Good morning.
Mark Vientos
may need to find a new position –
The results of this move were not promising on the defensive
side of things. Vientos committed 13 errors in 133 opportunities. He finished
the year with a poor .902 fielding percentage, showing early on in his
professional career that perhaps a position changed is needed.
Mack – Vientos is not a 5-tool player, but his
impressive bat was reason enough to draft, and develop him. The worst scenario
here should be an AL DH chip someday.
Baseball pioneer
honored –
He
played baseball while at Oberlin College, then at the University of Michigan
and ultimately for the American Association’s Toledo Blue Stockings
(1883-1884). The team received threats due to Walker’s appearance as catcher
and he soon had to leave the team. After Walker played his last game for
Toledo, no other African-American would play in Major League Baseball until
Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947.
Mack – Every time I turn on the news I think
that we have turned the clock back on race relations. Then I find a story like
this and realize we are still far ahead of how bad it was.
Arizona League Stats (thru 10/12)
CF Desmond Lindsay 4-AB, .500/.500/2.000/2.500, 2-HR
SS Andres Gimenez 4-AB, .250/.500/1.000/1.500,
1-HR
C Ali Sanchez 4-AB,
.000/.333/.000/.333, 0-HR
RP Steven Nogosek 1-IP, 0-K, 0.00, 0.00
RP Joe Zanghi 2-IP, 1-K, 0.00,
1.00
RP Matt Blackham 1.1-IP, 1-K, 6.75, 3.75
RP Gerson Bautista 3-IP, 2-K, 3.00, 1.33
It’s getting close to my creating my mock drafts for 2019.
The Mets have the 12th overall pick and it looks like that one of
the serios bats will still be available when they pick. Niceville HS (FL)
SS/3B/OF Rece Hinds looks like the second coming
of Jarred Kelenick. PG has him graded as a 10,
stating:
Rece Hinds is a 2019 SS/3B/OF with a 6-4 210 lb. frame from
Niceville, FL who attends Niceville HS. Big and strong athletic build, long
arms and room to get stronger. Third base tools defensively, has outstanding
raw arm strength, good one spot lower half quickness and athleticism. Right
handed hitter, elite level power with big raw bat speed and extension through
contact, can get long and around the ball at times but can launch them to where
others can't when everything comes together, has the ability to drive the right
centerfield gap at times as well.
One more thing about
Hinds… he spent the last few months traveling, and winning, every Home Run
Derby he could enter.
This is serious power
with excellent third base skills.
It turns out we’ve been focusing on the wrong sport. The NFL
certainly has its issues, but Major League Baseball is the one that’s truly
suffering. Attendance is dropping, TV ratings are adequate but nowhere near the
NFL’s, the games are too long and extend too late into the evening and kids
aren’t growing up to be baseball fans as they were a generation or two ago.
Mack – As I mentioned in a comment last
Thursday, the rising salaries will catch up to the declining team revenues and
the perfect storm will develop during the next players/owners negotiation for a
new contract. This sport could be in serious trouble.
OPENING THE DOOR ON THE
PLIGHT OF PENSIONLESS
MLB BALLPLAYERS –
For the past nine years, I have been attempting to get
justice for retired, pensionless baseball players who clearly don’t appreciate
the fact that they have been forsaken by both Major League Baseball (MLB) and
the union representing current players, the Major League Baseball Players’
Association (MLBPA). Through no fault of their own, these men were victimized
by a vesting rules change that occurred during the 1980 Memorial Day Weekend.
At the time, ballplayers such as the New York Mets’ George “The Stork” Theodore, Bobby Pfeil, Rod Gaspar, Hank
Webb, and Dave Schneck, as well as the
New York Yankees’ Rich Hinton and Ross Moschitto, needed to accrue four years of service
credit; that was what anyone who played between 1947 – 1979 needed to be
eligible for the pension plan.
24 comments:
They should have retroactively given older players like Stork $10K a year.. Lot of $$, but...right thing to do.
Hind looks good. I hope we get lucky and get a guy like him.
Good start for The Fall Guys.
If Vientos stays at SS one more year, it will accelerate what defense he can develop.
I thought Vientos played 3B. If his errors were at SS, maybe a shift to 3B is in order. Were they mainly on throws or fielding?
Every time I see Kelenic's name, I wonder how it's pronounced. Is it KELenic or keLENic? Anyone here know?
Bill
Checking in before a day in hell...
I'm not sure on either. I'm try and check on Vientos and get back to you.
Bill
My source says it's pretty down the middle... BOTH fielding and throwing
I think it is pronounced "colonic", Bill, but that just might be me making an ass out of myself again.
Again, my thought on Vientos is to put him where the most action is, as you want him to maximize his fielding skills, and he can do that if he maximizes his fielding chances now, when it really doesn't count.
Lot of players suck in the infield at his age - most get better.
Playing SS now could make him a better 3B later.
The Mets did the same with Flores, with Evans, with McNeil..
Juan Lagares d the Sally league in errors. . when he played SS
LED the league
I think the infield configuration (in the short term, meaning 2020, 2021) will be Alonso, McNell, Gimenez and Rosario (3B). If they all adjust to their listed spots and "click", then Vientos may not have a spot in the infield, barring a trade or if you move Amed to the OF.
If Vientos knocks down the door, so to speak, I would prefer to keep him at 3B and then figure out what to do with Amed.
This is all contingent on Gimenez actually making it to the show......lots of moving parts, but you have to wonder if one of them
will end up being a valuable trade chip?
