Morning Report – August 28th – 2015, Dilson Herrera, Park Dimensions, Daniel Murphy

Mets win total after 131 games last 4 yrs- 61(2014), 59(13'), 61(12'), 63(11')

Michael Baron ‏@michaelgbaron  -  I just did a revised calculation on the #Mets current 25-man roster. I estimate they are paying this group $67-69m in #MLB money.


Wow... Noah Syndergaard throws 6.2 innings, giving up only one earned run while striking out nine and catcher Kevin Plawecki goes 4-4 with two home runs. Now, THAT's a Mets wet dream.

Kevin Burkhardt ‏@kevinburkhardt  - Clear positives for Mets: 1) Duda's legit 2) d'Arnaud getting there too 3) pitching at times has been great.

            Mack – This is why I keep saying this team really isn’t that far off.

They now have a first baseman with the potential of hitting 45 home runs a year.

They have a second baseman who is leading the National League in hits

They have a future Hall of Fame third baseman

They have a young catcher already hitting at the 25-HR clip

They have the best defensive centerfielder in baseball.

And they potentially have the best SP1-2-3 rotation combo in the National League.

The team is young and most of the salaries are under team control. Better than that, they have multiple trade chips that can fill in some of the holes and money coming off the books that can be reinvested into a new left fielder or shortstop.

Folks, this is not my opinion here nor is it debatable. These are facts.

Yes, the team needs more… a killer addition to the pen… the heath of their rotation pitchers… a faster start for some of this year early slumping players… more of a return from David Wright and Curtis Granderson…

But, I’m telling you… just the hitting of Lucas Duda and Travis d’Arnaud and the pitching of Jacob deGrom have turned this team‘s direction.

Michael Scannell -

If he isn't traded, any chance Dilson Herrera makes the majors next year?  How about skipping AAA altogether?  I can't imagine him really gaining important experience there given the environment and what he's done this year.  I don't think he has much else to work on at the minor league level.

Michael, I can’t see any scenario that would create a sale of Herrera. On the surface, he seems to be the future NY Mets second baseman starting in 2016 and lasting throughout the decade.

The only question left will be when he takes over from the guy that is off and on leading the National League this year in hits. Yeah, he plays defense like Nick Fotiu used to do for the Rangers (wow, now there’s a name dug out of sewers of Seventh Avenue), but his ++ bat alone creates a situation where there really is no rush to push Murphy out or Herrera forward too early.

Speaking of scenarios, here’s your worst. You get your wish and Herrera comes to Queens only to be put on the bench five out of six games a week, and on the sixth, he bats 8^th or 9^th in the lineup. Sound familiar?

No, his future will be based on Murphy’s departure and whether or not there are any Super 2/Arbitration restrictions on his ass (I simply never spent enough time learning this). Frankly, I’d like to see him come up the same time with his lineup buddy, Brandon Nimmo and both be slotted into the starting lineup around the all-star break.

New CitiField Dimensions vs. old Shea Stadium –

            Citi – 335 ft left corner… 358… 385…408 dead center

                        398… 375… 330 right corner

            Shea – 338 left… 371 left center… 410 dead center

                        371 right center… 338 right corner

Everybody keeps telling me that the Mets need to bring in the fences ‘to the Shea dimensons’… am I missing something here? Shea was eight feet deeper down the right field corner and three feet deeper down the left.

Well, the announcers for Atlanta cleared this up for me on Tuesday night when they said they had talked to Terry Collins and it was 'right-center' that they want to bring in to fit Curtis Granderson's swing more.

So let me see... right-center at Citi: 375... right-center at Shea: 371...

I don't know... I still don't see it.

Rotoworld Chat –

Comment From James - If I'm picking up one potential future closer for ROS, who should it be: Neshek, Fields, Mujica, Hembree, Familia?

If I'm handicapping, I'd give Familia the best shot to close at some point in the final month. Mejia has dealt with various ailments recently and has a poor history of health.

 

pic by Mack Ade 

Jason asked –

           Mack, do you still have the opinion that the Mets should keep Daniel Murphy?

                       Mack – Jason, yes I do.

           I‘m one of those guys that like to covert the players that produce quality results. As I’ve said in the past, there are some sever shortcomings regarding his fielding, but it has gotten better over the past few years.

Offensively, I can’t even imagine what this team would be this season without his league leading hits.

I would pay Murphy every penny he deserves in his 2015 arbitration process, but, the day after I closed that deal, I would start planning for his early departure before he hits his scheduled 2016 free agency.

Dilson Herrera looks like a slam dunk for this position, as early as the all-star break next season. One of Sandy Alderson’s major challenges next season will be to perfectly time the rise of Herrera to Queens with the departure of Murphy through a trade.

Lastly, I called for a multi-year contract extension for Murphy for quite a while, but I’ve revised my position here. Every report I ready out of either Binghamton or Las Vegas have Herrera as a potential multi-year all-star. This alone makes Murphy the trade chip the team may need to solve their shortstop or leftfield problem.

Donation Drive (drive ends in 3 more days ) –

            Received so far – $ 625.00

            Goal - $1,400.00 - $ 775.00 to go

Paypal account:  macksmets@gmail.com

God Bless you for your consideration.