7/2/14

Morning Report – July 2nd – Frank Cashen, Noah Syndergaard, Latin American Bonus Babies


Coming Later Today –    

          12 noon – Reese Kaplan – Project From Hell:  Fixing the Mets

          2 00 pm - Mack - A Suggestion in Change of Management   
  
          4 00 pm - 2015 Draft Profile  - SS/2B  -  Alex Bregman  -  LSU - UPDATED 6-30-14



Mack’s Mets will be closed on Friday, July 4th.


Mets currently on pace for 93 losses.




But Cashen, through a series of trades, turned the Mets from a doormat into a perennial contender. Most famous was the deal on June 15, 1983 that sent Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey to the Cardinals for first baseman Keith Hernandez, who had fallen out of favor in St. Louis after disagreements with team management, notably Whitey Herzog.

In another deal, Cashen—who was distinguished in part for wearing bow ties—traded the popular Lee Mazzilli to Texas for two pitchers, Walt Terrell and Ron Darling. Darling became a mainstay of the Mets’ 1980s contenders, while Terrell was later traded for power-hitting switch-hitter Howard Johnson.

The Mets’ poor record also helped them get high draft choices. They drafted first overall in Cashen’s first year as GM, in 1980, and drafted Darryl Strawberry with the pick. They signed Strawberry for $210,000. They also snagged Dwight Gooden fifth overall in 1982.

Those players, along with the stunning deal Cashen pulled at the 1984 Winter Meetings for Expos all-star catcher Gary Carter, culminated in the Mets’ World Series title in 1986.

Mack – Cashen was a good man and a great General Manager. He will be sorely missed.


SB Nation http://www.faketeams.com/2014/6/30/5856256/has-anything-changed-noah-syndergaard-rhp-new-york-mets did a prospect review on SP Noah Syndergaard. Excerpt –

So far, he has thrown 69 innings at AAA Las Vegas, but has missed time this year due to a pair of injuries. The performance doesn't look amazing (5.35 ERA, 1.493 WHIP), but Las Vegas is known for being a hitters' paradise and the peripherals look solid (71 K, 23 BB in 69 IP). He appears to have been a bit unlucky so far, with a .359 BABIP and a strand rate of just 63% on the season.

At this point, Syndergaard has moved into the middle of the Buy and Hold list, as he could be called up within the next month or so. His potential performance in the majors would rank him in the top 30-40 of starting pitchers over a full season, and realistically should be owned as soon as he is called up in all formats. He's currently blocked in the rotation by Jacob deGrom and Daisuke Matsuzaka, and it seems like the team will eventually replace one of them with Syndergaard. I can see him producing a line with an ERA around 3.75, 80 strikeouts, and a 1.20 WHIP if he's called up by the All-Star break. I wouldn't grab him ahead of any of the five players ahead of him on the Buy and Hold just yet, but he could be in the top 3 by next week.

Mack – There’s not much of anything being written about Syndergaard right now so it was nice to read something positive. Scouts say don’t sweat everything you read. Syndergaard is loaded with pitching talent. As for this season, I don’t expect you’ll see him until the team throws in the towel. He’s going nowhere. Thor will be part of the future Mets rotation throughout the decade.



The Top 30 Latin American prospect list is out by Baseball America http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/top-30-international-list/ and it is free. An excerpt –

Scouting Latin America is a different animal. Teams are watching kids who are 15 and 16, which already makes the projection more difficult to peg, before the reality that many of the players are using false ages, steroids or both. There are national and international tournaments, as well as trainer-organized games run by the Dominican Prospect League and the International Prospect League, but much of the scouting work is done by teams bringing players into their academies, where teams can work players however they best see fit. A player who looks great at one team’s academy for a week might go to another club’s academy and struggle, leaving those organizations with two very different perceptions of the player based on private information.

          Mack – This is a whole different animal. Imagine evaluating high school freshman and sophomores that have never played a single game with proper equipment or on an infield that isn’t covered with rocks and broken glass, And I haven’t even got to the ‘busteros’ (agents) that take these kids out of their family home when they are around 12-13 and pump them up with false promises, bad steroids, and bogus visa papers. This is the part of baseball that Sandy Alderson wants to go clean up and, frankly, he’s got my vote to leave yesterday.


Latin ‘bonus babies’ under Sandy Alderson

                  2011-12:
Jose Garcia - $800K
Jhoan Urena - $450K
Dionis Rodriguez - $185K

2012-13:
Amed Rosario - $1.75M
Adrian Almeida - $170K
Ronald Guedez - $170K
Walter Rasquin - $140K
Franklin Correa - $155K
Miguel Patino - $115K
Nicholas Debora - $115K
Marcos Molina - $100K

2013-14:
Ricardo Cespedes - $725K
Ali Sanchez - $690K
Yeffry de Aza - $475K
Luis Carpio - $300K
Luis Silva - $275K
Cecilio Aybar - $251K
Scarlyn Reyes - $25K



Baseball America - Ranked Farm Systems - 

NOORGTOTALNOORGTOTALNOORGTOTAL
1Red Sox122.211(t)Blue Jays90.321Marlins65.7
2Astros111.211(t)Mets90.322Nationals64.7
3Padres110.813Mariners88.823Indians62.8
4Rangers104.614Pirates88.024White Sox57.5
5(t)Cubs98.215Rays84.225Reds50.7
5(t)Royals98.216Yankees74.126Athletics44.3
7Twins98.117Phillies71.727Angels43.0
8Cardinals95.218Rockies68.828Orioles32.4
9D-backs93.919Dodgers66.629Tigers29.4
10Braves92.120Giants66.230Brewers26.6

