The Morning Report – December 27 – Noah Syndergaard, Kevin Plawecki, Mets Zero Additions

A little more about what Fangraphs[i] said about Mets WAR prospects –

Noah Syndergaard, RHP (Profile)

IP      K/9    BB/9 HR/9 FIP    WAR

150   8.4    3.1    1.0    3.78  1.2

With the exception of a .378 BABIP, the right-handed Syndergaard was almost precisely the same pitcher at Triple-A Las Vegas last season as he’d been in his first four professional seasons. Syndergaard entered 2014 having produced strikeout and walk rates of 27.8% and 6.8%, respectively. Last year, he recorded a 24.9% strikeout and 7.4% walk rate.         Not as impressive, that, but also nearly as impressive and also the product of a 21-year-old pitching in the rather hostile Pacific Coast League. Per Steamer, it’s unlikely that Syndergaard is prepared to dominate major-league hitters immediately. The combination of age and present talent are impressive, however

Mack – We’ve got to talk about someone during this off-season other than shortstops and fifth outfielders. Let’s get back to one of my favorite subjects, the guy who has never thrown a major league pitch for this team, but has probably already killed a dozen good deals for established, well known, producing ballplayers… Noah Syndergaard.

Bill Pulsipher… Jason Isringhausen, Paul Wilson (can’t remember the fourth guy… spanish name). All three of these guys were going to be saviors for this team in my generation so excuse me if I don’t jump off the walls until I see three sub-1.00 WHIPs from Harvey, Wheeler, and Thor. No folks, it was not ‘Generation K’… it was ‘Generation Mack’ and I fell for it hook, line, and sinker

We could have a middle infielder like Addison Russell or Mookie Betts RIGHT NOW and, by the time Syndergarrd was promoted to Fenway Park in mid-2015, we’d have our 4^th and 5^th slot filled with Rafael Montero and Stephen Matz.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Fangraphs also had nice things to say about Kevin Plawecki http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/evaluating-the-prospects-new-york-mets/

He’s a very good receiver with solid hands; some took his stints at first base in 2013 to mean the Mets doubted his defensive ability, but it was purely due to the heat in the Florida State League. Plawecki projects as a solid average defender with an average arm that’s a little short compared to most catching prospects and he’s working to get his release and mechanics more consistent to allow his arm to play up. It’s worth noting that one scout I talked to has Plawecki over Syndergaard.

Summation: Pitchers like throwing to him and fellow Mets farmhands already see him as a leader that controls the field.  He hasn’t really hit that speed bump yet that most catchers hit in their minor league careers, due to all the rigors of catching and learning to handle a staff. He should spend most of 2015 in Triple-A and doesn’t have a clear path to the big leagues with d’Arnaud ahead of him, but Plawecki should be contributing in the big leagues by 2016.

Mack – We all are going to need another year to figure out the catcher situation for the Mets.

Sure, both Plawecki and Travis d’Arnaud have plenty of talent, but it still has to be determined if d’Arnaud can go through an entire season without a major injury and if Plawecki can develop enough pop to match d’Arnaud’s potential

There’s also defensive considerations here. D’Arnaud needs to improve greatly both with his move to other bases and the actual throw.

My guess is d’Arnaud wins this battle and then it will have to determine where Plawecki will serve the Mets better, as a backup in Queens (vast improvement with current backup) or trade bait in future multiple player swap for… well, you know who.

I don’t spend the kind of time I used to online anymore, but my routine hasn’t changed. One of the first thigs I do is go to Baseball Cube, click on the last 24 hours transactions, and I try and catch up on past events. If yo do this every day, you we see 98% of what happened in the baseball world.

So, what’s this been like for me:

12-26 – 2 transactions – 0 by Mets

12-25 – 4 transactions – 0 by Mets

12-24 – 23 tranactions – 0 by Mets

12-23 – 13 transactions – 0 by Mets

12-22 – 0 transactions – 0 by Mets

12-21 – 4 tranactions – 0 by Mets

12-20 – 35 tranactions – 0 by Mets

12-19 – 19 transaction – 0 by Mets

I’m going to stop here. The last 100 transactions in baseball included no one signed by the Mets to anything… major league, minor lague, nothing.

WTF.

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[i] http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-top-five-mets-prospects-by-projected-war/