The Morning Report – October 29 – Keith Law, Terry Collins, Oscar Tavares, Yoenis Cespedes

Adam Rubin ‏@AdamRubinESPN  4 minutes ago

#Mets relief prospect working back from TJ RT @jawalters11: Feels good to toss the rock!!

As you can all see, the comments section of The Morning Report has gone down, probably because the content has gotten a little redundant. The good news is posts by guys like Reese Kaplan, Christopher Soto, Thomas Brennan, and Ernest Dove keep the site humming.

Do me a favor.

Just shoot me a question/topic you want us to cover in the Morning Report, I’ll give you my take, and then I’ll turn it over to the comment makers.

macksmets@gmail.com

It sure would help during this off-season.

Keith Law listed his top 30 draft picks… for insiders only.

Here are his top 15:

            1 LHP Brady Aiken

2 RHP Mike Matuella (Duke)

3 SS Brendan Rodgers (HS)

4 LHP Nathan Kirby (VA)

5 LHP Kolby Allard (HS)

6 RHP Walker Bueller (Vandy)

7 RHP Kyle Funkhouser (Lou)

8 OF Nick Plummer (HS)

9 SS Dansby Swanson (Vandy)

10 OF Alonzo Jones (HS)

11 RHP Mike Nikorak (HS)

12 OF Daz Cameron (HS)

13 SS Richie Martin (Fla)

14 RHP Kyle Cody (Ken)

15 RHP Cody Ponce (Cal Poly)

Mike Vorkunov on Michael Cuddyer -

His production in Colorado was superb but limited. In three years, he hit .307 with an .886 OPS. But he played more than 101 games just once. That came in 2013, when Cuddyer hit .331 with a .919 OPS, 20 home runs and was an All-Star. This season, he actually topped those numbers but only played 49 games due to injury.

There is also the asterisk attached to all standout Rockies hitters. How much benefit did Cuddyer derive from Coors Field? He hit .400 in 20 games at Coors last season and .282 in 29 games away from it. The difference in OPS was drastic (1.255 to .734).

But the split was less drastic in 2013, when he hit .356 with a .997 OPS at Coors and .311 with an .852 OPS away, and in 2012, when Cuddyer hit .268 with an .858 OPS at Coors and .250 with .744 OPS away. 
http://www.nj.com/mets/index.ssf/2014/10/mlb_hot_stove_is_michael_cuddyer_a_fit_for_mets_in_free_agency_an_analysis.html

Andy Martino on Mets SS –

They are most likely to go internal, with Wilmer Flores and Matt Reynolds and possibilities. We can tell you that Ruben Tejada will either be gone or a backup, barring injuries to others. That experiment has run its course.

We can also tell you something else sorta interesting, about a player Sandy Alderson has liked in the past: Oakland’s Jed Lowrie will be a free agent, but is not a target of the Mets right now, according to sources. That’s a decent indication about the desire to play with toys already in the cupboard.

As far as the long-rumored possibility of a trade with the Cubs, for Starlin Castro or another of their bazillion shortstops -- sources on both sides consider a deal unlikely. It’s only a fit in the most simplistic “you have pitching, I have hitting” way.     http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/baseballinsider/yankees-ny-mets-time-change-shortstop-blog-entry-1.1989792

Mack – Jeez, I can’t wait for the Hot Stove season to start so I could stop posting about the same old shit.

Comment From Smooth PumaMoistCooter - what do you make of the Maddon situation? Dodgers?

Dan Szymborski: There are a lot of teams denying interest who should have been very interested… Like the Mets. Terry Collins is awful.

Mack – We haven’t discussed TC in quite a while, probably due Sandy Alderson’s statement that there will be no change in the Mets manager in 2015. This also has probably backed off Reese Kaplan from his bi-montly rant posts about Mr. Collins and the myriad amount of miscues he has made as the manager.

Any opportunity to sign Maddon will be long gone if and when the Mets start off slow and are below .500 at the all-star break. The current team of excellent young pitching could have them almost there, but frankly, I think they are still one more bat and another lights out reliever away from the playoff. The reliever could be Rafael Montero, but the bat is going to have to come from outside the organization.

From Ernie –

            Mack, when does free agency start?

Mack - Here’s how it works.

                                    The World Series ends…

Then five days for teams to negotiate exclusively with the players that are scheduled to be eligible for free agency

                                    Then free agency begins.

Tom –

Hey Mack, is it too early to discuss how St. Louis is going to deal with the loss of Oscar Tavares in their 2015 outfield?

Mack – Well Tom, it probably is, but the reality is the team has to move on at some point and take a close look at what the current system offers them in the outfield:

LF Matt Holliday - $17mil-2016, team option-2018 – Holiday is a fixture in Cardinals outfield.  667-PA, .272-BA, 20-HR, 90-RBI

Alan Craig – traded to the Boston Red Sox near the end of the season

            CF John Jay - $3.25mil – ARB-1/2014 – 468-PA, .303, 3-HR

            Peter Bourjos - $1.2mil/ARB-1 – 294-PA, .231, 4-HR, 24-RBI

            Shane Robinson - $519K-pre/ARB – 66-PA, DL, .150

            Stephen Piscotty – pre-ARB – AAA/PCL: .288, 9-HR, 69-RBI

Randall Grichuk – pre-ARB – MLB: 110-AB, .245 – 

Holiday and Jay seem set and 2015 is the year that Piscotty, the number one prospect, is supposed to step up. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Cardinals go to work to add another player at right field.

So sad.

Michael –

           Mack, do you think the Mets will go after Yoenis Cespedes?

                       Mack – Hey Michael.

           Actually I don’t, but not for the reasons most people speculate. It seems he isn’t the most liked person in the clubhouse and there are reports that he makes Jordany Valdespin look like a choir boy.

           Being a bad guy alone would probably prevent the Mets from signing someone like him or Delmon Young. The Wilpon owned Mets have the lock on being the Mets’ prick and like it that way.

           No, Cespedes is going to demand a multi-year contract well past the money the Mets will spend to fill left field in 2015. Sure, the team salary will go up… new arbitration numbers alone may get the team payroll to $100mil… but the plan is in effect for their team salary to increase each year from within the organization through the arbitration process and re-negotiations of contracts.

           2016: Brandon Nimmo

           2017: Michael Conforto