Morning Report – July 17th – Sully-Chat, John Sickles, More Tulo

                                                                                                                                            

Coming Later Today –    

            10 00 am - Michael Freire - No Room At The Inn

             12 00 pm - Stephen Guilbert - Four Mets on John Sickels' Mid-Season Top 75 Prospects

            2 00 pm – Fangraphs – Top 25 Prospects – Mid Season Review

            4 00 pm – 2015 Draft Prospect - RHP  -  Stephen Kolek  -  Shepherd (TX) HS - UPDATED 7-4-14

The Seattle Mariners released C John Buck. I know his time has come and gone, but you would think an organization like the Mets could find a place for him in the organization. Maybe working with Wally Backman or minor league catcher coach. He was such a positive influence last year in the clubhouse plus he throws a mean whipped cream pie.



Mike Puma ‏@NYPost_Mets  

Noah Syndergaard has got about 70 innings left before his limit. He needs to get hot and for Mets to have a vacancy. Both are conceivable.

Re: Wild Card Race – 

           Five teams with the hardest remaining scheduled this season: Phillies, Reds, Cubs, Brewers, Marlins

Five NL teams that have the easiest schedule for the remainder of the season: Giants, Padres, Arizona, Rockies, Cards

Rehab Update –

            C Tayler Teagarden continued his rehabbing for the GCL Mets on Wednesday, going 1-3 (.200)

            I’m not exactly sure what SP John Lannan is doing at this point. The 29-year old had his 5^th ‘rehab’ outing for St. Lucie last night. Is this still a rehab session, and, if it isn’t, can a 29-year old play A+ ball? I need some help here.

          P Luis Mateo pitched two more innings last night for Brooklyn: 0-H, 1-BB

From Stephen Guilbert - 

Since May 25th -  May 25th: 

Ruben Tejada OPS = .748

Daniel Murphy OPS- .745

Ruben's line since that day (which followed three straight games watching Wilmer Flores start at shortstop): .279/.395/.353/.748 with 23 walks against 29 strikeouts. He's been the 6th best NL shortstop defensively in a strong class, behind Cozart, Peralta, Simmons, Tulowitzki, and Owings

Comment From Pau - Thoughts on deGrom?

Jeff Sullivan: Interesting enough. Capable big-league starter. Nothing outstanding but he would fit in most rotations

Comment From J. Peterman - I don’t debate that the Mets are better off long term being sellers this year, but for a team plagued by disappointment in recent (and less recent) years, can’t something be said for making a modest effort to stay in the race until the end when they’re still relevant at the all-star break?

Jeff Sullivan: They’re 45-50 and seven games out of both the division and the Wild Card. They’re not in the race.

John Sickles/SB Nation-Minor League Ball updated his top 75 prospects yesterday. 

They included:

            14) Noah Syndergaard, RHP, New York Mets (18): Has had some rough spots but holding steady overall.

         

             46) Rafael Montero, RHP, New York Mets (46): Holding steady.

            60) Kevin Plawecki, C, Mets (NR): Grade B pre-season and almost made the list then.

            61) Brandon Nimmo, OF, New York Mets (109): Slow start in Double-A but he’s maintained command of the strike zone and I think he’ll come around.

I can’t remember the last time Sickles ranked four Mets in his top 75. This is quite impressive, especially since ex-prospects like Travis d’Arnaud and Zack Wheeler have grown past this list.

I also found something else interesting.

Sickles had ranked (after Syndergaard but before Montero) Cubs SS Javier Baez at 15^th, Dodger outfielder Joc Peterson at 29^th and Cubs infielder Arismendy Alcantara at 34^th.

So, my question to you, would you trade Thor straight up for any one of these three?

Gary asked - Hi Mack, Just thought I'd chime in on the Tulo issue. I was at first against it but the more I thought about it the more I liked it. To me a Thor, Plawecki and Herrera package might do it or swap Thor for Neise. We have Travis behind the plate and Murph can probably be signed for reasonable $$$. This leaves us with a Grandy-Murphy-Wright-Duda-Tulo-T'D-Lagares-Kirk/Campbell lineup leaving our pitching pretty much intact which would work for me........your thoughts. Gary Seagren

            What Would It Take To Get Tulo  - 

            We can’t seem to get past the desire for the Mets to trade for SS Troy Tulowitzki, but has anyone taken the approach at what the Rockies would need to get them to trade the face of their franchise?

The contract that ties Tulowitzki to the Rockies is pretty straightforward… $2omil a year through 2020 with a team option for another year in 2021.

What do they not need:

            A centerfielder – Carlos Gonzalez is a superstar and is under contract through 2017

            A leftfielder – Corey Dickerson – the 25-yr old Dickerson is a pre-arbitration team controlled player that is currently hitting .325

            A first baseman – Justin Morneau has one more year on his contract and is currently hitting .312

            A right fielder – Charlie Blackmon stepped in when Michael Cuddyer went down with an injury and the team controlled, pre-ARB outfielder is currently hitting .306 in 350 at-bats.

            A third baseman – Pre-arbitration Nolan Arenado is doing a heads-up job, hitting .289 in 228 at-bats.

            A second baseman – another pre-arbitration players, D.J. Le Mahieu, is hitting .283 in 290 at-bats

What do they need:

            A replacement for Tulo – there really isn’t a top SS prospect in their system. Tulowitzki’s backup, Charlie Culberson, is hitting .190 with 116-AB

            Everybody needs pitching – The five pitchers that have started the most games this year has ERAs of 3.52, 4.56, 5.26, 5.40, and 5.92. Wrose than this is the fact that eight more pitchers have started for the Rockies this year. Something is wrong if Jars Jurrjens (10.61) is starting for you.

            A starting catcher – the closest thing the Rockies have to a star catcher is the ex-prospect Wilin Rosario, who is hitting only .246 in 236-AB

            More team controlled players that haven’t begun their arbitration years yet

So –

            Offer a package of:

-           A pre-ARB shortstop – Wilmer Flores

-           A pre-ARB starter – Jacob deGrom or Zack Wheeler

-           A pre-ARB catcher – Keven Plawecki

-           A ‘level B’ starter – Gabriel Ynoa

They clear salary and take on only approximately $2mil in total salaries, saving $18mil/yr+ filling all their needs