Morning Report – September 5th – Travis d’Arnaud, Rule 5, So What If Stood Pat?, Lucas Duda, Weinberg-Chat

Adam Rubin - Mets bring in LH HS coach to throw BP at home games when they face LH. MT @JerseyJoe1329: do teams have LH coaches pitch to lefty hitters?

Mack – Did someone in the Mets organization read what I said here on Mack’s Mets a few days ago about pitching BP to Lucas Duda? This sure sounds freaky accurate.

Since returning from Triple-A, Travis d'Arnaud has homered every 22.3 at-bats, the best mark among NL catchers over that span.

Mack – I’m going to stick with guy as my catcher. I do think he needs to spend a considerable amount of time in the off-season working on both hisarm and the rest of his defensive game. I am starting to wonder if all the concussions have had any effect on his eye-to-ball contact from the mound, especially during a swing.

The first position I played in sandlot was catcher and I knew I had a problem when I kept closing my eyes when the batter swung standing ahead of me.

The last thing the Mets need is another defensive liability regardless of how many home runs he hits (as I understand it, our alternative here, Kevin Plawecki, doesn’t get high points for his defensive game either).

Rule 5 Mets - Savannah Sand Gnats -

Octavio Acosta, Victor Cruzado, Miller Diaz, Jeff Glenn, John Mincone, Brett Mitchell, Akeel Morris, Alex Panteliodis, Jorge Rivero, Yeixon Ruiz, Nelfi Zapata

Where would this team look on opening day 2015 if no trades were made and every ‘legitimate’ player that had a decent chance of playing at the top level, came to came in hopes of winning a 25-man slot.

Who would be in that clubhouse?

Starters - Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler, Jacob deGrom, Rafael Montero, Noah Syndergaard            , Jon Niese, Dillon Gee, Bartolo Colon, Logan Verrett, Matt Bowman, Corey Mazzoni     

      

Relievers - Bobby Parnell, Josh Edgin, Vic Black, Josh Edgin, Jeurys Familia, Gonzalez Germen, Carlos Torres, Jenrry Mejia

Fielders - Travis d'Arnaud, Kevin Plawecki, Lucas Duda, Daniel Murphy, Dilson Herrera, Wilmer Flores, Ruben Tejada, David Wright, Curtis Granderson, Juan Lagares, Matt den Dekker, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Eric Campbell  

     

Isn’t this pretty close to a really good team?

Look at that pitching staff. You telling me we can’t put up a killer rotation plus fill in a few holes in the pen with last year’s AAA starters?

And regarding the middle infielders, you mean we really can’t get two of the three ‘bats (Murphy, Flores, Herrera) to make the adjustments needed in their defensive game to keep two of these in the starting lineup every night?

And left field? Well, if Dilson Herrera can play second base at this level, where the hell is his leadoff buddy, Brandon Nimmo?

I’m telling ya…

Sully-Chat –

Comment From Guest - How much of Lucas Duda’s breakout is sustainable? Is this something he can take into next year?

Jeff Sullivan: Well, for the record, he’s gone from a 120 wRC+ to a 133 wRC+. So it’s not really that dramatic. But he does seem to have gotten more aggressive within the strike zone and he’s lifted his power while reducing his strikeouts, so I think he’s something like a 125-130 sort

Mack – There has been a reduction of positive press for Duda in the past month. Yes, he hit seven home runs in August, but he also hit only .214 after hiting .293 in July. His game continues to be incomplete, hitting only .156 against lefties.

Still, the Mets have bigger fish to fry here.

Weinberg-Chat –

Comment From Sean - I’m new(ish) to the sabremetrics society and just wanted to ask what the metrics say about Jose Reyes? Seems as though every time he steps into the plate or throws a runner out at first announcers rave about his tools but he just seems so much worse than perceived.

Neil Weinberg: Reyes is a terrific baserunner, decent defensively at SS, and a better than average hitter at his position. Earlier in his career, he was near MVP levels. Now he’s simply in the pretty good category. This happens with players as they age.

Comment From Bomok - How valuable is Juan Lagares? This year he has one of the best WAR per plate appearences of any player in baseball

Neil Weinberg: His defense is amazing and he’s BABIPing his way to an average offensive season. I don’t think he’s an 7 win player for real, but saving runs in the OF is big, even if we want to regress his defense a bit.