July 31st 2015 -- Mets 2, Nationals 1 (12 innings)

Friday night in Flushing, Wilmer Flores hit walk off solo home run in the bottom of the 12^th inning. The Mets stun the Nationals 2-1.  It was an amazing game all around.  Matt Harvey set the tone by completely dominating the Nationals. He was perfect through 5 1/3. Jose Lobaton broke the spell with a 1 out single in the 6^th The Mets took a 1-0 in the bottom of the 4^th against Nat starter Gio Gonzalez.  With one out Gonzalez walked Jose Uribe and Travis d’Arnaud back to back. Flores then came up and singled to left center to bring home Uribe for a 1-0 lead.  That lead held up until the 8^th.  Clint Robinson was hit by a pitch. The HBP was reviewed and was upheld. Danny Espinosa pinch ran for Robinson. Espinosa reached 2^nd on an infield hit by Anthony Rendon.  Yunel Escobar’s RBI single brought home Espinosa and the game was tied at 1.  Harvey left after 7 2/3 innings. He allowed just 5 hits the 1 run (earned) and struck out 9. Tyler Clippard, Jeurys Familia, Hansel Robles and Carlos Torres combined to blank the Nats the rest of the way. In the bottom of the 12^th against Felipe Rivero, Flores led off the inning with a solo homer to left center to win the game. His 11^th homer on the year and a more amazing, Hollywood ending you won’t find in another game this year. Flores brought home both runs on the night. Ruben Tejada added 2 hits.  Torres gets the win in relief striking out the side in the 11^th, he’s now 4-4. He’s uniform # 52 will now belong to the newest Mets Yoenis Cespedes when he arrives on Saturday.  With the win the Mets improve to 53-50 and are 36-18 at home. They gain a full game on the Nationals and are now 2 games back with 2 games to go in this weekend series.  Saturday night Jacob deGrom (10-6 2.05) goes for the Mets, Joe Ross (3-3 3.03) goes for Washington.

Yoenis Cespedes to Mets for Fulmer and Cessa

Well, the "I don't want no stinkin' rentals" mantra certainly went out the window when Sandy Alderson apparently completed a deal sending the dominating AA pitcher Michael Fulmer and 2nd tier pitcher Luis Cessa to Detroit for slugger Yoenis Cespedes.  A two-time winner of the Home Run Derby at the All Star Game, Cespedes is having an outstanding year, batting .293 with 18 HRs and 61 RBIs.

He'll likely slot into RF with Curtis Granderson moving to CF and Michael Conforto remaining in LF.

He is a free agent at the end of the year and his contract stipulates a Qualifying Offer cannot be made, so there will be no compensation if he chooses to test the market.

Well, we all wanted a slugger and he is a bonafide one, though some will question whether or not the price paid was too steep for a two month rental.

MAJORING ON THR MINORS: WHO'S HOT (LOWER MINORS)

MAJORING ON THE MINORS: WHO'S HOT (LOWER MINORS) – Tom Brennan

On July 30, I presented an article which identified who was h..o..t in the 4 upper season leagues.  Answer: PLENTY OF GUYS.

Today, the short season league hit players, team by team:

BROOKLYN: The Cyclones have had little offense, decent starting pitching, and an above average pen so far.

Vince Siena: .323 BA paces the squad, and the 2B has stolen 6 of 7.

Jeff Diehl: the 21 year old is now in year 4 after being drafted in the 23rd round in 2011 out of high school. In 26 games, the 1B is at .270/.382/.486. For Brooklyn, that's hot.

Alex Palsha: the main man out of the Cyclones pen - 11 games with a 0.00 ERA, 16 K, and 0.64 WHIP.  He is 23, a 27th rounder in 2014, and outperforming, considering that. Heck, he saved 11 of 12 last year in rookie ball with a 1.04 ERA.  He needs to be promoted soon to see how he fares.

Corey Taylor: a 7th round righty this year, unscored on in 11 innings so far in relief.  0.73 WHIP.

P. J. Conlon:  a 13th round lefty, 8 relief outings, 0.00, 0.38 WHIP.

KINGSPORT: on a team that has had some bad pitching performances, 4 hitters and a few pitchers stand out so far:

Kevin Kaczmarski - a 2015 ninth rounder, he is hitting .309/.380/.415. He is already 23 so he needs to continue to excel.

Dash Winningham - Dash is crushing it. 10 doubles, 8 homers, 29 RBIs, and nearly .300 in 34 games from a 19 year old?  Love it!

Luis Carpio - question for you readers. What is just turned 18 years old, plays SS, and hits .300/.398/.363?  A Luis Carpio, that's what.
LC Hammer has been on base via hit or walk 21 X in past 10 games.  WOW.

Pat Mazelka - the 21 year old 8th round lefty hitting catcher is killing it at .317/..427/.525.  0 errors so far! Low caught stealing rate so far.

Seth Davis - it is early, but in 7.2 relief innings, no runs, 7 Ks.

Thomas Mcilraith - the 20th rounder is 2-0, 1.93 so far in 18.2 IP, but a little high on the walks so far.

Nabil Crismatt - a 20 year old who started out in the DSL in 2012, he's struck out 30 in 24 innings so far. Career, he is 11-4, 2.43, 132 Ks, 0.98 WHIP in 118 innings.  Worth watching.


