Mack’s Morning Report – 5-22-15 – Erik Goeddel, Marlins Closer, Hansel Robles, Dillon Gee

Good morning.

Mack’s Mets has always been known for its talented writing staff, but what most readers don’t realize is all the writers here made their bones when they became a writer here.

With that, we need a couple more of you to join us as:

1.     A Monday 10 weekly writer (joining Tom Brennan, Reese Kaplan, and Ernest Dove)

2.     An occasional writer (like Stephen Guilbert, D-Whit, and Chris Soto) that I can slot into open post areas.

Please email me at: macksmets@gmail.com and we can discuss the details.

Joe Maddon says he has this written on his game card: "Do not be a fan." Says biggest way to avoid game stress is to not be a fan.

I guess we need to start taking Erik Goeddel a little more serious.

In the beginning, he was just an ex-minor league starter that was called up to fill a slot created by others going on the disabled list.

Since then, and prior to Tuesday night, he threw 11.1 innings of scoreless ball in 13 appearances. He’s also produced a 0.79 WHIP, and 12-Ks and only 2-BB, .250-BABIP, 1.86-FIP, 3.36-xFIP, and a 0.2-WAR during that period.

Marc Carig http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/mets/erik-goeddel-moves-up-pecking-order-in-bullpen-1.10442972 wrote early this week that Goeddel has developed a splitter with a 36% swing and miss rate.

Michael Baron http://justmets.mlblogs.com/2015/05/17/erik-goeddel-is-earning-himself-higher-leverage-chances/ followed this up with a similar article after listening to Terry Collins sing the praises of Goeddel.

Let’s assume that Bobby Parnell, Vic Black, and Dillon Gee all work themselves back to the Mets 25-man. Will one of these returnees mark the return of Goeddel to Las Vegas, where he absolutely doesn’t deserve being sent?

My assumption right now is Hansel Robles, Jack Leathersich, and a toss between Goedell and Sean Gilmartin will be demoted.

Me? I’m not that impressed with what I see from Parnell yet so any decision to bring him to Queens could be delayed until around the All-Star break.

Carlos Gomez on Noah Syndergaard: “How can I guy like that get traded?”

I know that the last thing any team wants to do is help a divisional rival, but sometimes you can accomplish what you need to do by supplying another team a person that can fill a position that is desperately needed to be filled.

Miami has had eight blown saves so far this season.  Eight blown saves.

At the same time, the Mets bullpen may wind up being overfilled with quality arms once guys like Bobby Parnell and Vic Black come back.

My guess at this point is that, if a closer is chosen to be on the National League all-star team, it will be Jeurys Familia. One guy it won’t be is Jenrry Mejia.

The Marlins current shortstop is 26-year old Adeiny Hechavarria, who is currently batting .312. He’s being paid $1.925mil this season and is under team control through the 2018 season.

Miami also has 26-year old Miquel Rojas (AAA New Orleans - .331) in the wings, with Jordany Valdespin playing in the N.O. behind him.

Lastly, Hechavarria is ranked 5^th in all of baseball with a .981 FPCT and has only three errors for the season.

Desperate teams sometimes make desperate trades and a Mejia for Hechavarria one-on-one deal once Mejia’s suspension is over could be just what Dr. Sandy ordered.

I watched the Mets-Cards game on ESPN Monday night and the announcer mentioned that there used to be a time that, if your bullpen had two or three guys that threw the ball in the 91-92 range, you were considered to have an electric bullpen. He also mentioned that now, everybody seems to have an entire staff that throws in the 94-98 range.

I don’t think it was a coincidence that St. Louis was playing that night. They just happened to be the team that all the rest in the league have tried to duplicate when it comes to 4-5 speed-ballers at the back end of their bullpen.

It also was interesting that he spoke when Hansel Robles had just thrown a 98mph fastball. I was thrilled when the Mets converted Robles to a reliever and he seems to be settling in just fine at the major league level.

As of 5-20, Robles has appeared in eight games, thrown 7.2 innings and has nine strikeouts and two walks. His ERA is 3.52, has a .327-FIP, 3.21-xFIP and 0.1-WAR.

Right now, it’s probably a toss-up if he stays in Queens once Bobby Parnell and Vic Black come back. My guess is first to go would be Jack Leathersich, but we’ll have to wait and see.

And since we’re talking about the pen, should we consider re-building this with the addition of Dillon Gee as the primary 2-inning long man?

We all know how much we hate the 5-7^th inning of these games. Most of the Mets starters still haven’t mastered their skills past six inning and they also seem to come close to their innings limit at the same time.

The Mets need… well, the Mets need another starter to step in and get each game into the 9^th inning for Jeurys Familia (who’s also starting to look a little worn out). Gee could be perfect in this role, at least two or three games a week.

Discussion…