From The Desk… 7/11

Good morning.   

      1.    Clay Ramsey - @ClayRMetsFan - Kingsport Mets updates: RHP Jose Moreno, who lit up the radar gun on Opening Day, is slated to return to the mound on Sunday afternoon after dealing with an elbow injury… Oh, and Kelenic is beastly

      2.    Daniel Wexler - @WexlerRules - Will be fun debating Kelenic vs. Gimenez as #1 in the system. Kelenic has better tools but Gimenez doing well vs. older/more advanced competition – Mack: this looks like a discussion that could take off over the next 24 months. Forget what level each of these players are playing right now. As of yesterday, Gimenez was 19.31 years old. Kelenic was 18.361. I can easily see both these guys being ready for Queens by sometime in 2020. The hopes are that ex-2017 2^nd round pick, 18.213/yr. old 3B Mark Vientos (K-Port: .275) joins them on that team.

      3.    Michael Baron - @michaelgbaron – It’s in there for Amed Rosario. He’s showing that electric ability tonight (Tuesday). Hopefully the light is turning on for him. This franchise desperately needs him to live up to the billing. – Mack – future success would be so much more achievable if this guy could play like the scouting reports. He had three hits (two triples!), scored two runs, and knocked one in. He also played impeccable ball in the field. Look, all I ever wanted out of this guy was a .250-.270, 20-HR season with a Gold Glove nominee. His middle field defense was going to begin a new dynamic this team could build around. And let’s not forget… he just turned 22 which is far younger that some of our so-called prospects that haven’t even made it to the bigs yet. Lastly, having stars in both Rosario and Gimenez on the same roster, gives the Mets the kind of infield versatility every team wants. Let’s hope this is the beginning of a ‘new Amed’.

      4.    Russ O'Brien - @russelltob - Mets on pace to go 65-97

      5.    MLBTR.com reports that the Red Sox are trying to close a deal for a late inning reliever that will help them this season. They reported: “There really aren’t all that many excellent late-inning rental relievers likely to be made available — Jeurys Familia is probably the best among them.” We’ve mentioned in the recent past a few Red Sox chips that could be available here… I would be thrilled with two mid-level chips like LHP Jalen Beeks, and catcher Roldani Baldwin.

      6.    Mets Mania -  Mets Catching prospect Tomas Nido has picked it up with the bat lately for Double A Binghamton. Over his last 10 games Nido has hit .336/.395/.707 with 2 homeruns and 6 RBIs.

      7.    Good Fundies Brian - @OmarMinayaFan - Fernando Tatis Jr. is hitting a cool .450 with 4 HR over his last ten games in Double-A as a 19 year old. It's hyper-risky but if the scouting reports on his defense are also good I would consider him essentially straight up for deGrom.  Mack – my guess is that Tom would like this… how about you?

      8.    Roster moves -  OF Zach Rheam promoted from Kingsport to Columbia… Rheams was a 27^th round pick in the last draft, out of Texas Tech, where he hit .341/.461/.713/1.174, 17-HR this season. So far for K-Port, he has hit .208 in 24 at-bats. It’s obvious that he would get very little quality at-bats in Kingsport, what with Jarred Kelenic, Raul Beracierta, and Guillermo Grandillo roaming the outfield there. Same can be said in Brooklyn, with Wagner Lagrange, Anthony Dirocie, and Jose Medina. Therefore, on to South Carolina! OF Kevin Kaczmarksi and P Drew Gagnon returned to Vegas, replaced by OF Matt den Dekker and P Jacob Rhames replace them on the Mets roster... lastly, the Mets released P Marcos Molina to make room for the den Dekker move. I did find this move a little surprising for two reasons. one, they could have simply put Yoenes Cespedes on the 60-day DL list. He has been on the DL for 58 days. Couldn't he just have been transferred over. The other reason was the boldness of this move. Molina was ranked as the 8th Mets prospect going into this year. In the past, the Mets stayed by these guys well past their usefulness. Molina lost the ability to make his mark, nor could he keep his fastball down anymore. I hope this is a sign of how things will operate in the future.