5/26/15

The Morning Report 5.26.2015 | Love/Hate Flores Relationship, Bullpen Reinforcements, Hitting Reinforcements Too, SF Giants Trade Talks.



David Wright Injury Tracker | Diagnosed with Spinal Stenosis. In California to see specialist. 

Mark Herrmann | Newsday- So barring the sort of deal that the general manager seems unlikely to make, meet the 2015 Mets, with all of their weaknesses and strengths. Here's an odd one, though: The spot that once looked like the biggest weakness might be one of the greatest strengths. Wilmer Flores hit the three-run home run Monday that won the game and gave the Mets some hope. For now, the Mets have to "settle" for a shortstop who has more than three times as many home runs as Tulowitzki does this season. Days like Monday make you think Flores might not be such a bad option. "I'm going to tell you, as we move into this and you get to the 400-at-bat mark, this guy is going to have pretty impressive numbers," manager Terry Collins said. "He's a good hitter, he's got some power. We don't know how many home runs he is going to hit. I'm not concerned about that. I just know he's a good hitter."

(Chris Soto: When Flores hits...fans are accepting of his below average defense. When he doesn't hit, fans hate him for being a below average defender. It a love/hate relationship that has seen more love lately than hate. One thing I will continue saying is, look at the rest of the MLB. Flores is ranked 10th amongst SS in regards to Defensive Runs Saved with +1. There are 16 guys WORSE than him including Starlin Castro, Ian Desmond, Alexei Ramirez, Troy Tulowitzki, Xander Bogaerts, Jhonny Peralta, and Elvis Andrus. Good Defensive SS play is not as prevalent theses days as they used to be.)


Avery Decker | Metsmerized Online- Two key pieces of the Mets bullpen, Bobby Parnell and Vic Black, are making progress in their rehabilitation processes. Vic Black pitched the seventh inning for the Binghamton Mets...He worked an easy 1-2-3 inning with one strikeout. According to the stadium radar gun, Black was sitting around 92-94 MPH on his fastball. Black also pitched a scoreless inning of relief on Saturday when he made his first rehab appearance. Bobby Parnell also pitched a scoreless inning of relief for the Binghamton Mets on Sunday. After striking out the leadoff man, Parnell then surrendered a double but was able to work around it and escape the jam. 

(Chris Soto: The rotation is starting to get tired which was to be expected with this 21 game - 21 day stretch so the bullpen is more important now than ever. The club is still getting by with their primary combo of Torres/Torres/Familia but its gonna need reinforcements soon. Luckily, both Parnell and Black seem like they could be back within the next week. In addition the LHRP Jerry Blevins had his cast removed and is cleared to resume baseball activities. His return to the bullpen could be more impactful than anything right now.)


Adam Rubin | ESPN New York- Travis d’Arnaud is scheduled to participate in an extended spring training game on Tuesday with the hope that he can return to the lineup as soon as early next week. If all goes well, he will play for Class A St. Lucie for a day or two, then head to Triple-A Las Vegas to complete a rehab assignment. “It can happen within the next five, six days,” Alderson said. Alderson said it was possible that d’Arnaud would return for the Mets' series against the Padres starting on June 1. If not, the GM is hopeful that d’Arnaud will be in the lineup against the Diamondbacks in a series that begins on June 4.

(Chris Soto: SOUND THE RALLY HORN! REINFORCEMENTS ARE COMING! All jokes aside, man this could not have lined up at a better time for the Mets. The team is looking at potentially 3 primary pieces returning before the team heads to the West Coast for a long week against the Padres and Diamondbacks.)


Joe D. | Metsmerized Online- Third baseman Casey McGehee was designated for assignment by the San Francisco Giants on Sunday. Acquired in a trade with the Miami Marlins this past offseason to replace Pablo Sandoval as the everyday third baseman, McGehee has been absolutely awful at the plate. In 110 mostly bad at-bats, McGehee hit .200 with a .248 on-base, .282 slugging, and just nine RBI. He’s struck out 24 times and grounded into a league leading 12 double plays. He has also struggled defensively at third base, committing five errors and owning a .934 fielding percentage.

