The Morning Report – October 31 – Comments, Fixtures, Matt Harvey, Dayan Viciedo, 5 Wishes

Darin Gorski ‏@darin_gorski20  12 minutes ago

Excited for my first winter league start! Shout out to @NB_Baseball and @RawlingsSports #lookgoodplaygood #Tiburones

Tom asked –

Mack, I noticed that you haven’t been leaving comments on your posts until later on in the day. What gives?

            Mack – Hey Tom.

Yeah, I’ve had a major change in my sleep pattern for a bunch of reasons not worth going into and boring you. My pattern now is write up until I go to sleep around 12am-1am, which is when my pain and sleep medication kicks in.

            The downside is I usually don’t get up now until around 11am.

Luckily, Blogger allows me to schedule in advance what I write, but I do miss out on timely issues that happen overnight.

One more thing about my Morning Reports…

I thank those of you that are emailing me individual questions. First, I will only identify you with your first name in the reports.

Secondly, this process allows me to give you my opinions in a more professional manner that can be addressed by all of you the next day via comments.

This is supposed to be a fun place to visit and all I’m trying to do is generate some intelligent subjects to yak about the next day.

Okay… let’s move on…

Derek asked -

Mack, For three years in a row we have witnessed a good prospect become great (Harvey) and 2 supposedly AAAA players become fixtures (Lagares, deGrom). What if we have a fourth in Reynolds, or den Decker? What do you do then? I know terrible problem. 

            Hey Derek.

Reynolds seems to not be missing in any opportunity he is being given. Now, the nest question is the most important… will he get that opportunity with the Mets? It seems to me that it will first be Wilmer Flores turn at short which, if it goes well, he could be that ‘fixture’ you are looking for.

            Me? At this point I just want another fixture J

As for den Dekker, he has always been used as a platoon outfielder so it seems that is the best you’re going to get here. If you truly are a fan of this guy than wish the Mets would leave him back in AAA for one more season and let him bat every day against all pitching… then again, that will be Nimmo time… no, I’m not sure there’s a chance left for him other than to platoon with someone else for a productive 2015 until Mr. Nimmo comes along.       

Here is another question/scenario: You ask Harvey whether he wants to be the opening day starter or get the ball in the first game of the playoffs due to innings limit this year (this would tell me the mindset on being a long time Met) Hopefully is option 2 so you can go with Colon and trade when Harvey is ready to come back up. If ego and his agent say he wants the ball opening day knowing he won’t make it to September, do you trade him instead of Wheeler or Thor for a top flight outfielder? Especially of the reports of "miscommunication" between player and front office (We seem to have options at SS now) The rotation could be Thor, Wheeler, deGrom, Gee and Neise. He is the most expensive, will get to ARB first and will bring back someone good?

You bring up a very interesting scenario here that would first get you burned at the Mets-Twitter stake. That being said, only Harvey and David Wright could bring you the kind of outfielder you want long term.

A lot of this depends on just how much the Mets feel that Brandon Nimmo is one of their future long term starting outfielders. You have to respect the length of the Curtis Granderson contract and we can assume that Lagares is going nowhere. So you then have to ask if you are really looking for a long term outfielder or just someone to be productive in 2015.

Me?  Sorry, but my vote is for Harvey, Wheeler, and deGrom from the get-go with Harvey being limited to six innings tops each start. I want to see the dream rotation I’ve been writing about for years.

However…

It’s very hard to determine what Harvey’s value is right now. Is he a starter coming off TJS or is the  ex-starter of the All-Star game? What would ask for from, let’s say, Boston? Mookie Betts seems too little, too untested… Allan Craig not talented enough.

Marty asked –

Hi Mack, There has been a lot of talk about Michael Cuddyer, but he seems too expensive for the Mets unless he takes less to play with the Captain. As cheaper alternatives, what do you think about signing Michael Morse or trading for Ryan Ludwick, who is coming off a down season and only played in 112 games? Another trade possibility could be Dayan Viciedo, who is 25, but also coming off a down year.

