The Morning Report 7.23.2015 | Terry Takes the Blame, Conforto Being Thrown to the Wolves, Can He Perform?, Mets Farm System Ranked #4

John Delcos | NY Mets Report- It was a nice gesture on the part of manager Terry Collins to accept blame for the Mets’ 4-3 loss at Washington. But, to what degree was Collins at fault? “That’s all on me. It’s not on Bobby. He’s been throwing the ball great,” Collins told reporters. “I could have let Jeurys get looser. I could have delayed the game a little bit and let him get loose.” The need to stall came about because Collins, pitching coach Dan Warthen and bullpen coach Ricky Bones – pick any of the three – didn’t get Familia up until after den Dekker reached base. Familia has to know he needs to start loosening up after the first runner got on base. It’s simple bullpen management. It has to be automatic, which makes stalling a moot issue. Stalling is playing around; what the Mets needed was a concrete strategy, which they didn’t have.

(Chris Soto: Let's get this out of the way first. Yesterday's loss was BRUTAL as it was not only demoralizing, but it also accounted for a 2 game swing in NL East standing position. Instead of being 1 game back heading back to NYC, the team is now 3 games back and face Kershaw and Grienke over the next 2 days. Terry Collins rightfully wears the blame for this one. Yes, Parnell has been throwing well as of late but with as much as Collins has used Familia in 4 and 5 out situation saves, I don't know how you DON'T have Familia warming up at the beginning of the inning. These were 3 of the biggest games you've had so far this season and NOW is the time you decide to be conservative with your top weapons? That's Insane....) 

Bob Klapisch | Newsday- Clearly, the Mets are in a run-scoring crisis. It’s a certainty Michael Cuddyer will be placed on the disabled list as early as today. Michael Conforto, the franchise’s best hitting prospect, will be summoned from Class AA. It’s the logical move and it’ll placate the ticket buyers who are teetering toward open rebellion. But the timing of Conforto’s promotion speaks to upper management’s clumsiness and lack of vision. Conforto is being sent to war against Kershaw? Against Greinke? In his major league debut? Collins can’t possibly sacrifice a rookie like that. No kid, regardless of his genetic blessings, is ready for such a buzz saw. The smarter move would’ve been to put Cuddyer on the DL on Monday and let Conforto debut against the Nationals’ Joe Ross, himself a rookie, and Jordan

(Chris Soto: Wow...I did not think about this at all. When you look at the timing of Conforto's currently unreported promotion, this is a suicide job by them. Sandy Alderson is quickly losing the support of the "sensible" fan base due to his lack of inactivity amidst the team's overall poor play. With such a dominate pitching staff, there is clearly a window of opportunity for the Mets to break through and become successful. Even a league average offense, could result in almost 7 additional wins than what the Mets have gotten so far this season.) 

Jeff Sullivan | FanGrapsh- The question has to do with his readiness. Few people doubt that Conforto could be good, soon. More people doubt that Conforto could be good, tomorrow. He’s a college pick, a polished bat, but still, he’s not even at 50 games of experience above single-A. The Mets weren’t planning to move Conforto so fast. It’d be a rush job, compelled by the context of the standings. But that doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. It’s worth wondering, then: what could the Mets expect of Conforto? I was looking at 180 debuts. These were made mostly by bat-first prospects. Those who batted at least 100 times averaged a 93 wRC+. Of the players, 37% posted a wRC+ of at least 100. Narrowing down further, 20% posted a wRC+ of at least 120. The tendency has been for the players to struggle.

(Chris Soto: You know I love my FanGraphs articles. Here's the thing with Conforto, no one is asking him to come up here and smash .350 AVG with 10 HR in his 1st week on the job. All he needs to do is be better than Cuddyer has been so far this season. Cuddyer's current line is a .250 AVG with a .683 OPS on a 23.2% K rate. That's actually a production line that I can see Conforto matching right now with some upside to push that OPS over .710 due to his ability to take walks. As for his defense, Conforto has made some good strides and I would actually dare to say that he could be an average to above average defender in LF.)

Keith Law | ESPN(Insider Post)- The Mets still have a system loaded with high-probability big leaguers, including a couple of potential stars in Conforto, Smith and shortstop Amed Rosario. The re-emergence of Gavin Cecchini as a legitimate offensive prospect gives the Mets some options for their infield going forward, especially important when the team is owned by a Scrooge. Casey Meisner, one of my two sleeper prospects for this system coming into the year, had a breakout first half for St. Lucie, and Michael Fulmer has been healthy and effective in Double-A after missing the first two weeks of the season. There's a ton of pitching in here, most of it potentially useful in trades because of the depth of the Mets' rotation, but they also have some bats coming -- five guys I'd tab as regulars or better -- to help that very sad major league offense as soon as next year.

(Chris Soto: We have been so spoiled by constantly hearing the names of Syndergaard, Wheeler, Matz, Conforto, Harvey, and deGrom that all their promotions gives you a sense that well....now the minor league system is dry. That's not the case though and the club still has a LARGE number of potential MLB contributors sprinkled throughout the system. Pretty much the only this Sandy has done really well as the General Manager is create a deep farm system that has balance from top to bottom and can supply the MLB team with 1 or 2 new MLB caliber players every single season.)