GULF COAST LEAGUE METS are holding their own so far, thanks to:

Ali Sanchez - stunning performance to date for the 18 year old catcher. .344/.392/.378 in 30 games.  I'd like to see catcher Mazelka promoted to Brooklyn soon, and Ali to Kingsport at the same time.  For now, Brandon Brosher is catching in Brooklyn, with promise and power but struggling a bit at the bat; he deserves to play a lot, so only promote Mazelka and Sanchez when it won't affect Brosher.

Desmond Lindsay, the Mets' top draft pick, who is hitting .400...OK, only 4 for 10 so far, but he IS the top draft pick.

Max Wotell has K'd 8 in 4.1 IP.  Exciting debut for 18 yr old 3rd rounder.  GO, MAX, GO!

Merandy Gonzalez - the no hit 19 year old man has thrown 22 innings, K'd 25, and allowed just 9 hits so far. A 7 inning no hitter and another 5 inning outing with zero hits and 7 Ks. Intriguing.

I highlighted 16 guys on those three short season teams, and (see my prior article) about 30 on the 4 full season squads.  Lots of fine performances on these 3 short season teams, and all seven teams for that matter, folks.

Ernest Dove - Meet the Mets.....The Greatest Show on Earth

 
  It sure feels good to be a Mets fan, doesn't it?  Baseball, in and of itself, is meant to provide entertainment.  Tell me your not entertained?

  The 2015 season has been AMAZIN for the Metsies.  They didn't even break camp without losing a stud arm, an actual LOOGY and a fun storyline of a former 5 tool prospect literally disappearing into the witness protection program.

  We haved lived and died every day with this team.  From their 11 game magical winning streak, to losing what seemed like every game since for about a month or so, scoring maybe a run or two per game.

  The captain of the franchise added medical drama. Lagares and his elbow has created its own spinoff. Mejia the bad boy has added fuel to the fire on this reality show. As the Duda turns has become a melodrama of its own. And let's now forget the comedy, Everybody Hates Sandy....or is it Terry.....or is it Wilpon?  I think this is the Law and order of shows where there is plenty of spin offs to go around.

  How can anyone not love the Mets. They have so much talent.  They have so many terrible players. They have such a strong farm system.  They have so many overrated prospects. They have the worst manager in professional sports. They have Rodney Dangerfield managing this team. They have Captain America. They have Mr. Glass. What more can you ask for here?

  We're so busy being happy, excited, upset, floored, that we are missing one helluva season here. Grandy is the most overpayed, uselsss, waste of contract on this team.  Grandy is the best player on the team. Matt Harvey, depending on who you ask, is 'leaving the show' and heading to the Yankees........in 2018........2018!!!!

  Ruben Tejada should never start a major league game again because he is overweight, unmotivated and never to live up to his potention.  Tejada is the most consistent defensive force on the 25 man roster and has raised his batting average over 20 points in the past month.

  Travis d'Arnaud might as well become RoboCop because it's just not happening.  His understudy is quietly a .280ish hitter who's been calling a bunch of gem's behind the plate for about 2 months.
  Daniel Murphy............pulling a Murph.....pretty much every other episode, just to keep the audience on its toes. You simply can't go too many episodes without this.  You can just never 'jump the shark' with this, I promise you.  And, to be honest, its become an audience favorite to simply tag anyone as the episode's assiged Murph of the day anywan, as any true game show would do to keep it interesting and keep the Murph'd title alive.

  And let's not forget that Lifetime movie starring Wilmer this week. Stupid Lifetime, and their constant need to inflict pain on its lead/supporting character. Or is it The Bachelorette? Oh, but don't worry Wilmer, thankfully the show always makes the dude with the warmest story and emotions his own spinoff to lead into the next one.  It's all you baby.

  If you need flame throwers, there's plenty in this circus act.  We have actual Marvel characters on display.  We've got a Familia to close the show. We've got audience participation throughout in what is pleasantly called MetsTwitter, where you can throw balls at the characters, or pretty much whoever you want that is in any way related to the Mets or reporting of the Mets, and aim for the target to dunk them into water.

  The audience feels the show is over and is ready to walk out, as soon as one big incident occurs, regardless if its in the first 5 minutes or in the 29th.  We live or die off every run scored. Name a better show on television?  Name a show with this much insight, chaos, intrigue and suspense?  It's a soap opera where characters can literally be dead and taken off show, and somehow come back, as if we wouldnt notice or question it.

  Name a show in which you can talk so much about it before, during and after, day and night? Raise your hand if you feel aweful having seen and ending, and hate the creators for such a terrible ending, thus anxiously awaiting the next season.  And Sandy, oh Sandy, those vanity cards after every episode drive so many of us crazy. Yet we can't help but watch because the show is so darn entertaining. Damn you! 

  So, where does the show go from here?  It seems like they are overloading the audience with so much backstory, Everyone wants this Netflix show to add more episodes because there's just too much material that's been shot, so it simply MUST be expanded into extra bonus episodes. The audience demands a better ending, even if you have to re-write it on the fly, add characters, and make us hate and love the new ones before they even get their feet wet and get established on the show.
  What to make of the new kid Conforto? How do we feel about him?  Maybe he won't be more interesting and exciting until the end of the season.  And what's up with Cuddyer?  He's been on the ventilator all season, yet won't go away.  And did they seriously just show a clip of Cesar Puello on that Island?  Are you kidding me?  And why the hell do we keep seeing previews with Montero in them when they know darn well he's not on the show.  Must be poor editing.

