined as to take a closer look at some of his dealings not just with the Mets but other teams as well, baseball's antitrust exemption could be endangered. Hopefully, the next Commish will keep a little more distance between him/herself and the owners.




Mack Ade said...

Steve -

We're stuck with the park, and you're right... no big bat is going to sign here.

So... draft big bats and keep developing pitchers... turn CitiField into a positive

Bill Metsiac said...

No FA will sign here? We got THREE expensive ones last Winter, didn't we?

Kemp---small sample, but in last week's series at Citi, he looked like Willie Mays. Not the Mays of the 50s and 60s, though---the shell we saw in'73. FUGGHEDABOUTIM!

PAWLECKI. I've read somewhere that he has had played some 1B, and that he's not great behind the plate. If we're happy with Travis by the end of next season, how about moving KP KP to 1B and keeping both in the lineup?

Mack Ade said...

I've never heard of Plawecki playing 1b and he's a good defensive catcher. Great arm IMO.

Steve from Norfolk said...

Bill - We got Granderson - who we had to overpay for and who didn't want to leave New York.
We got Colon - who we had to overpay for and who we probably saved from retirement. Mo one else would have given him a 2 year deal, that's for sure.
We got Young - who we had to overpay for and who we had to guarantee playing time when he would have been lucky to get a contract from anyone else.

We added $32 million to this years payroll and got around $20 million worth of players when we are struggling with payroll.

We still need Plawecki to catch. He's our next catcher if TDA doesn't start hitting this year.

Steve from Norfolk said...

Mack -

You don't think that Fred would consider moving the fences again? Be cheaper to boost Wright's HR output than to try to find a power hitter to play here!

Mack Ade said...

all bets may be off if this 200bil offer to the Clippers is for real...it will be a whole new ballgame (meds have kicked in)

Anonymous said...

@Bill Metsaic

Plawecki HAD played at 1B sparingly last year in order to keep his bat in the line-up while still resting his legs. Long Term he does not profile well there.

Defensively Plawecki is considered average to above average. Scouting reports from the off-season say "Defensively, Plawecki is a good receiver and earns praise for his leadership skills. He has an average arm and his game calling is making strides"

Haven't seen an update from that yet