10/7/14

Morning Report – October 7 – Lucas Duda, Corey Dickerson, Position Evaluations,Texas Rangers


Everybody is going to start grading Mets players this time of the year who we’ll use the ones on this site and add some thoughts:

Lucas Duda, first base - The Mets get plenty of criticism for making poor decisions. Let’s give them credit for making the right pick between Duda and Ike Davis. Duda piled up 30 homers and 92 RBIs with a .349 on-base percentage, while Davis had a .344 OBP, with just 11 homers. Duda became the first Met to hit 30 home runs with at least a .250 average since Carlos Delgado and David Wright did it in 2008.  Grade: B+   http://www.metro.us/newyork/sports/mlb/2014/09/30/mets-2014-report-card/

     Thomas Brennan has a special piece coming up later this week on Duda so I'll save what comments I have when that post goes up.



OF Corey Dickerson, Colorado Rockies - I really like Dickerson, 25, another top-50 fantasy asset this season. He’s younger than Charlie Blackmon, another obvious negative-regression candidate, so he’s kind of in the midst of peak-performance mode. Coors Field residents seem to have a better chance to defy expectations set forth by their components. Dickerson still has a bit of a swing-and-miss issue, though, unlike Blackmon. The former’s advanced statistics against southpaws are more concerning than the latter’s, especially. I probably won’t own either player next year, but, based on initial looks, I might be more comfortable saying that Blackmon’s floor still includes some playing time, whereas I’m less sure about Dickerson’s. Or, at least, if Colorado is pretty healthy in the outfield, Dickerson would probably be a platoon player, while Blackmon would have a better chance to remain a regular. http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/i-surely-wont-own-these-5-players-in-2015/




Tomorrow starts the first of my evaluations, by positions. Veteran Mack’s Mets readers will remember that I do this every year and it gives the readers a good look at where the organization stands for the long run.

It will replace the Morning Reports until we run out of positions, minus relief pitchers, which I just don’t break out because there are too many of them and it’s impossible to project this position. This also gives me a good rest for a week from producing the Morning Report all year long.


Please keep the comments up. I’ll be online all day and we can discuss each position.

I'm sorry if I've seen a little short this week on content... an old radio friend (Kevin Metheney a.k.a. 'Pig Vomit' (name given by Howard Stern when he was the Program Director of Howard at WNBC in NYC, died of a heart attack at 60 years old... my 83-year old monther-in-law and my wife;s youngest sister, were both diagnosed with 4th stage liver shutdown...

I'll do better as the week moves on.




New York Mets

Elected free agency: LHP John Lannan, C Taylor Teagarden, SS Omar Quintanilla

Recalled: RHP Jeff Walters, LHP Steve Matz, LHP Scott Rice, OF Andrew Brown, OF Cesar Puello

Reinstated from DL: RHP Eucebio Arias, RHP Luis Mateo, C Darryl Knight, C Tyler Moore, OF Michael Katz


Assigned to Arizona Fall League: RHP Julian Hilario, RHP Paul Sewald, RHP Rob Whalen, 2B L.J. Mazzilli, SS Matt Reynolds, OF Brandon Nimmo


 Last up are the Texas Rangers in our search for a 2015 SS or LF/RF.

According to Cot[i], the 2014 Rangers payroll is $133,525,939.

Outfield wise, there’s Shin-Soo Choo ($21mil – 2019 – DL/left ankle surgery), Michael Choice (pre-ARB, DL/hamstring), Alex Rios (team option 2015/$13.5mil), Leonys Martin ($4.75 through 2015), and Jake Smolinski (pre-ARB).

Shortstop wise, Elvis Andrus is contracted through 2022 at $15.25/yr. Jurickson Profar (DL) is now their long-term projected second baseman.

Prospect wise, there are no outfielders or shortstops in their top 20 prospects that ETA before 2017.

Mack Observation – Martin bailed out the loss of Choo during the season. I don’t see anyone here.

11 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

We'll shoot up a few prayers for your your mother- and sister-in-law, Mack. Hang in there.