  And for the life of me I can't figure out if they want the Dark Knight to be the good guy, or the bad guy.  Which comic book are we up to right now on the list?  And why can't the show decide on the fantastic four and stick to it?  You can't tease us with clips of one being sent off into the sunset, and they say, ha ha, just kidding, he's also still here.

  And why are so many of the evil villians joining forces with our beloved heroes?  How do we know they won't turn on us at the worst possible time?  I can't take it.  Oh, and is the evil empire in the Bronx or in DC, this main storyline remains confusing to me.  

  And why doesn't my DVR work on this stupid show?  Stupid money hungry networks just have to earn that extra money in advertising and disable the fast forward function on my on demand.  Stop being CHEAP!!!!

  Oh well, tune in next time.  Same bat time, same bat channel (fade to black)......................... LGM

Mack’s Morning Report – 7-31-15 – Thursday's Game, Sandy Alderson, Carlos Gomez, Twitter, Mayo

Good morning.


There's been a lot of games this season that e have walked away with pain in our gut knowing we were inches away from a victory, but none may hurt more or have more importance than the complete collapse yesterday afternoon against the Padres.

The loss, plus the 1-0 Nats win against Miami, puts the Mets three games behind going into the three critical game series that begins tonight against Washington. Even more importantly is the fact that the Mets are four games behind in the loss column.

What has happened to Jeurys Familia? 

And if Jon Niese hit for himself in the bottom of the sixth inning, why was he taken out anyway in the seventh with only 87 pitches thrown?

I would guess, at best, the Mets to win two of the next three games against the Nats this weekend and close the gap to two games, three down in the loss column.

I just can't believe they let a 7-1 lead slip away in this game.

General Manager Sandy Alderson has taken on a fair amount of heat regarding his draft picks since taking on the responsibility in 2011 of returning the New York Mets to the playoffs.

Fans are quick to point out the lack of picks that have made the parent team so far. Michael Conforto joined Logan Verrett (2011), Danny Muno (2011), Jack Leathersich (2011), and Kevin Plawecki (2012) as the only draft picks that have made it to Queens.

However, let’s not forget that draft picks John Gant (21^st pick – 2011), Casey Meisner (3^rd – 2013) and Rob Whalen (12^th – 2012) have brought Lance Johnson, Tyler Clippard, and Juan Uribe to the team this month and changed the 25-man into a squad that more resembles a playoff team.

Frankly, in my opinion, this is pretty good for five drafts.     

MLB 

I’m sure most of you are very happy with you first heard about the Carlos Gomez trade plus how easy it seems to have been to improve this team in the past week, but I walked away with this with a certain sense of being pissed that the Wilpons and Alderson & Company did nothing for five years.

On the surface it looks like the Mets stole Gomez for a pitcher recovering from TJS and an infielder without a position, but the real reason this deal supposedly got done was the fact that the Mets were willing to take on the remaining monies on Gomez’ contract. The same goes for Lance Johnson, Tyler Clippard, and Juan Uribe. This has always been a business and, as usual, money talks. In our case, as Mets fans, we simply had forgotten how this works since the Omar Minaya days.

But then, the Mets proves that yes Shirley, you still can fuck up a wet dream.

You’re going to hear about twenty different versions on why this deal didn’t go down but here’s the real reason:

Two teams agreed to trade three players (Wheeler, Flores, Gomez) pending the approval of each player’s physicals.

One of these players had played a portion of this season injured (Gomez) while another has been out the entire season recovering from survey (Wheeler).

We all assumed that any questions on a physical would be on Wheeler, but it turns out that it was Alderson questioning Milwaukee and Gomez’ agent, Scott Boras, on the condition of Gomez’ hip.

Sandy also… then… said they wanted Milwaukee to kick in some money on this deal. This was done after this deal was supposedly done.

Milwaukee got pissed about Alderson's aftereffect request for money and told him to suck an egg.

Eventually, Alderson didn’t get what he wanted or wasn’t happy with the results of what he had learned about Gomez’ hip and he pulled the deal.

Everything that happened Wednesday night… if it happened back in the day… would have been fine. The two General Managers would have kept their mouths shut and talked only to their VPs and doctors. Nothing would have been announced until all the “T’s” were crossed.

But that doesn’t happen in today’s Twitter world where ex-newspaper reporters are paid to beat other ex-newspaper reporters on info scoops. Accuracy takes a step back in this social media world and we’re left with a crowd at CitiField knowing more about this team than the manager and the shortstop playing with tears in his eyes and keep looking at the scoreboard to look for any announcement that he was traded.

It sure looked like the Mets handled this very badly, but it guys like Joel Sherman that blew it here.

And please don’t blame Terry Collins, who gets enough heat here from me and others on Mack’s Mets. No one from the front office told him about any trade while the game was being played so there was no reason to pull Flo out of the game.

 It looked rough, but that’s the business of baseball. 

Jonathan Mayo updated his Top 100 prospect list on Friday. The Mets on the list, and their rank, are:

            #18 - P          Steven Matz

            #19 – LF        Michael Conforto

            #84 – OF       Brandon Nimmo

            #96 – SS        Amed Rosario

Mack – I think this is the first time Rosario has made a Mayo list. It’s great to read his name here.

DOWN UNDER: Mets Minor League Results - 7-30-15

 

Cecchini's night...and month.

DOWN UNDER: Mets Minor League Results - 7-30-15

 STAR OF THE DAY: Gavin Cecchini went 5-6

HONORABLE MENTION: Ty Badamo tossed 7 scoreless.

