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7/25/14

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… 

10 comments:

  1. With all Due respect to Matt Harvey, could Jake be our #1 next year?

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  2. Not since the mid 80's has there been this much depth in the org,in my opinion!
    These are exciting times. I also get Vertigo from LasVegas, but mine has to do with the Roulette table. I really think Sandy is sitting back,waiting for other GMs to come to him? He has let them know what he would like? Know its upto the other teams to scout and decide who they'd want? Realistically the Mets should be buyers! But not sell the farm. They need a LF,and SS.
    But there depth at these positions are 2-3 years away. So a Cargo deal seems more feasible then a Tulo deal? Where I see them trading for Cargo and signing Cabrera from Cleveland in the off-season? Both those guys till 2017. Also believe Murphy is staying he will sign,for a home town discount.

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  3. If matt Harvey is healthy, matt harvey is pitching on opening day........
    But I will say that degrom should start 2015 ahead of Syndergaard in the rotation. And wheeler must completely figure out control issues and high pitch counts, or else jake goes ahead of him too........
    But if everyone's healthy, I have no idea here. Maybe Harvey, wheeler, Niese, deGrom and syndergaard.

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  4. Mack - Why do you still list Syndergaard ahead of deGrom? Jake has prove he can get MLB hitters out - which should mean something.

    Plus Syndergaard's fastball isn't that much better than deGrom's, is it? I have seen guns read Jake's heater at 98 once in awhile

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  5. @Lew,

    Syndergaard's ceiling is still much higher than DeGrom's

    At the beginning of the year I had Degrom's ceiling as a solid #4/#5 and it has upgraded to #3/#4 SP.

    Syndergaard's ceiling was and still remains as an Ace SP to very solid #2 SP

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  6. @Lew,

    Syndergaard's FB is quite a bit better.

    DeGrom's max velocity has been 97.57 mph once, but he usually sits at 93-94.

    Syndergaard's max has been reported to be 99.57mph with an average velocity of 96-97mph.

    Thor's FB and DeGrom's FB have equal horizontal movement of 3.7 to 4.0 inches.....but DeGrom vertical movement is 9.2 inches, Thor's vertical movement is almost 12.5 inches!

    Thor is not going to give up many HR's at the MLB level.

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  7. With Jake it is so much more than speed - he has great variety and movement on his pitches and good location. Step back and don't compare to Harvey and deGrom looks like a #1 in his own right.

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  8. Lew -

    I'm following scout projections for his SP2 ceiling

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  9. Thanks guys.

    I think deGrom's ceiling is much higher than a 3/4 - so, we could have 4 front line starters in 2 years

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  10. Five top of rotation starters, Lew. Don't forget Steve Matz.

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