11/11/16

Mack – Brian Cashman, Dexter Fowler, Bartolo Colon, Minor League Free Agents, NL Starters

Good morning.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman downplayed any connection between his organization and top free agent slugger Yoenis Cespedes, as Feinsand reports. Cashman acknowledges that there has been some contact, but characterized it as more of a routine opening of a channel to obtain medical information and perhaps pursue dialogue in the future. www.mlbtr.com

Mack – I really don’t think the Yankees are interested in Cespedes. I see this more as a busting chops move against the rival Mets. The Cespedes people are going to come down to either resigning with the Mets or inking a new deal with the Dodgers.


The Mets had “preliminary talks” involving free agents Jose Bautista and Dexter Fowler over the last several days, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post (via Twitter). But the team remains focused on trying to engineer the return of Cespedes. GM Sandy Alderson met with his agent yesterday, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com tweets. Meanwhile, rival organizations have reached out to New York to ask about the availability of lefty-swinging outfielders Michael Conforto, Curtis Granderson, and Jay Bruce, per Marc Carig of Newsday (Twitter links). It’s all supposition at this point, but there does seem to be some sense in the idea of signing a right-handed-hitting outfielder while dealing a lefty. The three possible targets noted above all hit from the right side (with Fowler also switching to the left side to face righties). www.mlbtr.com

Mack – Look… Sandy and Company has to sit on Cespedes’ stoop… where does he live now? Miami? The DR? Manhattan? And, more importantly, is there still stoops to sit on?... and they have to do everything they can do in the minimum amount of time to get this deal done! There is no number two plan. The future of this team over the next three seasons is a Cespedes deal without an opt out. Period.

         
There have been some conflicting signals of late as to how interested the Mets are in bringing back veteran righty Bartolo Colon, but GM Sandy Alderson said today that there’s still interest, as MLB.com’s Barry Bloom reports. Still, it doesn’t seem as if there’s any sense of urgency, with Alderson suggesting the pitching market will have more clarity in a few weeks’ time. If the Mets don’t push to bring back Colon, the division-rival Braves may be there to step in, as MLB.com’s Mark Bowman tweets that Atlanta has ongoing interest. (Of course, the team already landed an over-40 pitcher today.) www.mlbtr.com

Mack – My guess is that Alderson’s lukewarm response to this question could be that the agent for Colon might be asking for a two-year deal. I can’t see him getting that from Alderson, especially since he has accepted one year deals in the past. This is abother tough decision that is going to have to be made before you know if the other members of your projected 6-man rotation (Syndergaard, Harvey, deGrom, Matz, Wheeler) are healthy.
We all know what they say about pitching…



New York Mets minor league free agents –

          RHP: Tyler Herron (AAA), Rainy Lara (AA), Domingo Tapia (Hi A), Zach Thornton (AAA), Josh Zeid (AAA)
LHP: Andrew Barbosa (AA), Duane Below (AAA), Gabriel Feliz (SS), Darin Gorski (AAA), Chase Huchingson (AAA)
C: Adrian Abreu (Lo A), Jeff Glenn (AAA), Raywilly Gomez (AA)
1B: Marc Krauss (AAA)
3B: Eric Campbell (AAA)
SS: Derrik Gibson (AA), Niuman Romero (AAA)
OF: Roger Bernadina (AAA)


Mack – Barbosa is the only player on this list that I would really miss. I projected him as my SP5 in Vegas this spring and I hope that Sandy and Company makes my wish come true.

There are a couple of old minor league prospects (Tapia, Abreu) on this list that just didn’t pan out.


From  http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/2016-nl-starting-pitcher-contact-management  - 