 SCORES:

Las Vegas (59-47) 2 - Sacramento 4

Binghamton (58-46)  11 - Richmond 3

St Lucie (51-51)   - Clearwater ANOTHER RAIN OUT

Savannah (55-47)  3 - Asheville 2

Brooklyn  (21-17) 7 - Hudson Valley 1

Kingsport (18-18) 2 - Pulaski 4

GCL Mets (19-14)  2 - Cardinals 0

DSL METS 1 (26-26)  1 - Giants  4

DSL METS 2 (32-20) 8 - Tigers 5 

Now Here's the Scoop:

 
Las Vegas sent Luis Cessa (0-2, 8.84) to the mound. 4 runs in the first 2 frames of this loss...but then he struck out the side in the third, and threw two more scoreless innings to start to conquer his AAA demons. Matt Reynolds returns, 1-4, RBI. Nimmo doubled once in 4 ABs.

 
Binghamton's Rainy Lara gave up 1 hit over 5. The B Mets exploded for 10 runs in the last few innings.  Gavin Cecchini went 5-6, and in 28 July games is a remarkable .400/.467/.550.

 

St Lucie - slosh slosh slosh.

 
Savannah's Cory Oswalt threw well in a no decision. Luis Guillorme drove in the game winner in the 7th in another tight Gnats win.

 
Brooklyn exploded for six runs in the first 3 innings. Tyler Badamo threw seven scoreless innings for the win. Manny Hilario hit a 2 run homer for the Cyclones.

 Kingsport's Darwin Ramos started and threw well in a loss due to lack of hit support. Kevin Kaczmarski went 3-5 with an RBI (.320).  Ivan Wilson fanned 3 more times.

 
GCL Mets sent 5 pitchers to the mound on Thursday.  All refused to allow any runs to score, hence the 2-0 winning result, pushing the GCL Mets to 5 games over .500 (19-14).  

Tom Szapucki had a perfect IP & 2 K's, as did Max Wotell.

DSL METS 1 lost to a Giants squad playing .700 ball.

DSL METS 2: four errors by the Tigers led to three unearned runs for the Mets in another win that was error-aided.

 GOAT: Jeurys Familia

ROSTER MOVE - Mets

MLB 

C Travis d'Arnaud has been taken off the disabled list and has been activated to the 25-man squad.

C Anthony Recker has been optioned to AAA-Las Vegas

July 30th 2015 -- Padres 8, Mets 7

Thursday afternoon at Citi, Justin Upton hit a 3 run homer off Jeurys Familia in the top of the 9^th inning. The Padres come from behind and beat the Mets 8-7. The Mets went into the top of the 9^th with a 7-5 lead.  Familia got the first two outs of the 9^th when a rain delay came.  When the game resumed the Friars got singles by Derek Norris and Matt Kemp. Upton followed with the three run bomb, his 18^th to give the Padres the lead.  The Mets constructed a 7-1 lead. The Mets took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 1^st when Curtis Granderson doubled to center. Moved to 3^rd on a fly out by Ruben Tejada and scored on a sac-fly by Daniel Murphy.  In the 5^th Kevin Plawecki singled and was erased on force play by Niese trying to bunt.  Juan Lagares walked and then Granderson hit his 16^th home run to right center clearing the bases for a 4-0 lead. Niese was sharp on the day. In his last outing he was distracted by his wife being in labor. Thursday the new Father pitched with a purpose.  Niese ran into a speed bump in the 6^th. He allowed an RBI single to Matt Kemp to make it 4-1. Then with the bases loaded and 1 out he got Jed Gyorko to ground into an inning ending double play. In the 6^th Juan Uribe hit his first Met homer, a solo shot to make it 5-1.  Lagares hit a sac-fly scoring Michael Conforto and it was 6-1.  Tejada’s RBI single scored Plawecki and it was 7-1. Derek Norris was a one man wrecking crew on the day. He went 5 for 5 including a grand slam in the 7^th off Hansel Robles to pull the Padres to within 7-5. Bobby Parnell got into the bases loaded jam. Hansel Robles yielded the slam, for Norris his 12^th homer on the year.  In the 9^th Upton powered the Padres to the 8-7 win. The game was delayed a second time and much longer after the top of the 9^th. When play resumed Craig Kimbrel retired the Mets 1-2-3 to notch his 30^th save. Niese went 6 innings allowing 6 hits the 1 run (earned) walking 1 and striking out 6. Familia takes the loss falling to 2-1. Familia is in a horrible slump blowing his 3^rd consecutive save.  Marcos Mateo gets the win he’s now 1-0. With the loss the Mets drop to 52-50 on the year and 35-18 at home. The Nats won on Thursday afternoon so the Mets fall to 3 games out, going into this weekend’s series. Friday, the Nationals come to Flushing for a 3 game battle for 1^st place. Friday night Matt Harvey (9-7 3.16) goes for the Mets, Gio Gonzalez (8-4 3.83) goes for Washington. 

ROSTER MOVES - Binghamton

Please note the following transactions involving the Binghamton Mets.

July 30:

• RHP Tyler Pill transferred from Las Vegas (AAA) to Binghamton (AA)

ROSTER MOVES - Savannah

Please be advise of the following Sand Gnats Roster Moves:

7/30 - RHP - Jimmy Duff transferred to St. Lucie Mets

7/30 - RHP - Luis Mateo added from Brooklyn Cyclones

UPDATE - P - Jack Leathersich

RP Jack Leathersich has undergone Tommy John surgery...

