Mack’s Morning News – 2-1-15 – Mike Barwis, Jenrry Mejia, Drew Butera, Juan Lagares

Good morning.

Bob Gregory asked –

Mack, I'm wondering if you have heard anything about the Mets and Mike Barwis's strength and conditioning training program this off season? For the past 2 years it was the highlight of the off season training that would remake Flores's agility and Duda's conditioning.  Last year it seemed like there were more Met players that attended the Barwis training than didn't.   Captain Wright joined the younger players as well. This year however there hasn't been any news, that I have seen at least, regarding the Mets and the Barwis training. Is there anything you have heard? If no Mets are attending, is there a reason for the drastic change? Any thoughts if not participating will affect Duda and Flores in any way, good or bad?

          Mack – Bob, thanks for the question.

I searched my remaining sources and no one has heard anything about Barwis and the Mets still working together in the off-season. My guess, at this point, is that some players are still individually working with Barwis, but there probably isn’t any formal indorsement.

I wouldn’t worry about Duda or Flores regarding Barwis. Every player is sat down before they break for the off-season and are given, on paper, directions on what the Mets expect them to do rehab and exercise wise before they report to camp. This includes destructions to NOT do certain things, like throw a ball, etc.

The toughest thing the Mets have on their hands right now is how much this team wants to report and play. They are pumped.

UPDATE – Caught this on an Adam Rubin report on 1-27: Flores is currently working out at the Mike Barwis fitness and conditioning program at the Mets' complex in Port St. Lucie, Florida, and is scheduled to begin hitting this week.

So there.

Additional Barwis pics -  http://atmlb.com/1nAJjvA 

Sidd Finch: What happens with Jenrry Mejia? I guess the Mets appear to still have faith in him, they just made a deal with him to avoid salary arbitration. Do we know if he’s eligible for the post-season next year? Even if he does perform well, how do you think the suspensions effect his trade value?

Paul Swydan: I would guess he starts in a set-up role, and probably won’t move beyond that.

Jeff Zimmerman: Truthfully, I just don’t know … I will have to think about it more

          Mack – I wonder if this is the same Sidd Finch who comments here at Mack’s Mets.

          I don’t think Sandy Alderson is thinking past the value of Mejia for the race to the pennant in 2016.

          I also don’t think he has any trade value. He has a death sentence hanging over his head and no one wants anything to do with that.

There’s a  great story  out there about ex-Mets minor league catcher, Drew Butera, and the last ball thrown in the 2015 World Series –

When we last saw the Kansas City Royals, they were dancing in a happy mob near the mound at Citi Field in New York. It was just after midnight on Nov. 2, and Wade Davis had frozen Wilmer Flores with a 95-mph fastball for the final out of 2015. The Royals won their first World Series in 30 years and tied a major-league record with their eighth come-from-behind victory of the postseason -- a fitting tribute to the resiliency of a close-knit team that ...

Hey. Wait. What happened to that ball?

Mack – From Wikipedea: In 2007, Butera batted .258 with five home runs and 22 runs batted in for the St. Lucie Mets to be named a Florida State League All-Star. Following the All-Star game, Butera was promoted to the double-A Binghamton Mets. After a month at Binghamton, he was dealt to the Minnesota Twins at the trade deadline along with Dustin Martin for second baseman Luis Castillo.

I happened to pick up this info on the net when it happened, wrote down the players involved in the trade, approached Tim Teufel, and handed him the details on a piece of paper. He looked at it for a considerable amount of time and never said a word to me about the trade or the players.

And lastly… Tim Eckert-Fong wrote an intresting article for Athletics Nation –

I'd like to start off by saying that no, there have been no rumors tying the A's to Juan Lagares or the Mets at all. While it seems obvious that an outfielder may be on the move, rumors around the Mets have been quiet in the days since Cespedes signed, so it's not a guarantee someone will move, just more of a logical conclusion. That said, I'm writing this because A) the A's are shallow in the outfield for seasons to come and have made comments about not being done this offseason and B) I absolutely adore Lagares and want you to know about him prior to his ending up on a team I hate like all my baseball crushes inevitably do.

          Mack – Is Lagares available? Would you trade him?

          Let’s discuss.