Mack’s Morning Report – 4-3-17

Good morning.

You will notice over to the right side that I have our four minor league affiliates listed with three unfilled slots below the names of each team. This is where I will post the final scores of each of these teams, daily, and I will list the three most telling stats from Mets players in each of these games.

Over the years, Herb B, Tom Brennan, and myself have written a daily report on the minors which will be eliminated with this feature. I’m sure we will hear more from Tom during the week on the guppies, but I wanted the site to head in the right direction with a feature like this.

Ex-Mets Transactions

It’s always fun to see what your old guppies did last week with other baseball organizations.

LHP Adam Kolarek was released by the Braves – Kolarek was picked up by the Braves before the 2016 season and actually had a pretty decent season at AA (3.32) and AAA (3.05). I find this a surprising move involving this AAAA pitcher.

C Anthony Recker was optioned to AAA (Braves) – I liked Recker when he was with the Mets and I thought he had a chance to stick with the Braves, but then along came the pickup of Kurt Suzuki.

            RHP Jim Henderson was released by the Cubs – Henderson served the Mets                well last season in 44 relief appearances (4.27).

RHP Luis Cessa was optioned to AAA (Yankees) – Cessa was originally traded to the Tigers in the Yo deal, and then was shipped off to the Yankees for LHP Justin Wilson. The soon to be 25-year old Cessa was 4-4, 4.35 for the Yanks last season.

The Detroit Tigers released P Mike Pelfrey – I remember when many of us thought this was going to be the Matt Harvey before Matt Harvey. When he was on, no one through a nastier inside fastball with late return action. Good luck in life, Mike.

           

New Mets

The Mets signed minor league SS Jio Mier. He was the 29^th overall pick in the 2009 draft by the Houston Astros and, once again proves, you have to do much more than be drafted in the first round. He played six seasons in the Astros chain, working his way up from rookie ball (2009) to AAA (2014). He played last year for Buffalo (Toronto) and hit .219. His lifetime minor league is a meh .238.

            (note – the Mets actually is in need of a backup shortstop, both at the AAA and AA level, so there is a good chance he could stick on one of the teams)

Speaking of AAA/AA infielders, the Mets are bringing back IF Josh Rodriguez. I loved this guy in 2015! He hit 19 home runs and 76 runs batted in for Binghamton and finished the season in Las Vegas. He was the perfect emergency guy to have in your system in case one of your infielders went down. Sort of the T.J. before T.J. I assume he’s play in Vegas since he’s now had major AAA experience with Oakland last year.

Mets cuts

So far, there are three, and I do wonder why teams draft guys out of college that simply never seem to be given a decent chance.

22-yr old RHP Dillon Becker – Becker was a 16^th round draft pick in 2015 that came out of college (Angelo State) at 21-years old. He finished the year with Kingsport (12-appearances, 3.86-ERA, but pitched like crap last year for Brooklyn (only 15-appearances, 6.45).

            24-yr old RHP Bryce Beeler – Beeler was a 19^th round pick in 2014 out of the University of Memphis. There’s got to me more to this story. 2014 with K-Port: 14-appearances, 3.13-ERA, 1.00-WHIP… sat out 2015 (TJS?)… then had only six appearances for Brooklyn and Columbia. Beeler was a shortstop in college and the Mets tried to convert him to a closer. Just didn’t happen.

            23-yr old RHP Ty Williams – Williams was a 35^th round pick in 2013 out of Seminole State College. He pitched for four Mets affiliates over four years, but just not that often. He did love to walk people, posting a BB/9 in 2015 for the Cyclones of 11.57 and 9.00 last year.

The WBC Sucks - The DL is Off and Running

Another example of why the Mets shouldn't send their baseball players to play in thus tourney is RHSP Seth Lugo, whose pitching arm went dead once he finished pitching so well over there. 

And while I'm ranting, did you notice what is happening to the team disabled list, after being virtually nameless going into these past two weeks?

3B - David Wright - neck stenosis

OF - Brandon Nimmo - hammy

OF - Juan Lagares - you name it

LHSP - Anthony Kay - TJS

LHSP - Steven Matz - sore left elbow

RHSP - Chris Flexen - surgery remove bone chips

RHSP - Seth Lugo - arm fatique

RHRP - Gary Cornish - Susp 50 games

RHRP - Jerry Mejia - susp 2017 season

RHRP - Jeurys Familia - 15 game suspension

Got a little bit of everything here... Tommy John... druggies... wife slappers...

Jeez.

            

25-Man

So, here we are. Opening Day. There’s nothing more exciting than the first game for the team you love.

First, the good news. I’m thrilled that Zack Wheeler was named the SP4. He’s worked so hard these past couple of years to come back and no one deserves this more than he does. My hope is they baby step him in April, with a max of 4-5 runs, and piggy him with someone like Rafael Montero for a while.

The bad news, for me at least, is making Michael Conforto rot on the Mets bench when he should be playing every day on either this team or the 51’s. I would have brought up Travis Taijeron and dropped someone like Sean Gilmartin or Erik Goeddel. 

But that’s just me.