Mets Current Winning Streak: 9 Games and Counting
(Chris Soto: For those of you who don't follow The Players Tribune, you really should. The site is owned by Derek Jeter as a medium for athletes to tell life stories and connect with fans on a personal level. This is Harvey's second piece for the website and let me tell you....it is an excellent read. He talks about how he learned from Bartolo Colon that fastball velocity isn't the only important thing. Command and Control can be just as deadly as velocity and when you combine the 3 together....you can be unhittable.)
Michael Baron | Just Mets- It was not a pretty outing for rehabbing Mets pitcher Bobby Parnell on Tuesday. This afternoon at Tradition Field, Parnell allowed a run on two hits with two walks. It was his third rehab outing. His fastball velocity was in the low 90s during his outing, which is progress as he continues to build arm strength and return to the Major Leagues.
(Chris Soto: Parnell's fastballs were clocking in between 89 - 91 mph so he is no where close to returning to the big leagues. You have to wonder if maybe Parnell is trying to come back too quickly? Maybe the Matt Harvey approach of taking 18 months to recover and rehab is the better option. In either scenario, the Mets bullpen needs guys like Hansel Robles to really step up and perform in higher leverage situations cause it does not look like Parnell and Black are safe bets at this point.)
Chris Georges | Grading on the Curve- New York Mets prospect Michael Conforto has gotten off to a blazing start this season, slugging his fourth home run of the year yesterday, and going 3-for-5 with a walk on the day. He has shown through the first 11 games of the year that he doesn’t belong in Advanced-A, and should probably be playing in Double-A already. The former Beaver is best known for his bat, appearing to be a guy who could hit around .300 and hit 20+ plus homers. As impressively, he loves taking walks, which is sure to lead to high on base averages throughout his career.
(Chris Soto: Lots of good press coming out about Conforto the past few days, who is just mashing in the pitching heavy Florida State League. After spending last year working on his swing, more than concentrating on results, the front office has given Conforto free reigns to just go out and play and it's showing. He's already topped last year's HR total in 122 fewer ABs, he's slugging .707, his normalized (using a .300 BABIP) batting average is an impressive .322, and both his K and BB rates have improved year over year. He has all the makings of a future star folks.)
Mike Puma | New York Post- The Marlins’ visit to Citi Field last week turned into a fact-finding mission of sorts for team owner Jeffrey Loria. According to a baseball source, Loria quizzed people who know Wally Backman on whether the former Mets second baseman would be a good major league manager, with the implication the Marlins could soon make a change in the dugout. The Miami Herald recently reported Backman, who serves as manager for the Mets’ Triple-A team in Las Vegas, could be a candidate for the Marlins job if Mike Redmond is fired.
(Chris Soto: According to multiple sources, the Marlins GM has officially asked Sandy Alderson for permission to talk to Wally Backman about a potentially becoming the manager in Miami. While ownership LOVES Wally and would love for him to stay within the organization, Alderson is sorta lukewarm on him. I fully expect the team to grant Loria the permission to talk to Backman so we'll have to stay tuned.)
Lets Go Mets!
12 comments:
@ Chris
Thanks for Players Tribune tip - I'll have to check it out.
Conforto - did we really draft an all-around slugger? Can't wait til he gets to Queens. Dilson is flat out on fire too. Two (not too) future stars.
Parnell needs to take it slow. Be healthy, and stay healthy.
Wally can go to Miami - but for compensation, how about a guy named Giancarlo? :)
@TOm
You know....I haven't thought about it from that angle.
Since Wally Backman is under contract with the Mets, the Marlins would have to provide us compensation if they wanted to hire him.....hmmm.
When the Red Sox let Terry Francona go to Chicago, the team was requesting 1 of Matt Garza, Starlin Castro, or top prospects Brett Jackson, Josh Vitters or Trey McNutt.
Eventually they settled on hard throwing RP Chris Carpenter but you can see that executive/coach could be significant compensation.
