The Morning Report – November 4 – Joe Maddon, Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom, Scouting,, Francisco Lindor

Morning..

A couple of things... I'll be up early trying to get my Toyota to fix my oil leak that they just made me 

pay $500 to pay last week... and then it's off to vote. Should be online around 11am-noon.

I also want to welcome back one of our great writers, Anthony Camacchio, who used to be a big

 time college ballplayer and shared some interesting stuff with us until Hurricane Sandy pretty much

 tore his life to shit. Well, things are as back to normal as the coast can be right now and Tony will 

be stopping by and putting his spin on a few posts.

I congratulate the Chicago Cubs, Theo Epstein, and Joe Maddon on yesterday’s announcement regarding Maddon joining the Cubs. This is a big time step up move by the Cubs and is as important as signing a top star player or a first round draft pick. Success starts from the top and, now with Epstein and Maddon on hand, there doesn’t seem to be any excuse left for this team to fail in the future.

For those of you that haven’t followed the prospect rankings, the Cubs dominate baseball with the most top players in their minor league system.

I’m sure the Cubs aren’t done yet and I don’t expect them to upset that applecart in this off-season. Look for additional starting pitching to be signed (starting with Jon Lester) beginning possibility today.

Jeffrey Paternostro ‏@jeffpaternostro  - .@mattkardos How concerned should Mets fans be about Syndergaard's struggles in Las Vegas in 2014?

Matt Kardos ⚾ ‏@mattkardos  - @jeffpaternostro Noah is still working on pitchability and commanding secondary pitches. Hitter friendly PCL isn't too kind either. Comparable prospects like Jameson Taillon and Archie Bradley have had similar setbacks. They aren't all Matt Harvey.

Mack – Look, it’s impossible to project how someone is going to do at the major league level. So much of it is mental along with the fact that you are playing against the crème of the game.

Matt Harvey came out of the box much faster as expected.

Scouts then told us that Zack Wheeler would pitcher better than Harvey.

Amd now, people are questioning Syndergaard because he pitches on the moon.

And Jacob deGrom? Don’t get me started.

(I really want to send out my congrats to the only player right now that has both the talent and clean record to pull off a one-for-one trade for a decent left fielder or shortstop for the 2015 season... Jacob deGrom

You strike at these award winning guys early and the entire world of baseball is right now in love with deGrom. He will wake up today with a higher trade value than either Wheeler or Syndergaard and he'd be forgotten before his cab left the complex because the person arriving in the incoming cab would change the entire dynamics of this team.

I could throw out 10 names, but let's use one as an example... you have a rookie pitcher... he gets 9 wins... he wins the ROY... next day... BOOM... Mookie Betts.

This is what young, healthy, team controlled star power can do.

We’re not going to know what kind of pitcher Syndergaard is until he’s part of the rotation and that won’t be until the second half of the 2015 season.

Mike Elias (Astro Dir. Of Scouting) http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/qa-mike-elias-houston-astros-director-of-amateur-scouting/) on scouting -

“There’s a tendency, when you start off, to not be sure of yourself. I don’t care how much baseball you know, or how much you played, it’s going to take a year or two to learn how to be a scout. Where a player fits in the draft and where they’re probably going to go in the draft is something that takes time to learn. You might be more apt to hedge. If you have a strong feeling on a player, but other people in your department – or even outside the department – aren’t as high on the kid, you’re going to doubt yourself. You’re not going to have quite as much conviction to stick your neck out for the kid. You won’t grade him as highly as you feel he should in regard to where he should go in the draft. You learn pretty quickly to regret those decisions. Above all, you have to go with your own opinion. That’s what you were hired for. Someone believed in your baseball-evaluation abilities and they want to get your unfiltered opinion on a player.

Mack – A scout that covered the Savannah Sand Gnats games told me he learned by travelling with a seasoned cross-checker, looking at how they graded players, and then beginning on the conservative side. He also said that every scout remembers the first player he had it all wrong about.

It really isn’t the job of the individual cross-checker to rank each player on the projected draft board. That’s the job on his boss.

Paul Hoynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group reports that 22-year old Jose Ramirez will move over from second base and be the Indians’ 2015 Opening Day shortstop, and Francisco Lindor is probably ticketed for Triple-A. The soon to be 21-year old hit .276/11-HR, 62-RBI for the Indians AA/AAA affiliates in 2014.

Is there an opportunity here for teams like the Mets to scoop up Cleveland’s top prospect? Remember, they also now have prospect Zach Walters (acquired in the Asdrubel Cabrera deal) who could back Ramirez up in the future.

My opinion? I really want to see what Wilmer Flores does this year, but it would be hard for me to turn down a deal for Lindor. This would cost the Mets more than a one-to-one deal for Jon Niese or Rafael Montero. They don’t need a new catcher. I don’t know where to take this…