Morning Report – July 18th – LA Angels, More Promotions, Lamar Johnson, Eddie and the Cruisers

                                                                                                                                            

Coming Later Today –    

            10 00 am - Stephen Guilbert - 10 Stats About The 2014 New York Mets That Will Blow Your Mind

            12 00 pm – Craig Brown – I May Be Wrong, But…

              2 00 pm - Ernest Dove - Should Mets Fans Expect the Unexpected (success) in the Second Half?

            4 00 pm - Grading On The Curve - OF - Darrell Cecilliani

            6 00 pm - 2015 Draft Profile  -  RHP  -  Carson Fulmer  -  Vanderbilt - UPDATED 7-10-14

Jeremy Hefner ‏@jeremy_hefner53  -

Threw 2 innings this morning. Feeling strong. Excited for 3 innings in a few days


John Mora is leading the GCL in BA, runs scored, and OPS, He's also 2nd in slugging without hitting a single home run.

Los Angeles Angeles General Manager Jerry Dipoto said he has no intention of doing that in any deal:

“We’re not looking to move pieces from our major league club,” Dipoto said.

Dipoto said he would like to add a pitcher to the back of the rotation and the back of the bullpen, likely a closer or another left-handed reliever. He declined to discuss Price or any other pitcher who might be available.

            Mack – There seems to be no chance that the David Price winds up here, but Bartolo Colon could fit perfectly in what Dipoto is looing for. Let’s review their system (Dipoto says he’s not screwing around with his starters) and see what could be available to the Mets:

            2B Grant Green – the 26-yr old ex-1^st round pick (13^th overall 2009) was a flop for Oakland and has become some sort of super-utility infielder here. Hitting .324 this season and playing exclusively third base. Has played SS, 3B, LF, and CF in the past.

            OF Collin Cowgill – err… never mind…

            2B Taylor Lindsay – currently the teams #2 prospect… the 22/yr old is hitting .247, 8-HR, 30-RBI at the AAA level

There is no pure shortstop prospect here and the system seems to be pretty much cleaned out of top level outfielders.

Cory Mazzoni was promoted from AA-Binghamton to AAA-Las Vegas.

Terry Collins has speculated that Mazzoni would make a wonderful candidate for a back-end reliever (I agree), but I expect him to stay a rotation pitcher for the remainder of the 2014 season.

In addition, Rafael Montero should be back in the Vegas rotation in around 2 weeks, Add Thor and you have 60% of their post-ASG rotation, but now what? Matt Bowman, Tyler Pill, Logan Verrett, Giancarlo Alvarado, Greg Peavey, and Darin Gorski                have all started for Vegas this year and are currently on the 25-man.

Well, they follow this with another strange move designed to keep the AAAA pitchers in the Vegas rotation. First, Binghamton’s Angel Cuan is put back on the DL for the 657th time with the same left shin contusion, followed by sending both Pill and Bowman back to Binghamton. What does Alvarado have on this team, pictures of Sandy and Wally together?

(In addition, they have eight current relievers (Zack Thornton, Chase Bradford, Joel Carreno, John Church, Miquel Socolovich, Gonzalez Germen, Erik Goeddel, Ryne Reid).         

There simply are too many ‘C’ level pitching prospects in this organization and the cleanout has to start at the AAA level.

What would I do? Well, I would limit all the IPs left this season and go to a 6-man rotation in Vegas, using Bowman, Pill, and Gorski.

I would frankly release Alvarado, Carreno, Goeddel, and Reid, leaving me a seven man pen.

You just can’t keep putting these guys on airplanes and flying them back and forth. Pitchers need consistency.

I’m really getting frustrated with the Mets having their AAA affiliate in Las Vegas. The one thing you want to do with these kids before you send them to Queens is have them come off a spot on period in which the results of their actions seemed flawless. You simply can’t accomplish this throwing a ball to AAA hitters with a bat in their hands in the desert. The bat is going to win this battle most of the time.

I just keep watching solid Mets pitchers get smacked around here… Greg Peavey, Jack Leathersich, Noah Syndergaard. Especially Thor. He’s not even doing well in away games.

The Mets have to do everything they can do to solve this. Young pitching minds don’t react well to 5.00+ ERAs right before they are supposed to be promoted. This is the time you are supposed to have the most confidence and it simply won’t happen.