Tyler Kolek is probably out of the question but a guy like LHP Jarlin Garcia, LHP Adam Conley, or OF Isael Soto could be a reasonably good get.
Even as a diehard Mets fan, if someone woulda told me before year started that EVERYONE projected on 25man would be perfectly healthy (wheeler, edgin, black, etc) through first 14 games, and Mets would win 11 of em, I woulda chuckled and said yeah ok, whatever just be happy baseball is back and dont set urself up for another angry mets following season when it doesn't happen.
The players are doing a great job and clicking so far this season. If they go .500 the rest of the way they will be 85-77. That's better than I thought they would be. LGM
A lot has been written about the depth to cover injuries, but the depth of overall contribution thus far has been very impressive and though no team is "recession proof" this squad looks to be quite diversified and should be able to endure a few individual slumps. Murphy has been in one since opening day and he was previously the best hitter on the team. Flores, Lagares and to a lesser extent Grandy got off to really slow starts and now even Duda has quieted, but it has not resulted in losses, so the team is well structured to absorb injuries, but thus far they are well structured to absorb a few slumps. I love a well pitched game, but I really love rallies moving station to station with everyone chipping in. To see Plawecki come right up and fit into that mold, even for one game, is a beautiful thing to watch.
Anon Joe F
Morning all - up early to go see the Doc.
Amazing games lately. And, due to MLB-TV, ESPN, and Sports South, I've been able to watch most of them.
TC was right last night in his press conference. Completely different attitude with this team. People get hurt, the rest of the team says 'we'll be fine'.
I'll be thrilled with one out of two for the rest of the Braves series.
@ Ernest - "all they have to do is play .500 to go 85-77". I think we're so conditioned to the wheels falling off the Mets team that we it's hard to see this will be a really good team and play well over .500 the rest of the way if they can slow down the injury epidemic.
Without Harvey last year, and with Chris Young and not Cuddyer, etc., we played almost .500. I think 90 wins, if reasonably healthy, is now the absolute minimum. I'm sticking with 95 wins. I think they go 20 over .500 from here on out.
It's been almost all down hill skiing for the Metsies so far... the competition has not pressed them much, and they've hit when opportune.
It's a long season... and a really ideal start. The test of new attitude and depthis when nothing goes right for 5 games.
I want to emphasize the most important place where I see NEW ATTITUDE--- MANAGEMENT!!!
They made two moves for Major League Pitching on the cusp of the season---previous years were fish and scrape with Junk. They've called up a top talent (Plaw) because he can help them win Games--- "super 2 be damned!
Another idea--- Pennant Teams add some "luxury parts"--- known talent that can help--- this team has several such players, and they won't be getting swapped out while the hunt is on--- Colon, Murphy, etc. will be along for the ride, in all likelihood. Going forward, guys like that will be acquired to COMPETE NOW---all of you "Trade Jockies" will be a little disappointed.
Out with the Prospect Vapor.. In with the Pennant Chase
I wanted Wally to come over next year and be our manager. Would be disappointed if he left.
How many wins do you need to realistically get in? 92/93?
Dillon Herrera is hitting almost 400 at AAA. Gonna be a solid solid 2b for us for a long time.
I wouldn't start thinking about compensation. Teams normally don't ask for much compensation if any, for guys who will in essence be promoted when leaving.
If Wally leaves, it'll be a promotion and I doubt the Mets would ever hold up that move for a middling prospect. Because, at most, that's all you'd get for a AAA manager.
This isn't Lou Pinela they're trying to hire, it's Wally Backman! Tyler Kolek?! Wow, that's a massive reach, as would any top 10 prospect in any organization would be in this case.
There's just no way the Mets would hold Wally hostage after he's been such a good solider for them these past 5/6 years. He's taught many of their top prospects and current major leaguers how to play the game right. I'm sure the Wilpons would let him go for nothing, not gladly, but let him go.
All that said, I doubt it happens. Loria didn't fly to NY just to find out about Wally Backman. Of all the guys available, that's who he happened to think of?
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