The Morning Report 7.30.2015 | What the Heck Happened Last Night? Review, Analysis, and Fall-Out. Mack's Mets Injury Report

Also at Mack's Mets:

Carlos Gomez Trade | Christopher Soto - Let's slowly recap what the heck happened last night.

• Review
• Yesterday before the start of the game, the Mets and the Brewers agreed on a deal that would send CF Carlos Gomez to NY in exchange for SP Zack Wheeler and IF Wilmer Flores. The deal was agreed upon pending physicals and the Brewers even informed Carlos Gomez that as soon as the team's flight landed in Milwaukee, he would be connecting to NY. During the game, Team Doctors on the Mets staff became alarmed about a potentially significant hip issue that was on Carlos Gomez's medical report. The medical team reported back to Sandy Alderson who then proceeded to pull the offer from the table.

• Analysis: 
• For the Mets, when healthy, Carlos Gomez is one of, if not, the top offensive/defensive combination CF in baseball. Over the past 3 seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, he has average a .276 AVG, .815 OPS with 22 HR and 37 SB per season. This kind of production combined with his defense would be worth +5.5 Wins Above Replacement per season. Carlos Gomez is also signed for 2016 as well.

• For the Brewers, Zack Wheeler is a tremendously high upside arm that is recovering from surgeries to repair his UCL tear and a flexor tendon tear. Currently he is not expected to return to the mound until late June of 2016. Of the Mets big pitching prospects, Wheeler turned out to be the most inefficient one of the bunch as he regularly had trouble getting out of the 5th inning before throwing 100 pitches. It is reasonable to believe that Wheeler will not return to 100% form until 2017 which gives the Brewers 3 years of control. If Wheeler returns to his usual self he returns an average of +2.5 WAR per season. Wilmer Flores would serve as the Brewers new 3B where his defensive abilities would play up . So far this season Flores has been worth +1.1 WAR and could reasonably finish at +2.0 WAR. He would come with the same amount of control as Wheeler.

• In total the Mets would received a forecasted +7.0 future WAR of value from Gomez while the Brewers would receive +15.5 WAR from the combination of Wheeler and Flores. On paper the Brewers would win the deal, however, the Mets would receive the bulk of their value up front while the Brewers would be waiting till 2017 really start receiving the benefit. You could conceivably argue that if Gomez were extended through the 2019 season (when Wheeler and Flores become free agent) the WAR value would be around +19.0 for Gomez thus making the Mets the winners of the deal. In the grand scheme of things......this would have been a very fair trade for both sides.

• Fall-Out
• 1st.... The bridge is burned with the Milwaukee Brewers. That means no Gomez and no Gerardo Parra either.

• 2nd....This sets the markets for OFs with an additional year of control. Looks for the Mets to revisit Jay Bruce and Josh Reddick.

• 3rd.....With news that it was Gomez's medicals that didn't check out....not Wheeler....other teams could now be interested in Wheeler as a trade piece. Perhaps the Rockies would be interested in Wheeler plus prospects in an exchange for Charlie Blackmon.

Mack's Mets Injury Report- 

• It is with great regret and disappointment that I would like to officially announce that Mack's Mets will be placing me on the 15 Day DL. After multiple medical reviews, it has been determined that I have sustained a Rotator Cuff Tear as well as a Labrum Tear in my right shoulder. I will be going under the knife on August 5th to get the tears repaired and will be unable to maintain the website for the next 3-4 weeks as I will be immobilized. Mack Ade will be returning starting August 3rd to provide coverage while I am away.

MAJORING ON THE MINORS: Who's Hot, Who's Not

MAJORING ON THE MINORS: Who's Hot, Who's Not: Tom Brennan

The seasons are all in full swing, with the full season squads surpassing 100 games and the short season teams at around 35 games in.

So how about who's really hot, by team, thru Tuesday this week?  But let’s stratify a bit.  This article got longer than I first anticipated just on the 4 full season teams' hot guys, which is good because frankly there have been so many noteworthy performances on those teams.  So I will do a similar article on hot players in short season leagues next time.

LAS VEGAS has had a series of good and bad streaks, but has been winning almost without fail the past few weeks.  Why? The AAAA squad of hitters trying to prove they are more than that has been cranking:

·       Travis Taijeron with 7 hits and 5 walks in his last 4 games.

·       Danny Muno on base 10 X in 3 gms since back from Mother Ship.

·       Darrell Ceciliani comes off the DL and drills 8 hits in 3 games.

·       Brandon Allen hitting .324/.422/.554 in July.  Over .300 in June.

·       Johnny Monell still hitting .350 for the AAA season.

·       T J Rivera hitting .309 in 52 AAA games (.319 in AA).

Hard to lose with all that offense.

BINGHAMTON has been hot, too, but in their case, it has been both pitching and hitting.

·       Michael Conforto hit good enough to go to Queens.

·       Brandon Nimmo played good enough to go to Vegas.

·       Gavin Cecchini remains over .300 in a breakout hitting season.

·       Michael Fulmer has been devastating.  Pitching like this a few years earlier, he'd be in Queens already.  6-2. 1.88 in 15 AA starts, better than the pace of Harvey, deGrom, Syndergaard, Matz, and Wheeler when they pitched in AA.

·       Casey Meisner, good enough to bring back Tyler Clippard in a trade.

