Morning Report – July 7th – Greg Peavey, Jon Niese, Nick Ahmed, Oakland, Cubs Shortstops

                                                                                                                

Coming Later Today –                                                                          

         

          12 00 pm - Craig Mitchell -- My Top Ten Baseball Flicks

          1 30 pm - Stephen Guilbert - Future Major Leaguers- Savannah Sand Gnats

          3 00 pm – D-Whit  -   My 2014 All-Star Ballot    

                      

          6 00 pm - 2015 Draft Profile  -   OF/2B  -  Jahmai Jones  -  Wesleyan (GA) HS - UPDATED 6-30-14

Eric Campbell's .456 BABIP is the highest among MLB hitters with at least 90 PA's


Binghamton's Dustin Lawley continues to hit home runs. It was #15 last night and his 7th in his last 11 games...


A lot of things happened Sunday at the Vegas game that could have some real positive implications for the second half of the season... first, the team won 21-1... then, Wilmer Flores kept pounding the ball, this time for his 11th AAA home run... then, out of nowhere, Cesar Puello (.233) decided to wake up and hit two home runs... next came Kevin Plawecki (3-5, 3-RBI, .200) who showed signs of breaking out of his AAA funk... but the cherry on the top was the 7.0-IP, 1-ER, 8-K performance by Noah Syndergaard.  These four could be really damn important to the future of the 2015 Mets.

David Lennon ‏@DPLennon  1-  For those now dreaming of Starlin Castro trade to #Mets, he’s due $49M thru ’19. Not exorbitant by any means, but still a $ investment


John Harper on Starlin Castro - http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/harper-mets-run-cubs-castro-article-1.1856497 


Mark Simon - For those enamored with Cubs Starlin Castro... he regularly leads in Misplays/Errors... this season, his 33 errors are most among MLB SS


Mets are now tied with Oakland for the most first inning runs.


Dilson Herrera at AA: .338, 5-yrs younger than average player in league

SP Greg Peavey can’t seem to get his AAA shit together. His two stints for AA-Binghamton resulted in a splendid 6-1, 2.86 line, but four starts earlier this season for Las Vegas resulted in a 10.24 ERA and a return to B-Town. Still, it was his time to give it another shot Saturday afternoon… and boy, that didn’t work: 5.0-IP, 11-R… that’s right, 11 runs in four innings, 14-H (what kind of manager leaves you in when you’re pitching this bad?) … which raised his AAA ERA to 12.21. Peavey’s going to have to work this out if he wants to make the next step, which is a big one.

A major league executive whose team has been scouting the Mets indicated it would be short-sighted to keep Niese based on the fact he is the team’s only lefty starter. “If you aren’t going to win this year, it shouldn’t make a difference,” the executive said. “Get the best deal you can and worry later about having a lefty.”

I extracted this from an article that Mike Puma wrote about the possibility of the Mets trading away LHSP Jon Niese.

This is how the majority of baseball executives operate. Develop a winner now and then worry about the future.

It’s all in the deal… and the first deal determines what you need in the next deal.

The Mets are not going to be relevant in 2015 because of players they receive in trades for Daisuke Matsuzaka, Chris Young, or Bobby Abreu, but they could be with the returns of a deal for Daniel Murphy and/or Niese.

Some of you have expressed an interest in Arizona Nick Ahmed as a possible answer to the Mets SS problems.

Here’s what Fangraphs said about him on Friday:

Ahmed’s current stint with Arizona will be short. Currently, his job is to keep Owings’ seat warm until he returns from the Disabled List. Ahmed is suited a replacement role on a last place team with little ambition. At a time, he held in higher regard. Recall the 2011 amateur draft where the Atlanta Braves reached outside of Georgia to draft Ahmed out of Connecticut in the second round. Then, after a season and a half with Atlanta, he was shipped to Arizona with others in the Justin Upton trade. At that time, the Diamondbacks thought they were getting a better player. On paper, Ahmed reads well with cliches abound. Wiry.  Athletic frame. Strong arm. Projectable.  The University of Connecticut product was and is all of these buzz words, but he’s a few steps too slow to be an everyday shortstop and doesn’t have the bat for third. Without a better stick, Ahmed won’t be more than a utility infielder for a second division team. Though, that may be optimistic.

Baseballprospectus on Oakland –

Beane has disassembled his farm over the past two years at nearly the same pace he had used to build it. Seven of the 11 top prospects ranked by Kevin Goldstein in January 2012 have been traded, including three of the top five. In fact, Goldstein's current employer, the Astros, employ as many of those 11 players on their active roster (two) as the A's do—though Jarrod Parker would give the A's the lead if he weren't disabled. Beane's aggressive prospect trading extends beyond those 11: he moved two players from the bottom nine, pushing the total to nine of the 20 players listed. The A's didn't just trade the spare parts. They traded half their farm. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/a/23678

Mack – It’s hard to even believe this is the same guy features in the book ‘Moneyball’. As of today, the A’s farm system is dead last in talent.

The Cubs ‘other Shortstops –

Starlin Castro – $60mil through 2019… reasonable contract range of $6.857/2015 through $11.857/2019… 2014: .290, 11-HR, 50-RBI

Javier Baez – team’s #1 prospect going into the Addison Russell trade… 21/yrs old – AAA: .241, 12-HR, 48-RBI – excellent bat, questionable defense, average defense – team controlled pre-ARB

Arismendy Alcantara - #7 team prospect – AAA: .307, 10-HR, 41-RBI, plays 2B also, good defenser, strong arm, projects long term at second base – under team control

         

Minor Notes –

Savannah OF Jared King returned to the GCL Mets on a July 4^th rehab assignment, going 2-4 (2-R), with a triple… RP Cameron Griffin also quietly returned (1.0-IP, 0-ER). He pitched 23.1 innings for the GCL Mets/Brooklyn last season, going 3.09, 21-K… R.J. Anderson for Fangraphs: December 18, 2012: Traded OF Collin Cowgill (no. 9) to the Mets; received 3B Jefry Marte. The most boring trade of the bunch. Cowgill couldn't find a spot in the crowded A's outfield, so Beane traded him for a lottery ticket. Marte, the rare non-vet return, might not reach Triple-A… SP Robert Whalen pitched his first rehab inning Wednesday for GCL: 0-H, 2-K… Luis Mateo also pitched a rehab inning in the same GCL game, gaining the save (0-H, 1-K)… SP John Lannon continued his rehabbing Saturday for St. Lucie (4.0-IP, 2-ER)… frankly, I’m not sure what the Mets long term goal here is… are they planning on offering him a 2015 contract or selling him this year? Strange… I noticed that OF Cesar Puello didn’t play in either of the doubleheader games on Saturday so I checked and, yes, he has quietly been placed on the 7-day DL…