5/19/15

The Morning Report 5.19.2015 | Nimmo Examined and OK, Ceciliani Promoted from AAA, Dom Smith Heating Up, Alderson Not Panicking Yet.



David Wright Injury Tracker | Worked Out in Port St. Lucie yesterday

Michael Baron | Just Mets- The Mets breathed a sigh of relief on Monday with one of their top prospects. Brandon Nimmo was examined at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan today, and was diagnosed with a sprained ACL in his left knee. Nimmo can resume baseball activities when he is pain free. Nimmo was placed on the disabled list after Friday’s game in Binghamton after stepping on first base awkwardly beating out an infield single..

(Chris Soto: Glad to see that Nimmo is ok. As I reported on Saturday, even though he was in a brace, it was a SOFT brace which allowed him to walk around and put some sort of weight on the knee. Nimmo looked like he was in good spirits and was joking around with some of the other players in the dugout during the game. He'll probably take another week or 2 off before returning to the line-up. Hopefully Conforto is there with him by that time.)


David Hong | Metsmerized Online- The New York Mets announced after Monday’s game that they will promote outfielder Darrell Ceciliani from Triple-A Las Vegas and add him to the major league rosterCeciliani, 24, is batting .336/.389/.584 in 113 at-bats for Triple-A Las Vegas and has a nice combination of power and speed. He’s played the majority of his minor league career in center field and is regarded as a fine defender.

(Chris Soto: FINALLY! The move that I have begging the Mets to make is finally happening. While no corresponding move has been announced yet, it is extremely likely that we will see CF Kirk Nieuwenhuis designated for assignment. This will open up room on both the 25 and 40 man rosters in order to add Ceciliani. For those of you who don't know Darrell, he is an above average defensive CF with good speed capable of stealing 30 bags in a season. His speed and quick first step gives him superb range in the OF but his throwing arm is below average. Offensively, he has very little pop but does put the bat on the ball and keeps his K rate at a reasonable 18-20%. Probably his best attribute is that despite being a lefty, he does not carry any significant L/R splits making him a good candidate for a late inning pinch hitter situation.)


Bryan Zarpentine | Rant Sports- Many of the New York Mets’ top prospects have gotten off to great starts in the 2015 season. However, the lone exception to that has been first base prospect Dominic Smith. When evaluating Smith’s performance this season, one has to remember that he is facing older and more polished pitchers, including a few that may very well reach the big leagues within the next year or so. In fact, it would be surprising if Smith had gotten off to a fast start this year. Smith’s 2014 season actually unfolded in a similar fashion, as he started slow in April, but put together a solid middle of the season in May, June, and July, before tiring out late in the season. Smith has started to show signs of breaking out of his early-season slump with nine hits and nine RBI’s in his last eight games.

(Chris Soto: Bryan does bring up 2 interesting points. 1) This is Dom Smith's 2nd consective extremely aggressive assignment. Most players his age are in training camp preparing for the Short Season A leagues.  2) This season's trend is almost identical to his 2014 season trend. This means we were likely to see an adjustment phase, just like we saw last year when he was assigned to Savannah as a 19 yr old, and he is now finally starting to heat up. Over the past 7 days, Smith has hit .273 with a .742 OPS and only 2 K's. Half of his hits during that time frame are of the extra base variety too.)


Mike Vorkunov | NJ Advance Media- As of now, before the Mets begin a four-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals — who own the best record in baseball — they are 22-16 and hold a half-game lead over the Washington Nationals in the division. Their run differential (+27) is third-best in the National League. "Nobody's ever pleased. You always look back at things," Alderson said. "Nobody cares whether your players are on the disabled list or not. All they care about is the won-loss record so that's really what we have to look at. At one point we were 10 games over. We're six over now. We've gotten back to nine before the Cubs series. So we've got to hopefully climb back and get back to where we were. I think we have the pitching and the offense is starting to pick up too.

(Chris Soto: While there should be not urgency to panic...the Mets do need to pick it up here soon. The Nationals, riding the scorching hot bat of Bryce Harper, are 12-4 so far this month and have closed the division gap to only 1 game. Even worse, that 1 game lead is also the edge the Mets have on the Cubs for the 1st Wild Card spot with a 2.5 game lead on the San Francisco Giants for the 2nd WC spot. It's time to get HOT boys. )

13 comments:

eraff said...

I see more urgency with Alderson this year...I hope he will respond to the needs of this team as they are further defined.

This is a playoff calibre pitching staff...maybe even a staff that could make a BIG run.

I heard echos of an old theme last night---someone in the ESPN booth regarding Matt Harvery--"He can ONLY get better"... HOGWASH!!!

Almost 30 years ago Tim McCarver addressed the same sentiments about Doc Gooden.....

...here's the thing... Harvery is GREAT NOW... maybe deGrom and Syndy are also great....

... don;t miss the opportunity to win NOW.

