Mack - Random Thoughts

Morning.

I’m sitting in the waiting room of the Beaufort (SC) Naval Hospital for my appointment with my shrink. You see, you can’t get the VA to prescribe certain meds to you unless you check in twice a year to make sure everyone there thinks your sane enough to keep the cycle going.

I had to drive an hour to get here and I’m an hour early for the appointment and, since they offer no Wifi to the vets here (figures), I thought I’d put to paper my thoughts going forward.

I can’t understand why the Mets brass can’t recognize that the fan base needs something to re-energize it. Even a bad first deal would allow room for someone to join this team and begin the process of rebuilding.

Obviously, that ‘first bad deal’ should involve the exit of either Lucas Duda, Astrubel Cabrera, Jose Reyes, Wilmer Flores (please, no!), or T.J. Rivera. This way, either Amed Rosario or Dom Smith could join the team in Flushing. Strangely, right now, Reyes and Rivera seem to have the most to offer to a team trying to win a pennant. Both are playing at the top of their game. Rivera is playing like an all-star.

Speaking of Rivera, how did the whole baseball world miss on this guy? Hitting well in school only led to not being drafted and, if it wasn’t for an old Met calling a Met scout, he probably would be working far out of baseball. Drafting an old shortstop named Jacob deGrom should also show you that, when it comes to baseball, it truly ain’t over until it’s over.

I hope that the Mets brass is keeping track of all the great stats these days being produced by the Latin players in the lower levels of our pipeline. It can’t be just luck. The team has obviously committed more scouting time and money to finding the hidden gems around the world and, once again, we gave out more than one seven figure bonus to the babies last month. I’ve done this for a long time and I’ve never seen this kind of concentration of talent, and production, at these levels. The Kingsport team is stacked with bats and both DSL teams have chip pitchers and bats to spare. We don’t produce great DSL teams. Until this year. Of course, it’s too early to get excited about players at this level, but would we be predicting great things from them if they were dead last in their division? Hell no.

I’m going to keep saying this until blood comes out of my ears… next great Mets player… P Chris Flexen. It will be interesting to see what the Mets will do next with this stud. There’s nothing more for him to do at the AA level and the lack of air in the PCL warrants no trip to Vegas to deflate his confidence. I’d let him finish up in Binghamton, call him up in September to get a taste, and then turn him loose in spring training to secure a rotation slot leaving camp to Queens.

As for the expiring contracts, just get them off the books and replace them with 5-6 mid to high level prospects that can build 2018 depth at the AA and AAA level. Right now, the 2018 AAA-Vegas team looks to be led by SPs Flexen, Corey Oswalt, P.J. Conlon, and Mickey Jannis, C Tomas Nido, IF Luis Guillorme, 3B David Thompson, and OF Kevin Kaczmarski. AA-Binghamton would be led by SP Justin Dunn, Merandy Gonzalez, and Nabil Crismatt, C Pat Mazeika, 1B Peter Alonso, 2B Michael Paez, 3B Jhoan Urena, and OF (don’t say it Brennan!) Wuillmer Becerra. That’s talent, but it’s not great talent. The pipeline needs more, especially on the mound, behind the plate, in the infield, and in the outfield (sic).

And lastly… regarding Guillorme, he has time and again showed us that he is the best middle infielder in the system. Now, he consistently hits over .300. How hard would it be to make a decision NOW to make him a full time second baseman so he can come to Flushing sometime next year and play next to Rosario?