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10/20/16

Mack’s Morning Report – Off Season, Part One – Pitching




Good morning.

I’ll try and write 2-3 times a month in the off season. I’m sorry but I can’t write more.

The site is down to three writers and, for some reason, the site will not allow new writers to join. I have had five people email me in the past month and ask to join, and I added their email address to a special place in the Blogger site that send an email to the person you invite into the site. The person than clicks on that and I assume Blogger walks them through the joining process.

That doesn’t seem to happen anymore. Something must be broken and I have no knowledge or no one to help me fix it.

That being said, I’ll jot down a few of my thoughts now that the off-season has started and where I think this team to do.

   1.     I have followed this sport for over 35 years and the one thing I consistently walk away with every year is that there are too many damn injuries in this business. I always ask ‘what the hell is going on here… these wussies aren’t playing pro football or pro rugby’. Successful baseball teams have Plan B’s as well as Plan C’s and have huge depth in their system. We learned the hard way this year that having 6 great starters simply wasn’t good enough. First, one of them (Zack Wheeler) never made it back and then, 2 nobodies (Robert Gsellman, Seth Lugo) almost pulled this team out of the fire. They say that every team averages 9 starters a year. I agree on that number, but, for sure, you better come to camp with at least 8 guys that have the talent to fight for the 5 rotational slots you are going to hand out on opening day. One of the other three could open as your long man while the other two could open at the AAA level and also be used for trade bait.

   2.     I no longer believe we will ever see a fully healthy ‘Generation K version 2.0’. Most of them just have had too many issues. Evan Noah Syndergaard, who chose not to have off-season surgery, has bone spurs to deal with in the future. I’m almost happy we didn’t go deeper in the playoffs. We never had enough healthy pitching to win it all this season and we need as much time as we can get to let all these walking wounded heal. I assume Alderson and Company will do everything they can to resign Bartolo Colon for one more season. He easily was one of the top five Mets in 2016. As for the 2017 rotation, I would send to camp the five guys I mentioned above, plus Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz. I then would tell all of them they will determine their rotation fate in spring training; however, I would give the edge to Harvey, deGrom, Syndergaard, Colon, and Matz and tell them it’s their job to lose their rotation slot in spring, not win one. The other three would be told they go into this competition behind the eight-ball, but they still could be part of the 5-man rotation come opening day


   3.     Relief wise, I’ve always wanted four great 95-mph heaters I can come out of the pen with. Nothing fancy… just 4 guys that can throw up to 25 pitches each as hard as they can. I can rotate these guys throughout the season and I have the 6th through 9th inning covered. Who do we have that fits this mold? Well, Jeurys Familia is definitely one and, in my opinion, 2017 will be the year of Hansel Robles. Past that, I’d take a hard look at resigning Addison Reed and Fernando Sales, but I also would look outside the system like LAD’s Kenley Jansen. Imagine these 5 guys with the 8 above? Is that enough talent for one team?

18 comments:

  1. Hey Mack I hope all is well. I would prefer Chapman over Jansen. I like the lefty option to Familigia

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  2. I am with Zozo, but if getting Chapman is not doable, Jansen would be a Big Boy signing and really signal this team means business in 2017.

    I do agree Wheeler should be on the bubble until he proves he is ready to be a reliable, high level starter again.

    Good news is Marcos Molina pitched a nifty 3 innings in the AFL, so he along with Dunn and Szapucki appear to be the next starter wave coming up in the minors. Three exciting dudes.

    Hey, Mack, what I would suggest regarding those writers is if they can e mail Reese or me, we can get their articles posted, but they have to come ready for copy and paste without edits or spacing needed. I have no idea how to fix that link on the site either.

    I will largely not be writing this off-season, just will write when a sliver of time allows...my focus is on other things right now that will prevent me from putting in the time to do it right - so it is GREAT to see you throw some articles out there.

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  3. That dog looks like he is happy with the 2017 mets pitching situation!

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  4. this was a great site...

    it's a shame it's broken and the person who knows how to fix it flew the coup without even an email (remember that, Tom?)...

    what ever happened to loyalty...?

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  5. Chapman may be the better option even though he probably will be more expensive since he does not have a qualifying offer attached to him... so we would not lose a draft pick...that would be worth spending more...
    the idea you can bring 8 starters is kind of false... because most team do not have 5 quality starter they flood their options so they can take the best 5...
    we're in a different position... if healthy on opening day... we know which 5 will be the 5 starters... so to say we can bring in 8 guys to "Compete" is not actually true... i think its better said you need 8/9 guys who will pitch in the majors as starter and you hope you have organizational depth...
    take a guy like gilmartin last year... He did everything we asked of him last season.. then he was banished to AAA... I know they are suppose to act like professionals but can you do a job for a whole year then the next be bumped down to a Intern/entry level position (and i imagine take a pay cut too?) I think he failed this year because his heart was into in AAA...
    I fear that may happen to Gsellman and Lugo... So Sell High...

