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.
#12 – OF – Cesar
Puello – 23-years old – La Romana, Dominican Republic
6-2,
220. - R/R – International free agent
signing 2007
2008
– GCL - 151-AB, .305/.350/.364/714,
1-HR, 17-RBI
2009
– K/Port - 196-AB, .296/.373/.424/796,
5-HR, 23-RBI
2010
– Savannah - 404-AB, .292/.375/.359/734,
1-HR, 34-RBI, 45-SB
2011
– St. Lucie - 441-AB,
.259/.313/.397/710, 10-HR, 50-RBI
2012
– St. Lucie - 227-AB,
.260/.328/.423/751, 4-HR, 21-RBI
2013
– B-Mets - 331-AB, .326/.403/.547/950,
16-HR, 73-RBI
2014
– Vegas - 318-AB, .252/.355/.393/748, 7-HR, 37-RBI
Let me try and explain why I still have
Puello this high at #12.
(First of all, there’s no reason to go back
and quote what everybody said when this kid was signed by Walter O’Malley or somebody that long ago. After seven
seasons, it’s tough to still consider him a prospect at all.)
I said going into this ranking process that
this was a subjective thing so, for the same reason I caught a rash of shit for
my Cecchini ranking being too low, this one will probably not be a favorite for
being this high.
And frankly, I can’t come up with many
reasons to say he should be ranked here. Puello came to the Mets with a ‘5 tool’
reputation, but he seemed to only use one at a time. He was 5th in
the league in stolen bases in 2010, but that sort of went away the next year.
The power only really developed during that infamous Binghamton year that still
seems to be in question.
All I remember was being told that all of the
‘smaller players’ in that scandal were suspended without testing. They simply
received their suspension for having their name in an appointment book.
At this point, who cares. Puello had ample time last season to right the
wrongs.
Right now, I rank Puello as the fourth top
outfielder in the minor league system. The air is right in Las Vegas to earn
his old job back very quickly.
The Mets need a very quick decision on Puello. I believe they need to keep him...and he needs to get some early ab's to prove in or fail out.
ReplyDeleteI saw him in Spring Training last year.... he's a BEASTLY athlete!!! After seeing him I could not establish a connection to his "treatment" last year..... but I'm not around the guy 24/7 and I don't know the nature of their development plan for him.
Still...I cannot understand that he lost outfield and dh ab's to ESTABLISHED and KNOWN AAAA Guys!
So...either Wally is as much a Dufuss as Collins, or the Front Office has constant connection and strings to ALL organizational lineup cards.
No problem with Puello ranked #12. The question is what to do with him come April?
ReplyDeleteTo play in LV he must pass through waivers. Does a claiming team need to place him on their 25-man?
Yea, I would love to hear all of the "Wally for GM!" supporters explain his handling of Puello. Wally played Anthony Seratelli--an infielder and not a good baseball player--over Puello last year. Rationalize that.
ReplyDeleteI think the question was answered above -- that Wally was getting his lineup orders from Queens. THAT actually makes more sense than the canard that Collins at the major league level can't be entrusted to fill out a lineup card. If he can't then he wouldn't have been hired.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, Collins isn't a major league caliber manager and has the career losing record to prove it. Still, they keep him around for some inexplicable reason.
It wasn't answered above. It was a guess.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you're going to play dumb and say, "This isn't Wally's fault, it's out of his hands!" then you have to turn around and question whether or not all of his success--a main reason for fans wanting him as manager of the Mets--was, too, out of his hands.
The Las Vegas lineup would never be sent in or okay'd by TC
ReplyDeleteThe front office though could have restricted Puello's playing time.
ReplyDeleteIt's impossible Wally Backman made a mistake in benching Puello. Must be something else. Wally Backman is infallible.
ReplyDeleteIn all seriousness, is not the most likely reason that Wally Backman just benched him?
Stephen
ReplyDeleteMaybe Backman chose not to play Puello. Maybe it was the front office.
Maybe it was a punitive move.
Maybe it was bad judgement of his ability.
We will never know. Unlike in Minaya and Philips Met years, all of this type of information/talk is under lock and key. None of this type of chatter gets out. They let the public think what they want and let the chips fall where they may.
Good? Bad?
I'm not always sure.
I could swear that I've read before that at least some of the minor league lineups needed to be approved by Alderson.
ReplyDeleteFor the life of me though, I can't remember where.
Was it here?
Bob -
ReplyDeleteYes, it was here
I never implied TC would have input into the LV decisions. Hell, he can't even make effective decisions in Queens, why would they let him ruin another level's team, too?
ReplyDeleteI actually have my Puello write up coming out shortly. I have the "beastly" one as my #12 overall, so Mack and I slot him the same. Losing him would be something we'd regret.
ReplyDeleteI had Puello ranked #11 in my last update.....As much as we hate the fact that Puello didn't get much playing time in Vegas....One thing that was brought to light in his limited time was the widening of his Lefty/Righty splits.
ReplyDeleteSplit gaps that severe do not bode well for a player's future as a starter. This caused me to drop his "ceiling" in my opinion which in effect dropped his ranking in my book. Hovering in the 15-20 range now.