7/5/15

Kevin Shelly - Thoughts From His IPhone

ESPN 

Kevin Shelly

10:39 AM (12 minutes ago)
to me
Mack,

Big fan of the site. I'm a daily reader but I rarely comment because I'm usually on my iPhone or iPad and not at a computer.  Any fix for enabling commenting from the apple devices?

First thought: I'm done with the Torres'.  We got the most out of Carlos but he's done. Frankly, there are better arms in the pen and farm than him. His time is done. Alex has a nice arm but you can't rely on his control. Time for both to go and when Mejia is back and bring back Leathersich.

Second thought: all this team needs is a league average offense to go with its excellent pitching staff (3-4 runs per game).  You don't need to break up the rotation to bring in pieces.  My first move is putting Lagares under the knife tomorrow. He clearly isn't right and his glove/arm can't carry his bat right now.  I'm then calling Colorado about Charlie Blackmon and offering Fulmer or Meisner and Akeel Morris for his services. He's 29 and just entering arbitration next year so he's a little old but He's a solid player who can man CF while Lagares is down, hit leadoff, steal 20 bags. He can slide to a corner spot next year.

Since I'm pulling the plug on the Torres brothers, I'm ready to jump all in on the Murphy brothers.  I'd make an offer for David Murphy to be my LF vs RHP. He is having a solid year but the Indians aren't competing this year.  Maybe he costs a prospect in the 15-20 range. You can have an outfield of Murphy, Blackmon, Granderson, Cuddyer and Mayberry.

My last move is to make a deal with Atlanta. I'm bringing in Jason Grilli to be my 8th inning guy but I'm also taking Chris Johnson and his contract.  Johnson would replace Campbell and play a corner IF position vs LHP (where he is solid). He is owed quite a bit of money so I'm thinking sending someone in the 10-15 prospect range makes sense for the 2 of these guys. I'd also entertain including aj pierzynski in there too. We really need some help behind the plate with no clear timetable for d'Arnaud to return. He isn't perfect but he's adequate.

I wish I had a solution for SS.

So in short, I'm bringing in Murphy, Blackmon, Grilli, Johnson and AJ and removing Cecillini, Campbell, Monell, Lagares and the low man in the bullpen.

I think this team could produce league average offense and you wouldn't be mortgaging anything to do this.

Just need Atlanta and Cleveland to fall further out of the race.

Thanks Mack, Happy 4th

Kevin

Sent from my iPhone

6 comments:

Reese Kaplan said...

The problems with your scenario are:

They require a commitment to winning
They require a willingness to tamper with the status quo
In the cases of Pierzynski and others, they require money

Instead they will make an effort for an over-the-hill non difference maker like Ben Zobrist and if they fail, they'll say, "Hey, we tried!"

Mack Ade said...

Reese -

I don't know if you listed to the ESPN feed of the game from LA but it was interesting how the booth guys found it so strange for a 'big market team' like the Mets to be spending so little money. They even made reference to the Madoff thing but poo-poo'd that away as something far in the past.

Those guys are so used to teams that are willing to step up to the place financially and build a winner.

Imaging 'our' team with Abreu and Cruz?

Kevin S said...

I was expecting more comments since everyone loves playing Mock GM but I understand it was a holiday weekend.

I agree with you Reese. The frustrating thing is that all it would take to bring in the guys I mentioned above would be 1 legit prospect (Meisner or Fulmer), some lower level guys and taking on payroll.

The good organizations find a way to add payroll when it's warranted. Well now is the time.

ZachBoyer said...

I don't think we need Grille as an 8th inning guy. We have Mejia on the way and I think Parnell can do that job as well. But if Lagares needs TJS, they're just wasting an irresponsible amount of time here.

Kevin S said...

Mejia is on his way back but won't be eligible for the postseason. Parnell has looked good but it's only been 7 innings so far. I don't think we'll see Vic Black this year. Adding Grilli to the back end of the bullpen to go along with Mejia, Parnell & Familia would be shutdown. Only need the starters to go 6 and we could still rotate the bullpen studs.

I don't want to put too much faith in Mejia (0 IP) and Parnell (7 IP) to save our season just yet. Just a thought.

ZachBoyer said...

I have no problems with our 8th inning as long as it doesn't feature an appearance by Torres (either of them). Bullpen's ERA is 5th in MLB. Grilli's not the "savior." Need a bat. Need a bench.

And why have the starters only going 6 on a 6-day rotation when they're the strength of the team?

Other than that, I liked your concept (getting smaller players) more than I did your specific players.

Either way, nice post.