(Chris Soto: 1st off, as Joe D. points out, the Mets are not in on McGehee, nor should they. I'm not quite sure he would even be an upgrade over Eric Campbell right now. As for those referencing a potential deal to send Murphy to San Fran, that too is unlikely. In fact, it seems like something could be brewing between the Braves and the Giants. Last night, 3B Alberto Callaspo was scratched from the line-up and subsequently DFA'd as it was revealed that the Braves were in talks to trade him. It makes a ton of sense for them since 2B prospect Jose Peraza has been smoking hot in AAA but current 2B Jace Peterson has also been good. DFA'ing Callaspo allows the club to move Peterson there and promote Peraza to the MLB club to be their lead-off hitter.)

19 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

Morning, Chris. I think Mack id doing a Flores article at 10, and I'm doing one on him at noon, so it looks like a Wilmer Day...and in my opinion, that is good.

Reinforcements are welcome. But let's make sure pen returnees are REALLY ready before we tamper with a team strength.

I would send down Recker and not Plawecki if d'Arnaud returned today. Recker, besides his 2 homer day, is 3 for 27 with no RBIs this year. Unacceptably bad.

I hear that any Wright stenosis questions will be answered through a stenographer. Bad joke, bad injury.

Anonymous said...

Why does Travis Darnaud need to take another week before returning. He fractured a finger, he is taking batting practice. Isn't he fully recovered? If he can play in a 5 inning simulated game cant he cant 5 innings at the big league level?

Anonymous said...

Black for Leathersich is a nice upgrade.

I'm not at all convinced that Parnell is all the way back, or that swapping him in for -- who? -- Robbles or Goeddel? -- actually upgrades anything.

With an 8-man pen for much of the season, and a rotation that typically goes deep into games, I think the Mets relievers have had a very light year. Outside of Carlos Torres, I'm not seeing any tiredness whatsoever. Several of these guys are having trouble getting enough work.

Ernest Dove said...

Yeah but the bullpen is gonna get PLENTY of work when the 6man rotation starts...........
Its not realistic to think that all 6 starters will pitch into the 7th/8th inning every night.
And with offense hovering around 3 runs a game, having a 4 man bench is kinda scary too (unless they expect deGrom and Thor to pinch hit as needed).

Reese Kaplan said...

I think it was Mack who suggested if Wright is going to be out long term then the team should consider Alex Castellanos who is leading the 51s in HRs. He can play 3B or (perish the thought) so could Michael Cuddyer.

Steve from Norfolk said...

I actually read some promising news about this kind of disease process. Apparently only 10%-15% of people with spinal stenosis ever require surgery. The main symptoms that indicates surgery is how much pain the patient is in. and how much their daily activities are impaired. David is showing all the signs of a mild case of this disease, and after this research I feel a lot better about the Captain being able to bounce back. This may very well be a manageable condition. He may have times where he has to come out of the lineup for treatment, but he has a decent chance of being able to keep playing. One thing I did find - if he does have to have surgery, his playing days are probably over. He'll lose too much range of motion to be effective in the field or at the plate. But, all in all, this research has made me lose my panic, and given me some hope for his future.

Steve from Norfolk said...

I actually read some promising news about this kind of disease process. Apparently only 10%-15% of people with spinal stenosis ever require surgery. The main symptoms that indicates surgery is how much pain the patient is in. and how much their daily activities are impaired. David is showing all the signs of a mild case of this disease, and after this research I feel a lot better about the Captain being able to bounce back. This may very well be a manageable condition. He may have times where he has to come out of the lineup for treatment, but he has a decent chance of being able to keep playing. One thing I did find - if he does have to have surgery, his playing days are probably over. He'll lose too much range of motion to be effective in the field or at the plate. But, all in all, this research has made me lose my panic, and given me some hope for his future.

Mack Ade said...

Steve From Norfolk -

I'm sure the article you read was great but what was the percentage of people with stenosis that didn't have surgery and could still play at the major league level of baseball?

Think of it as plaque being built up inside the canal where the spinal chords are. The plaque doesn't go away with 'treatment'. In fact, it continues to grow and the canals narrow even more causing contact with the chords. Most of the pain translates into the shoulder and down the legs (or, in most case, one leg) and comes out where the nerve endings end. In my case, I never had pain in my lower back once. It was all leg pain.

The pain will eventually turn into numbness which makes things even worse.

What Wright has to decide is surgery now or surgery later, but "stenosis' can not be eliminated except by surgery.

Steve from Norfolk said...

