4/28/15

The Morning Report 4.28.2015 | Pace of Play, Flores Deserves Better, Syndergaard Dominates, A New Tommy John Procedure


Pace of Play Results | Chris SotoBaseball Commissioner Rob Manfred was on the Mike and Mike in the Morning radio today and referenced that the new pace of play rules have reduced game times by an average of 8 minutes so far. I wonder if last night's Mets @ Marlins was factored into that cause boy were they flying last night. I'm sitting in the bar during my billiards match, it's only 8:15pm and I look up at the TV screen to check on the score. I needed a second set of eyes to confirm what I thought was a SNY blunder when the TV showed Top of the 6th inning already!


Bryan Zarpentine | Rant Sports- With wins in 14 of their first 19 games, it’s difficult to find things that the New York Mets could be doing differently. However, one thing that manager Terry Collins could change is to move shortstop Wilmer Flores out of the bottom of the batting order and into the middle of it. Despite a slow start to the season, Flores has persevered and found his way, catching fire over the past week and a half. At one point, he put together an eight-game hitting streak, improving his line to .276/.323/.448 three weeks into the season. Flores was a run producer throughout his time in the minors, and he is now showing signs of being just that; however, his talents are being wasted batting down in the order, often in front of the pitcher’s spot.

(Chris Soto: I agree with Bryan on both points here. A) With the Mets doing so well...it's hard to change anything that Terry Collins is doing. B) Flores DESERVES to be hitting higher in the line-up and quick frankly is a better fit in the 2 hole than Lagares is. Sure, Juan is hitting .306 so far this season....but that's on a .403 BABIP, a paltry .051 Isolated Power rate, and he's K'ing at a 22% rate. He's not going to be able to sustain that batting average if those trends last much longer. Meanwhile Flores is hitting .274 on a league average BABIP, his ISO is a strong .161 [which is 8th best amongst SS], and his K rate is ~6 points lower than Lagares' [16.4%]. As soon as Lagares begins to struggle, move than man up and drop Lagares to 7th in the order.)


Anthony DiComo | MLB.com- Making up the start he missed last Friday due to illness, Syndergaard delivered the best statistical outing of his Triple-A Las Vegas career on Monday, throwing a two-hitter with nine strikeouts in Game 1 of a doubleheader against Albuquerque. Because Minor League doubleheaders consist of two seven-inning games, Syndergaard's effort was a complete game. Monday's outing lowered his season ERA from 4.70 to 2.45. Syndergaard has struck out 16 batters with six walks in 14 2/3 innings.

(Chris Soto: That's more like Thor! Syndergaard had us worried for a bit with the late start to the season, the rumored forearm pain, Twitter exchanges, and illnesses, but he put that all to bad with his awesome start last night. The club is continuing to stay patient with him though as sadly, but fortunately, there is STILL no spot for Rafael Montero.....let alone Syndergaard. The starting rotation has just been so good from top to bottom so far this season. Just like with the Lagares/Flores argument....if it ain't broke, don't fix it.)


Mike Vorkunov | New Jersey Advance Media- Generally, pitchers who need Tommy John surgery fall into two categories: Those have partial tears of their UCL and those that have full tears. For those with full tears, like Zack Wheeler, surgery is unavoidable. But for those with partial tears, like Matt Harvey and Masahiro Tanaka, who sometimes try rest and rehab before settling for surgery, Dugas believes he has a possibly less invasive option. Dugas' solution is a surgery that uses collagen-dipped super-tape. "Strong enough to tow a car with, basically," he says. The tape is then attached to each end of the ligament and to the bone with an anchor, repairing the UCL back to where it tore off. He believes this surgery can become an alternative to full UCL reconstruction. So far, Dugas has performed this kind of surgery only 30 times over the past 20 months and not each patient has been a pitcher. They have also primarily been high school and college players. But all have returned to their same baseline performance in six months and with full range of motion.

(Chris Soto: If you have a free moment....check this article out. Doctor Dugas addresses a significant problem that is plaguing the MLB right now with the massive amount of UCL injuries. He brings up a good point, if person A has a 40% tear and person B has a 100% tear....Why are they getting the same surgery? Dr. Dugas' new approach would cut recovery times by between 50% - 66% which would have been significant for a guy like Harvey, who had to sit out the entire 2014 season for what was described as a "less than 50% tear of the UCL.")

