Mack’s Morning Report – 7-12-15 – Random Thoughts

Good morning.

I followed the Mets 8-0 win against the Dodgers earlier this week, where they touched up Dodger starter Mike Bolsinger (3.09) for four runs in six innings. Bolsinger is the Dodgers SP4 followed by Carlos Frias (4.39) at SP5. Neither of these guys are household names and you would think that the Dodgers would match up well for a Jonathan Niese trade once Carl Crawford worked his way back into the lineup. I was thinking that OF-1N Scott Van Slyke could be a great fourth outfielder and could spell Lucas Duda at first.

I also found the Niese victory against the Giants quite impressive. Now, all the Mets have to do is convince some other team that Niese is the pitcher that has produced a 2.41-ERA in his last six starts, rather than the guy that put down a 9.00-ERA in the previous four.

Jon Morosi reported earlier this week that the Cubs were not only looking to add a starter, but, in addition, a LHH centerfielder. Hmm…  let’s see… Jon Niese and Darrell Cecchini for Addison Russell.

Thoughts?

I do want to get back to basics here and use the Random Thoughts Sunday post as a place to feature some of the youngsters like I used to do when I first built this site. I’m sure you notice that many of the regulars point out things like ‘Mack, you were the first one out there to recognize Ruben Tejada and tell us about him…”. Well, that was one of the major reasons I started this blog, not to serve Queen but to introduce to you the kids playing at the affiliate levels.

We need to talk about three this week.

There’s an unheralded 17-year old playing centerfield for the DSL-2 team that hit his 4^th home run of the young rookie season. DSL player just don’t hit a lot of homers and 6-3, 175-pound Ranfy Adan just hit his 4^th homer in only his 26^th game played. Like I said, this isn’t being done at Bryce Harper levels but it’s the closest outfield power slugger this team has developed out of the DSL system since C Jose Flores hit four over the entire 2008 season. I think we need to keep an eye on this kid.

He is joined by a 21-year old 6-5 RHP Nicolas Debora, who has recently been converted into a starter (8-games, 3-starts). The stat line is awesome: 4-0, 0.97, 0.76.

Lastly, there is catcher Ali Sanchez, now playing for the GCL Mets. Yes, this is a small base, but I have never seen offense like this come from a minor league catcher, no less one playing already in Florida at the age of 18. As of close of business Thursday night, Sanchez has hit .378/.417/.400/817.