NL Starting Pitcher BIP Profiles
NAMEAVG MPHFB MPHLD MPHGB MPHPOP %FLY %LD %GB %ADJ CK %BB %ERA –FIP –TRU –
Hendricks87.286.591.286.22.9%28.4%20.2%48.4%7522.8%5.9%517867
C. Martinez87.586.292.286.71.3%24.6%17.6%56.4%8021.5%8.7%748879
Arrieta87.289.691.484.52.1%25.8%19.5%52.6%8323.9%9.6%758578
Roark87.889.590.585.91.9%29.3%20.1%48.7%8320.1%8.5%689384
Lester87.888.089.687.63.4%29.4%20.2%46.9%8824.8%6.5%598275
Maeda86.188.388.782.94.0%31.7%20.5%43.9%9125.0%7.0%888877
Scherzer87.789.890.485.46.3%41.6%19.2%33.0%9231.5%6.2%717965
Eickhoff89.590.893.287.15.0%34.3%20.1%40.7%9220.6%5.2%889984
Davies88.188.192.387.12.4%30.1%22.0%45.5%9219.8%5.6%929186
Nelson89.589.391.989.23.8%27.5%19.3%49.4%9517.4%10.7%108119105
Cueto88.388.792.386.33.4%25.6%20.8%50.2%9622.5%5.1%717683
Syndergaard87.988.592.685.92.1%25.1%21.7%51.2%9729.3%5.8%655671
Samardzija89.390.392.187.82.7%30.9%19.9%46.5%9820.1%6.5%969893
J. Garcia89.591.793.587.21.8%23.3%18.3%56.7%9820.2%7.7%11410994
Straily89.389.995.386.23.7%44.3%19.9%32.0%9920.5%9.2%8911498
Bumgarner89.189.794.586.84.6%36.9%18.9%39.6%10127.5%5.9%698378
G. Gonzalez89.291.094.185.22.5%27.0%22.9%47.6%10122.4%7.7%1099292
Bettis89.289.394.186.81.4%25.4%22.0%51.2%10217.0%7.3%9896105
Koehler88.389.892.085.23.4%31.1%23.3%42.2%10219.0%10.7%105115108
Hellickson88.189.590.986.44.9%29.5%24.9%40.7%10320.0%5.8%909496
Hammel90.892.394.988.72.9%35.2%19.8%42.1%10320.8%7.7%9210898
Teheran89.691.291.387.73.6%38.3%19.0%39.1%10522.0%5.4%779291
Wainwright87.188.590.884.13.3%27.5%25.5%43.8%10619.0%7.0%11396102
Leake89.690.992.287.81.0%24.3%21.0%53.7%10616.5%4.0%11494102
Colon90.389.994.688.83.8%30.3%22.7%43.2%10716.2%4.1%8696104
Gray88.688.293.986.82.7%29.3%24.5%43.5%10826.0%8.3%948189
J. Fernandez89.987.694.189.32.4%29.3%28.0%40.2%11234.3%7.5%705872
Finnegan88.891.391.284.82.4%37.0%22.5%38.1%11219.8%11.4%94121116
Lackey90.490.494.189.53.0%33.3%22.7%41.0%11324.1%7.1%819296
R. Ray90.690.393.790.33.4%29.2%21.7%45.7%12528.1%9.2%1129098
NL AVG88.789.592.586.83.1%30.5%21.3%45.1%9922.4%7.2%879290

8 comments:

Ernest Dove said...

Dominga Tapia in 2016 was a work in progress coming back from surgery. When I saw him pitch he wasn't dominating. But if his velocktyt comes back all the way he's worth keeping around.

Mack Ade said...

Ernest -

Morning.

I am sure you are following my predictions for the Mets, Las Vegas, and Binghamton 25 man squad on opening day 2017.

You have been in the past the St. Lucie expert on this site.

Any chance you could come back and give us your thoughts on Lucy?

Tom Brennan said...

I echo Mack, Ernest.

Tapia is an extreme long shot, i'd give Tebow better odds. Tebow is the guy who's been on base 6 times in the past 4 games, and had a line out and 2 ground outs in his one hitless game. I think strikeout ex-Met lefty struck Tebow out yesterday. All part of the learning process.

Ernest Dove said...

I'm hoping to be at more Lucie games next year with daughter being year older and hopefully sleeping better ;)

Just make sure that Bingo team projection is highlighted by my guys David Thompson and Kevin Kaczmarski. My non expert eye ball test has them both projected to be MLB players.

Tom don't get me started again on Tebow LOL. I'm actually projecting he never makes it out of high A.

Mack Ade said...

Tom/Ernest -

I agree with Ernest here.

To me, Tebow is one step... below... the team mascot

Tom Brennan said...

Once Danny Muno exited the Brennan Express, I needed a new candidate - along came Tebow. I am betting he does well in High A and holds his own in AA this year.

Mack Ade said...

Tom -

So... Muno numbers?

Tom Brennan said...

Forget Muno, Mack, I have something better: Phil Evans fall ball #'s: 10 for 28, 5 walks, 4 XBH. Phil has more upside than even Tebow LOL. Kidding aside, Evans sure figured out how to hit.