Morning Report – July 1st – Houston Astros, Marcos Molina, Michael Conforto, Ruben Tejada

                                                                                                                                          

Coming Later Today –    

            3 00 pm - 2015 Draft Profile  -  LHP  -  Justin Hooper  -  De La Salle (CA) HS - updated 6-22

The Houston Astros are doing a wonderful job of rebuilding their franchise through the draft, something Alderson and Company could take a lesson from. Here http://www.si.com/longform/astros/index.html is a wonderful story about it from Ben Reiter in Sports Illustrated.

An interesting segment:

“You look at how other organizations have done it, they’ve tried to maintain a .500 level as they prepare to be good in the future,” says Luhnow. “That path is probably necessary in some markets. But it takes 10 years. Our fans have already been on this decline, from 2006 to 2011. It’s not like we’re starting fresh.

“Would it be the right strategy for somebody else who had a great farm system and up-and-coming players already at the big league level? No. But for us, it was. When you’re in 2017, you don’t really care that much about whether you lost 98 or 107 in 2012. You care about how close we are to winning a championship in 2017.”

Another very good article is the one that Jeffrey Pasternostro http://www.amazinavenue.com/2014/6/28/5851718/new-york-mets-prospects-marcos-molina-scouting-report wrote about Brooklyn Cyclones prospect pitcher, 19-yr. old Marcos Molina.

A segment:

‘There aren't ten guys I'd take over him in the system. There might not be five’… ‘he struck out the first seven guys he faced, and then followed it with a parade of weak contact. There's three potential plus pitches here. He's nineteen’… ‘I have never seen a pitcher at this level with the same mix of raw arm strength and feel for secondaries, certainly not at nineteen’… ‘the optimistic projection: #2 starter’...  ‘what to look for during the rest of the 2014 season: whatever you want to look for, I recommend you take the train out to Coney and do it in person’.

Mack – Anybody that has seen this kid compares him to Jenrry Mejia at the same point in his career. This may be a very special pitcher.

In my opinion, the Mets now have four (4) A+ to A- starting pitchers in the system… Noah Syndergaard, Rafael Montero, Steven Matz, and Molina.

I also have ranked 11 B+ to B- starters… Gabriel Ynoa, Robert Gsellman, John Gant, Casey Meisner, Cory Oswalt, Logan Taylor, Blake Taylor, Luis Mateo, Miller Diaz, Michael Fulmer, and Robert Whalen.

Lastly, again IMO, there are seven (7) C+ to C- starting pitchers in the system… Darin Gorski, Greg Peavey, Tyler Pill, Rainy Lara, Matt Bowman, Matthew Koch, and Chris Flexen

Robert Smiley asked –

                        Mack, Conforto has been signed over a week. Why isn’t he somewhere getting at bats?

                                    Mack – Morning, Robert.

                        Technically, I’m not sure it the actual contract has been signed. I know both partied agreed to slot, but then Conforto told the Mets that he was ‘tired’ and needed to go home and spend some time chilling out with his family before reporting to camp. I’m sure the Mets had no idea about this before the agreement and they can’t be happy now.

My guess, when he reports, he will remain in the Pt. St. Lucie complex for the remainder of this year. There’s no reason to make him pack up and go to either dilapidated Kingsport or hitter-unfriendly Savannah. Get his kinks out for the GCL team and then promote him to St. Lucie. It’s been done many times before.

Don’t worry… he’ll finish 2015 at Binghamton, open 2016 with Las Vegas and, who knows by that all-start break.

                       

Christopher Soto on Ruben Tejada –

          "Despite the outrage about Flores being demoted to AAA, One has to look at this realistically.

A) Flores needs to get consistent playing time at his age....NOT sit on the bench.

B) Tejada is NOT hurting this team. He's performing adequately right now. Past 30 days he's hit .268, past 2 weeks .306, and last 7 days .348.  In comparison to the rest of the MLB, Tejada has been 6% better than league average in the past 30 days, 10% better in the past 14 days, and 34% better in the past 7 days.

C) Lastly, here is Stephen Drew's stats so far in 2014. .133 AVG, 27% K rate, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 1 SB. Certainly not worth $14.1M and our 3rd round pick Milton Ramos

                       Mack - the more I try to get into the head of Sandy Alderson    (forget TC), the more I believe his target is 2016-2017. I thjink you better get used to Tejada playing SS for a couple of seasons. Flores future with this team may be determined on a trade for Daniel Murphy. Either way, these are your two potential internal shortstops until 2016-2017 with, right now, Flores badly trailing Tejada for glove time.

And lastly…

I’ve seen enough Mets hitting fly balls to the warning track of their own stadium. I look up and down the Mets system and I just don’t see enough power hitters that will someday make this a non-issue. The last thing this team needs to be doing offensive is beating itself.

The fences need to be brought in further and the walls need to be lowers. I’m not talking Yankee Stadium, but more adjustment is needed in this area.

It also seems to be a one team problem, probably because the teams that play the Mets have hitters that can hit far past this problem. The Mets don’t. They need all the help they can get.

This is going to be a pitcher-dominated team throughout this decade. I hope the Mets management and ownership will re-address this annoying problem again in the off-season.

Minor Notes –

The promotion of SP Greg Peavey to Las Vegas should return either Giancarlo Alvarado or Joel Carreno to the reliever role they are more comfortable pitching at. It also could result in the release of Alvarado who just isn't having a good season in Vegas... SS Phillip Evans has come off his rehab assignment and has returned to St. Lucie, only to see that Gavin Cecchini has been promoted to share time (or replace him) at short. The Mets have money invested in both these guys, but Cecchini is the much maligned first round pick. Right now, both are getting in the lineup, one as a DH and the other at short. Expect one of these guys to end this season in Binghamton… the earlier promotion of SP Gabriel Ynoa from St. Lucie to Binghamton has resulted in an open slot (Luis Cessa, Kevin McGowan, Domingo Tapia, Matt Koch) in the Lucy rotation. Right now, Cory Mazzoni is filling the slot in a rehab role...