Morning Report – May 5 – Darin Gorski, Giancarlo Alvarado, Brandon Nimmo, Jenrry Mejia, Andrew Church

Coming Up Today:

      10 am – Stephen Guilbert- End of April Mock Draft- Top 10 Picks

      Noon - Craig Mitchell -- A Tonic for a Spoiled Mets Fan

        2 pm – Steven Guilbert - Rating Sandy Alderson and Co.'s Three Drafts

        5 pm - MLB Draft Insider - Mock

       8 pm - Draft 14 – Michael Gettys, Kyle Freeland, Casey Turgeon, Tyler Beede, Gage Burland

      10 pm - Top 12 OF in 2014 MLB Draft - revised 5-2-14

Michael Chavis with another couple of HR. Has 4 in last 2 games, 14 on the season. Also hitting .536/.632/1.143 w/ 17 SB.

Tyler Beede – 5.0-IP, 3-R, 7-K

Chris Ellis – 6.0-IP, 2-R, 2-K

Kyle Freeland – 9.0-IP, 2-R, 9-K

Matt Imhof – 3.0-IP, 5-R, 2-K

Aaron Nola – 8.2-IP, 3-CR, 7-K

Carlon Rodon – 6.2-IP, 0-R, 8-K

A couple of thoughts on a Sunday morning…

1. It’s time for Darin Gorski to move on back to Las Vegas. This is his third season playing for the B-Mets, and, if it is true that both Rafael Montero and Jacob deGrom will be moving to the Vegas pen in preparation to eventually be sent to Queens for that role, than Gorski should be the first Binghamton pitcher on the plane out west. He had a short stint there last year (4-G, 3-ST, 6.59), but the Mets need to find out if they have a real lefty potential starter here. I don’t see him breaking through the projected Mets 2015+ rotation options, but he could be a major trading chip… I take that back… he also could be a lefty option in Queens if you use Jon Niese as a chip. Either way, send him to Vegas and let’s see how he handles the lack of air there.

2. Moving Montero and deGrom to the Vegas pen should get the ball rolling for all the teams. My guess, right now, is only Gorski would join the Vegas rotation from the B-Mets. I think that Giancarlo Alvarado would go back to being a Vegas starter instead of being a member of the then-bloated pen. Right now, Binghamton, St. Lucie, and Savannah are operating with six starters, son technically no other changes have to be made.  

3. I assume the Montero/deGrom moves will begin at the end of May. This gives all starters at all levels the chance of having 8-10 starts for their current team. The only everyday prospect player I see that is hitting far above projected levels is OF Brandon Nimmo. My suggestion would be to send him to Binghamton, and demote Cory Vaughn back to Florida.

4. As we talked about the first two Colorado games, you have to go with the ebb and flow of the season. The Mets came out strong on Saturday and Jenrry Mejia looked great once again through the first four innings. The Mets may survive the Colorado series, but one must wonder if Mejia will. Maybe Sandy and Company should rethink the role of either Montero or deGrom and move Mejia into the long-man role in the pen.

Derek McKnight asked -

Mack, is it too early to start thinking about the short season players and pitchers in St Lucie right now? Anyone you are excited to see this year after last year's draft?

      Excited…. The word would be more ‘guarded’.

      It’s far too early to discuss these kids, but, I have talked to some the ‘Perfect Game’ guys out there and they say that the Mets did very well in the 2013 draft regarding high ceiling high school players, This is a specialty of the Mets brain trust, but, as many teams have learned, there is a high failure rate on these kids that are so far away.

      Still, potentially, keep an eye on:

SP Andrew Church – 6-2 RHP with coaching issues in high school. Sits 90-94 but came out of school (3 in 4 years) with control issues. High risk, high reward. 2013: GCL Mets – 9-G, 6-ST, 3-3, 5.91, 35-IP, 19-K, 8-BB

SP Casey Meisner – 6-7 RHP – 4-seaner sits 92-94… another long term project. 2013: GCL Mets – 10-G, 4-ST, 1-3, 3.06, 35.1-IP, 28-K

OF Ivan Wilson – Keith Law had him in the third round… raw talent that needs to be taught how to play the game. Very strong. Long range project. 2013: GCL Mets – 160-AB, .219/.321/.300/.621

SS Luis Guillorme – Already earned in spring training the tag of best defensive middle infielder on the back fields. Jonathan Mayo loved his defensive skills… plus range, plus arm. Needs to learn how to hit. 2013: GCL Mets – 159-AB, .258/.337/.283/.620

I have the interviews of RP Akeel Morris and OF Jared King finished and they will be up on the site tomorrow and Wednesday.

One more thing... I attended the Sunday Savannah Sand Gnats game and it seems obvious that SP Chris Flexen is over-matched at this level.The Gnats need to consider replacing him with someone in Extended Camp while fellow Gnats starters Robert Whalen and
Robert Gsellman remain on the disabled list

The New York Mets have, for the moment, settled on Lagares as their center fielder. With Eric Young Jr. still hitting just .213/.318/.266 — though he does have 12 steals — Mets skipper Terry Collins will try to get Lagares as many plate appearances as possible. While Lagares and his .318/.343/.485 line looks great for now, a .417 BABIP tends to make anyone’s line look better than what it should be. Even without much power, Lagares is striking out in a quarter of his PA’s and still isn’t drawing a walk more than once in 20 PA’s. Once he comes back down to earth on his balls-in-play, expect the playing time to shift back to Young.  http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/roto-riteup-presented-by-draftkings-may-4-2014/