Mack's Mets: 2014

12/31/14

2015 Prospect List - #31 – 3B Eudor Garcia-Pacheco

My rankings is solely subjective and based on nothing more than what is in my head at time I’m writing this. I’ve followed the Mets minor league players for many years and I feel I can recognize talent at various levels of their development. What I have failed at is how to determine when this talent seems to diminish. It’s amazing how many first round picks never make it in this game.

I’m old school, so you won’t seem much SABR-discussion here, I do research and, when I find a good quote or two, I’ll add them to my analysis, but, like I said in the beginning of this post, most of this us subjective.

Let’s get started.

# 31 – 3B Eudor Garcia - age: 20, 5-11, 215, Drafted in 4^th round of 2014 draft

El Paso Community College –

2014 – K-Port: 202-AB, .262/.327/.347/647, 2-HR, 28-RBI

Garcia is one of those draft picks that you have to rely on the experts that follow these kids all year long. We’re used to the household names. Eudor Garcia-Pacheco isn’t one of them.

The first thing I noticed on draft day was the fact that Baseball America had him ranked at the #160 slot, and then, well respected John Manual tweeted “love the Eudor Garcia to Mets. One of the best hitters in the draft. Where he plays defensively, we’ll see. But the dude rakes.’

His stat line in 2013 was: .410/.469/.633, 207-PA, 9-HR, 49-RBI

2014: .460/.512/.873, 14-HR, 63-RBI, 213-PA

We know that the Mets went into the 2014 draft looking for hitters and, even though Garcia only played Community College, they might have found one. .262 is a very respectable batting average for the first year of ‘the grind’, especially a 20-year old.

Projection – It will interesting to see what decisions the Mets make about third base and Savannah in 2015. It’s really crowded with prospect Jhoan Urena, Alvin Maracaro, Jean Rodriguez, Garcia, and Gregory Valencia.

But… second base only has William Fulmer to play there.

This could be a good time to begin a transition to a middle infielder.

Majoring on the Minors - My Top 30 Prospects: Vol.1 - Tom Brennan

MAJORING ON THE MINORS – MY TOP 30 PROSPECTS – Tom Brennan

It’s the most wonderful time of the year – for Mets writers thinking about prospects. So I decided, after looking at a lot of other writers’ top prospect lists over the years, that I get confused. Not your fault, it happens easily.

Their lists will rank some AAA guy whose already had a cup of major league brew in one slot, and in the very next slot, have some 18 year old that played rookie ball who won’t show up for 4 years. Yeah, and following that logic, there is a kid in a crib somewhere who will be a superstar for the Mets in 20 years. Why isn’t he on the list?

So I am doing it a bit differently - 2 lists:

· A top 20 list of guys who are closing in on the big leagues. Guys who could help us in the near future or be trade bait.

· A top 10 list of lower minors guys who likely won’t show up until 2017 or later.

So let’s start with the:

TOP 10 LIST OF DOWN-THE-ROAD METS PROSPECTS

Even in that top 10, there are those guys I really think could be impact major leaguers. Let’s say 5 of them. It is a tough call to try to prioritize the top 5 neophyte minor leaguers. Which will be the best? Hard to foretell. Months ago, I referred to these lower minors guys as Guppies, furiously swimming upstream towards that big pond in Flushing, Queens, which has been more of a swamp in recent years.

My Top 5 from that group will now be my GUPPY SQUADRON LEADERS. My budding rock stars.

Very mature way of me to look at things, don’t you think? Just the idea gives me Happy Feet. But I digress…

I don’t know why, but for this group, I will start with my #1 guy and go to #10. When I switch to the Top 20 list of guys closer to the bigs, I’ll start at 20 and work my way down. A form of dyslexia, perhaps.

I am going with Mighty Marcos Molina as my # 1, over Michael Conforto. Why? Just a gut. Which gut has gotten bigger due to recent holiday eating, I might add.

So Marcos Molina is Guppy Squadron Leader # 1.

