Draft order
for 2015 -
1.
Diamondbacks
2. Astros
(compensation for failing to sign 2014 first round pick pick Brady Aiken)
3. Rockies
4. Rangers
5. Astros
6. Twins
7. Red Sox
8. White Sox
9. Cubs
10. Phillies
11. Reds
12. Marlins
13. Padres
14. Rays
15. Mets
Arizona
Fall League (http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/afl/index.jsp
)
Curtis Granderson on 2014 –
Opening Day 10/07/2014
AFL Fall Stars Game 11/01/2014
AFL Championship Game 11/15/2014
Australian
Baseball League
Opening Day 10/30/2014
All-Star Game 12/17/2014
Regular season ends 1/25/2015
Dominican
Winter League (http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/winterleagues/league.jsp?league=car
)
Opening Day 10/18/2014
DWL All Star Game 12/08/2014
Regular season ends 12/22/2014
Mexican
Pacific League (http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/winterleagues/league.jsp?league=car)
Opening Day 10/11/2014
Second half begins 11/22/2014
Regular season ends 12/30/2014
Puerto
Rican League (http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/winterleagues/league.jsp?league=car)
Opening Day 11/01/2014
Regular season ends 12/30/2014
Venezuelan
Winter League (http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/winterleagues/league.jsp?league=car)
Opening Day 10/10/2014
All-Star Game 12/03/2014
Regular
Season ends 12/30/2014
Curtis Granderson on 2014 –
“There’s a
lot of positives. You got a chance to see some of the young guys come up and do
some amazing things and get a chance to play in quite a bit of games. You start
adding them to the equation next year. You have a lot of flexibility to go
ahead and move guys in and out of the lineup. To have options is always a great
thing. We just got to score more runs than the opposition. That’s the big
thing. You come across the plate more than the other team, you’re gonna go
ahead and win a lot more ball games. Our pitching has done an amazing job to
give us every opportunity to do so. As long as we continue to score runs and
continue to do it throughout the course of the season, we’ll have the chance to
win as many games as possible.”
Mack – Grandy had a nice
September (.299, 4-HR, 17-RBI). That prorates to a season of 24-HR, 85-RBI,
which I would gladly take for 2015. And it’s possible if the Mets tailor make
the right field wall to his stroke pattern. My hopes is he gets off to a better
job than the .145 he hit in April 2015.
| Name | 2013 wRC+ | 2014 wRC+ | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Victor Martinez | 112 | 167 | 54 |
| Michael Brantley | 103 | 155 | 52 |
| Jose Altuve | 85 | 135 | 50 |
| Anthony Rizzo | 103 | 153 | 50 |
| Alcides Escobar | 49 | 95 | 45 |
| Starlin Castro | 72 | 115 | 43 |
| Adeiny Hechavarria | 53 | 82 | 28 |
| Jose Bautista | 133 | 159 | 26 |
| Adam LaRoche | 102 | 127 | 25 |
| Giancarlo Stanton | 135 | 159 | 24 |
| Todd Frazier | 100 | 122 | 22 |
| Justin Morneau | 101 | 123 | 21 |
| Denard Span | 97 | 117 | 20 |
| Trevor Plouffe | 92 | 112 | 19 |
| Nick Markakis | 88 | 106 | 18 |
| Alex Gordon | 104 | 122 | 18 |
| Brian Dozier | 100 | 118 | 18 |
| Jimmy Rollins | 85 | 102 | 18 |
| Jonathan Lucroy | 117 | 133 | 17 |
| Neil Walker | 114 | 130 | 16 |
We stay in
the AL-Central for our search of a LF and SS in 2015. This time, it’s the
Minnesota Twins..
According to
Cot[i],
the Twins’ 2014 payroll is 85,465,000.
Their
current starting outfield is Jordan Schafer ($1.09mil-ARB1/2014),
Daniel Santana (pre-arbitration), and Oswaldo Arcia (pre-arbitration). Aaron Hicks (pre-arbitration) serves as the 4th
outfielder.
Shortstop
wise, Eduardo Escobar (pre-arbitration)
currently is day-to-day with a jammed thumb. Eduardo
Nunez (pre-arbitrarion) is currently filling in.
Prospect
wise, top prospect, OF Byron Buxton (AA – 2014: 3 at-bats), is at least a
year away. Adam Brett Walker (A+: 25-HR, 94-RBI)
is two years away.
Shortstop,
the future (2018-ETA) is Nick Gordon.
Mack
Observation – The Twins is your typical small market team that draws most of
its players from their own pipeline. They’re a little short right now in the
outfield and they probably will look outside their system for an additional bat
here.
There’s
definitely a limited amount of talent and depth on this team. I’d move on.
Glad to see the chart of winter ball season timing. I almost prefer to track those leagues than to watch or track the major league playoffs when Mets are absent - weird, I know.
ReplyDeletethat WRC chart had one very interesting name that improved a lot...Starlin Castro.
Mets need to think about what it will take to get him. He was not nearly the highest guy on the list, so they can't give up so much it's like we're trading for Giancarlo Stanton (we already have Giancarlo Alvarado anyway, so one is plenty, right?)
No Mets on that chart. I'm not a big WRC+ guy, but curious how they panned out...I'm sure Duda must've really spiked.
