6/7/17

Tom Brennan - ST LUCIE PITCHERS TO PROMOTE


Tom Brennan - ST LUCIE PITCHERS TO PROMOTE

The Mets have guys in Columbia like Max Kuhns and Matt Blackham, and especially 8-1 Jordan Humphreys and 7-1 Merandy Gonzalez that need to be promoted quickly, based on their strong performances.  The return this week from injury of potential ace Tom Szapucki to the Columbia squad increases the urgency to promote some Fireflies fast.

How to make room in St Lucie when those Flies get the bump up?  Let's promote a bunch of St Lucie pitchers to Binghamton, OK?  OK, then. 

Chris Flexen was already  recently promoted from St Lucie to AA after having a healthy return from injury - he belonged in AA anyway had it not been for the injury.

Who should join him?  Here are my 6 - yes, 6, maybe 7:

Marcos Molina - has been outstanding in his 4 post-injury outings.  He, like Flexen, belongs in AA right now.

Justin Dunn - after a beauty of an outing Monday (5 shutout innings, no walks, 7 Ks), he has strung together several fine performances, enough proof that last year's first rounder has shaken off his early season woes and is moving full speed ahead.  Get him to AA.

Nabil Crismatt - in the 22 year old righty's last 5 starts for the Lucites, he has allowed just 3 earned runs and fanned 35 in 33 IP.  That screams "ready for AA" to me.

Andrew Church - the former 2nd rounder started out lousy for Lucie in 2017, with a 5.10 ERA after an outing on May 4.  Since then, he's tossed 36 innings in 5 starts and allowed just 10 earned runs.  My conclusion?  Ring the Church bell and send him to Binghamton.

Tyler Bashlor - the fireballing reliever has been simply outstanding in his last 10 outings, fanning 20 in 10.2 IP and allowing just one earned run and 5 hits.  And except for one outing, his control has been solid.  Bashlor is 7 for 7 in save opportunities, too.  Move him to AA.

Kevin Canelon - the 23 year old lefty was lousy in his first 5 outings this year, sporting a 7.27 ERA.  Since then?  A different Canelon: 10 outings, 26 IP, 0.35 ERA, 21 hits, 5 walks, 26 Ks.  Promote him, or let him close if (and when) Bashlor is promoted.

Joshua Torres is a seventh guy to consider, a 23 year old righty reliever who pitched for another organization last season.  Torres has fanned 26 in his last 15.2 IP over 10 games, and in his last 6 scoreless outings, he has tossed 9.1 IP, allowed 4 hits, and fanned 15.  Maybe not promote him yet, and make him the closer once Bashlor is promoted.  But those are recent mighty impressive performances.

There you have it, folks.  "Promote me."

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good to see some minor league pitching depth developing......my only question is "who gets moved from AA, and AAA to make room"?

Mike

Reese Kaplan said...

The problem I see with the Mets minors is that the most interesting prospective talent (other than Rosario or Smith) are years away, not of immediate help nor likely helping in 2018 either.

Mack Ade said...

There is very little 2018 help in the pipeline.

Regarding your recommendations, I single out two.

Because of age and experience, I consider Molina's A+ stint as almost a rehab assignment. He needs to get back to the level he should be pitching at.

The other is Bashlor. I'd like to see if we have more than another Lethersich here.

As for movement upward from AA to AAA, I would leave Oswalt and Conlon there with Flexen and Molina for a little more seasoning. Move up one of the AAAA pieces like Jannis or Hand

Reliever wise, I'd like to see either Tim Peterson or Luis Mateo in Vegas

Tom Brennan said...

@ Reese, that dearth of higher minors pitching talent is why I would like to see guys pushed up faster...especially up to St Lucie and Bingo. But, to Mack's point, I may be being a bit too wishful.

To anonymous' point, I think there are several older AAA pitchers doing quite poorly. I would phase them out and promote guys to AAA like Peterson and Conlon. Pitching there is like a baptism of fire (just ask Al Baldonado, who was great in AA, not-so-great to date in AAA), but unless you want guys to look better stat-wise for trade purposes, the extreme challenge of pitching in Vegas can be as close as one can get to pitching in the bigs. Relish the challenge, and smile at the lumps.

Mack, I think, and I certainly could be wrong, that Tyler Bashlor does not have the control issues of Leathersich. Jack had extreme issues early in the season in AAA for the Cubs, but has his usual 21 Ks in 14 innings, but is still wild. Also Leather was never used as a closer (7 for 17 in saved in 200 outings), but Bashlor seems to be doing much better in his early closer trials.