2014 snuck up on us with Molina. At 17, he was pretty solid in the DSL in 2012: 55 innings, 5-2, 3.58, 40 Ks. Then he was OK as an 18 year old after jumping to the Mets’ Gulf Coast League rookie ball affiliate in 2013: 4-3, 4.39, 43 Ks in 53 innings.

Molina at age 19, though, hit the accelerator in 2014. He was clearly the most dominant pitcher in the NY Penn League, leading the league in ERA, WHIP, and strikeouts (1.77, 0.84, 91 Ks in 76 innings, 7-3 in 12 starts). He finished strong, with back to back starts in late August where, in 13.2 innings, he surrendered just 2 hits and K’d 20. Stop and ponder that. The kind of stuff Doc Gooden used to do. Quite a 2014 for Molina, and at a very young age even for that league. It was enough to make him the Top Guppy in my list.

The 6’3’ 190 pitcher, who will turn 20 in spring training, has a great pitcher’s build and displays a mid 90s heater with good movement and promising slider, curve and change pitches. With refinement, and assuming good health, Marcos should perhaps approach 120 or 130 innings this year and 160 in 2016, making him ready to join a wide-open Mets rotation on 2017. Well, if the rotation by then is a 10 man rotation, he will be in it. Putting facetiousness aside, the lack of room in the Mets rotation at that time may be his biggest obstacle.

We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Someone get Molina an EZ Pass. He’ll need it soon.

I see him in Savannah and St Lucie in 2015, Binghamton and AAA in 2016, Flushing by early to mid-2017. Another very exciting arm to factor into the Harvey, deGrom, Wheeler, Syndergaard, Montero, Matz mix of studs and near-studs.

Next article up - Guppy Squad Leader # 2.

The Morning Report - Mets Pitching Analysis 2006

Here’s an ‘end of the year 2006’ recap I wrote for NYFS on the Mets pitching… sit back and enjoy this one:

Boy, now here’s a position Mets fans can get excited about!

It’s amazing that the biggest question this year for the Mets was the depth of their starting pitching. At the same time, no position had more quality depth in their minor league system than starting pitching. Go figure.

The Mets seem to have double figures in major league potential starters down in their system, spread out from AAA to the Latin leagues. 4 seem to be ready for the big leagues… Mike Pelfrey, Brian Bannister, Oliver Perez, and Dave Williams. Oliver and Perez are out of options and will never pass through waivers after their pitching performances this past month. We know Pedro will be back and it looks like John Maine will be in next year’s plans. Past that, who the heck knows about Tom Glavine, Steve Trachsel, Victor Zembrano and Orlando Hernandez. I’ve mentioned 10 starters. There’s room for 5. You take it from there.

Mack – Don’t we seem to always have this problem?

2008 should graduate Phil Humber and 2009 is a lock for phenom Deolis Guerra, but the question marks are a bunch of quality 2nd level prospects that also are scheduled to be ‘ready’ in the next 3 years… Alay Soler… Blake McGinley… Mike Devaney… Jon Niese.

Soler might have had the most embarrassing debut in many a year and there’s a good chance we may never see him again at the major league level. McGinley and Devaney both are control pitchers and their future probably is as long-relievers rather than rotational starters. And it’s frankly just too early to figure out if Niese has what it takes to make it in the majors.

Behind them come the kiddies –two starters stood out at Kingsport, Greg Mullens and Tim Stronach, both of which should start out 2007 at either Brooklyn or Hagerstown. No one stood out at the GCL level, but Brooklyn featured last year’s Latin leader, Nelson Portillo, plus Todd Privett, Jacob Ruckle, and Tobi Stoner, all of which should compete for a starting position in 2007 either at Hagerstown or St. Lucie.

The fact remains that Pelfrey, Humber, and Guerra seem to insure that the Mets starting rotation will be properly replenished over the next 3-4 years.

Mack – well, what do we take away from this one…

The first thing that stands out glaringly is the names. It’s amazing how few of these people ever made a difference.

Of course, I’m not talking about Glavine, but the rest of the names just make me smile.

I remember when Mike Pelfrey was going to be the original Matt Harvey. He was going to lead this team to glory.