                        Mack – Hey Marty.

This is sort of an extension of the question above this about the need of a long term outfielder signing in 2015. I’m going to continue to operate under the plan that the Mets have Brandon Nimmo inked into a starting outfield position, latest opening day 2016. This would place him out there with Lageres and Granderson, creating a need in 2015 for only a one-year deal for ‘somebody’.

Cuddyer is going to demand a 2-year deal. I would be wiling to pay a little extra for a one-year plus a team option, but at his advanced age, and taking in the park dimension factors, that’s the best I could do.

After this playoff series, Morse will be offered at least 2-years from a multiple amount of teams.

Ludwick will play 2015 as a 36-year old and, frankly, I’d rather platoon den Dekker with Cesar Puello than commit decent money here.

But I love the Viciedo idea if I could get him for one year. He’s young and hitting 21 home runs in a bad year is a good place to start.

‘Tank’ reminds me, body wise, of Puello.

Conrad asked –

              Mack- In a leisurely Pub conversation last night, the hypothetical question was aired, “If you owned the Mets & had infinitely deep pockets, WWYD?”

Much of the supposition centered around expensive FA’s and trading high-ceiling prospects for high-priced stars (replacing the losses eventually with more high-priced FA’s).  This from a number of my companions who are SABR geeks.

My only contribution was that I’d buy an IL franchise (Charlotte?), and maybe Savannah too, to control & stastabilize the pipeline.  That seemed off-the-wall to my colleagues.

Would like to hear your thoughts on this and on the general fantasy of “if $$$ had no bearing?”

            Mack – Good question. Things I would or wouldn’t do:

1.     Buy minor league teams to accommodate all four ‘full season’ seasons. Enough of worrying if the owners of Buffalo are happy or if someone should be held back for the Savannah playoffs. I want team owned minor league teams.

2.      Double the amount of money that is currently invested in International scouting. This is where there still is some unmined gold in this game and you need to spend well above the levels given you before a penalty comes into play. Eat the penalty. America is turning everybody over 6-2 into a pitcher and Latin America is where the big bats still exist.

3.     Never, I repeat, NEVER, trade a prospect that is going in the right direction, unless you have an amount of depth that would prevent that player from having a decent career. If that happens, go out and find yourself a positional replacement that exists in the market. Kevin Plawecki may wind up to be the best example here.

4.     Look for your leftfielder problem in the FA pool (see point 3)… call up the agents for Melky Cabrera, Nelson Cruz, Nick Markakis, Colby Rasmus, and Alex Rios. Tell them you are making an offer to the other four outfielders and you would like him to bring to your table the top offer he receives by other clubs. Then tell him you will match +10% that offer for 2-years plus a 4^th year team option. First one that calls gets the deal. Put this position behind you so you can move on someday to who plays in the 2016 outfield, Nimmo or Granderson.

5.     As crazy as it sounds, stay in the FA pool and go out and get one of the top starters that’s available out there this off season. Make this run for a playoff and desire for increased attendance a lot easier… how about a rotation of (in no particular order) Harvey, Wheeler, de-Grom, Syndergaard, and Jon Lester?

            

Perfect Game –

           Highest Peak Fastball Velocities

Rk.     Pitcher           Top MPH      Avg MPH

1        Donny Everett         96.3   93.8

2        Austin Bergner        95.0   93.0

3        Beau Burrows          94.9   93.0

4        Nick Neidert            94.8    92.5

5        Dakota Chalmers   94.2   92.2

6        Marrick Crouse        94.1   91.3

7        Wesley Rodriguez  93.9   91.0

8        Jiovanni Orozco      93.9   91.2

9        Jordan Hicks            93.6   91.4

10      Pablo Salizar                      93.5    91.0

           http://perfectgame.org/Articles/View.aspx?article=10678