·       Seth Lugo: just 1 earned run in his last 4 starts (25 IP, 26 K).

·       Dario Alvarez (just promoted to AAA) and Paul Sewald (1.51 ERA, 16 saves in 17 tries, 0.81 WHIP) - they have been so ridiculously good since June rolled around, it is not even funny.

ST LUCIE has been treading water W-L wise, but had hot performances, offsetting several poor ones.

Jeff McNeil slipped to 2nd in the batting race (but is still at .314).

Dominic Smith is 8th (.295), with his 58 RBIs in 89 games being good for 3rd in the FSL (the 2 guys ahead have played more games).

Matt Oberste (.277) went 9-17 in his last 5 games, & has 40 RBIs.

 Yeixon Ruiz (.243), a slender switch hitting SS, is 12 for his last 22.

Phil Evans: .319/.413/.435 in 21 July games after a tough 2015 start.

Logan Taylor has allowed just 4 earned runs in his last 4 starts.

Kelly Secrest is 6-2, 2.66 in relief this season.

Kyle Regnault has a 1.77 ERA in 27 relief appearances this year.

SAVANNAH surged from 9 games under to several games over .500 this year due to some fine performances.

Wuilmer Becerra (.295) has hit .330 in June and July.

Eudor Garcia has hit a robust .287 in 74 games, with a .449 slugging % and 18 hits in his last 10 games.

Luis Guillorme (.294/.373) has been a reliable table setter all year.

Scarlyn Reyes and Martires Arias were both just promoted to St Lucie after strong starting performances for the Gnats. Reyes only started out in Developmental leagues at age 23, but won 10 of his 16 starts for the Gnats this year at age 25.  Arias is 4-1, 1.77 with 60 Ks in 56 innings in his last 10 starts.  Two to watch.

Michael Katz has dealt with injuries in his first year in 2014 and earlier this year, but he is smoking now: 10 hits and 14 RBIs in his last 5 games, giving him 33 RBIs in 33 games.  Kicking butt.

CF John Mora has climbed to .278 (.432 in his last 10), with 54 doubles and 23 triples in just 970 career at bats.  Another to watch.

Some guys in the above leagues have not been as strong of late, but over the entire season have been quite impressive.

Four such notables are Luis Cessa, Akeel Morris, Rob Gsellman, and Dave Roseboom.

Luis Cessa was superb in most of his AA starts, but has struggled in his first Four AAA starts.  The hard thrower is still at 7-6, 3.82 in 17 starts despite the AAA difficulties.  He's not the first one to struggle when first pitching in Vegas.  Won't be the last.

Akeel Morris is at 2.70 for the season after a few bad outings, but is righting the ship with just one earned run in his past 6 outings, covering 7 innings.  Some adversity can help a player's development, amd he is clearly recovering from it.

Rob Gsellman blazed in High A earlier this year, found AA tougher, but has adjusted, allowing just 2 earned in his last 3 AA starts.  He is an excellent 10-5, 2.70 in 18 starts this year.

Dave Roseboom rocked Savannah, but has found St Lucie more challenging. Still, he is at 3-0, 1.94 for the season.

Lastly, 4 very good minor league pitchers have been traded in 2015 thru Wednesday: Meisner, John Gant, Rob Whelan, and Brad Wieck.

A fine group.  Over 30 guys highlighted, including the ones shipped off.

More to come shortly on guys who are HOT in the lower minors.

DOWN UNDER: Mets Minor League Results - 7-29-15

 

DOWN UNDER: Mets Minor League Results - 7-29-15

 STAR OF THE DAY: Dash Winningham  rocked it.

HONORABLE MENTION: Gavin Cecchini's 4 hits, Brock Peterson's 2 homers.  Kevin Canelon in a fine start.

 SCORES:

Las Vegas (59-46) 2 - Sacramento 4

Binghamton (57-46) 11 - New Britain 4

St Lucie (51-51) 2 - Daytona 7

Savannah  - much-needed R&R

Brooklyn (20-17) 6 - Hudson Valley 3

Kingsport (18-17) 10 - Pulaski 4

GCL Mets (18-14)  - doubleheader (well, almost)

- Game 1: Mets 4-1 over the lowly Nats

- Game 2: Mets trailed 8-1 after 1, game suspended

DSL METS 1 (26-25) 4 - Giants 5

DSL METS 2 (31-20) 5 - Tigers  3

 Here's the Scoop:

Las Vegas sent out Tyler Pill, hoping he could shake off his 2-6, 7.60 season of pain. Two solo shots in 4 innings, as they try to stretch him out again, moves to 2-7, ERA inches down a bit. Not much hitting...Pill doubled in his one at bat, the dude truly can hit), Nimmo 0-4.  Muno 2-4 (.305).

 
Binghamton's Rob Gsellman took to the mound tonight to see if he could continue to build upon a very fine season. And that he did - 2 runs, none earned over 5 innings.  

The B Mets had an 8 run 2nd. Gavin Cecchini 4-5, 3 RBI (yay), 25th error (boo).   Brock Peterson smacked 2 homers; Josh Rodriguez blasted his 16th, 1 of 3 hits (.283).

 

St Lucie sent Scarlyn Reyes out for his 1st start in the FSL.  Not one to write home to the folks about, as Reyes surrendered 10 hits and 7 runs in 4.2 innings, putting the game out of reach.  Dominic Smith went 3-4, boosting his average to .301. Stefan Sabol (.270)  collected the Mets' two RBIs. Dave Roseboom threw 2.1 perfect innings with 3 Ks.