The other thing you walk away with, similar to now, the glut of starters trying to make the Queens rotation. Back then, we thought we had this all figures out and all these pitchers I mentioned in this article were going to carry us to multiple pennants.

Writing articles about last year’s stats is an exact science. Writing another article trying to predict next year’s team isn’t. I seems to have a few things right here. I called for Maine correctly though his success didn’t last. Guerra was lost in the ‘famous trade’ and Jon Niese turned out okay, didn’t he?

Articles like this are a fair warning for ‘guppy’ followers. You can write about ceiling’ and ‘5 tool’ all you want, but only time will tell when things work out. … -

(Mets trade P Noah Syndergaard, C Kevin Plawecki, P Gabriel Ynoa, and 1B Jayce Boyd to Colorado for SS Troy Tulowitzki) -

12/30/14

Tom Brennan - IMAGINE A TEAM BUILT ENTIRELY OF MET MINOR LEAGUERS

IMAGINE A TEAM BUILT ENTIRELY OF MET MINOR LEAGUERS

By Tom Brennan

Imagine if the current Mets disappeared. Poof! All of them vanish suddenly, except Mr. Dilson, whose recent cup of coffee prevented his disappearance? Sounds like the stuff of a riveting Rod Serling sci fi flick.

The authorities search high and low, but they’re…just…gone.

Baseball would go on. So what would the Mets in, let's say, 2017 look like, if only homegrown talent was available to replace them?

John Lennon might sing, “Imagine a team built of Mets minor leaguers, it’s easy if you try…”

I DID. MY RESULT? HOW ABOUT A CONTENDING TEAM IN 2017?

· First base, manned by a capable, Olerud-like hitter in Jayce Boyd, capable of Daniel Murphy-like offense. And with Dom Smith nearly ready to stake a claim in say mid-2017 if Boyd faltered.

· Second base, a star in Dilson Herrera, channeling a little bit of the great Joe Morgan.

· Shortstop, a .300 hitting Matt Reynolds. Amed Rosario closing in on him, though. And let’s not forget Gavin Cecchini.

· Third base, L J Mazzilli, putting up decent offensive #'s while Jhoan Urena edges closer to cracking the bigs and giving him a run for his $$.

· Catcher, All Star Kevin Plawecki, putting up big offensive #'s. Xorge Carillo’s big bat is ready by then to be a great back up.

· Outfield, two current hot prospects are now bona fide major league regulars, Michael Conforto and Brandon Nimmo. For our 3^rd OF, I speculate that Champ Stuart will by then have channeled Mookie Wilson, and be an exciting lead off guy. 4th and 5th outfielders? How about power hitting Travis Taijeron and 5 tool Cesar Puello, both of whom may be good enough to start for most teams by then?

· Utility IF, how about Jeff McNeil? Came along quite nicely in 2014. Muno or Rivera, if not snatched in Rule 5 draft are alternates.

Pitching?

· Well for starters, how about Syndergaard, Matz, Bowman, Pill, and Molina, with several capable, major- league-ready alternatives like Ynoa, Whalen, Meisner, Gant, etc. Tough to beat.

· In the pen, Jack Leathersich, Akeel Morris, Brad Wieck, Kelly Secrest, Luis Mateo, Corey Mazzoni, Hansel Robles, or your choice of several others. Tough to beat (whoops, already said that).

IMO, quite a team. And notice, no current short timers like Flores, d'Arnaud, Montero, or Dekker were included. Include them if it suits you, but they vanished, so find them first.

Looking at the Mets’ farm system this way, it is truly impressive to think of what is percolating in the system. I think the above roster could win in 2017 or 2018.

Am I too pie-eyed? What do you think?

Reese Kaplan - Can You Hear Me Now?

Ever since the Madoff boondoggle ushered in the new austerity, the Mets have conditioned fans to expect very little when it comes to free agent acquisitions or blockbuster trades. Yes, there are folks caught up in the Troy Tulowitzki buzz, but that’s primarily because we have budget-envy and contention-envy when we watch other clubs actually taking action to improve their rosters while Sandy Alderson seems unable or unwilling to make any changes.