    And again with colon... man everyone loves this guy... he is 43/44... if he is coming back at 2 mil ok... but 7.5 mil? maybe more? thanks i rather take my chances on the organizational depth and spend those funds somewhere else...
    Look at last year... we did not pay O'day 21 million but we spend 12 Million on Bastardo... (stop misappropriating funds) .. take the name out (which i think mets fans can never do) and if a team spends 8 million on a any 43/44 year old you would call then crazy...

    @thomas... hope you write as often as you can... but maybe you can drop a question and let the responses be the life of the article... Just a thought...
    But I am all about Szapucki ... MAN I have a good feeling about him... Dunn and Molina look promising too... My guts tell me Molina may end up being Familia's successor... but that works too...

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  6. @MACK... still is... with Reese and Tom anchoring the site, it still the first stop for this reader...

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  7. As much as injuries have decimated the team and as much as it's nice to have a Lugo, a Gsellman and a Wheeler vying for the 5th starter position, the fact remains that there are holes to address in the rest of the team and one or them may be part of the package that brings that new talent to Queens.

    I'm also on record saying that if the arbiter is going to push Reed's salary close to $11 million, I don't expect him back in a Mets uniform in 2017. I want him, but that's simply too rich for their blood for a setup guy. I predict Salas will be re-signed and earn that role with Sewald taking up what Salas had been doing late in the year.

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  8. Eddie -

    I need your help.

    Send your email address to: macksmets@gmail.com

    I'm going to go to my internal Blogger site and put in your email where I always used to do when they asked me to do that if I wanted to add a new writer. Supposedly an email will go out to you and you can walk through the entry points to joint the site as a writer.

    I need you to try and get this done and, if you can't let me know when your attempt stalls.

    Follow it through and make yourself a writer. We can always delete that once this 'test' is completed.

    Mack

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  9. I think the name Chapman can easily be slotted where I have the name Jansen...

    either way...

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  10. Zozo -

    Familigia ?

    Is that something like scungilli and is it a new dish you are serving in your restaurant?

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    Replies
    1. Yeah it's a new spicy calamari fra diavolo but with habanero peppers. Lol...

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  11. Eddie -

    You're in.

    Now I'm more confused then ever.

    So, all those people that said they wanted to write just didn't take the time to finish the process of joining?

    I can't get to that page. Was it hard to figure out?

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  12. honestly all I did was accept... I didnt want to post anything ... I can email you a screen shot of what i see...

    So now I am a official blogger.... check one off the bucket list...

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  13. well Eddie...

    write anything you want to write about anytime you want to...

    I'll hook you up with Reese and Tom via your three email addresses and one of them (probably Tom) can manage your posting/scheduling of posts (if any)

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  14. thank you Mack... I was half joking but it would be interesting to try...

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  15. Albert Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result.
    Pitchers are getting bigger and stronger. At least as far as their muscle and bone mass. However ligaments and tendons are not. The Mets can keep handling the pitching staff the same way but they would be foolish or, according to Eistein, insane to expect different results. The five we start with in spring will not be strong and healthy in October.
    The solution is a 6 man rotation. The Mets, with their depth, are in position to lead MLB here. Pitchers adjusted from the 4 man to the 5 man so the not being able to be sharp on 5 days rest is bull. They can adjust their throwing schedule between starts to make it work. Japanese teams already do this and there aren't as many injuries until they come over here.
    The one drawback is that you lose a roster spot somewhere else, the bullpen. The starters would need to go deeper each game. With the extra days rest they would be expected to go 7 innings.
    Studies have shown that the inflammation that occurs in the tendons of pitchers arms after a start goes down each day and it's not until the 5th off day that it returns to normal. That is what led the Japanese league to go to a 6 man rotation and MLB needs to follow.
    MLB needs to follow suit. They're paying these guys any way. Their being paid to sit on the DL. Expand the roster to 26 or 27 men. Encourage the 6 man rotation and pay these guys to play rather than heal. The Mets should go to the 6 man rotation even if MLB doesn't expand the rosters.

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  16. Richard Jones -

    See, now this would have made a killer post.

    Wanna write once in awhile Richard for Mack's Mets?

    If yes, email me at macksmets@gmail.com and I'll send you an email that invites you into the site.

    ReplyDelete