2/25/15

The Morning Report 2.25.2015 | Duda Injury, Parnell Facing Live Batters, Jury Duty, Granderson's Streaks.



Tim Rohan | New York Times - "He played a few games in Japan with a contingent of fellow major leaguers. He worked out with Mike Barwis, the Mets’ strength and conditioning consultant. He kept swinging and swinging and swinging. If he took any time off, it was measured in days, not months. Gradually, after all those swings, his left intercostal muscle — a muscle in the chest wall — started to feel sore. It became sore enough that for the last few weeks, Duda has stopped swinging altogether. He will not swing a bat for at least a few more days."

(Chris Soto: There comes a point where the human body actually needs rest....not more work. It sounds like Duda ignored the initial signs of pain and blew through this fine line and ended up injuring himself. Intercostal strains are not pretty injuries and generally linger for a while, luckily for the Mets this happened a while ago and Duda is already on his 3rd or 4th week of rest.)


Adam Rubin | ESPN New York - "So much attention has been paid to Matt Harvey facing batters as soon as Thursday for the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery. Well, Bobby Parnell will only be a few days behind. Parnell expects to throw one more bullpen session on Thursday, then face batters this weekend for the first time since his procedure. "

(Chris Soto: From the sounds of it Parnell is right on schedule in his rehab. The only reason he is so close to Harvey's time schedule is because the front office is being so cautious with Harvey. I would not be surprised if Parnell gets held back in St. Lucie past May 1st, especially if the team is doing well with Mejia in the closer's role.)


Jared Diamond | Wall Street Journal - "People who work in baseball might be rich and famous, but that doesn’t stop them from having to fulfill their civic duties. Players, coaches and executives are frequently summoned for jury service, just like every other American citizen. Unlike the average citizen, however, they can usually get out of it without much effort. Rarely is one of them actually selected to sit on a jury."

Question: What do you do for a living?
Alderson: I’m the general manager of the New York Mets.
Question: What does your spouse do?
Alderson: Actually, my wife’s sitting right behind me.
Question: What do you do in your free time?

Alderson: Well, now I’m looking for a shortstop.

The courtroom burst into laughter. (Alderson emphasized that he meant his remark as a joke.)

(Chris Soto: No one is above the government! I know Alderson's humor pisses off a lot of Mets fans....but I for one enjoy his little jokes every once in a while. This was weeks ago during the off-season when fans were clamoring for Alderson to sign a SS so the joke is justified. I commend Alderson for sticking to his guns and giving Flores a try. He's going to surprise fans this year.)


Kevin Davidoff New York Post - "“He went through those streaks. I know he’s done it in the past,” Terry Collins said of Granderson. “I talked to guys with the Yankees. They said, ‘Look, there’s going to be times when you’re going to say, ‘Gosh, how can this happen?’ And yet there’s going to be times he’s going to carry you. And that’s what he did.” Granderson did establish his reputation as a streaky player with both the Tigers and the Yankees. In his first year as a Met, however, the soon-to-be 34-year-old wasn’t just streaky. He put up a 2014 that could be labeled bipolar.”

(Chris Soto: Grandy does in fact have a long history of streakiness so it shouldn't surprise anyone if he display that again this season. The only difference now is that this year's club has so much more balance in the line-up that if a guy like Grandy or Wright or Duda does get cold, there are others guys who can pick up the slack. Every batter from 1-8 is capable of hitting 15 HRs this year. )

13 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

Yo Chris:

Parnell and Duda should both take their time - 6 weeks to opening day. Parnell should wait for the warmer weather - figure by May it should hit 40 degrees again.

Grandy had those 2 horrendous months. If he can just make those 2 not-so-bad months, should help.

J K Simmons can play Sandy Alderson next...I too enjoy his humor and his willingness to see that Flores can be an above average SS when offense and defense are both considered. As opposed to the abysmal SS we had offensively for most of last year.

This offense is gonna rock this year - plenty of pop - as long as not to many guys sail down the Intercostal when the season starts.

Anonymous said...

In an era where 30HR players are becoming rare, this lineup of players who can all hit 15+ maybe a solid approach as an alternative

Anonymous said...

Morning Everyone,

First off, big shout out to Herb for covering the Morning Report yesterday. I was feeling ill monday night and tuesday morning so I did not have an opportunity to crank out the MR myself.



@Anon

I completely agree. Balance throughout the line-up is more important in today's games than ever before with the increased quality of pitching. I really do believe that the Mets line-up is more balanced than most other teams.

Tom Brennan said...

I'll go with:

30 HR Duda
25 HR Grandy
20 HR Wright
20 HR d'Arnaud
20 HR LF (or RF, if Grandy is moving to LF)
20 Flores
15 Murph (shorter RF fences add a few)
15 Lagares (ditto, plus playing a full season)

I know - I'm too optimistic.

Ernest Dove said...

Sure hoping Duda isn't pushing himself hard to try to ensure he matches last years successes.
He's earned his role as starting first basemen and cleanup hitter. No need to overdo things to keep proving yourself.
Or maybe the guy simply LOVES baseball.

eraff said...

Tom...It seems a little heavy in spots, but you left our Cuddyer and Bench...the team alst year had 125---

25- Wright, Duda, GRandy
20- d'Arnaud
15- Flores, Cuddyer, BENCH
10-Lagares, Murph

That lands you in/around 160--- a fairly good number and a 35 HR Increase.

Here's the MLKB Team stats Last Year--- 160 makes you a representative threat on the Long Ball.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/batting/sort/homeRuns/order/true

Reese Kaplan said...

It's fine that Alderson is giving Flores a try. I worry about the guy with the lineup pencil and his penchant for getting Tejada into games at Flores' expense.

Tom Brennan said...

Hi Eraff

I put Cuddyer in, without name (my apologies) as the other outfield wing opposite Grandy. I did not list him, because I think he'll somehow not play an overwhelming # of games due to health (those with injury history tend to get reinjured - see Derrick Rose), so I just listed the position - with the likes of Mayberry, Dekker(?), Kirk(?) getting a lot of combined at bats in that slot.

I still think that the outfield fence coming in will help a few guys a lot, boosting us over the low 2014 HR total for the team. Better (Flores)/rebounding (Grandy)/healthier (Wright) hitters will take us up a bunch more.

But like I said, I'm stuck in optimistic gear on my HR projections. I just think guys will relax more and hit more in 2015, as they shake off the pressure of failing in Citifield - by winning.

Tom Brennan said...

Reese, we need to send Collins back for a remedial spelling class. "Now Terry, Tejada is spelled F...L...O...R...E...S" - that way, he'll think he's putting punchless Ruben out there, but bopping Flores will be out there instead.

Sandy likes Reynolds - maybe he supplants Tejada sooner rather than later.

eraff said...

Tejada will be on this team....he will play...he should play

eraff said...

Flores is not a Coronation---he has a good deal to prove.

I think he'll hit---I don;t believe he can glove at ss

Mack Ade said...

The Duda injury is due to poor team management of the player.

You don't send him to Japan after the season is over and then follow that by letting him in camp 4-5 weeks early... then... let him take BP...

the 2015 version of baseball players need their rest between seasons

Tom Brennan said...

Hopefully, and especially if Duda felt this coming on for a while, he's learned better what his limits are. Don't want to lose him when we really need him.