The one that was most galling to me of all was not the refusal to gamble on the big ticket free agents or the marquee players like Matt Kemp who will have a new address this season. No, the Mets have worn me down and made me understand (if not quite accept) the “we’ll spend when we win” message. The one transaction that got my blood boiling was an under-the-radar type move by the World Champion San Francisco Giants who needed to replace Kung Fu Panda at 3rd Base when he jumped ship to sumo-wrestle David Ortiz at the Boston buffet table. They had a glaring hole left by Pablo Sandoval’s departure and decided to fill it with 32 year old journeyman Casey McGehee who resuscitated his career last year with the Florida Marlins.

Now if the Giants had filled the hole with a quality hitter like Aramis Ramirez or Martin Prado or someone of that ilk, I’d have nothing to say. Hell, even if they called the Yankees and worked out a deal for A-Rod to take over at 3rd for them, I’d still at least understand the logic. However, they went after a guy who was savoring sushi as a member of the Rakuten Golden Eagles after flaming out with the Brewers, Pirates and Yankees.

Now did he return from Japan with a Cecil Fielder-like flourish? Well, not exactly. He hit a respectable .287, though the second half of the season he was pretty much invisible. His run production was not exactly Ruthian – just 4 HRs and 76 RBIs while leading the league in one thing – grounding into double plays. Bear in mind he batted cleanup for a team that included other formidable bats like Giancarlo Stanton and Marcell Ozuna.

Now the Mets happened to have a guy who came up as a 3rd baseman whose career major league average season would include 10 HRs, 69 RBIs, 12 SBs and a .290 average while hitting in the 2nd spot in the batting order. Did Sandy Alderson contact the San Francisco Giants to say, “Hey, I’ve got this All Star named Daniel Murphy who might help fill the void for you there at 3rd Base!”?

Mets fans are left to wonder what exactly Alderson and his army of high priced assistants actually do except wait for the phone to ring. Since there’s no clear evidence of them searching for deals to clear payroll and get ANYTHING back for someone likely to walk as a free agent at year’s end anyway, let’s once again take a look at possible new homes for Murphy. After all, as Branch Rickey taught us, it’s better to deal someone a year too soon than a year too late. While a commission is probably out of the question, maybe Sandy can at least send us all here at Mack’s Mets a cap or a t-shirt or giant foam finger for putting the ideas out there for him to ponder. As far as what to take in return, I'll leave that to the minor league prospect gurus on the Mets payroll to figure out (with the exception of the Rockies proposal below):

Angels
After dealing away longtime stalwart Howie Kendrick, the Angels appear to be going into 2015 with Josh Rutledge manning 2nd base. If you look at his major and minor league numbers, Murphy is a superior player. Pick up the phone.

Astros
Slugger Matt Dominguez at 3B may turn out to be a late bloomer but his numbers in the majors thus far are pretty ugly. He whiffed at a rather prodigious rate throughout his minor league career, so that trend likely isn’t going to improve in the majors. Last year he batted just .215. Make a call.

A’s
Old buddy Billy Beane is set to hand the 2nd base job to Eric Sogard, a lefty “hitter” with Tejada-like attributes of no power, no speed and a .223 average. Drop a quarter in the pay phone (assuming you can find one outside of the Smithsonian).

Blue Jays
Ryan Goins is listed as number one on the depth chart at 2nd base – he of the .213 batting average last season. If your cell phone plan includes Canada, spend a Loonie to reach out and touch someone in the Toronto front office.

Nationals
The Washington club is turning once again to former infield standout Danny Espinosa to play 2B for them. While his glove is as good as ever, he’s a right handed hitter whose skills seem to have vanished as he posted a mere .219 average last year and is only a .238 career hitter (albeit with some power). Maybe call your Senator to intervene on your behalf and extoll the virtues of a New York resource who can help improve things in DC.

Orioles
The boys in Baltimore really think Jonathan Schoop and his .209 average are the answer to their 2nd base situation? Really? Also, their surprisingly productive year from Steve Pearce, right handed hitter at 1st base, may not repeat and they might need a guy who could platoon or backup there, too. While you’re at it, mention that with the departures of Nelson Cruz and Nick Markakis they might want to look at a certain left handed outfielder who could be their $15.7 million per year solution for the next three years in Camden Yards. Hey, you never know if you don’t ask.