Thomas -
ReplyDeleteCastro had a nice year and improved defensively as ell.
There seems to be a kind of schizophrenia among Mets fans and media. As we watch the progress of our top prospects and become excited about their potential, once they get close we focus on who we can get to fill the spots instead.
ReplyDeleteWe've been hearing about Flores' hitting and how good he can be if his D is adequate at SS, then when he does that we talk about who we can get instead.
We hear about Nimmforto getting close to ML-ready, then focus on where we can get someone else to fill the only available OF spot.
Which way do we want to go? I have no problem with letting Flores be the OD SS and giving him the chance to be what we've been hearing he can be. I have no problem letting dD share RF with a RH bat like Soup or Cuddye while we look for Nimmforto to get here in a year or so.
But of course if that happens we'll just open the door to more gripes about the"cheap owners".
Which way do my fellow Macksters want to go?
I was ready for Wilmer Flores in April of 2014. Hey, the decision makers are slow but eventually catch up.
ReplyDeleteThe question is whether the 15-20 HRs from Flores plus 10-15 of a MdD platoon of sorts plus and extra 5 from Granderson and ANYTHING from David Wright combined would be enough? I don't know. However, I'm not optimistic they will spend on FA contracts or take on salaries via trade that will give them another bonafide slugger.
I said it last year as well, put MDD and Flores in the lineup. Also said go after Cano. If they would have not spent money on colon and CY plus the trading of Murphy, it would have Covered Cano contract last year. We would have been better defensively at second and in the outfield, with strong bats all around. More importantly given wright some protection in that lineup.
DeleteThey would of sold so many Cano Jerseys and put fannies in the seats.
But instead this upcoming year is when they will experiment with Flores and MDD, setting us back even more.
I agree, gents. I'm anxious to see what Flores will do at SS in 2015 and too was campaigning for him to take over SS early on in 2014 - but if they can get Castro without draining the prospect surplus, ought to be considered.
ReplyDeleteWright may be hurt and Wilmer might be our 3B - never know.
Mookie Betts for Gee and Niese, if Sox agreed, would be real interesting - a talented very young, cheap OF with upside while unloading two reasonable starter salaries - the net of which would lower the Met payroll by about $10MM. If I were an owner, I'd explore that one.
My brother remarked to me that despite Murphy's # of hits, it is his take that Murphy rarely gets BIG hits and for that and other reasons (e.g., D) he wants him gone. Thoughts on that?
I think the Mets should at least kick the tires on Oswaldo Arcia. He saw a tiny increase in his BB% and a nice jump in his ISO during last year's injury-plagued season. Not sure what I'd give up for him but I'd at least want to find out how Minnesota valued him.
ReplyDeletewell, big hits need runners on base ahead of him...
ReplyDeleteand being anxious, I don't know if it's that... what I do know is teams like the Yankees solve their problems in a heartbeat... they won't hesitate and wait for someone within the organization to develop as a SS... they will sign Hardy and get on to playing a better game
The small ball approach (witness the KC playoff game) also works. I have no problem with it.
ReplyDeleteWhat I do object to is the inertia when something obviously isn't working. They don't try to improve.
John
ReplyDeleteAgree with you on FLores - s/h/b in there by May full time. Dekker was so so in minors and poor with Mets in first half, then re-invented himself in AAA batting-style-wise, was incredible in the second half and very solid in his Met return. So for him, the major tweak in the minors fixed him. if he was up here every day earlier in the year, not sure he succeeds as he did in the 2nd half.
That said, I sure wish they'd recalled Dekker 15-20 games earlier, when he was smoking hot, instead of waiting for an added 15-20 smoking hot games to do it.
That would have given him enough at bats in Citi to more definitively show he is worthy of a 2015 starting role vs. righties.
I think the only signing should be Cuddyer. This team needs a pure hitter like Cuddyer. NL batting champ last year who was on a similar pace this year before getting hurt. Get him out there everyday with MDD rotating in. There will be plenty of ABs to go around. I like Campbell but he isn't an OF. Let him be a backup infielder.
ReplyDeleteBench would be MDD, Campbell, Centeno, Tejada leaving 1 vacancy.
We should let Nimmo play the entire year out in the minors. Let him play his way to Queens.
Let's Go Mets!!!!
@THunder
ReplyDeleteHe's also an absolute monster against LHP.
.412 AVG with a 1.287 OPS
Play Cuddyer in LF and Duda at 1B vs righties.
Play Cuddyer at 1B and Puello in LF vs Lefties.
I just want the cuban OF
ReplyDeleteHaving 2 pure hitters in Cuddyer and Murphy would do wonders for this lineup. When Wright is on, he's a third pure hitter. That sets up perfectly for Duda, d'Arnaud, Flores & Grandy with Lagares leading off.
ReplyDeleteLarages
Murphy
Wright
Duda
Cuddyer
d'Arnaud
Grandy
Flores
That is a solid team. If Wright isn't the same, drop him in the order. If he's hurt, slide Murphy to 3B and call up Herrera. Keep the options open.
This team will score runs
Chris, I'd agree with you if Puello played winter ball and tore it up, and then showed sparks in spring training. He does get on by HBP probably more than anyone in the game, so he could recuperate between his close encounters of the fastball kind. Him and Cuddyer then? Sure.
ReplyDelete