Minor Notes –


          SP Gabriel Ynoa’s promotion to the B-Mets rotation is a ‘good start’. The rotations need to be cleaned out, starting with Giancarlo Alvarado, Joel Carreno, and any possibility of a return of John Lannon… woop… Lannon rehab siting on Monday night at St. Lucie: 3.1-IP, 2-ER, 1-K, 0-BB, ERA down to 17.18… the Greg Peavey promotion yesterday was a move in the right direction. I would suggest Tyler Pill to be added… the first two promotions from the GCL Mets could easily be CF John Mora (11-26, .423) and SP Blake Taylor (2-G, 6.2-IP, 0.00). The sample is small but keep an eye on both these guys, especially the 21-yr. old Mora who is coming off a .310 2013 season for the DSL Mets… Dustin Lawley had seven home runs and 18 RBI in June… I know that it seems like 2B Dilson Herrera just stepped off the plane at the Binghamton airport (16-46, .356/.408/.489/.897)… but these numbers just followed a stat line in St. Lucie of 87-283, .307/.355/.410/.765. Did I say he just turned 20? Danny Muno at Las Vegas is not going to block this guy before the season ends which opens up a whole new group scenarios that would involve Daniel Murphy.

15 comments:

Reese Kaplan said...

There are three possible Daniel Murphy scenarios:

1. Trade him while his value is high when you have Flores, Herrera and others in the pipeline.
2. Sign him to a long term deal a'la Jon Niese and lock him up
3. (Most likely) Do nothing, go to arbitration, piss off the player, then lose him as a free agent the following year.

Tom Brennan said...

If Murph can pull REAL value in a trade, they should do it. Flores will be good as a replacement, likely similar offensively and defensively after a 2014 adjustment period. And if Flores faltered, Muno or Reynolds might be ready by then.

Unknown said...

Why can't our team spend some money somewhere? It gets worse by the day!!! I just read the baseball america top 30 international signings that they predict and the Skanks are signing about 12 of them. They are smart to load up on 1 year and face consequences for 2. They will probably net 10 more players then we do over the same time period.
This is where chris young $$$$ should have went.
We should just close up vegas and make citi our AAA team.

Steve from Norfolk said...

God bless Frank Cashen's soul. A GM with a heart. Some of the stories Keith told about him were just beautiful. A man who loved the game and the players, and took good care of both. Also a genius at rebuilding. He took over the Mets in 1980, and they almost won the pennant in 1984. Sandy should do half as good.

Michi L. said...

Cant belive Brave system ranked higher than Mets 's one

Anonymous said...

Zozo,

A) The international pool money is a set amount established by the MLB. Chris Young money has no effect of this.

B) Quantity < Quality. So what if the Yankees are forecasted to sign 13 IFA. They will be lucky if 1 pans out. If the Mets can continue to sign 2 Amed Rosario/Vicente Lupo/Ricardo Cespedes types on a yearly basis isn't that better than signing 13 guys that won't graduate past SS-A?

Unknown said...

He is saying that the Yanks are the favorites to land 12 of the top 30 players. Not just sign 12 total. So they are going for Quality & Quantity and don't care how much they go over their allowed budget. They just won't be able to sign anyone next offseason.

Mack Ade said...

Morning -

I risk readership everyday when I say things like I'm about to say.

Don't waste your time waiting for this team, this owner, this GM to change their ways. The Mets are NOT going to sign Murphy to some long term deal for the amount of money he is currently worth, which is a lot more than what Niese signed for.

I'm sorry, they jsut aren't.

Mack Ade said...

Christoper is right about the International players

Go to www.MiLB.com and go to the league rankings page for the DSL players.

You're see the years listed on the top right of the page... click on any year 8/9/10 etc years ago...

You will recognize very few names

The International signings are the biggest crap shoot in the system.

Anonymous said...

Right now we have Syndergard, Verrett, Carreno, Alvarado, Gorski, Peavey in the rotation, with Montero on the DL. How about Cory Mazzoni when he's done with his rehab at High-A to take a rotation spot in Vegas as well. Alvarado, Carreno & Lannan as wasted roster SP spots at this point, especially with the direction we're trying to move in with younger talent.

Luis Mateo is the rehab tour, but I think he might be better suited to work in the pen for the remainder of this season to limit his innings and bring him back fresh in AA/AAA next year.

Tyler Pill & Matt Bowman should be next in line from AA after Thor gets promoted and something happens with Montero (promotion/trade). I'd like to see them build up Montero's value when he comes back healthy and put him in a package this offseason for a SS. Boy it would nice to have Jose Reyes on this team still at the top of the lineup!

The Closer

Tom Brennan said...

I largely agree with you there, anonymous. Out with aged, promote liberally. Challenge our succeeding young talent in the minors.

Mack Ade said...

Everything you say, anonymous, makes sense to me, if for no other reason than to find out what we have

Anonymous said...

Still think the team to look to trade,is Toronto!! They have pieces the Mets could use for the future. Dalton Pompey as a leadoff hitter and Daniel Norris LH starter. I agree Murphy is not going to be here longterm. Toronto is in need of a 2nd baseman and a lefty hitter.

Steve from Norfolk said...

Anonymous,

Toronto has said in print that they don't want Murphy. They want someone that is better defensively. I want Brandon Crawford from SF. Stud SS with some power (7HR, 36 RBI, OPS+ 120)

Unknown said...

Crawford is not a stud