Padres
One thing’s for sure, GM A.J. Preller is not averse to making changes. He’s got an outfield now that’s as good as anyone’s in baseball with Justin Upton, Wil Myers and Matt Kemp. Unfortunately his infield is something of a laughingstock by comparison. Neither Jedd Gyorko nor Will Middlebrooks produced as much as Murphy did last year. Ring his chimes.

Phillies
While they appear ready to blow it all up and start over, the fact remains there’s still a 162 game schedule to play. The likelihood Chase Utley will be available for the majority of it ranks right up there with betting Troy Tulowitzki, Matt Kemp, Carlos Gonzalez or Michael Cuddyer will, too. Furthermore, Cody Asche is not exactly Evan Longoria out there. They could use Murphy at 3rd and shift him to 2nd when Utley hits the DL. He could also cover 1st when Ryan Howard does his DL stint, too. For a call to the city of brotherly love, can you spare a dime?

Rockies
Since you’re allegedly talking already about their pair of oft-injured sluggers, how about pointing out that DJ LaMahieu is not exactly the second coming of Joe Morgan out there at 2B? Allegedly the Mets turned down a Murphy for Luke Gregerson trade when it was offered in the past. Maybe now it’s time to inquire about Rex Brothers to get that 2nd lefty for the pen and to get out from under Murphy’s arbitration-inflated salary. If your flip phone supports texting, send a link to Murphy’s All-Star Game photo.

Yankees
The Bronx Bombers are the team where rookies seem to get even less opportunity than they do under Terry Collins. Right now they have Jose Pirela scheduled to be the new Robinson Cano. His minor league line reads a lot like Murphy’s major league line. They might feel better with a proven commodity. This one is perhaps the best option of all. After all, it’s just a local call.

The Morning Report – December 30 – Stephen Drew, Gavin Cecchini, Brooklyn Dodgers, Starlin Castro

MLBTR reports that the Mets may still be interested in SS Stephen Drew at around the $7mil per season level. This is crazy talk and just isn’t going to happen. Look, the best thing you can hope for when a player has a bad year is for them to have a ‘turn around’ season and return to what was their norm in the past. What was Drew’s norm? The 13/HR, 67/RBI, .253 in 2013 for Boston or the 15/HR, 61/RBI, .278 for Arizona in 2011? Isn’t this the projected range for Wilmer Flores?

I wanted Drew badly when he first came available but the whole Boras association soured me quickly on this guy. A Boras client always assures me that I am about to pay too much for his services.

Some thought I was too harsh on the ranking of SS Gavin Cecchini yesterday. I want to remind everyone that I stated in the opening of each posting that this is subjective ranking and I said going into this process that the entire list represents players I feel will make a difference doing something at the major league level.

Hardball Times[i] –

Since I live in Brooklyn, my mind often turns to the period following World War II, when the Dodgers played in town, and New York teams ruled the baseball universe. (Yankees fans still believe this to be true today, but it was especially true in the ‘40s and ‘50s.) From 1947 to 1956, a New York team appeared in the World Series every year except for 1948. The Yankees and Dodgers faced off in the Fall Classic on six different occasions during that stretch, and the Bronx Bombers, as they tended to do, took home seven World Series titles.

The playing locations, too, were iconic, reminiscent of a different time and sports culture entirely. Ebbets Field stood on an otherwise unremarkable neighborhood corner at the intersection of Bedford Avenue and Montgomery Street in Brooklyn. Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds were within half a mile of each other.

“You could walk from one to the other in 15 minutes,” famed sportswriter Roger Kahn writes in The Era: When the Yankees, Giants and Dodgers Ruled the World.

