Mack’s Morning Report – 3-31-16 – Sunday Morning Report, Relief Pitchers, 1990 Mets

 

Good morning.

Minor League Madhouse http://minorleaguemadhouse.com/ had their spring training mock draft 4.0 and here’s who they projected as the Mets pick at #31 (compensation pick for Daniel Murphy) –

It came down to a home state product and a collegian from Georgia, but Robert Tyler would win out here mainly because of his arsenal. I feel that in the future, Tyler would make a solid bullpen arm, with the potential to start if any of the big 5 leaves. If he continues to pitch this way, you can expect him to jump back into the first round.

Mack – As most of you know, I have had to cut back on most of my draft research here on Mack’s Mets, but I’ll try and keep you up to date on what the other sites are projecting as the top Mets picks.

Beginning Sunday, Mack’s Mets will return the Sunday Morning Report to an exclusive weekly look at the upcoming June draft and what’s being reported in the draft world out there on the world wide web.

The Mets released three ex-Brooklyn Cyclone pitchers, Brandon Welsh, Carlos Valdez, and Jose Celas. Valdez comes as a little surprise to me. I though he had a decent season going last year for Brooklyn (24-G, 1.59/1.09), but he obviously became derailed in the seven games he pitched for Savannah (7.62/1.77).

                   We at Mack’s Mets wish them all well.

 Fangraphs surprisingly ranked the Mets pen in the top 10 in the league –

                   #9 – Mets

                   Including the postseason, Jeurys Familia recorded 88 appearances and pitched 92.2 innings last year. This came after another 76 appearances the year before. Whether that heavy load will come back to haunt him this season is unclear, but the projections say he is going to have another very good year. Familia was actually better in 2015 than he was in 2014, so it is possible a heavy workload will not wear on the big right-hander. The Mets need to hope so because the options after Familia are not inspiring.

Addison Reed is a Proven Closer, but he has only been an elite-level reliever in one season, back in 2013, after which the White Sox immediately traded him to the Diamondbacks. Reed was solid last season between the Diamondbacks and the Mets after some early-season struggles. He is an above-average reliever and should prove to be a fine fit as the Mets setup man.

Antonio Bastardo gets outs, but they come with a lot of walks. Hansel Robles has more potential, and he could be a guy that could step up and play a key role for the Mets this year as long as the home runs last year were a small-sample-size blip. Sean Gilmartin returns as long-man, but none of the other relievers inspire much confidence. The Mets rotation looks great, and there is no reason the bullpen can’t do a solid job converting the starters’ strong performances into wins.

Mack – This pen is going to have to prove to be their 2016 worth as the system goes on. My wild cards are Jim Henderson, as a late inning short man, and Logan Verrett serving them up first in after the starter.

Michael Mayer ‏- Jerry Blevins leads all National League pitchers in appearances with 12 this spring…

Jacob DeGrom will finish this spring with an NL best 1.62 ERA.

 Fangraphs took a ride down memory lane and featured an article that started about the Mets premier starting rotation in 1990 –

                   A few weeks ago, I ventured into the topic of whether the 2016 Cleveland Indians’ starting rotation had a chance at breaking the league-adjusted team strikeout rate record held by the 1990 Mets. Those Mets (comprising a front four of Dwight Gooden, David Cone, Frank Viola, and Sid Fernandez) struck out 47% more batters than a 1990 league-average rotation. That was ridiculously good in 1990, and today, it’d be even more incredible were a team able to do it, given the increase in strikeouts league-wide and the expectation that there probably is a ceiling to the strikeout trend. (Because there has to be, right?)

                             Mack – Let’s keep an eye of the 2016 Mets rotation here.

I have to pull back at this point and say that this has easily been the most difficult spring training for me to wrap my hands around. This team just has forgotten how to win a ball game and I’m running out of nice things to say about Jacob DeGrom and Yoenis Cespedes.

I know that Terry Collins will keep reminding me that everything so far has added up to zero, but he doesn’t really believe that. He’s a smart man and he sees how bad this team is playing.

Let’s hope something positive happens against the Cubs in Las Vegas.