Morning Report – August 26th – Travis d'Arnaud, Bobby Parnell, John Lannan, Guppies, Kevin Plawecki

Among players with at least 250 plate appearances, Justin Turner has the 19th-best wRC+ (142) in baseball

Yusmeiro Petit, Giants RP, has to retire eight more batters to set the record for most consecutive batters retired ever.

2014 All-Pacific coast League Team

NAME	POS	TEAM	MLB ORG
Francisco Pena	C	Omaha	KC
Adam Duvall	1B	Fresno	SF
Arismendy Alcantara	2B	Iowa	CHC
Andy Marte	3B	Reno	ARI
Nick Ahmed	SS	Reno	ARI
Joc Pederson	OF	Albuquerque	LAD
Shane Peterson	OF	Sacramento	OAK
Matt den Dekker	OF	Las Vegas	NYM
Brennan Boesch	DH	Salt Lake	LAA
Jimmy Nelson	RHP	Nashville	MIL
Tsuyoshi Wada	LHP	Iowa	CHC
Blake Parker	RHP	Iowa	CHC

Brooklyn’s Marcos Molina has given up only two base hits in his last 13.2 innings.

I don’t think we are going to have to worry about the potential of catcher Travis d’Arnaud’s power. Sunday’s shot over the deep centerfield Los Angeles wall was the 9^th home run in the last 180 PSs since his return from the minors (at the same point, David Wright has eight HRs all seasons). That prorates (based on 550 PA a season) to 27.5 HRs per…

Talk about prorated home runs…  Lucas Duda has 14 since July 1^st, which totals 47 games… prorated over a 162 game schedule, that would be 48 home runs!

Duda and d’Arnaud’s prorated home run totals are quite exciting, especially since both represent successes none of us predicted for 2014. Needless to say, reaching the team’s 2015’s goals are going to be a lot easier if both these continue to produce these kind of power numbers.

Successful teams need three power bats, which the Mets now have if David Wright can return to the levels we’ve grown used to. If that happens in 2015, all the other positional players can simply be singles and doubles hitter for this team to succeed.

We know the pitching will improve when we add Matt Harvey, Rafael Montero, and (eventually) Noah Syndergaard. Imagine if the norm on this team is 6-7 runs and 8-12 hits per game.

We just may not be that far off folks.

Bill Metsiac –

            I guess Bobby's not being released.

Mack – He was referring to John F. Silver’s story on MetsBlog in which Terry Collins seems to make it quite clear that RP/CL Bobby Parnell was in the 2015 plans for the Mets.

Collins said:

"When Bobby Parnell comes back, he will be pitching during his rehab as if he's the closer, because that's certainly in our plan when he gets back. When Bobby's ready, we've got a nice problem on our hands. But looking that far ahead, we certainly can't have any idea who is the guy pitching in the ninth."

TC is saying all the right things but, for now, he still has to come back. He won’t be traded because that’s not what happens to damaged goods.

Who comes back? Well, Jeurys Famila, Vic Black, Josh Edgin, and Jenrry Mejia seem like they have a ticket to return. I wonder about Carlos Torres. Have we seen the best of him?

You have to assume that Jack Leathersich, Zack Thornton, and Chase Bradford will get their shot out of training camp. In addition, AAA starters like Rafael Montero, Cory Mazzoni, Logan Verrett, and Matt Bowman could take the pen plunge a la Mejia and Familia.

This looks like a talented pen, but without that one killer element.

That’s just me.

More Metsiac –

            Re John Lannan - He's being battered again tonight, and has become a virtual batting practice pitcher in Wallyville. Didn't do much even at St Lucie.

Why is he still in our system?

Mack – Well, I’m the sure the plan was to keep him around throughout the season in case all hell broke out and the Mets needed a seasoned, veteran starter beyond their first choice of Dice-K.

Lannan then went on his secretive extended leave and eventually come back and work through the rehab program.

Now, that September is a week away, nothing makes sense here. I know the Mets are paying him around a mil to throw the ball around and I’m sure all his gloves and bats will be sent directly to his house.

This was a strange one when it almost made sense,

John Looby -

Hey Mack, What are your thoughts on Kevin Plawecki? To me, any debate about the future Met catcher have been put to bed since Travis came back from Las Vegas. Does this leave Plawecki has back-up catcher and possible platoon mate for Duda at first, or is he more value to the Mets as a trade piece?

Mack – I’m extremely high on Plawecki. He does have some defensive limitations, but he still rounds out as a solid backstop. As for his hitting, the only time he had any hiccup was during the short period this year in Vegas that he suffered from vertigo. Average wise, I think he would pan out better than Travis d’Arnaud, though I give d’Arnaud the edge on power potential.

As for a platoon partner for Duda, that won’t be necessary. Lucas Duda is on his way to an all-star career and will bat against all pitchers next season.

And lastly, Plawecki is too good to be a major league backup (that looks like will fall to Juan Centeno). No, this is a solid gold trade chip and a rare find in baseball… a team with potentially two all-star catchers.

This really isn’t a story… it’s just an observation by me about the Kingsport and Binghamton Mets and the Brooklyn Cyclones. I’ve been doing this for a long time and I have never seen such talent on these three combined squads at the same time. I venture to guess that, if the Mets have success in the later years of this decade, it will come from playing the players that currently are on these teams.

Potential major league players (IMO) are:

            Kingsport – Luis Guillorme, Eudro Garcia, Wuilmer Becerra

            B-Mets – Brandon Nimmo, Dilson Herrera, Steven Matz

            Brooklyn – Marcos Molina, Jhoan Urena, Michael Conforto

Again, that’s just me.

Donation Drive (drive end 8-30) –

            Received so far – $ 575.00

            Goal - $1,400.00 - $ 825.00 to go

Paypal account:  macksmets@gmail.com

God Bless you for your consideration.