Almost certainly unrelated to the very strange Stephen Drew rumor that just popped up, there is still a little bit to flesh out from this weekend’s shooting in the Dominican Republic, which appears to have involved people known by/close to/related to Starlin Castro.[ii]

Castro’s agent, Paul Kinzer, was on MLBN Radio today to provide a little more information, and you can listen to two snippets here. In addition to confirming that, per the police in the DR, Castro has been cleared of any involvement in the shooting, Kinzer got into what comes next for Castro. The most important bit is that Kinzer, Theo Epstein, and Jed Hoyer have all spoken to Castro about these issues, and Castro is in the process of trying to find a place to live in Florida or in Arizona, according to Kinzer.

[i] http://www.hardballtimes.com/when-the-dodgers-played-in-brooklyn/

[ii] http://www.bleachernation.com/2014/12/29/starlin-castro-may-move-to-the-united-states-per-his-agent/

12/29/14

2015 Prospect List - #32 – SS Gavin Cecchini

Let’s get started.

# 32 –

SS Gavin Cecchini - SS – 20-years old - #1 draft pick (12^th overall) in 2012 draft

$2.300.000 bonus – 6-2/180 – No college – Barbe HS (LA)

2012 – K-Port, 191-AB, .246/.311/.330/641/1-HH/22-RBI

Brooklyn, 5-AB, .000/.167/.000/167, 0-HR, 0-RBI

2013 – Brooklyn, 194-AB, .273/.319/.314/633, 0-HR, 14-RBI

2014 – Savannah, 228-AB, .259/.333/.408/741, 3-HR, 25-RBI

St. Lucie, 233-AB, .236/.325/.352/677, 5-HR, 31-RBI

Binghamton, 4-AB .250/.250/.250/500. 0-HR, 0-RBI

Cecchini surprised just about everyone in the draft room when the Mets chose him for the 12^th overall pick in the 2012 draft. Everyone close to the Mets expected them to pick slugging outfielder Courtney Hawkins with that pick, who wound up being picked next at #13 by the Chicago White Sox. (all he’s done is hit 19/HRs a season for two seasons for the A+ CWS affiliate, Winston-Salem).

I remember draft day and we all were looking through our player notes, trying to find something on Cecchini. We walked away that day realizing that this was a player that basically had no ‘tool’ that made him stand out as a potential future baseball star.

Addison Russell and Corey Seager, who are shortstops and were both chosen in this round are full of tools. Cecchini isn’t.

He has no power, he isn’t a gap hitter, and doesn’t have the speed that is going to make him lead the league in triples.

Defensiive, after watching him take groundballs with Amed Rosario and Luis Guillmorme, Richard Justice of Baseball America wrote that he looked awkward at best and was probably playing ‘out of position’.

Your 12^th pick overall shortstop being played ‘out of position’?

Gaven was also drafted for his exceptional defensive skills that seem to be deteriorating at each level he climbs to:

2012- Kingsport - .964 fielding percentage

2013 – Brooklyn - .964 fielding percentage

2014 – Savannah - .947 fielding percentage

St. Lucie - .935 fielding percentage

In summation – I found it increasing difficult to not rank Cecchini below Luis Guillorme who has frankly over-performed as much as Cecchini has accomplished the reverse. There just isn’t enough beef here of an ex-first round pick that got a $2.3mil signing bonus.

First, he was never known for his pop. Now even his defensive skills are coming into question.

I ranked him one slot over out of respect for his pedigree. It’s a one time pass.

I’m not exactly sure what team he is going to have to open with this season but he needs to step up on the first tee and hit one 270 down the middle with his three wood.

Still, wherever he starts doesn’t matter. It is Binghamton where he will make it or break it this season and this could be easily the last time you see his name on any major prospect lists, including mine.

The one good thing you can walk away with here is his combined 8-HR, 56-RBI generated last year between Savannah and St. Lucie, at the age of 20.

We’’ll just have to keep a real close eye on him this season.

The Morning Report – December 29 – Mets Blogs

Morning.

I haven’t done this in quite a while because I like to pay my respects, first to the beat press, that has consistently never acknowledged a thing I have ever said and paid me a compliment back.

Read that carefully again… I respect them for their knowledge and tenure, though none of them are old enough to say they ever attended a game in either Ebbets Fields, a Mets game at the The Polo Grounds, a New York Giants Game at the Yale Bowl or a Giants game up at Coogans Bluff.

