Tom Brennan - CREAM RISES TO THE TOP
When it comes to certain pitchers, cream certainly rises to the top. One guy for whom that description is particularly apropos is Jake the Great deGrom, a pitcher for met fans to never take for granted, one of the greatest in Mets history.
Two minor leaguers who are staying healthy and are ever rising are righties Chris Flexen and Merandy Gonzalez.
Frankly Fantastic Flexen won again on Wednesday to rise to 6-1, 1.66 for AA Binghamton. His Wednesday game was a 7 inning complete game effort in which he allowed 1 run on 4 hits and 3 walks, with 7 Ks. A season WHIP of 0.80 in 65 innings and more than a K per inning has me thinking he is major league ready. Great every game, including his prior game in which he took a no hitter into the 8th inning.
Merandy the Dandy Gonzalez has been stellar the whole campaign of 2017. He was neck & neck with the amazing Jordan Humphreys in Columbia earlier this year, but JH fell off the pace with his elbow ailment, so the 21 year old Gonzalez is alone at the head of his class currently.
His record? Double Flexen's record and add one for the answer: if math ain't yo thang, I'll calculate it for ya: 13-2. Tom Jones sings "He's a winnah."
And some guys stumble when they get promoted mid-season, but not the Dandy, who is 4-1, 1.52 with St Lucie.
He sports a 1.50 season ERA and a WHIP of around 0.90.
Simply Dandy.
Eric Clapton of Cream was asked about these two and started singing, I'M SO GLAD, the old Cream classic.
Eric Clapton of Cream was asked about these two and started singing, I'M SO GLAD, the old Cream classic.
As final starting pitcher notes, last year's sensation in A ball, PJ Conlon, has had some ups and downs in AA this year, standing now at 6-7, 3.81 in 18 starts, with the ERA bloated by back-to-back starts in late June where he allowed 12 earned runs in 12 innings. In the other 16 starts, 3.12. Nice.
And he has thrown 3 (yes 3) shutouts this year. Which tells me 3 times that his ceiling is still major league caliber.
Also, his teammate, 23 year old righty Corey Oswalt, is 7-4, 2.87 in 16 starts this year, and seems to be rising too, perhaps to a # 5 starting slot by 2019 (or a trade chip now).
He is 32-17 career, but injuries in 2013, 2014, and 2016, in which he pitched a total of just 148 innings, have slowed this 2012 second rounder.
Speaking of Cream, this just in: Vegas got creamed to the tune of 41 runs allowed in games on Monday and Tuesday, raising their runs allowed to 6.23 per game through 96 games this year. The Vegas heat curdles cream, for sure.
And painfully, one that was rising like creme de la creme in 2016, Tom Szapucki, just got TJS and will miss most of 2017 and all of 2018. I feel like Metscpitchers need to stop shopping at TJ Maxx.
Neil Ramirez was DFA'd, by the way, and will no longer get creamed in Queens - just needed to add that.
Adieu, dear reader. I need to get cream for my coffee, if you don't mind. With no lumps...I get enough lumps!
And painfully, one that was rising like creme de la creme in 2016, Tom Szapucki, just got TJS and will miss most of 2017 and all of 2018. I feel like Metscpitchers need to stop shopping at TJ Maxx.
Neil Ramirez was DFA'd, by the way, and will no longer get creamed in Queens - just needed to add that.
Adieu, dear reader. I need to get cream for my coffee, if you don't mind. With no lumps...I get enough lumps!
11 comments:
I split my pitchers' and hitters' article into 2 article, the second of which (hitters) comes out at 10 AM. Don't miss it!!
I'm very upset that another of the Mets top pitching prospects, Thomas Szapucki, is now lost until the 2019 season, but this is the perfect example why I keep saying draft as many quality blue chip starters with your top three picks in the draft. You need 15 of these guys to wind up with 5 great ones.
I agree with you... Flexen will be a major addition in 2018 and Merandy (probably) in 2019.
I'd like to think that Flexen and Oswalt could push guys like Wheeler and Harvey to the pen, but we'll have to wait and see.
On to another tradeless day...
Mack I hear there is interest in Cabrera and Reed - time for Sandy to deal!
Two other trade targets: The twin-headed lefty giant, Bruce Duda, in 578 at bats has 39 doubles, 41 homers, and 99 RBIs in 2017. Not shabby at all for the Siamese Twins.
Mack, my 10:00 article touches on why you need to draft power hitters too, while I also agree with you and acknowledge the need to draft 800 pitchers a year, since 790 of them will have Tommy John surgery eventually.
Hey guys. Any chance that Flexen gets in some games in the big leagues this year? I'd rather see what he has at the major league level than watch another Montero start (even though Montero has been a bit better lately). Is he on the 40 man? Any chance they'd be willing to promote him straight from AA?
allzarine -
Tom and I have different opinions on this...
he says yes and that Flexen will be pitching in Flushing during the month of September.
I say no due to the fact he already has had multiple arm injuries and, what with has gone on recently with Humphreys and Szapucki, the safe approach would be to let him finish in Binghamton.
On Flexen, I hope they follow the route of Michael Conforto, who got promoted from AA straight to Queens after a relatively short stint...so Flexen's AA stint's length and timing being much like Conforto's I pull for a Sept promotion.
I tend to be over-anxious with pitchers I like. I liked Akeel Morris and he suddenly got promoted in mid-2015 to pitch one disastrous game against a heavy hitting Blue Jays squad.
Traded to the Braves and more seasoned, Akeel has recently gotten called up to the bigs, and so far, it is clear he is much more ready: 3.2 IP, 1 hit, no walks, 5 Ks.
So I only want Flexen up if they feel he is truly ready. But his AA stats imply that he IS ready.
We still have some prospects, great.
I guess is a blessing that Kelly Johnson is not with the Braves otherwise Sandy the Genius would have send them in a trade for him.
Trade rumors all over but nothing happening. Someone wake up Sandy and the other GM trifecta.
On a year when elite starters are getting great, great returns in trades, leave it to the Mets to have the luck of Harvey never showing anything this year, Wheeler inconsistency, Matz learning to fail, Lugo pitching hurt, Gsellman hurt, Familia hurt, etc.
This team is cursed.
It will be interesting to see what they do with Flexen the rest of this year. I was thinking of Conforto too, when I was thinking about them jumping him straight from AA. They seem more inclined to do that with a position player than a pitcher though. I can't remember the last time they brought in a SP straight from AA.
Rare exceptions occur with extreme talent. Gooden went straight from A ball in 1983 to the Mets in 1984. If only Flexen were that extreme a talent.
Viper, we are one strong Matz start away from him being highly sought. Not sure we have the depth for 2018 to do that, though.
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