6/1/15

The Morning Report 6.1.2015 | Tejada the New 3B, Matz Nipping at Niese's Job, Conforto in the MLB in 2015?, Minor League Affiliate Relocations



David Wright Injury Tracker | In California to see specialist. Received a cortisone shot.

Mitch Abramson | NY Daily NewsTerry Collins announced that Tejada had solidified his grip on the third basemen’s job with David Wright still rehabbing from a back injury. “Right now he is, he’s earned it,” Collins said after Sunday’s 4-3 win over Miami. “As we all know, he can do a lot of things when he’s playing well and right now he’s playing well.” After riding the bench much of the season and watching as others got to try their hand at third with Wright sidelined, Tejada has finally gotten his shot and taken advantage of it. In his third straight start at third base, Tejada — batting second again — has proved that he should remain on the field.

(Chris Soto: Say what you want about Tejada...but he clearly is the best option for the Mets to be that 8th guy in the line-up even though I don't agree with the defensive alignment [I'd prefer Flores at 3B, Tejada at SS]. With both Eric Campbell and Danny Muno failing to take holding of the job, Terry Collins turned to his old buddy who is taking full advantage.)


Anthony Reiber | Newsday- The best thing that can be said about Jon Niese's start against the Marlins on Saturday is that Mets fans won't have to see him again for six days. Niese's performance continued an alarming pattern that has to have Mets decision-makers wondering if they really have six starters who are worth throwing out there when they expand the rotation this week. Said Niese: "It's very surprising. It's frustrating more than anything because my arm feels great, my body feels great." The way Niese has looked in his last four outings (20 innings, 23 runs, 20 earned runs), Steven Matz would be a better option right now. Matz, by the way, is perfectly lined up to start Friday. Niese's day. Just sayin'...

(Chris Soto: I would be surprised to see the Mets turn to Matz just yet...but I do think Niese's leash is becoming uncomfortably short. Matz has about 2 starts left before he reaches the club's 150 IP above A+ rule so I would expect that Niese would get at least those 2 chances to show he belongs. It's unfortunate that Niese has ZERO trade value; not because he isn't pitching well, but because teams are just so nervous about his injury history/risk.)


James Newman | Mets360- Over this past week, the Mets announced that they promoted their 2014 first round draft pick Michael Conforto to Double-A Binghamton. The [current] starting outfield has had ups and downs, and is not contributing to its full offensive potential, and there is not much production waiting in the wings behind these three players. Due to the power Conforto seems to offer, he may have the advantage of reaching the big leagues earlier than Nimmo. With both players in Double-A, it seems more likely that both players will be on the team at some point in 2016, however if the Mets need a left-handed power hitting outfielder off the bench, Conforto could be called on later this season if he his performing in Double-A at a high level.

(Chris Soto: I'd have to disagree 100% with James. I doubt there is any chance that Conforto gets promoted to the MLB this season. The Mets will not promote Conforto unless he is going to be in a starting role. NOT as a left handed power bat off the bench. From that standpoint, I don't see Conforto unseating any of the current OF'ers as they are all beginning to produce better results.)


Adam Rubin | ESPN New York- The New York Mets' South Atlantic League affiliate is relocating from Savannah, Georgia, to a new stadium in Columbia, South Carolina, for the 2016 season. Hardball Capital, which owns the low-A club, made the move official with a news conference in Columbia on Thursday. Mets general manager Sandy Alderson attended the announcement. Spirit Communications Park is scheduled to open in March 2016. The Savannah Sand Gnats may not be the only Mets affiliate on the move, either. A U.S. District Court judge issued a preliminary injunction last month banning the sale of the Binghamton Mets to another party while a group pursues a federal civil lawsuit claiming it had an agreement to purchase the Double-A club for $8.5 million and move it to Wilmington, Delaware.

(Chris Soto: The Sand Gnats move has been a long time coming as the City of Savannah was just not committal about keeping the team there via upgrading Grayson Stadium. Spirit Park is going to be a "top of the line" facility so the Mets won't be too upset about the move, plus it brings the team just a little bit closer to New York. Now the Binghamton Mets situation may be a bit more dicey....While a settlement has been reached, it's apparent that the team is trying to move somewhere warmer. Generally, the club doesn't promote straight from AA though so if a potential move to a better facility is in the works then, again, I doubt the Mets will be too upset about it. )

17 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

I hope .Matz is called up sooner, but mid June would be Ok.