I thought one of my other brothers, a big Leslie West fan, referred to Leslie doing some music on Howard Stern's show as Pig's Vomit - I'll have to ask him what the connection was.

Great to see the walking wounded recalled (Mateo, Katz, Walters). Hopefully, 100% healthy in the spring. I think it was Sickels in early 2013 that had Luis Mateo ranked as the Mets' #7 prospect, only to run head on into Tommy John Surgery that spring.

Puello's recall is also very interesting - I'd really like to see him get ABs in winter ball.

Lannan, Teagarden, and Quintanilla - if some team scoops up all three, they too can vie for next year's #1 draft pick. Out with the old, in with the young (age, that is).

Unknown said...

Without any insider info, Texas seems like the most logical fit for Tomas. That would give them an OF of Choo, Martin & Tomas long term, which could make Rios available.

Texas has some rotation issues, and they've always been a team mentioned regarding Jon Niese. Maybe they'd also be interested in Gee.

I'm thinking Gee for Rios would be a fair swap that could help both teams.

Hobie said...

Mack-- (or Thomas)

I don't see Brandon Bosher either on the "injured" sidebar or on your re-instated from DL list. What's up with him?

Tom Brennan said...

I will make an educated guess, that it means Brosher won't be ready right away in 2015. ACL can take a long time to recover from and be able to perform athletically.

Mets are stingy about minor league injury info. Maybe Mack has a connection to ask.

Anonymous said...

We continue to hear the Mets blogging community becoming more enamored by the need to go after LHRP Andrew Miller thanks to his post-season performances.

I just don't get why we would want to tie up $7m (at a minimum) to secure a guy who would only be our 7th inning arm? The Mets bullpen finished the year with a 3.14 ERA which was 8th best in baseball.....And that's with 2 months of Papa Grande and Kyle Farnsworth, a whole season without Parnell, and 2 months of a herniated Mejia.

Next year's bullpen has the potential to be Top 5 in baseball with 0 additions. Save the $7m for a guy like Cuddyer since you know.....we actually need hitters.

Charles said...

You're right Chris. The Mets' pitching staff, 1 through 12 is solid. In fact, 13 through 20 isn't too shabby either. They have enough arms and could probably trade 2 or 3 and still be in decent shape.

I would bother spending any extra cash on relief arms. Mejia, Familia, Black, Edgin, Parnell, and Torres is plenty to start with and they have a ton of other arms in the minors that could contribute in 2015. The Mets need offense.

Due to their troubling finances, they may be dealing away an arm or two. I could see one starter and one reliever getting dealt for a bat. If that happens, if expect them to sign a couple of Farnsworth type players. It didn't work last season, but LaTroy certainly did in 2013 and Isringhuasen did in 2012.

Their money, however allocated, will probably be spent on a bat through trade or free agency.

Hobie said...

I agree, Charles. And they have a couple of (significantly) better-than-Farnsworth arms in their own back yard: Carlyle. Torres, Dice-K, etc.

Bill Metsiac said...

Hobie and Charles have it right. The LAST thing we need to spend on is a RP. Edgin and Eveland did just fine as the lefties, and hopefully Leather will get his act together.

Mack Ade said...

Hobie -

I had a larger list of players that were taken off the DL cross by desk right after the season ended and I think Brosher's name was on it.

This is the time of the year that all players are removed from the DL and, whoever remains injured come April, will go back on it.

As for Brosher's status, I did not remember seeing his name on the Instructs roster.

Reese Kaplan said...

Michael Choice would be an interesting acquisition. He's 24 and has some very fine minor league stats that make me suspect it's premature to call him a bust:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=choice001mic

Note his 30 HR year was not PCL-aided.

Tom Brennan said...

Just as an added thought, I saw two postings about Brandon Brosher at the time of his injury in late June (or very early July). One said Broken fibula, other said torn ACL.

That sounds like April at the earliest, hopefully June the latest, and they'd probably stick him in Kingsport again, I'd think, since he is real young and only got 31 ABs there this year.