That's not a call to clear the parts and prospects bin, but there is an opportunity NOW.

Anonymous said...

Lagares doesn't look right to me, and I think the injury forced the Mets hand; they couldn't bring themselves to roll Kirkkk out there with his .073 BA. It would give the impression that SA wasn't aggressive in upgrading the team, instead just placidly relying on the scrubs that Omar left lying around 4 1/2 years ago.

The cautionary notes about rushing to judgment on Dom Smith are nice and everything -- and it's true, there are guys his age working in gas stations -- but he's an undersized first round draft pick that plays 1B and has displayed zero power. Interesting that they've been so aggressive with his placement; it's the one note that gives us hope.

I still think the Mets could possibly use Conforto's bat THIS SEASON. They need to put themselves in the position for that possibility. Get him up to AA now. Come August, and a race for the playoffs, that bat might help win games.

James Preller

Tom Brennan said...

Another counterpoint to Dom Smith optimism is, yes, he's very young, but he also had 724 plate appearances before this year, which reduces the age argument. What puzzles me with him is that I sW clips of him when drafted and he looked like he had plus power....and those clips were when he was 17. A few homers would be nice.

Thank goodness Kirk is going. I never thought we'd see Ceciliani on the Mets this early, but he's earned his chance. Let's see what he can do. With Kirk, this offensive black hole isn't the first one. From mid 2012 to mid 2013, I recall he went 9 for 90 with 40 Ks. Two abysmal stretches like that show he is highly unreliable, at best, and sub par. Good bye.

I Can't wait for Wright and d'Arnaud to return. The lack of support for Harvey is so criminal...and typically Met. FOURTEEN of his 34 starts since the start of 2013 have been no decisions. If he were on those hard hitting Yankee teams of several years ago, with Mariano, he'd have 8 to 10 more wins already in his career. He's Hall of Fame caliber if he stays healthy, let's get him there.

Anonymous said...

Matt had 9 wins in his near-Cy Young season.

Last night my son texted me, "0% chance Harvey resigns with the Mets."

I wanted to write back something sane and reasonable about time and the nature of change. Instead I said, "That's okay, we can't afford him anyway!"

James Preller

Dallas said...

Sure, Harvey could have more wins. The other ERA leaders aren't at 6 wins either. Only Colon and Felix are. Scoring runs is a problem across baseball (unless you are in Toronto apparently) and there will be a lot of no decisions for a lot of pitchers putting up good numbers. It sucks but in the end if he keeps pitching like he has he will have a lot of wins.

Ernest Dove said...

Can't worry about what happens in 3YEARS with Harvey. ........
Besides.......reality check........if wheeler, degrom, Noah and Matz are all healthy and meeting expectations 3 years from now, the Mets (nor any team except maybe dodgers sox and yanks) could afford to sign everybody to 7+yr $10+mil deals anyway.

Charles said...

True. With their current staff, if all goes well, chances are they may be able to keep two. And that's pushing it because pitchers break down and paying them a fortune is insane.

Steve from Norfolk said...

Whoever we keep, Harvey won't be one of them. With the Dark Knight being a Boras client, we'll never pay his asking price. My money's on DeGrom and Thor. By that time, Thor may pass Harvey in performance.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to open that topic, which was unintentional. Just making a joke that there must be days when Matt looks around and wishes he was pitching for a more determined organization. 2018 is a long ways from here.

James Preller

Dallas said...

We need Sandy to start locking up more of the young guys so that we can get them for just their prime years and not be like the Phillies making Ryan Howard type deals. Heck, give Harvey a 7 year deal while he is younger and avoid the risk of the mid to late 30's pitcher everyone will want to keep in order to resign him when he is 30 and wants a long deal. Being 3.5 years from free agency and the risk of pitchers getting hurt even Boras would have to consider some of those options. Should also be noted that its a much more pitching rich time than it use to be and there is more supply than there use to be which I would think would factor in. Look at how many players have an ERA under 2 and 3 at this time of year.

Christopher Soto said...

FYI....

Rockies GM Jeff Bridich and Manager Walt Weiss are about to hop on a conference call with Season Ticket Holders.

Perhaps something happening?

Michael S. said...

By the time he hits free agency, this team's profitability should be significantly different. They're going to be a winning team going forward and that will generate revenue in a lot of ways.

No reason we can't pay Harvey.

Stubby said...

I'm optimistic about Harvey staying with the Mets. There's more to income than just salary. It's New York, baby, and you can't make more money anywhere in the world. There's always the Yankees, but being a Met ace is worth more than being a Yankee ace, long term. With the Mets, its Seaver and Gooden. With the Yankees, there are dozens of that caliber, historically. Would I rather be in a debate of who was better--Seaver or Harvey--or be lost behinhd the Whitey Fords, Roger Clemenses, and Randy Johnsons that have appeared in the Bronx? I think both the Mets and Harvey (and Boras) will give a little to get it done.