Morning Report – September 13 – Making The Playoffs, Kevin Plawecki, Pittsburgh Pirates,

Lucas Duda has 31 HR & 75 BB over his last 162 games (145 starts)

Chris Young has 7 RBIs in his 3 starts with the Yankees

Oh, I’m seeing so many wonderful happen this September about the Mets.

All the old rules are being thrown out the doors and people who wrote off the chances of this team finishing at .500 percentage are now following what teams like Atlanta, Miami, the Giants and Milwaukee are doing every night in the win-loss column.

Andy Martino is being roasted on Twitter for him writing that the Mets have no chance to make the playoffs. Of course Martino is right, but these are Mets fans who will even hang on to a 0.2% chance of becoming a Wild Card team.

(by the way... please stop reading Martino. He's a complete Philly fan who just writes this stuff to piss you off and get paid. He's despised by anyone in the clubhouse and he just laughs all the way to the bank with his very small paycheck.)

These is only two of these Wild Card gems available and the Giants seem to have one of them locked up with only 65 loses. The Mets have 76. The other teams ahead of you are Pittsburgh (69 loses), Atlanta (72 loses), Milwaukee (71 loses) and Miami (75 loses). 

The Mets can make up the majority of the distance between the Braves and Marlins simply by beating them in each of the three games left they have to play each other, but Pittsburgh and Milwaukee are sort of on their own and needs to go into the tank simultaneously.

Look. Let’s be realistic here. You should spend most of your time playing with your children, keeping your boss happy, and rooting for a .500 record this season. I think the Mets are going to accomplish this, but it’s simply too late to make the playoffs.

The sad part is you and I can easily count five games on one of our hands that this team blew in the last inning, no less how many games they led after six innings that went south. There always seems to be less than three runs and five hits on the scoreboard going into the seventh inning.

The sad part here is the fact that the difference between a payoff or non-playoff season seems to be the Washington Nationals, in general, and Adam LaRoche in particular.

I for one will continue to root for a .500 record. I believe it’s doable.

 Bernie Pleaskoff –

Defensively, Kevin Plawecki is an improving shepherd to his pitchers, calling a good game and knowing the repertoire of each. He doesn't have the strongest arm, but he is accurate, and his footwork is solid. Plawecki is mobile and moves well. His transfer of the ball from his glove to his hand is average. Plawecki's success throwing out potential base stealers will be very dependent upon the delivery speed and mechanics of his pitcher. There will be little time to waste for the pitcher/catcher battery on steal attempts.

Plawecki doesn't have much usable foot speed to speak of. I don't see him as a base stealer. I do, however, see Plawecki being able to move along well enough on the bases to contribute adequate first-to-third and second-to-home running ability.

When all is said and done, it is his consistent and refined line-drive hitting ability that will help carry Plawecki to his future in big league baseball.

Mack – I was particularly happy to read Pleaskoff’s thoughts on Plawecki’s defensive game.

I still believe that Travis d’Arnaud is the future catcher for the Mets this decade, but you can’t have enough national press about your top prospect that plays the same position.

Forget the reference to first base…  he toyed with that in Savannah and it takes a lot more than that to play that position (first is set with Duda-Boyd-Smith) and Eric Campbell, who backs up Duda, has the utility position locked up.

No, Plawecki’s future is on another team so keep the good press up.

We continue our look at potential trade partners in the NL Central. Up next is an old friend, the Pittsburgh Pirates.

According to Cot[i], the 2014 salaries for the Pirates is $71,929,333.

There are only three long term contracts on this team… RHP Charlie Morton will be paid $8mil a year for two more seasons… LF Sterling Marte is contracted for $1.333mil in 2015, $3.333mil in 2016, $5.333mil in 2017, $7.833mil in 2018, $10.333mil in 2019, and team options for both 2020 and 20201… and CF Andrew McCutchen for $10.208mil n 2015, $13.208mil in 2016, and $14.208mil in 2017.

There are four scheduled free agent departures… catcher Russell Martin ($9.5mil), LHP Francisco Liriano ($6mil), RHP Edinson Volquez ($5mil), and SS Clint Barmes ($2mil).

Also playing outfield are two right fielders, ex-prospect RF Jose Tabata (156-AB, .288), and Travis Snider (259-AB, .259)

And then there is super-prospect, 22-year old Gregory Polanco, who split time between AAA (.328) and struggling in Pittsburgh (.238).

Shortstop wise, pre-arbitration Jordy Mercer (438-AB, .256) is backed up by Barmes (92-AB, .228).

Mack Observation – There’s no 2015 shortstop here. The closest would be prospect Alen Hanson (AA-.280, 11-HR, 58-RBI), who is two years away and, defensively, projects at best as a second baseman.

Outfield wise, the Pirates seem set for years to come with three top ex-prospects and a guy (Tabata) I never was a big fan of. There are some kids down the pipeline, but no one that would help the Mets any quicker than guys like Brandon Nimmo and Michael Conforto will.

The Mets have done very well trading with the Pirates, but it doesn’t look like they can help us any more with our immediate needs.

---

[i] http://www.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/national-league-central/pittsburgh-pirates/