Mack's Apples - Mack’s Mets, Josh Breaux, Baseball, Mark Appel, ‘A Fight is Brewing’

  

Good morning.

Spring Training has begun and it’s time again to ask a couple of you to join Mack’s Mets as a active writer.

It’s no big deal. You need no prior experience. You just need to be either a fan of the Mets or one of their minor league affiliates (we especially love those of you that attend the minor league games).

The rules are simple. We define an ‘active’ writer as someone that can contribute a post a week. Wordage would be in the 400-1000 range. We never edit content, only occasional spelling and grammar.

The site is simple to navigate. You write the post and park it and email me when it is ready. I will schedule it.

Remember… every Mack’s Mets writer first started as a reader.

Please email me at macksmets@gmail.com and we can discuss this further.   

      

Top 50  JUCO Draft Prospects -

         

Josh Breaux, RHP/C, McLennan (Texas) JC - Breaux ranked No. 301 on last year’s BA500 draft rankings. He has legitimate power potential as well as one of the best arms in college baseball. McLennan plans to use him as a closer this year, taking advantage of his 94-97 mph fastball-he struck out eight batters in just three innings in the Cape Cod League. He handles velocity well, but there are concerns about his ability to make contact to take advantage of his plus power.

What else I learned about  baseball -

Are baseball games too slow? It’s not the fault of baseball that most games are at night, and people have to get up in the morning. Speeding up the game by allowing a batter to take first on an intentional walk without any pitches is a mistake. Anything can happen on those pitches. Those four pitches are a foreshadowing of doom: “Oh, those bases on balls!” Frankie Frisch used to say, shaking his head. But doom should be earned.

 Mark Appel , top pick of 2013 draft, quitting baseball –

”If you want to call me the biggest draft bust, you can call it that,” Appel told Bleacher Report. ”If I never get to the big leagues, will it be a disappointment? Yes and no. That was a goal and a dream I had at one point, but that’s with stipulations that I’m healthy, I’m happy and doing something I love. If I get to the big leagues, what’s so great about the big leagues if you’re in an isolated place, you’re hurt and you’re emotionally unhappy? How much is that worth to you?”

The regulars here remember me writing about this flake since the day he entered his junior year in high school. Yes, he always had the God given talent to be great at this game, but every scout I knew in those days ran for the hills when they were asked to evaluate him. He was a total pain in the ass and his ego was twice the velocity of his fastball.

Appel didn’t just quit baseball. He left because he wound up sucking at it.

MLB agent : 'There is a rising tide among players for radical change. A fight is brewing' –

                             

      One day after commissioner Rob Manfred shrugged off the sluggish free-agent market for Major League Baseball players this winter as a blip, and one week after Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen suggested players ought to consider whether to strike, one of baseball's most prominent agents issued a manifesto Friday that hinted players might not simply ride out the remaining four years of the current collective bargaining agreement.

"The players are upset," wrote Brodie Van Wagenen, co-head of CAA Baseball. "No, they are outraged. … Their voices are getting louder and they are uniting in a way not seen since 1994."