I could see Conforto as a Sept call up if they are vying for a wild card. They have gotten zero out of their lefty pinch hitters.

Warmer minor league parks are better. I think back to Mejia blowing his elbow pitching in 30 degree weather in Buffalo. Upstate baseball is all right if you start in May,

Zozo said...

I agree with a late September call up for Conforto if we are still in contention. Even if he rides the pine a bit he will be gaining MLB experience.
How about we move our AAA team to Binghamton when the AA team moves and hopefully their is a team that wants to move out west?

Mack Ade said...

Zozo-

I don't think moving a team to Binghamton and play them in a AAA division can be accomplished by the team... I think baseball controls what teams plays where regionally.

eraff said...

Lagares---SUB .600 OPS

Mack Ade said...

IMO, Lagares's bat has been a major disappointment so far this season. I expected a .275+ year out of him, at the least.

eraff said...

Mack---he's batting 254//// add 21 pts to the BA and it still translates to a 611-630 OPS.

Young athletic hitters whi fail to GROW the Hit Skills REGRESS....we're now at 1000 ab's for Lagares and there is no discernable progress. They need to get his attention..quickly!!

ZachBoyer said...

Lagares is injured. It's affecting him in the field too … just less so.

Reese Kaplan said...

@Chris Soto -- is 14 ABs the new standard for declaring someone a failure? Well, I guess it's an improvement over the usual treatment of guys promoted from AAA, but Danny Muno sure is getting no real chance to show what he can do.

Ruben Tejada has has plenty of chances and is hitting .223 since the start of 2013. Even Eric Campbell is outperforming him and I think he's proven to be a failure, too.

Mack Ade said...

Reese -

For the life of me I wish we could make you happy sometime on this site :)

Reese, only one person can play third base at a time. The Mets picked Tejada and he's doing fine right now. He came into the 3B stretch hitting .200 and has had some timely hitting this past week, including last night's winning hit.

I'm not a big Ruben Tejada fan but it sure looks like this is a bad time to not defend what he's doing right now.

Michael S. said...

I know I'm in the minority, but if Lagares cannot learn to hit I have no problem moving forward without him at some point.

Yes, his defense is great, but so was Rey Ordonez's at SS and having to live with his empty bat was not worth the trade off. If Nimmo can hit in the majors and play a respectable CF, I'd prefer a well rounded player.

A future OF of

LF - Conforto
CF - Nimmo
RF - As yet to be named/acquired slugger

Would be more valuable overall.

Mack Ade said...

Michael, Eraff-

I understand where you both are coming from but I don't know of any injury that is preventing Lagares from hitting better.

Christopher Soto said...

@Reese

Of Course not by 7 K's in his first 16 ABs certainly did not make the club feel comfortable enough with him there.

ZachBoyer said...

They keep citing Lagares' bruise under his armpit & something is lingering with his elbow as well (which has affected his throwing very visibly).

The elbow is from last year (although I have to admit I don't remember it). I think he had surgery? Maybe it didn't work?

The armpit thing happened 5/5 with the collision with Cuddyer. He finished the game 0-4 and was hitting .311 at day's end. Coincidence?

Mack Ade said...

Zach -

I do remember that.

If that is correct then the Mets should,send him to the proper doctors and check it out. If there is pain, restriction, or discomfort that Lagares is hiding from the team (done every day), shut him down, put Cecilliani in CF and bring up Castellanos until he heals.

THE SEASON IS STILL YOUNG and this team needs everybody at 100% AFTER the all-star break

Steve from Norfolk said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
IBfromWhitePlains said...

Lagares smoked one to the RF wall yesterday that Stanton made a nice grab on. Hopefully, that's a sign of better things to come. Still love his glove out there even with the 600 OPS.

Regarding Muno over Tejada. The kid's not ready - he looks overmatched. Same goes for Ceciliani. If not for injuries or complete failures there's no way they are even riding the bench.

eraff said...

Rese...there is very little in Muno's MILB stat line to indicate that he's an MLB player. There's definitely LESS in what he's shown so far.

Look....Marco Scutaro finally got a shot when he was late 20's---so I won;t judge any ballplayer as an impossible mission...BUt..

This isn't Little League--- Guys aren't GIVEN Chances---they get them based on some combination of Pedigree and performance.

The fact is that RT IS a Major League Ballplayer---even if all of us don't like him so much.