17 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

Most nights, Murphy gets blogger craps. Tonight, he gets blogger snaps. Huge hit, give him credit. That said, Herrera and Reynolds are on fire, so Murphy will have to fight to keep his job, just as Gee does (and did last night, with a terrific outing).

I wonder if that tape repair will work long term for a guy throwing 97 MPH. Worth studying For sure. If it worked 100%, Harvey would not have missed a season.

15-5, land's sakes alive!

I think Juan and Flores are both settling in and both will hit a lot. We'll see.

eraff said...

WTG Murph!!!!! Obviously, a great Swat!....and a Defensive sparkler to boot!---actually, to NOT boot!!!

bgreg98180 said...

Flores......move him up!
Maybe we need a billboard?
Collins isn't going to do it on his own.

eraff said...

Lagares is a productive Baserunner with Speed..... then again, his BA IS his obp.... he's hitting 320 w a 330 obp...and a 670 ops...

I love Lagares---the Talent!!! The first 500 ab's and the second 500 ab's look the same--- the 80 ab's This Season?...look the same.

I'm hoping for something to click---there's another 30-50 points OPS locked up in there somewhere!!

Mack Ade said...

Tom -

I disagree about Murphy - I don't see him losing his job this year to anyone. He has the most talent and can deliver games like last night that could be the difference at the end of the year.


Mack Ade said...

Bob -

Please... no billboards :)

Tom Brennan said...

Scary, eraff, we are starting to agree.

A scary thought...even with a few guys struggling to get their bats going (e.g. Murphy) and CaptIn America collecting disability currently, theMets have scored 89 runs in 20 games. Extrapolate over a full year and you get 720 runs, within my projected range. Call me crazy, I still think they get to my 740 target.

Tom Brennan said...

Mack, you may be right.

PCL and MLB are two entirely different animals, and for Mets to move Murphy, they'd have to be convinced Herrera would most likely be an upgrade. That is a risky guess to make. They probably stay with Murph unless he gets hurt.

That said, skip the first two games of the PCL season. Since game 3, Reynolds and Herrera are annihilating the league. With no signs of let up whatsoever. Combined, they are close to .400 Over that 18 game span.

Nice problem to have.

eraff said...

I'm with Mack---not looking to Flip Lineups..Players.

A Murph Move woyld probably be Allstar Time Frame--- predicated on a readiness and stability with the team and Dilson.

I smell the Prospect Vapors, but I'm really more involved with the seet taste of WINS.

Mack Ade said...

Thomas -

And what better way to keep Reynolds and Herrera hitting than to play them every day.

Look what happens when you ride the bench:

Combined Mayberry, Recker, Kirk, Muno, Tejada: 8 hits is 60 at-bats

IBfromWhitePlains said...

The chips seem to be falling into place so far. Add to that, with all the major front end pitching injuries this year it's not a stretch to think Alderson's phone is ringing off the hook.
I'm not advocating a trade - I couldn't be happier about the balance and chemistry of this team right now, but advantage Mets. They're playing a strong hand.

Mack Ade said...

eraff -

My Friday report will cover what I suggest as end of the month 'tweaks' on this team. Nothing big.

This start and the slow start of both the Nats and Marlins, gives the Mets to really put some distance between themselves and their division rivals. Imagine if the Mets go into the all-star break 13-15 games ahead of their rivals?

This team seems to pick themselves up when needed. The constant (especially in low offense games like last night) has to remain excellent rotation pitching. It sets up everything.

LEAVE THIS TEAM ALONE.

Mack Ade said...

ib:

YOU ARE CORRECT.

Even guys like Goeddel and Gee have turned many GMs heads so far this season.

Good time for Sandy.

Anonymous said...

Mack

I see some of my earlier comments were removed. I don't think I posted anything offensive to anyone. If I did can you let me know what it was so I will not do it again.

Mack Ade said...

Richard -

I didn't remove anything. There are others that have the ability to remove posts but sometimes shit like this just happens.

Please report what you originally said.

BTW - I no longer remove ANY comments.

Mack Ade said...

Richard -

I mean 're-post'

Tom Brennan said...

Richard, saw you posted something this AM to yesterday's AM Report. Maybe that was what happened.p