The Morning Report – November 3 – St. Lucie Complex, B/U Catcher, Jurickson Profar, Matt Reynolds

Good morning.

Both major and minor league free agents can begin signing with new organizations on Tuesday, Nov. 4 at 12:01 a.m. Eastern.

Mack's Mets ‏@JohnMackinAde 

@yoshiro36756 - welcome to Mack's Mets

Andy Martino reported on Saturday that the Mets were going to shit-can their association with the fitness camp in Michigan and has started their own at the St. Lucie complex in Florida. Reports are that it’s already open and filling up with Mets prospects.

Some of the players that are already reported to be participating there are Dominic Smith, Lucas Duda, Amed Rosario, Juan Lagares, and Wilmer Flores. Others are supposedly on the way to the camp.

This is good shit and another example of the commitment the current team has to reaching their goals in 2015. In addition, it seems obvious that, if the team invites you to a camp like this, you are thought to have a rosy future with the organization (see Rosario).

On addition note… David Wright’s rehab ending on Saturday and wouldn’t be a hoot if he showed up early at the St. Lucie complex to work out with his teammates. Or, at least go bowling.

Thanks to Andy for the heads up.

Metsiac asked –

A few interesting possibilities came on the market yesterday. I wouldn't overpay for any of them, or even guarantee a ML deal, preferring to keep the roster spot open while signing one of these to a MnL deal with ST invite. My choices, in order of preference: Soto, Hundley, Nieves, Pierzynski. Who do you like? Which might take the MnL deal?

            Mack – Hey Bill. Once again, Happy Birthday.

Just one more time on record: I hated the loss of Juan Centeno, who I had hoped would replace Anthony Recker as backup catcher in 2015. Recker hits a couple of home runs but, frankly, I want a backup that doesn’t embarrass me defensively first, and doesn’t cost me an arm and a leg.

Pierzynski could be an interesting choice. You probably could get him under $2mil and he’s a great clubhouse guy, as long as you don’t have Michael Barrett on your team also.

Ironically, Soto, who was the Rookie of the Year in 2008, became the backup catcher to Pierzynski in 2013. This was followed by a DL stint in 2014 and a weed bust to top off the year. My guess, his value is less than $2mil for 2015.

I’d gladly take either one.

One more thing about the Mets catcher situation... the loss of Centeno throws the minor league plans in the wind. Most teams carry three catchers, one of which sits on the inactive/DL list acting as a bullpen catcher. 

Most pundits believe that the loss of Centeno will be Xorge Castillo's gain, but let's not forget the name of Cam Maron. The Mets have always been very high on Maron.

One of these two guys will find themselves splitting time with Kevin Plawecki come spring in Vegas.

The Arizona Fall League aa-star game was played on Saturday. Brandon Nimmo started at RF and went 2-2 (1.000), with a run scored . Matt Reynolds opened up at SS, going 0-2 (.000)

2B Lee Mazzilli and all the Mets pitchers didn’t make the team.

There’s a bunch of us commenting on the players in the winter leagues, especially Christopher Soto, but I couldn’t notice that starter turned relief pitcher Handel Robles continued to pitch at the 0.00-ERA level for Tigres del Licey

From Angelo  -

Hey Mack, Been checking out Ranger sites and Texas seems to be very down on Profar and high on Odor.  Is he worth a gamble? What would it take to get him? Is he a good enough defender at SS?  Maybe stash him in AAA and hope he gets his confidence back.

            Mack – Thanks for the question Angelo.

            Yes, I have heard that the fan-based blogs were down on Profar, but I didn’t think the team was. It’s my understanding that he missed the 2014 season due to two shoulder injuries. I’m not sure if it’s fair to downgrade his ceiling based on a first time injury before his major league career has even started.

Secondly, I believe Texas has him placed correctly as a second baseman, not as shortstop.

I’m sort of sick and tired of moving players around to play at un- natural positions.

My vote is to roll the dice and go with Wilmer Flores come opening day. We’ve written about him for 5+ years… let’s see what we have here from the start of the season.

Well, we’re finally getting some beat press on SS Matt Reynolds.

Mike Vorkunov wote on Sunday 

http://www.nj.com/mets/index.ssf/2014/11/mets_very_high_on_prospect_matt_reynolds.html  that Sandy Alderson thinks Reynolds is ‘da bomb’.

Vorkunov quotes Alderson’s comments on a local radio show this past week:

"He's been solid at shortstop. And we've left him there and expect that he'll be able to remain there. He's also an excellent athlete. He's got a strong arm, pretty good range defensively. Offensively, he had just a great season last year -- really a breakout season for him both at Binghamton and at Las Vegas. The numbers get a little inflated at Las Vegas, but his were right in line with what he had done in Binghamton.

"I think what he's done -- by his own word, he's indicated -- he's started to use all the field. He's not really trying to pull everything. And although he had some home runs, and I think he's got three home runs already in the Arizona Fall League, he tries to use the whole field. He's sort of a gap-to-gap guy. So we're very high on Reynolds and hope that he can at least at the outset of 2015 duplicate what he was able to do last year."

My question is what do you do with him now? He really doesn’t qualify as a replacement to Ruben Tejada as the utility infielder in Queens because he hasn’t played second base in years. We’re not done with the progress of Wilmer Flores yet, are we?