 
Savannah played hooky today.

 
Brooklyn, having won only five of the previous 17, hoped to generate more offense today. Kevin Canelon has a terrific 6 inning outing, Luis Mateo a scoreless inning and K, and Alex Palsha allowed 2 of 3 inherited runners to score, but secured the save and remained at 0.00.

 Kingsport tries to recover from yesterday's 15 walk debacle by sending 5-0 Audry German to the hill.  5 solid innings, just 1 walk, and moves to 6-0. Dash Winningham (.296) to the rescue, with 2 homers (8), a double (10), and 29 RBIs in 34 contests. WOW! Milton Ramos and Ivan Wilson also homered. The latter also fanned 3 times.

 GCL Mets won a tidy first game 4-1, but we're getting hammered in Game 2, 8-1, when the weather intervened. In the first game, rehabbing Josh Prevost threw 3 excellent innings, and Adonis Uceta hurled the remaining innings with just a run with 5 Ks for the victory.  Franklin Correa knocked in 3 runs for the G Mets.

In the interrupted second game, Joel Huertas was awful, allowing 8 runs in one third of an inning. Then it rained.

 DSL METS 1: Mets surrendered a run in the ninth to the Giants (36-15) to lose. Surging 16 year old Kenny Hernandez had 2 more hits and is way up to .178 and climbing out of his hitting hole fast.

 DSL METS 2: in a 7 error affair, the Mets prevailed. Six of the game's 8 runs were unearned. Part of "development."

 GOAT: Mr. Huertas for allowing 8 runs in 1/3 inning (even though 3 of the 8 came in off of the relief pitcher, who hit a batter and balked).  Thankfully, the rains came.  Scarlyn Reyes had a bad first start for St Lucie.

July 29th 2015 -- Padres 7, Mets 3

Wednesday night at Citi Field, Bartolo Colon had his shortest outing since 2012 as the Padres beat the Mets 7-3. Lucas Duda tried to make it a game all by himself as he hit 3 solo homers in the game his 16th, 17th and 18th on the year. It's the 11th time in Mets history a Met has hit 3 homers in a game..but only the 2nd time in their history where it's been done at  home. Both done this year. First by Nieuwenhuis 3 weeks ago and now Duda. Duda had all 3 RBI in the loss. Colon didn’t have it from the get go in this one.  The Padres took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on a RBI single by Matt Kemp and a sac-fly by Justin Upton.  In the 2^nd the Friars took a 4-0 lead on RBI singles by Will Venable and Yangervis Solarte. The Mets got a run back in the bottom of the 2^nd when Lucas Duda hit # 16.  In the third, the Padres sent Colon to the showers as he yielded back to back homers by Justin Upton (17) and Yonder Alonzo (4) to make it 6-1. Colon lasted just 2 1/3 allowing 10 hits, all 6 runs (earned) while striking out 1. Alex Torres pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings in relief. Bobby Parnell was accountable for run # 7 when Upton got his 3^rd RBI of the game on a single in the 6^th. Lucas Duda continued his homer tear with a 2^nd solo shot in the 6th, #17 off Kevin Quackenbush, Duda hit his 18th in the 9th to cap the scoring. Gilmartin pitched a pair of scoreless innings and Hansel Robles pitched a scoreless 9^th.  Colon is now 9-10. Tyson Ross improves to 7-8.With the loss the Mets fall to 52-49 on the year and 35-17 at home. That combined with a Nationals win, the Mets drop a game and are now 2 games out of 1^st in the NL East. Thursday afternoon the Mets finish the season series with the Padres.  Jon Niese (5-9 3.75) goes for the Mets; Andrew Cashner (4-10 3.93) goes for San Diego. 

Official: Carlos Gomez deal to Mets is Off per Sandy Alderson

11:15pm - Sandy Alderson tells Mets reporters that the deal is off.  

It is a done deal #Mets are getting Gomez

— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) July 30, 2015

Per Joel Sherman the Mets have acquired CF Carlos Gomez in exchange for injured RHSP Zack Wheeler and SS/2B Wilmer Flores

Reese Kaplan -- What a Long Strange Trip It's Been

Well, what a strange place we find ourselves as the trading deadline fast approaches on Friday. By then we will know whether or not Sandy Alderson was able to pull a rabbit (or shortstop or outfielder) out of his hat, but his bag of tricks did contain some surprises.

First of all, kudos for the bench acquisitions. Both Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson are ideally in the mold of Bench Construction 101 – veteran players who take quality at-bats and know how to play the game. As predicted on Saturday, I said he would obtain a few improvements and cut ties with what wasn't working, specifically John Mayberry, though I'm a little more charitable to Danny Muno (and his biggest fan, Tom Brennan) since he never got to play.

The Tyler Clippard trade was in the rumor mill with a lot of people speculating how it may be made, but many were scratching their heads in wonder as to why Alderson was focusing on an area of competency for the Mets instead of the anemic offense. Sure, everyone knew Jenrry Mejia was ineligible for the post season, so another arm certainly wouldn't hurt in that regard.

What we didn't know at the time (but Sandy Alderson did per the league office before the trade was consummated) was that Mejia had failed a PED test for a second time. That news certainly hastened the need to close this deal and perhaps resulted in a somewhat better arm in Casey Meisner going to Oakland than perhaps he might have offered had the pressing need not just happened.