I don’t have any answer for Syndergaard’s problems right now. It’s too early to shut him down and bringing him to Queens as a back-end reliever for the rest of the season doesn’t seem right either.

I got this email five minutes after Syndergaard left the mound Friday night:

            Robert Smiley – to me -

Mack, I'm mightily disappointed in Noah Syndergaard this season. 7 more earned runs last night in 5 innings. Outside of a couple of starts he's been getting hammered this season. I know he's only 21 but Las Vegas/PCL hitters park is killing this kids confidence. I'm still holding out hope that he can be a top of the rotation starter because neither Harvey or Wheeler pitched that we'll at Las Vegas. When can the Mets get the hell out of Las Vegas? The Mets organization royally screwed themselves having to play AAA ball in Las Vegas.

Mack – On September 17, 2012, the Las Vegas 51s signed a Player Development Contract with the New York Mets for the 2013 and 2014 seasons, which means all bets are off next season. The problem is finding a town they could change their association to.

You just can’t just pick a town and tell baseball you want to play in a certain league. It doesn’t work that way.

I don’t see anyone available in a perfect world but those couple of games the Mets played earlier this year in Montreal could have some legs attached to it. I hate baseball being played in snow, but I’ll take the snow over the dry heat any day… plus you can schedule most of your April home games down in the NY State portion of your division.

Pray for somebody to come around here.

Mac asked –

            Hey Mack – who do you see for additional promotions throughout the organization before the minor leagues end and the Mets expand their rosters?

            Mack – Wow, you’re calling for the end of the season already J

            First all all, any movement in Queens would start with either a trade or an injury. SP Jon Niese will be back soon, moving Daisuke Matsusaka back to the bullpen. My guess is either Buddy Carlyle or Dana Eveland would return to Las Vegas.

Next up would be C Taylor Teagarden who I have no idea why the Mets are still paying him to stay around. He has no minor league options left so he would have to replace Anthony Recker.

Lastly would be P Jeremy Hefner, who is not on the 40-man. He could possibly join the Mets as a ‘long man’ and also force a move of either Carlyle or Eveland.

I really don’t see any other movements through the end of August.

Regarding Las Vegas, SP Noah Syndergaard will inch closer to his pitch limit, while Rafael Montero will return to the 51’s rotation around August 1^st. RP Jack Leathersich will probably pitch August in Vegas.

Pitchers like the Sand Gnats’ John Gant and Robert Gsellman should have been promoted already, but they are blocked with nowhere to go.

Lastly, there’s an outside chance that 1B Dominic Smith will finish the season in St. Lucie.

There was an interesting article on the Mets by Paul West/TTF that included:

Another thing the Mets have fine-tuned is their approach. At one point this season, the Mets led the National League in walks and strikeouts. As such, they often seemed to have men on base–and often seemed to leave them on base in clutch situations. Pitchers who pounded the strike zone often put them in unfavorable counts and had them off balance, forced to chase pitcher’s pitches instead of dictating the flow of the at-bat. Selectivity is an important part of hitting, but their approach was more passive than selective. Now, the Mets are more likely to swing at the first fastball. Or even on 3-0, a count in which Granderson has had much success of late. This makes them unpredictable, and puts more pressure on pitchers to execute under duress. No longer promised strike one, pitchers have begun to nibble around the edges of the strike zone. This still puts the Mets in favorable counts and leads to walks, but it also leads to more hung sliders as pitchers face greater uncertainty. http://throughthefencebaseball.com/mets-new-look-offense-fuels-resurgence/43450#0BdaCWeIZOtF0ziQ.99

Mack – Please don’t tell me that this has nothing to do with the change in the Batting Coach. Hats off to Lamar Johnson in getting the Mets to approach the plate differently while, at the same time, fighting through all the managerial bullshit to get it done.

Lastly…

            Remember the movie ‘Eddie and the Cruisers’?

            It was an 80s rock and roll pic about Eddie Wilson, the lost lead singer of a basically unknown second tier band out of New Jersey. A newspaper reporter is determined to find the lead singer who disappeared and was assumed dead.

            Well, at one point in the movie Wilson wanted to take his garage band into their ‘second album Sgt. Pepper stage’ with a new musical direction, which didn’t make the rest of the band very happy. One of the members, Wilson’s sidekick, said ‘we’re not famous… we’re just a band from New Jersey!’

            This is where the Mets are right now. The current team will have to work harder at its trade while team officials add key elements to make it a ‘world class’ band (team).