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 4^th.

Mets currently on pace for 93 losses.

Baseball America http://www.baseballamerica.com/majors/former-orioles-mets-gm-frank-cashen-dies/ on Frank Cachen –

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 - 

NO	ORG	TOTAL	NO	ORG	TOTAL	NO	ORG	TOTAL
1	Red Sox	122.2	11(t)	Blue Jays	90.3	21	Marlins	65.7
2	Astros	111.2	11(t)	Mets	90.3	22	Nationals	64.7
3	Padres	110.8	13	Mariners	88.8	23	Indians	62.8
4	Rangers	104.6	14	Pirates	88.0	24	White Sox	57.5
5(t)	Cubs	98.2	15	Rays	84.2	25	Reds	50.7
5(t)	Royals	98.2	16	Yankees	74.1	26	Athletics	44.3
7	Twins	98.1	17	Phillies	71.7	27	Angels	43.0
8	Cardinals	95.2	18	Rockies	68.8	28	Orioles	32.4
9	D-backs	93.9	19	Dodgers	66.6	29	Tigers	29.4
10	Braves	92.1	20	Giants	66.2	30	Brewers	26.6

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.