Mack’s Morning Report – 8-14-15 – High A Best Players, K-Port Bats, 2015 vs. 1969 Mets

Good morning.

Tidbits from Twitter –

The Mets are averaging 5.1 runs a game since July 24th, before that date they were averaging 3.4 runs per game. They are 13-5 in that span.

Daniel Murphy is hitting .362 (17-47) with five doubles, two homeruns, seven RBI, and six runs scored over his last 11 games.

Yoenis Cespedes homerun was his first ever hit against the Colorado Rockies.

Jacob deGrom has the 2nd best ERA in MLB (2.03), 2nd best AVG against at .192, 7th best FIP (2.62), 8th in WAR (4.1), and 11th in BB/9 (1.72)

The Mets are first in the major leagues with a 1.15 WHIP and 2^nd (to St. Louis) with a 3.18 ERA.

I know it seems like this team is never going to lose again.

We talk so much about how much of this gave is mental and you’re seeing this play out every day. Sure, players like Yoenis Cespedes and Kelly Johnson are making a big difference, but, like Juan Uribe said, it’s just so much fun being in this clubhouse and being part of this team.

Wow. He should have seen it before the moves.

No, actually, he should have seen what it like last year and the five previous years.

It’s fun being a Met right now and, hopefully, things will continue this way going into the Pirates series tomorrow. Frankly, I’d be thrilled with two wins there.

I sure hope all the young pitchers these moves cost the Mets are happy and doing well. All I know is it’s made my year as both a Mets writer and fan.

Baseball America featured their ‘2015 High Class A Best Tools’ series today online and it featured some prominent Mets names:

            Best Batting Prospect     -           Michael Conforto

            Best Reliever                      -           Akeel Morris

            Best Defensive 1B             -           Dominic Smith

            Best Defensive 2B             -           Jeff McNeil

            Best Defensive SS              -           Amed Rosario

            Best Manager                    -           Luis Rojas

Mack – Pretty impressive, especially the kudos to McNeil, who frankly hasn’t had enough positive press written about him.

Mike asks –

            I've been following the Mets minor league system for a few years now and it baffles me every time I see a player doing good and not getting promoted.  For example this year, you have two draft picks, Kevin Kaczmarski (age 23) and Patrick Mazeika (age 21), absolutely tearing the cover off the ball in Kingsport.  Both out of college and older than most probably in that league.  Then you look up one level at Brooklyn and not one outfielder or catcher, in my opinion, hitting the ball well.  Especially whoever they decide to put in Left Field, which Kaczmarski seems to be playing every day in Kingsport.  Why not at this point promote one, if not both, of these players I mentioned.  Ideally Kaczmarski, who led NCAA DI in hitting this season, would be playing on Savannah at his age but their 3 outfielders are doing great.  I know there's only less than a month in the season but give them a shot and see what they can do.  If you happen to be able to give me a little clarity on this that would be great.

                        Mack – Thanks for the question, Mike.

            Wow. Asking me for clarity when it comes to promotion Mets minor league players.

            I’ve done this far too long and I’ve never been able to figure out a pattern. The first thing that always frosts my arse is when the Mets draft a college player, at the age of 22 or older, and doesn’t start them off in the pros with one of the full season teams. There’s plenty of time for a high school 18 year old to work his way up the system, but in this game, being 25 means you are no longer a prospect. Using that logic, Kaczmarski will no longer be a prospect before he even gets to Binghamton.

            One reason you do see less movement in mid-August is because teams are competing for a playoff spot in their respective division and the Mets are reluctant to piss off the owners of the affiliates that are not internally owned.

            I’m sure Tom Brennan will chime in here and agree with you.

 David Schoenfield pointed out the eerie comparison between this year’s Mets and the Miracle 1969 team:

On this day in 1969, the New York Mets lost 8-2 to the Houston Astros as Larry Dierker tossed a five-hit complete game in front of 30,590 fans at the Astrodome. The loss dropped the Mets to 62-51 and into third place in the new National League East -- this was the first year the leagues were split into divisions -- and 10 games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs.

It was a big surprise that the Mets were even that far above .500. The franchise born in 1962 had never finished over .500, with New York's 73-89 mark in 1968 easily the best of those first seven seasons.

The Mets hadn't spent a day of the 1969 season in first place, losing their opener and getting off to a 6-11 start. Still, the 10-game deficit was the team's largest of the season. Considering the franchise's history and the size of the deficit that late into the season, it's hard to believe the youthful squad had dreams of winning the division.

Mack – I love articles like this and you can’t write enough of this during this exciting season.

I have to admit something right now… there have been three reasons that I have been winding down my participation here on Mack’s Mets. One was age, the second was health issues, but the third was I was just getting sick and tired of writing every day of my life about a team that never seems to ever be going anywhere.

I still look forward to Christopher Soto coming back and sharing my morning duties, but I do have to tell you that these past few weeks have been a lot of fun for me.