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8/29/14

Morning Report – August 29th – Dilson Herrera, Rule 5, Matt Reynolds, Lucas Duda, Yusmeiro Petit,




Last 5 starts for Casey Meisner: 1.76 ERA over 30.2 IP, 28 H, 35 SO: 5 BB (28 K%: 4 BB%)


The GCL Mets finished their season yesterday. Stars for the season included:

    OF John Mora - 110-AB, .318/.433/.427/.860

    OF Emmanuel Zabala - 196-AB, .301/.356/.367/.724

    LHSP Adrian Almeida - 10-G, 7-ST, 3-2, 2.13

    LHSP Kevin Canelon - 123-G, 5-ST, 1-2, 1.45

    RHP Tyler Baldamo - 10-G, 4-ST, 1-0, 1.74

    RHRP Alex Palsha - 14-G, 0-1, 0.69, 10-SV



Last night's announcement that Daniel Murphy was going on the DL and would be replaced by 2B Dilson Herrera changed everything. 

This isn't how the team we have grown to moan about operated... promoting the youngest player in baseball. What does this do to the future and how Terry Collins fills out a lineup card. I mean, just how many people can bat 8th?

An hour ago I wrote about a story out of NYC (Andy Martino) that the Mets were considering converting Travis d'Arnaud to fill the LF spot that is open. The logic being two fold... one) to prevent a 5th concussion and 2) make room for Kevin Plawecki.

You do realize that, if this was accomplished successfully, you now have filled every position other than shortstop and haven't moved one of your 1,248 potential starting pitchers.

Potentially, you now have a 15-25 HR hitting LFer, and a 10-20 HR hitting catcher in his first year

Wow.


Matt Reynolds -

Last October, he went bow hunting in southern Oklahoma with his father and two brothers-in-law. Alone in the woods, he finally began to exhale. Then, in December, his agent, Jason Wood, had him meet with Rick Strickland, a hitting instructor and part-time scout for the Mets. Strickland concluded that Reynolds was not moving his body in unison as he swung.

Adjustments were made and the results were immediate. Reynolds hit .355 in 58 games with Class AA Binghamton this season and was promoted to Las Vegas, where he has continued to hit just as well. And the line drives are going to the opposite field again.

Mack – It always seems to be adjustments that turn marginal minor leaguers into prospects.

While I’m on the subject of ‘adjustments’…

Lucas Duda currently has one home run and is hitting well below .200 against left handed pitching. Can you imagine what this guy would be worth someday at contract time if he could just hit 10 home runs and bat .230 against the same pitching?

I never understood why established major leaguers can’t go back to ‘school’ and approach this game like Reynolds, and those around him, did in St. Lucie.

Go to the St. Lucie camp for 3-4 weeks in the off-season. Get up early and open up the minor league clubhouse. Go outside and do your stretching and find someone to give you 10-15 minutes of soft BP… take a break and, now, here comes the important part… hire yourself (or get the Mets to supply) 3-4 left hand pitchers to rotate, one a day, pitching you 30-40 full speed pitchers from the mound… catcher… umpire (if there is one in the neighborhood).. the whole nine yards.

You can find the pitchers through local college or high school coaches, or the Mets may house some of the kids in the system.

Lastly, try to bribe one of the hitting instructors to stay around for your sessions. Sit down at the end and discuss what transpired that day, what went right and wrong, and do it again the next day.

You’re not going to learn to hit major league lefties by taking soft BP from a righty pitching coach. Do the work needed to earn the paycheck.



The players on the Las Vegas roster that will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft on 12-11-14 – Chase Bradford, John Church, Darin Gorski, Jack Leathersich, Cory Mazzoni, Daniel Muno, Noah Syndergaard, Zack Thornton, Cory Vaughn, and Logan Verrett.

Mack – My guess is the Mets will ‘protect’ Mazzoni, Syndergaard, and Verrett

Fangraphs –

           Yusmeiro Petit, a 29-year-old journeyman, has found a home as a swingman this season. Petit has appeared in 33 games for the Giants in 2014, which is one more major league game than he’d seen in the past five seasons combined. Petit was once a top-100 prospect, and he has been around for so long that he was part of the 2005 trade that sent Carlos Delgado from the Marlins to the Mets, but he’s also been DFA’d at least twice, including by the Giants last year, and lost on waivers from Arizona to Seattle another time. For a three year stretch between 2010-12, he threw exactly 4.2 big league innings, and he spent all of 2011 in the Mexican Leagues before the Giants took a flyer on him as a non-roster guy in January of 2012. In the minors, he was once described as having the potential to be a “Nelson Figueroa type,” which: high praise! http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/a-good-reason-to-watch-yusmeiro-petit-pitch-against-the-rockies/

Mack – A great success story from an old Mets prospect I once
projected as a ‘can’t miss’ Mets rotation start. Every once in awhile a guy like this comes around and teaches us that it’s ain’t over until it’s over… what a great saying… 



Continuing with my recent wearing of rose colored glasses, I couldn’t help but smile at the Braves announcer who said on Tuesday night that ‘two thirds of the world is covered by water while the other third is covered by Juan Lagares’.

The announcer also said that Terry Collins had told him that the Mets would be looking into bringing in the right field wall and particularly pointed out that Curtis Granderson could easily hit 25 home runs a year if conditions were altered to fit his power zone.
I talked yesterday about the prorated home run figures of both Travis d’Arnaud and Lucas Duda… and I also talked about getting David Wright back to the 20-25 home run range we’ve come accustomed to.

Maybe I should have included Granderson and, just maybe, the Mets already have their four power hitters on their 2015 team.



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.

