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2/12/16

Mack’s Morning Report - 2-12-16 – Wilmer Flores, Resigning the ‘Big 5’, Jeff Wilpon, Jacob deGrom


Good morning.


Milo Taibi on Wilmer Flores -

Flores delivered a surprisingly candid analysis of his defensive skill-set, acknowledging his "limits at short." Indeed, Flores seemed more comfortable playing second base than shortstop, where he posted a -2.5 UZR last season. While the majority of Flores's big league defensive experience has come in the middle infield—with the exception of 27 appearances at third base between 2013 and 2014—he is slated to spell Lucas Duda and David Wright as a corner infielder. Having played first base in only 20 minor league games, Flores will be learning on the job at the big league level. With dramatic lefty/righty splits, Flores would be an ideal candidate to receive starts against southpaws.

Mack – The plan seems to be that Flores will play all four infield positions both throughout spring training and the regular season. My guess is shortstop will be played mostly by Asdrubal Cabrera, both because of Flores’ limits at that position and the fact that Cabrera switch hits.
Flores has also said recently that he hopes he will stay a Met ‘forever’. Do you really think statements like this are going to influence Sandy and Company from moving him someday?



Ex-Mack’s Mets writer Brian Mangan painted a rosy picture on the chances of the Mets resigning all members of their super-rotation -

So, for now, just enjoy it. The Mets have put together a strong, competitive roster for 2016 that will return almost in its entirety for 2017. In 2019, Harvey hits free agency but the Mets two most expensive contracts that year are David Wright (only $15 million) and Juan Lagares ($9 million). If deGrom, Syndergaard, Matz and Wheeler are all dealing at that point, that’s still an incredibly cheap and productive core to build around, and they ought to have the salary flexibility (only committed $80 million after arbitration raises) to do something about it.

Mack – Brian is a great writer and he really did him homework on this piece. Give it a good look.

There actually is a good chance that the Mets could retain the majority of the ‘Big 5’ because they will be reaching their free agency year spread out over six years.

Add to this a degree of success by homegrown, team controlled talent and this could be pulled off.

Like I said, read the story.



Bob Klapisch Bob Klapsich wrote an article and gave some advice to a number of big names in baseball… including Jeff Wilpon

JEFF WILPON: Congratulations, you’ve accomplished a modern-day miracle: Thanks to your willingness to spend freely on Yoenis Cespedes, Mets fans are no longer cursing you. We’ll stop short of saying they love ownership, but let’s be fair. The haters — and they were legion — have no room to complain anymore. You stepped up with the cash when it counted.

So why not take advantage of the good will, come out into the daylight and hold a press conference?

Answer questions, assure the ticket buyers the Wilpon family is in it for the long haul and that the endless Russian winter is indeed over in Flushing.
Stop hiding behind Sandy Alderson and show everyone you’re human.
Nothing wrong with taking a victory lap, especially when it’s legit.

          Mack – I don’t know if I agree with Bob here.

Everything is going along so well. Do we really need Jeff to step to the mike and say something dumb like “we’ll except nothing less that 100 wins”?

Oops, I’m sorry. That’s what Tom said.



And this is really good news…

 Adam Rubin reported that Jacob deGrom is up for a contract extension. –
"I'm a little bit older, so I might be more willing to do something like that," deGrom, 27, told the New York Post. "You just have to look at what is fair so both sides get a decent deal. It's something I'd have to look into and make sure I agree with it. ...I haven’t thought that much about it and I have to talk to my agents and stuff and look at the numbers and decide what was favorable."

Mack – I’m writing a day ahead again because I will be offline all weekend and I have to generate some kind of Morning Report for Sunday and Monday…

That being said, this is the kind of story that you hope is eliminated before this post goes to print.


I would love deGrom locked up through, let’s say, 2022.The Mets then could move on to Jeurys Famila and (frankly) going through the motions with Matt Harvey.

14 comments:

  1. Some franchises' fans might hate to hear their players are locked up, at least until they hear how long the prison sentence is. Please lock up Jake deGrom the right way - he is amenable, so get it done.

    I believe this team will throw off so much more revenue, signing all 5 pitchers will happen IF the Mets owners feel the deals involved are not too high risk from a health standpoint.

    I did not say a minimum of 100 games - but I did say a target of 100 games. I'm sticking by it. Injuries could make that unrealistic, but I am hoping for health and swagger in 2016. I am hoping this season is more 1986 than 2015 or 1969, where the teams limped for 4 months and then rocketed up. I'd like this team to pull a 1986 - grab first place early and never give it up.

    Flores for life - fans love him (mostly), but when Dilson and Amed and the like arrive, it will be tough to say who goes and who stays.

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  2. Jeff please dig your hole a little deeper and stay hidden. Yes they took a stepmom the right direction but only time will heal these wounds. So go back to sleep puxatawney jeff

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  3. @ Zozo - Stepmoms everywhere feel better that you disassociated them from the Wilpons - LOL

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  4. Im more and more believing that mets can keep at least 4 of their arms long term if they wish to do so.
    Lets imagine a soon 28yr old degrom happily accepting $10-12mil/yr......news flash we were paying that to BARTOLO COLON.
    Matz and wheeler are guys with injury concerns who can't demand $150mil contracts no matter what they accomplish in the coming years.
    Harvey is harvey........he might deserve that $20+mil/yr.
    I've said it before I'll say it again the concern for me is keeping Noah, the youngest, who throws 98 in the 7th-8th innings. He might become too expensive if mets wait on him too long.

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  5. Pay up for our starters and build a dynasty. Yanks kept Rivera, Jeter, Bernie, Posada for all those years. It paid off

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  6. Thomas -

    I too await the arrival of 'Dilson and Amed' but I also was excited to see Fernando Martinez, Lastings Milledge, and Jordany Valdespin.

    We shall see.

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  7. I think the mets need to look at what the Indians did with Corey Kluber for DeGrom, he'll be super 2 next year. It seems like a very fair deal to me for all sides and if would buy out two years potentially of free agency.

    I think tho, more then anything, it would send another needed symbol to the fan base. of security.

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  8. Agree, Robb....good point.

    Mack, I too was hopeful for F Mart, Milledge and Valdy. But Dilson sure looks better tome than those 3, and Amed is so young, and already decent at bat and drawing raves in the field, my bet is he far surpasses those 3 as well - but we'll see when they get here. Right now, Wilmer is the surest bet until proven otherwise.

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  9. If Flores with his (-3.3) UZR/150 has limits at shortstop -- what does that say about Asdrubal Cabrera? Here are his yearly UZR/150 numbers at short, starting with 2009:

    (-7.1)
    (-9.7)
    (-11.8)
    (-8.8)
    (-16.8)
    (-10.5)
    (-10.4)

    Flores is goofy looking and doesn't look like a SS. Cabrera looks like a SS but has performed much worse for much longer at the position. Which would you rather have?

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  10. Dilson seems to have morphed into the "invisible man" since October. While we have dubbed him the next 2Bman, despite his awesome MnL #s he appears on no one's Top 100 Prospects list. He didn't play any Fall or Winter League ball, and he's rarely mentioned at most Mets sites.

    Is he a real person?

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  11. Dilson isn't considered a rookie anymore, no more top 100 lists for him.

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  12. I love Dilson. Sometimes your team is championship caliber and you have to wait a little longer

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  13. I love Dilson. Sometimes your team is championship caliber and you have to wait a little longer

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