From The Desk... 7.20

Good morning.

      1.    Roster Moves:  Infielder Rigoberto Terrazas was activated from Columbia’s disabled list The 22-year old ‘blue chip’ prospect has had a miserable season this year for Columbia (.188) after hitting .348 for Kingsport last year… OF Champ Stuart landed on the Binghamton disabled list again. This repeated on again, off again placement could be one of those phantom injuries you see sometimes in the chain… SP Jason Vargas has come off the Mets DL and will pitch on Tuesday. This sends SP Corey Oswalt back to AAA-Las Vegas… “Red chip” prospect, RP Drew Smith, has been promoted to the Mets in time foe the weekend series. He has pitched excellently in Vegas… 40^th round draft pick, RP Brian Metoyer, has been promoted from the GCL team to Kingsport. He pitched one inning in one outing there (?)… the Mets activated OF Yoenes Cepedes and options 1B/OF Dominic Smith to AAA-Las Vegas…

      2.    Betsy Helfand - ‏@betsyhelfand - Las Vegas beats Salt Lake 6-4 to salvage the series finale. Chris Flexen gave up two runs in seven innings pitched. Phillip Evans and Christian Colon each had three hits. Peter Alonso had two, including an inside-the-park home run. – Mack – I’m not concerned with Alonso’s slow start in Vegas. It’s a hitter league and this must just be something stuck inside of him. What I am still concerned with is his work in the field. This is where he needs to improve his game, not with a bat in his hands.

      3.    Luke Arkins  - @luke_arkins - Looking for trade targets to augment the #Mariners bullpen? I made a list….  JEURYS FAMILIA – METS - With Britton still shaking off the rust, Familia is the more reliable option. The Mets’ closer has a high strikeout rate (9.8 SO/9) while surrendering just one home run in 40.2 innings this year. That said; Familia has experienced health issues too. In 2017, he missed considerable time due to an arterial clot in his right shoulder. The former All-Star experienced soreness in the same shoulder earlier this season, but has performed well since returning to action in mid-June. Bottom line: As with Britton, the price will be steep for buyers interested in Familia. Mack – sure hope so…

      4.    Nick Francona - @NickFrancona - There is so much more that needs to be said about the MLB investigation into the Kapler issue. Stuff that is truly shocking. It ate away at me having to remain silent about this to keep my job, but now I’ll finally be able to share the true depravity of Rob Manfred. It is ugly.

      5.    Bleacher Report - https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2018/07/20/mets-are-exchanging-names-with-teams-for-a-jeurys-familia-trade/ - Andy Martino of SNY TV reports that the Mets “have gotten to the point of exchanging names with teams” in trade talks for closer Jeurys Familia. He says that nothing is imminent, but that we should expect a Familia trade “well before the deadline.” Mack – I never believe a thing that comes out of Martino’s trap, but even I could come up with this much speculation going into this weekend. Familia and Astrubel Cabrera and 1-2 (or 2-1) in exit stage left from Flushing.

      6.    Scott Soshnick - @soshnick - BREAKING: At least 10% of @Mets going up for sale, sources say. At least three minority partners are exploring sale, including Comcast and Charter Communications. Mack – on the surface, this is a good thing, but what if selling small chunks creates a situation that the team becomes profitable through this mess and the Wilpons remain majority owners? You only have to own 51% to control the votes. Why own the rest?

      7.    There seems to be a new issue regarding the health of Yoenes Cespedes. It seeks that he has told others that he needs an operation on his knees that have developed calcification. It seems that the only way of correcting it is through an operation and recovery time is estimated at… 8 months. He ended the conversation saying he intended on taking care of this in ‘the off-season’. Does he realize if he waits this long he wouldn’t be ready to play again until just prior to the 2019 all-star break? Why not shut down after the Yankee series (during this lost season) and do it now so you could be ready for opening day 2019?