Mack’s Morning Report – 5-1-15 – End of April Tweak

Good morning.

First of all, I want to welcome a new sponsor... and team of writers. 

Draftpot, one of the exciting fantasy baseball sites online, can now be found on the right side of the front page. Just click on it and it will take you to their site. In addition, the writers over there will be adding a weekly post to Mack's Mets about the ups and downs of fantasy baseball.

April has come and went and the month has given us everything and more.

Frankly, there’s very little I would ‘tweak’ here. I can’t undo injuries and there really aren’t many more major league ready players that could be called up right now. The current starting lineup is the best available to management, the utility players (Anthony Recker, Ruben Tejada, John Mayberry Jr., Kirk Nieuwenhuis) may be under-hitting but they are the best available, and the bullpen is doing the best they can around a slew of injuries.

I didn't enjoy this past road trip, but, going into Thursday night's game against Washington, the team was tied for the best win-loss record in baseball. How can any Mets fan find fault with that?

With that, there are a few things I suggest:

1.     Play RF Curtis Granderson

The Mets can’t sustain the kind of success they have had in April unless the first two players listed here play almost every day. In the case of Granderson, John Maybery Jr. and Kirk Nieuwenhuis are nice subs, but they do not have the game winning potential (both offensively and defensively) as Grandy.

I've been a Mets writer since 2005 and I have not seen a player 'set the plate' better than Granderson does since Jose Reyes. We're now starting to see him get out of his April funk and my guess is he will finish the season above the .250-BA/.350-OBP level

2.     Play 2B Daniel Murphy

No one has hit worse in April than Murphy, but you just know it in your heart that he is workng himself out of this. I also know it in my heart that this is his own fault for rushing back from his spring training hamstring issue. No doctor in the world can tell you if your hamstring is 100% healed. It takes an honest patient and my guess is that Murphy was more concerned about his contract year here than his batting average or the value he would be to his teammates.

He has moved closer to the plate this week which does seem to give him back the ability to barrel up on the ball.

I can't speak for his defensive flaws. He's going to have to improve on them on his own, but this team isn't deep enough in offensive talent to put this guy on the bench.

3.     Move/Keep CF Juan Lagares to/in the two slot in the batting order

Everyone keeps saying that Lagares doesn’t have the patience to bat high in the order; however, the only place he’s going to learn it is by hitting there. I know this guy. No one plays this game with more emotion and he will repay you 1000% if you show you believe in him. Once again I am quoting my heart here, but if you want this guy to hit .290+ for the season, move him up the order.

4.      Keep SP Dillon Gee in the rotation

                   I had this whole section written differently when I started writing this post. I had Gee going to the bullpen and him being replaced by Rafael Montero; however, with the recent arm problems of Montero, let's let him work things out as a Las Vegas starter. I'm going to write a complete post on Gee tomorow, so I'll save some of my suggestions to then, but, simply put, pitch the guy for five innings and then get the bullpen up.



5. Replace Montero as the spot starter with Steven Matz.

                I really don't care out the who super two thing. I want to win a pennant before they ship me off to to the veteran's home. Noah Syndergaard had a dominant last outing, but Matz seems further along at this point.

Let's keep this party going with solid starting pitching.

6.     Replace IF Danny Muno with Wilfredo Tovar

I’ve always been a big fan of having defensive specialist as the guys coming off the bench, especially late in the game. Neither one of these guys are going to get many at bats if they remain in Queens, and their roster slot disappears as soon as David Wright comes back, but Tovar has the ability to win a game with his glove, something I’ve always loved in his game.

7.     Promote OF Michael Conforto from St. Lucie to Binghamton

I know moving a player up a level, after only one month, is usually premature, but it’s obvious that Conforto is eating up the Florida State League (A+). The quicker they place this guy in the same outfield as Brandon Nimmo, the better off it will be for the Mets. Both represent the future of the Mets corner outfielders. Either Gilbert Gomez or Jared King could be sent back to Florida to make room for Conforto.

This would be the only changes I would suggest to a team that seems to be operating on all cylinder. As I said, a little tweaking. That’s all.