Morning Report – July 25th – Noah Syndergaard, After Dark Chat, Klaw-Chat

Reports continue to hit my desk (wait a minute… do I have a desk?) that the thin air in Las Vegas has not been the problem with SP Noah Syndergaard’s game. This seems to just be a case of poor pitch selection, lack of confidence and even more lack of control. All the natural talent remains and, if Syndergaard is able to mix two or three of his pitches without any control issues… and one of them is his powerful intimidating fastball, we should have ourselves an effective SP3 next year behind Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler.

And while we’re on the subject, isn’t that what we always wanted in the first place? Can you imagine a rotation that throws up these three 60% of the time?

I have no idea at this point what this team is going to do with Bartolo Colon, Jacob deGrom, Dillon Gee, Jon Niese, Jeremy Hefner, or Rafael Montero.

What a great problem to have.

Fangraphs ‘After Dark’ Chat –

Comment From Moneyballer - Will the Mets make a deadline move, and if so, what?

Paul Swydan: It looks like Colon will be on the block, as he should be.

Jeff Zimmerman: I could see Colon or Murphy get traded.

Comment From MoneyBaller - How good will the Mets rotation be in a few years? Overload of pitchers with Harvey Syndergaard Wheeler deGrom Montero Gee Niese Mejia Ynoa etc.

Jeff Zimmerman: Which ones will be out with TJS at the time? A team can never have too much, ask the Cards and the Braves.

Paul Swydan: I think the ship has sailed on Mejia as a starting pitcher. Having said that, probably pretty good. Now they’ll just need to find some hitters.

Klaw Chat –

Stephen (Miami) - Are you surprised by Dilson Herrera's 359./421./581. line in 30 games at Binghamton, so far? Is he a Top 100 candidate for next season?

Klaw  - I like Herrera quite a bit and he is a top 100 candidate, but 30 games at any level by any player is a blink of an eye.

Kirk C. (Queens, NY) - Would it be in the Mets best interest to call-up Syndergaard? Don't they risk damaging his confidence or having him attempt to fix something that isn't broken by letting him continue to pitch in that environment?

Klaw  - I talked to him before the Futures Game - he seems unfazed by the altitude out there and it's not like he's having bad results.

Howard (Virginia)- Is Marcos Molina someone Mets fans should be looking out for or is delivery too much of a problem? Word is he has electric stuff

Klaw  - I wrote about him a month ago - fastball is plus with good life, tough arm action for a starter between the low slot and 'slinging' delivery.

Matt (CT) - Is deGrom for real? He doesn't seem to be they guy we watched in the minors. No complaints here.

Klaw  - Got a lot better this year. Late convert to pitching, found another gear with his secondary stuff post-TJ recovery. I had him as my #10 Mets prospect going into 2013 and Met fans said I was nuts to have him that high. I was *way* too light on him!

Craig (NJ) - You've mentioned often that the Mets have several minor league affiliates (I'm thinking Savannah and Las Vegas) with unfavorable home environments. To what degree do those situations negatively impact the team's ability to properly develop prospects?

Klaw  - I think they can cause two problems. One is players changing their approach to fit the park - e.g., a hitter overswinging to try to hit homers in a park that depresses them, a pitcher trying too hard to miss bats because he's afraid of contact. The other is internal evaluations - you have to be able to look past Syndrergaard posting a 6 ERA in Vegas and realize he's doing what you want him to do.                                                                               

Minor Notes –

Since June 21, Jacob deGrom and reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw are the only pitchers in baseball with at least 45 strikeouts and an ERA under 4.00 (deGrom's is 1.59)… he also now leads all NL rookies with 1.3 fWAR… C Kevin Plawecki has been diagnosed with vertigo and has been out of Vegas’ lineup since Thursday…