17 comments:

  1. Judging by this column, the only conclusion I can draw is that Sandy Aldersion has been possessed by the spirit of Frank Cashen. First Herrera, then talking about getting Plawecki and d'Arnaud on the same lineup card, an a actual discussion about moving in the fences --- this is not our staid, slow and steady Sandy!

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  2. Moving the fences in will (ahem) take this team to another dimension. An excellent one.

    Someone would snatch Muno and Verrett. Probably Jack too. Would be a shame.

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  3. Steve -

    We may be in the middle of a history change...

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  4. I totally agree on the Duda point, too. Even for Vaughn, who has a very rich daddy and uncle to pay for a bunch of righties to pitch to him, but more so for Luke. The payback could be enormous. Darryl had problems vs lefties, but he got some of them. Luke does that well vs lefties, and he could be a slugging star.

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  5. I think D'arnaud is athletic enough to make that switch, can he learn to read the ball off the bat? Plus he will playing in an extra 30-40 games a year, which will bring up his HR totals a bit. I am all for it and bring in den dekker for a late inning replacement if needed.
    I dont like the Herrera call up, because I was hoping Flores might get comfortable at second for 2weeks. Unless Herrera strictly plays shortstop?

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  6. Great column (again), Mack.

    Dilson won't bat 8th tonight. Ninth behind deGrom.

    Two words -- Todd Hundly: who I thought together with Piazza in the lineup was going to be something special if ...

    And I love the Duda suggestion, and I have a candidate for that exercise -- Angel Cuan! If it is successful, I put a bust of Angel in the Rotunda.

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  7. Hobie -

    I just find it hard when I see players stopping in investing in their future.

    I guess making seven figures a year does that.

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  8. Whats gonna be sad is watching management continue to pencil in Grandy at leadoff or second, Herrera will simply be stashed in the bottom of the lineup, replacing either tejada or Wilmer down there.........
    Speaking of which, how crazy is it for mets to make this promotion, instead of simply continung to trot out Wilmer and Tejada in the same lineup, and say to fans, "hey, we've got injuries, we doing out best"

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  9. It's a win win without much downside. He's young and making a huge jump in competition so nobody will be disappointed if he struggles a bit. If he rakes, then they have a lot more options moving into the off season.

    My only fear is that Terry will bury him in the lineup like he did to Flores and Darno and forces this kid to either find the one decent pitch he'll get per AB while batting 8th or have the discipline to take his walks. That's asking a lot for a young player trying to impress a franchise, the players, and the fans.

    I'd bat him 2nd, protect him with Duda batting 3rd, and put Darno in the cleanup spot. Have Lagaras lead off, and put Grandy in the 5 hole. The kid should see some good pitches and the rest of the lineup wouldn't matter because every body else basically sucks anyway.

    No, Terry will bat him 8th or 9th and say he didn't want to put extra pressure on him. I say, there's already a ton of pressure on him so he should be set up to succeed by batting him higher with your best hitter protecting him.

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  10. ss-herrera
    cf-lagares
    3b-wright
    1b-duda
    c-d'Arnaud
    2b-flores
    rf-granderson
    lf-den Dekker

    IMHO this should be the line-up. You get a little speed on top, also giving Juan more at-bats. Flores is given a shot to maybe see better pitches by not hitting in front of the pitcher. Granderson can work out of his slump and you can move him to 6th or higher if he gets hot. I'm not crazy about den Dekker 8th but till he starts hitting where else could you put him. I know it's aggressive to put Dilson lead off right out of the chute but the Mets need a spark and shot in the arm offensively-burying in the bottom half of the order defeats the purpose of calling up I think.

    Also, this call up Dilson really could represent a sea change in how the Mets promote their prospects. You could see Plawecki in New York opening day, and Nimmo as well as Conforto by June. If he develops power next year and continues his progress Dom Smith by midseaon of 2016 is a real possibility as well.

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  11. Hobie,

    I think your wormhole just opened. If I see a batting coach with gills at the top of his nose, I'm betting on the Mets to win the Series!

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  12. Herrera is not playing SS - he barely played that in the minors, word is he doesn't have the arm.

    He is up for two reasons - a)he needed to go on the 40 man anyway and b) if he does really well in Sept, then say good bye to Murphy this off season.

    I love Murph, but this is the time to "sell high" on him and get great value.

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  13. If the team wants Duda to follow that path, he doesn't need to do it on his own. He can play Winter ball or go to EXST and face legit LH pitching under the watch of a professional HC. Just ask Bobby Abreu, who rediscovered his career playing for Hudgens last Winter.

    As for Rockies batting at he bottom of he order, that's hardly a TC creation. It's been going on since I stated watching over 60 years ago, except for legit power hitters like Darryl was in '84. Lagares,, TdA and others did it this year and worked their way to higher spots. When Ruben was batting 8th and had an OBP of .350, no one said he was hurt by that slot. But when Flores hit .220 there, it's because he "can't get good pitches to hit there".

    Enough excuses! If a rookie can hit, he won't stay at the bottom for long. If he can't, he doesn't belong higher.

    Speaking of excuses, why aren't more members of this group donating to help Mack keep it going? Let's get to the target, folks!TT

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  14. Got cut off. That should've read "the deadline is approaching. Let's get it done!"

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  15. Bill - Thank you for your donation push.

    It's come to an end and we did around 50% of the projected number.

    That's fine... the money is already on the way to pay off some doctor bills

    thanks for the help

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  16. My pleasure, Mack. Maybe some buckets of ice water would've helped.

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  17. Putting Dilson lead off strait from AA is kind of crazy. 2nd is a little better. If not 2nd, then 7th like Terry did, however I still think Collins screwed the pooch with this one.

    He won't get any protection with Flores and the pitcher behind him.

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