Instead, I ignore the bloggers, trying to make a name for themselves that very few have still found the way to pay their college room dues.

So for today, let’s go around to the blog world… yes, even to a couple of one I have left part of my armour on the field of battle - and see what’s going on there.

I have to start off with Joe D, ([i]probably (and easily) the most intelligent and hardest worker of all the Mets bloggers. Joe helped me early on to break the NYFS grip and put me in line for making online advertisers. I was up to around $400 a month (that I split with him) and then a couple of bad New York conversations went bad. IMO, Joe was always a big fan of what I wrote, to the point of obsession. I would start a feature and name it “The Keepers”… the next day, one of his writers had a feature called… you got it… “The Keepers’. I would then tear into him on his site which resulted in a couple of very hard, personal, insulting returns about my health .

We finally had to agree to part company before one of our hearts would go out (both have bad tickers) and we lived on.

Joe has a nice piece up on Yunel Escobar, but, in my world, he’s just trying to fill pages until something gets going with this team.

Merry Christmas Joe.

Quinn Barry is a Mets writer for a new site, Grading On The Curve and he’s working though a top prospect ranking list this time of the month. [ii] Who isn’t?

I don’t know Quinn or the guys at the Curve. I know I have cut and pasted short paragraphs from their posts 20-30 times with proper endnote, never to receive a thank you or a cut and paste.

It’s a good site with some good info in it, like Sunday’s downgrade ranking on 1B Dom Smith

John Delcos, one of New York’s finest sports writers, posted his thoughts on what he would do with his Hall of Fame Ballot.[iii]

I’m never met John but I’ve respected his writings over the years. He also writes for Joe D over at Metsmorized which has a sort of North Korea/Langley Virginia relationship with me.

John’s been quite ill and had to walk away from writing (almost permanently), which would have been our loss. I did send him an email welcoming him back but I didn’t expect a kind response after intercepting a correspondence between him and Joe over about wokring with me in the future.

Anyway, hating me doesn’t make for a bad writing.

Mets 360 [iv]is being run by a friend of mine, Brian Joura, who also adds in some pretty intelligent comments onto my morning report each day.

And then there was Matt Cerrone[v], who was once my friend, then wasn’t, then was, then wasn’t, then was going to build a Mets minor league blog with me (set me to web page), then that went away, then would plug my writing, then stopped, then… here’s the bottom line here… I have never talked to him once in my entire life. I wrote a piece on my site that all the beat writers seem to have the same height and weight as all those race jockies that use to site in that hotel bar around the corner from the Public Library and a block away from Hillside Boulevard in Jamaica, Queens and he tore into me with about a 1000 word diatribe in an answer box designed to fit 500 words. – We pretty much went our separate ways after that and I currently block all the MetsBlog writers, not because they are bad writers, but because that’s how I deal with things like this. Still the most popular Mets blog and, at the same time, the most hated.

Happy Holiday Matt, if you're reading this.

Lastly, there's Mack's Mets. It started out s a place for minor leaguers to call their home, but it has grown from there. There are two great content items on the blog... the comments in the Morning Report and the content of the other writers. I really just try and get things going at this point every morning and I then let the real talent take over.

If I don't talk to any of you until 'next year' have a wonderful New Year's Eve and day. Be careful. My wife and I spend the night with Anderson Cooper so how harmful can that be?

The site will be closed on Wednesday but I'll be here again tomorrow morning trying to come up with a better Tulo trade :)

(Tulo for C Kevin Plawecki, SP Noah Syndergaard, player TBD, player TBD)

[i] http://metsmerizedonline.com/

[ii] http://gradingonthecurve.com/2014/12/27/new-york-mets-top-15-prospects-6-10/

[iii] http://www.newyorkmetsreport.com/2014/12/27/my-hall-of-fame-ballot-and-reasoning/

[iv] http://mets360.com/?p=24049#comment-1205767

[v] http://metsblog.com/metsblog/report-starlin-castro-detained-in-connection-with-shooting/

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