The other interesting development also predicted on Saturday was the flurry of press about David Wright all of the sudden doing baseball-related activities and Travis d'Arnaud's imminent return, perhaps as soon as this weekend.

While there's still one very big bullet in the chamber in Zack Wheeler who is apparently in play, I stand by my belief that the offense you see now is what you will get. We will hear about how Wright and d'Arnaud, plus the strengthening of the bench will propel the team into the post-season.

To be fair, the price for Troy Tulowitzki turned out to be a lot higher than what the Mets could have offered. To start with, they had no shortstop equivalent of Jose Reyes' stature since, well, Jose Reyes. The prospects they probably could have matched but they got Reyes plus top prospects and I don't think Sandy could have pulled off that one.

Ben Zobrist went for some high cost as well...a top pitching prospect and a second tier one. I can't see that they would have had interest in Jonathan Papelbon or Johnny Cueto, but it's sure been an active deadline period this year.

Still, wouldn't it be nice to see a headline appear that the Mets rolled the dice and found themselves a Gerardo Parra, Carlos Gomez, Carlos Gonzalez, Justin Upton or Yoenis Cespedes tomorrow morning? Well, just like being a game out of 1^st place can make a man dream, so too can we dream of a real offense.

To reference a good line by James Preller, for Sandy Alderson to declare “Mission Accomplished” is a little too George W. Bush in its prematurity.    

The Morning Report 7.29.2015 | Mejia Busted Again, Wright Almost Ready for Rehab Games, Clippard Motivated to Beat Nationals, Mets Still Targeting Parra or Gomez

Kevin Draper | Deadspin- Mets closer Jenrry Mejia was suspended 80 games for testing positive for stanozolol in April. While he didn’t appeal his suspension, Mejia professed his innocence. His suspension was completed in early July, and Mejia has since given up zero runs in 7 1/3 innings. But his successful return proved to be short-lived, as Mejia was suspended 162 games today for a second positive test, this time for stanozolol AND boldenone. And what did Mejia have to say in his defense this time? [Nothing] 

(Chris Soto: Nah Nah Na Na...Hey Hey Hey....Goodbyyeee. This is a disgrace to the Mets organization. Not only for testing positive again, but for thinking that it was still ok to take the banned substance so shortly after completing a previous suspension. What was he thinking? With Mejia eligible for arbitration this off-season, he is now a sure fire candidate to be non tendered and released to become a free agent. Add $2.6M to this off-season's available budget and $865k for the rest of this season.)


Mack Burke | NY Daily News- Even though Sandy Alderson has become active in improving the Mets for a playoff push, the biggest reinforcement could be a few weeks away. David Wright returned to regular baseball activity Tuesday at Citi Field, taking ground balls on a field for the first time and hitting in the cage. He had spent the last couple of weeks of his physical therapy and rehab in Los Angeles from a back problem participating in light baseball activity. Wright said that despite the fact that the activities don’t seem heavy or taxing, he’s letting loose and being as intense as he possibly can during his workouts. He plans to do more drills on Wednesday.

(Chris Soto: Early indications are that David Wright could be playing in Port St. Lucie minor league games by this time next week. If that truly is the case then one can assume that he would need 2-3 weeks to get back into shape and should be available to play for the MLB club in late August for roughly the last 30 games of the season. In the meantime, Juan Uribe seems to be doing just fine as Wright's official fill-in. In his first 3 games with the club, Uribe is 3 for 7 so far with only 1 K. ) 

Mike Puma | New York Post- Tyler Clippard didn’t have to wait long for his Mets debut. A day after he was acquired from the Athletics for minor league pitcher Casey Meisner, the veteran righty was summoned to protect a four-run lead Tuesday.“I was anxious to get out there and put that first one under my belt,” Clippard said. “I am really excited to be back in the NL East. National League baseball is my kind of baseball for sure and the Mets are right in the mix and it’s going to be a lot of fun chasing down my old teammates in Washington. Everybody was talking before the season that rotation was one of the best in the game. From what I’ve seen this year, this rotation here in New York compares if not better than what they’ve got over there."

(Chris Soto: Nice. I like the fire included in Clippard's comments. That's actually quite the added bonus that Clippard brings to the Mets. He has a score to settle with his former team as the Nationals traded him away after the 2013 season because rising bullpen star Drew Storen "was younger and more affordable." Clippard should provide some superb late inning relief coverage as the Mets look to start making progress on the Nationals. Last night's victory and the Nats loss now only separate the two teams by 1 game making this weekend's series against each other the most important one this season.)

Michael Baron | Just Mets- With the Mets having secured Juan Uribe, Kelly Johnson and Tyler Clippard ahead of the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, the Mets are continuing their search for an outfielder to add to their equation. People in the Mets organization have liked Brewers OF Gerardo Parra for a number of seasons [and] with his pending free agency, the Brewers have made him available.  [However], the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt tweeted earlier on Monday that they could be looking to make a big move to acquire Gomez.

(Chris Soto: Carlos Gomez makes a ton of sense for the Mets. He is owed only $2.7M for the rest of 2015 and is under contract through the 2016 season for a VERY reasonable $9M. Acquiring someone like Gomez will allow the club to let Lagares have Tommy John Surgery and patiently allow him to recover so that he is 100% for the 2017 season. In the meantime, the Mets would have one of the top hitting CF's in their line-up which would make them legitimate contenders for playoff runs in both seasons. )