Morning Report – July 3rd – Jose Ramirez, Noah Syndergaard, Dustin Lawley, Intl Signs

                                                                                                                

Coming Later Today –    

          12 noon – Mack - The 20 Mets Prospects I Take In An Expansion Draft

            2 00 pm - Mack - Put The Towels Down Guys

           4  00 pm - 2015 Draft - Profile  -  2B  -  Ian Happ  -  Cincinnati - updated 6-30-14

A reminder... Mack's Mets is closed tomorrow.


The Mets bullpen has a 3.19-ERA, 9th in the league.

The Cleveland Indians Blog, Indians Baseball Insider http://www.indiansbaseballinsider.com/blog/indians-and-mets-might-make-good-trade-partners-69629?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter, said that the Indians and Mets could make good trade partners…

The first target by the Indians should be Defiance product Jon Niese. Niese is locked up through 2018 and at his max will make 11 million a year. The last two years of his deal are team options and mean worst case he is locked up for the next three years at under $10 million a year. The price is extremely right for his arm. Niese is not a dominant arm, but he would give the team the first reliable lefty that wasn’t a one year guy since Cliff Lee. His xFIP on the year is 3.79, which would be the fourth best among Indians starters. It also shows his 2.88 ERA is a bit off and might inflate his value.

Mack – Good article. Go read it. It goes on to say that the Indians trade chip could be SS/2B Jose Ramirez and they also single out Bartolo Colon as a target.

Ramirez is 21-yrs old and is hitting .318 (through Monday) at the Indians AAA affiliate. He also has hit five home runs in 179 at bats giving him a .475 slugging percentage and an .852 OBP.

John Sickles said in December 2012 – “9) Jose Ramirez, 2B, Grade C+: Other sources do not rank him this highly, but I don't care. He's undersized and scouts worry about that, but he just hits the shit out of the ball, including .354/.403/.462 this year in 67 games in Low-A. Controls the strike zone, makes contact, runs well, excellent defensively at second base, has hit everywhere he's played. A year from now, this may look too low if he goes Altuve on us.”

Terry Collins, in a pre-game press conference on Tuesday, said that the issue of SP Noah Syndergaard pitching in the majors this season is not his decision… Collins also said that Sandy Alderson will play a ‘large role’ in who is taken out of the rotation.

These are his words, not mine.

Once again I want to stress that this is not Collins’ team. Alderson pulls the shots and that’s probably the main reason why Collins is still the manager here.

In defense, I would think that a lot falls on what happens in early July via any possible trade.

Opinion - I happen to agree with Andy Martino here… there should be no discussion about this because Syndergaard has done very little this year to earn a promotion. The velo and ability to strike batters out is there, but the command has, to a degree, been lost. Thor needs to calm down and let his remaining time in Las Vegas be something he can play off of. Eventually, the Mets will throw the towel in and a few Queens starts in September would sell a few tickets, but I have no problem having his wait until he can join Matt Harvey.

Prospect Target –

          Binghamton’s Dustin Lawley is starting to wake up again. He hit two home runs on Tuesday night after hitting a prior one on Monday. This gave him 12 for the season, six behind the league leader, but not to worry. Lawley has been a late starter before and finished last season as the home run champ (25) in the Florida State League.

          His downside continues to be the fact that he tops off at a .250-.260 hitter.

          Mets officials see his potential to move David Wright someday to first base, but is all this worth it for the same kind of stats you already get from Lucas Duda?

The Mets signed:

SS – Yoel Romero - $300K bonus – from Ben Badler – “At 6 feet, 175 pounds, Romero moves around well at shortstop with good agility and average arm strength that plays up because of his short arm stroke and quick release. More quick than fast, he’s a fringy runner with gap power from the right side and projection to grow into more strength.”

SS – Edgardo Fermin - $250K – from Ben Badler – “At 6 feet, 145 pounds, Fermin’s game will benefit from additional strength, with solid tools that play up because of his advanced instincts and feel for the game. He’s a below-average runner with a fringy arm but is smooth at shortstop and moves around well at the position. He has shown a line-drive stroke from the right side with occasional gap power and the ability to hang in against good velocity.”

The Mets have signed 16-year-old Venezuelan lefthander Daniel Guzman for $140,000. Guzman stands out for his advanced feel for pitching. He throws in the mid-80s now with projection to get to an average fastball in the future, but his strength is his ability to throwing strikes, along with his feel for the secondary stuff, including a curveball and a changeup. Guzman trained with Jose Malave.

Additionally, they signed RHP Agustin Castilla (DR), OF Claudio Geraldo (DR), C Luis Lebron (DR), OF Yordin Arujo (VZ), RHP Jose Moreno (DR), RHP Jurgen Jiminez (RHP) and SS Hansel Morena (DR)

Mack – Again, don’t ever get excited about signing these kids. Very few of them pan out. By the way, do you notice they all seem to be shortstops? Well, if you grow up in Venezuela or the Dominican, that’s where the best kid of the block plays. All their heroes were shortstops.

Minor Notes –

          The Boston Red Sox have released P Chris Capuano… the White Sox released ex-Met (2007-08) Maikel Cleto from AAA… On December 11, 2008 Cleto was traded to the Mariners with Aaron Heilman, Endy Chávez, Jason Vargas, Mike Carp and Ezequiel Carrera in exchange for J. J. Putz, Jeremy Reed and Sean Green…