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5/12/16

Mack’s Morning Report – 5-12-16 – Mets Catchers, Ken Rosenthal, Daniel Murphy




Good morning.

Ex-Met 1B Josh Satin is hitting .188 for AAA-El Paso of the Pacific Coast League. Current Met OF Ty Kelly is leading that league with a .427-BA.

I noticed there are three decent hitting catchers in this league right now –

          Manny Pina – COL (Milwaukee) - .355/.388/.592/.980

          Wilson Contreras – IOW (Cubs) - .351/.456/.489/.946

          Mike Zunino -    TAC (Seattle) - .324/.375/.667/1.042, 9-HR

Milwaukee already has Jonathan Lucroy hitting .306 for the Brewers.
Miquel Montero (.208), David Ross (.213) and Tim Federowicz (.188) for the Cubs.

And Chris Iannetta (,217) and Steve Clevenger (.179), like the Cubs, are going through their own hitting pains from players playing behind the plate.

So, this brings us back to the Brewers, with Pina in the wings and Lacroy on the parent staff. One would think that one of these guys would be expendable for the right package… like a young shortstop (Flores) plus a quality starter (Verrett) currently with no rotation slot to throw from.

I’m just saying… Mets catchers have produced a .632 OPS this season.



A great story by Jon Paul Morosi on Ken Rosenthal -

There are many moments -- at the winter meetings, or right before the trade deadline -- when Ken is faced with a dilemma: He’s hearing the same thing from three people, but he’s not 100 percent convinced that it’s true . . . He wants more confirmation, but he really doesn’t want to get beat when he’s this close on the story . . . So he sends another text, makes another phone call, waits a little longer for one more source to respond . . .

At some point, he hits the button. How often are his instincts right? How much does he trust his sources -- and how much do they trust him? The statuette with which he was presented on Tuesday is the answer.

And do you know how Ken Rosenthal celebrates each time he scoops the baseball world? He doesn’t, really. He’ll break Jon Lester signing with the Cubs -- as he did at 1:19 a.m. during the most recent winter meetings -- and then text me a couple minutes later, saying, “OK, J.P. What’s next?”



The Maddness: More surprising in the top 10 WAR, Fowler, Murphy or Eaton?

Paul Swydan: For me – definitely Murphy. If you guys have been reading me for awhile, you know I’m a huge Fowler fan, and Eaton was pretty well touted. On the other hand, the Mets did almost nothing to retain Murphy this winter, which definitely gave me pause on him heading into this season.

Mack – It’s amazing how little we have talked about Murphy this season.

I’m sure a great deal of this ignoring him comes from the strong replacement made for Neil Walker.

The Mets made the correct QO for Murphy and, if he would have accepted it, it would have been a one-year deal just like Walker. Sure, Murphy’s .398-BA looks a lot better than Walker’s .259, but Walker is tied for second in baseball second basemen, with nine home runs.

Considering the Mets got an extra draft pick because Murphy turned down the qualified offer, makes this even a better deal for the Mets. Either way, Dilson Herrera is going to move into this position next year. Hopefully, the Mets have another blue chipper to crow about here.


Brian P. Mangan @brianpmangan  - deGrom's ground ball % -
2014: 45.4%  -  4/2015 to 8/28/2015: 43.4%  -  8/29/2015 to 10/2015: 48.8%  -  2016: 52.7%


Lowest ERA since May 15, 2014 (minimum 200 IP): Jake Arrieta: 1.95

Clayton Kershaw: 1.98 - Zack Greinke: 2.44 - Jacob deGrom: 2.57

8 comments:

  1. Matz elbow concern (hopefully nothing, he said he feels OK) and Flores DL sting for hammy changes things.

    Thor has some power when he connects - but while 11 for 55 in his career, he has fanned 34 times. Still, last night was a marvel.

    Mets signed 24 year old 2B Kevin Taylor after independent ball in 2015. He's been up 85 times for St Lucie, hitting .386/.494/.571. One to watch, apparently.

    Scherzer is a freak. 20 K's, just 119 pitches.

    Daniel Murphy - I wanted the Mets to sign him, put him at 1B, and he could back up Wright at 3B, and trade Duda. Murphy is hitting .409. I just felt last post-season, something clicked and took his hitting to another level. .409, though?

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  2. We also could get a pick if we put the QO on Walker this year as well, and we got rid of Niese and his contract.
    So Niese and Walkers contracts basically even out and we had Murphys $$$ to spend on Cespedes. Maybe if we signed Murphy there would be no Cespedes?

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  3. Zozo - Good point on "if we signed Murphy, maybe no Cespedes." Mets should have been able to stretch the budget a bit for excess of Murphy's salary over Duda's, but don't forget that Duda should have gotten a few very high picks back (decent, power hitting, relatively cheap 1B).

    I just think if Murphy was at first base, what we experienced in the playoffs (the constant feeling of pressure on the other team from Murphy's consistent bat) would have really made this a top notch offense. Duda has been OK, but Murphy is constantly dangerous, Duda disappears a lot offensively.

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  4. I agree that Murphy's bat is far more consistent than Duda's but I also truly believe that a Cespedes deal wouldn't have developed for this team if Murphy stayed. Just me.

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  5. I was just telling a friend that I can't believe more isnt being made out of Murphy hitting .409 on 5/12. I would be rooting for him if he was on any other team but our main rivals...


    I think you avoid trading Verrett especially after hearing about Matz/Thor recent issues..though Thor seemed to not have any problems last night.

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  6. At the end of the day its all a puzzle. some pieces have to go for others to fit and some just dont fit even if youd like them to. Murphy's ability to hit was never the problem. though 409 with power is a bit excessive. the mets just didnt have a place for him to play as constructed. they also want their payroll around a certain number. to do that some players have to move on.

    its not so much that if murphy stays the mets wouldnt have signed cespedes, its that if niese stays they wouldnt have. the 10 million allotted there was shifted from sp to 2nd base. and the 15 million from second base as shifted to CF/lf. how the merry go round works.

    I was watching the game the other night and they said, cespedes is looming on deck and i realized for the first time since Piazza the mets actually had a player who other teams actually worried about in that way. fantastic!

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  7. Yeah - and Cespedes doesn't extend many games with errors either

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  8. Murphy has always been a good hitter and I was sold on the fact that he'd become an even better hitter under the tutelage of Kevin Long. But I 100% agree; the Mets made the right call on Murph. I wish him well (except when he's playing us). Now Justin Turner, OTOH, I didn't see that coming. While he seems to have (so far) fallen back to earth this year, his 2014 and 2015 seasons were beyond any expectations I ever had for him.

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