Mack,

Here is the URL's for 3 of the many articles I read:


http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00329

http://www.spine-health.com/conditions/spinal-stenosis/lumbar-spinal-stenosis-surgery-options

This third is about a newer procedure that does not involve amy devices such as you had to have, or any fusions or disk removal.

www.mildprocedure.com/files/Cleveland-Clinic-MILD-procedure.pdf

As we have discussed, I too suffer from cervical lumbar stenosis. I had to have a foraminectomy done on three of my cervical vertebra (c5, c6, and t1) because I was losing the use of my arms and in severe pain. This was in 1989, and was due to three cervical fusions higher up in my neck (c3, c4, and c5), which were broken in a car accident (1979). I, like you suffered some severe aftereffects, mostly pain.

All of the non-biased articles (written by professional organizations, not surgeons trying to sell their particular procedure) I read said the same thing - delaying surgery will do no harm, and that the determining factor in the surgical decision are how bad the symptoms are and how well the patient is tolerating them. I would not rush into surgery if I had the choice to make over again, because most of my symptoms, including the pain, have come back, most after a few (less than 10) years. The procedure in the third article I mentioned is the only one I would consider. I wish it had been available when I had surgery.

I sincerely hope that David's symptoms are as mild as we are being led to believe. I actually understand the Mets not going into details, as that would violate David's privacy much more than I would want for myself.

This is an issue we may have to agree to disagree on. That's what I love about this site - it's the only one that you can do that on and not be vilified.

Steve from Norfolk said...

I am sorry for rambling. I guess I could have said what I wanted in one paragraph, but I started talking about myself. I'm having one of my bad spells.

Mack Ade said...

S.F.N.

You're not rambling here. You can say anything for as long as you want.

And, in this case, we DON'T disagree. We may thing this problem could be approached in a different manner than either of us had it done, but, in this case, every patient id different as is every diagnosis.

The one constant here is coming out the end with a human being that can play professional baseball for around 150 games a year.

I can't see that happening under any plan.

Mack Ade said...

S.F.N.

You're not rambling here. You can say anything for as long as you want.

And, in this case, we DON'T disagree. We may thing this problem could be approached in a different manner than either of us had it done, but, in this case, every patient id different as is every diagnosis.

The one constant here is coming out the end with a human being that can play professional baseball for around 150 games a year.

I can't see that happening under any plan.

Steve from Norfolk said...

Mack,

I see Wright being able to play 100-120 games a year, with at least one spell on the DL for therapy and nights on the bench to rest, available for PH duties and as a late-innings defensive replacement. That's what got me thinking about making him a super-sub.He'd be the highest-paid bench player in history, but we could move him around the infield and probably corner outfield (probably easier on his back), and get him 400 AB's a year without much of a problem. Only thing is, we'd have to fast track Urena or make a trade.

Mack Ade said...

Steve -

I'm no loner as confident in Urena as I used to be.

Eudor Garcia looks 3 years away and doesn't look to have the potential pop. Past that, the Mets will have to look outside their organization for any solution here.

Maybe a new 2-3 year deal for Murphy?

(did I say that?)

Steve from Norfolk said...

Mack -

Why not? We've spent more and gotten less!

ZachBoyer said...

If Wright is unable to play again this year—maybe even if he is—trade for Todd Frazier. Check the contract, check the stats—they're not bad. How does everyone feel about this? Reds have lost 9 in a row.

Steve from Norfolk said...

We'll see Wright again this year - if we see him in the next month or so. What we need is a better backup for him. Castellanos sounds about right, actually.

Mack Ade said...

Steve -

I through the name Murphy out there to see how it floats. I don't expect he and his agent to be that happy with what he is offered in the off season. This could be a good time to sit down with his agent and put together a new deal that adds a couple of million to this year's contract (paid on the back 6 months prorated) and two more years for the 2016 and 2017 season.

As for Castellanos, I'm the President of the Castellanos for the 20-Man Roster club, but I don't know how well he plays third base. I know he plays it, but that's all I know.

I'm sure Wally can give Fred the straight skinny here.

One more thing... tonight's lineup is out and Flores and Duda are hitting nowhere near each other. What is it that the Mets brass doesn't understand?

Steve from Norfolk said...

Mack -

Re:Duda/Flores - TC wants to be sure they both have plenty of table setters for each one so he doesn't waste his power hitters. (note:sarcasm intended).

Castellanos plays worse than Wright,if you believe in stats. Of course, the stats say Wright is a below average 3B. (break out in fit of laughter)