Interesting notes on Rece Hinds. Of course, the last time they drafted a "Reese" (Havens) it didn't work out so well. (Then again, Mack might say the same about the last time he signed on a "Reese", too.) :)
You know I've been on the bandwagon about the minor league players getting shafted financially. I'm having a little harder time working up empathy for the major league players who earned in the hundreds of thousands per year while they played and did so for a short period of time. I would parallel business in which you don't vest in a pension fully until 5 years in most places, 10 in others. And most folks don't earn in their first five years what a ballplayer earns in one.
Both Pujols and Miguel Cabrera came up as third basemen. I never want to give up on a youngster that may be willing to work hard on their defense. In fact, it’s a disappointment I have with Wilmer Flores that he didn’t keep working on his D on the big league level, but rather was just happy to be here.
Thanks.
I don't know if Wilmer worked on his D at the ML level or not. I suspect he did, but just doesn't have the instincts, just as is the case with his baserunning.
I consider him a good kid who works hard but just lacks skills other than hitting. If he knows it's D that holds him back, and doesn't work hard to improve it, then he's an imbecile. But I don't think he is.
Bill
Wilmer doesnt have the feet
I hear repeatedly about where to move Rosario when Gimenez comes up, and wonder: Why does everyone think Gimenez will be better? I happen to think Rosario’s tools are better than Gimenez’s, in fact, I see Gimenez as a Dee Gordon type with a tiny bit more powe but still not too muchr. Rosario has power, speed, and a strong arm. Why not try to keep him at SS where he’s a asset, rather than 3B where he would be substandard in an offensive production?
Too, I’ve said before of the few good prospects we have, it’s Gimenez that I would trade along with Peteren or Kay, but not both, to get Realmuto. Read an article yesterday about how Dan Danbrowski has always been aggressive dealing prospects for established players and has always had success because he identifies exactly which player he wants. I think both those kids can go and it would help this team immediately at catcher, leave money available for another spot (bullpen?), and the Mets have enough surplus in those two positions where they can handle the slight prospect reduction to have the large MLB infusion.
Texas Gus is onto something!
Reese has a negative fWilpon. Hid fEar is solid though.
FWar, I LOVE IT when autocorrect ruins my one-liners!
The reason we talk about Rosario moving from SS is he was rated one of the worse defensive SS last seasons...
Gimenez While most of us have not seen him has been reported to be more consistent
Eddie, if that’s the case, then it is Rosario that should move to 2B. But, I know that rookies all struggle differently their first year and so I would re-evaluate next winter.
For everyone to see before they want to trade, bench, or just give Rosario away:
https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=12161&position=SS
Or the head. 😝
Texas Hold'em:
To me, it is virtually impossible to know exactly what the Mets have in Andres Gimenez until he actually gets here and plays. Trading any really good AAA player before they have hatched at the MLB level is always a gamble to some extent.
Having said that, would I trade Andres Gimenez, Anthony Kay, Juan Lagares, and someone like a Robert Gsellman level reliever for JT Realmuto? A: Oh yeah! Right now even. Get Donnie Baseball on the phone will ya'!
But I WOULD NOT trade Peter Alonso nor David Peterson at all, not ever. They will be players you hold onto. Guarantee it.
Around the online blogs today.
Some talk about the Mets having to "totally redo" their entire bullpen for 2019. As I have said several times here prior, I respectively disagree.
Sure, the 2018 NY Mets bullpen was unacceptable overall. Manager Callaway and Pitching Coach Dave Eiland couldn't get the job done all year long with the bullpen, the order of what they had here, and so on. But it may not be all their fault, it might just be that they did not have (nor could find) the right horses to ride the bullpen with.
Anyway, in all fairness to the pitchers in the 2018 Mets bullpen, the better ones were pretty much mainly rookies and with no MLB experience to help guide them. Rookies don't always develop as quickly on the pro level, like Dan Marino did for the Miami Dolphins when he came up, which was immediately in his very first preseason game. Sometimes being a rookie can be tough, and relieving in close games a tough way to get baptized in the MLB. But 2018 was a bullpen turnstyle and that has to stop in 2019.
In 2019 ST, I am hoping that the Mets do take a serious look at: Tyler Bashlor, Gerson Bautista, Dave Roseboom (at least for a look because we need more lefty relievers), Eric Hanhold, and Jenrry Mejia, fingers crossed there.
I'd lose some of the relievers who were not very good all 2018 season. Maybe add into the relief mix a guy like Ryan Brasier (.77 WHIP and a lot of strikeouts and an under 2.00 ERA in 2018) from the Boston Red Sox who could close for most teams in MLB right now. And then too, another hard throwing lefty set-up man.
Might just be all the Mets need.
I liked the post recently here on Manny Machado. I would not try to sign him for the Mets either. Too expensive, too much luggage.
On Amed Rosario having a lot of errors in 2018. People, Amed was a rookie in 2018, and to my own eyes he got considerably better and more relaxed playing second half.
Amed Rosario and Jeff McNeil showed more than just a little greatness playing the 2018 NY Mets middle infield. Their combined batting average was like .295 BA and they to me are both highlight reels defensively. Oddly though, we probably just saw in 2018 their respective floors and it's hard for me not to believe that both will only get better as time goes on.
I go with these two any day!
Sound advice is probably to just leave it alone for the Mets middle infield. We should be grateful to have these two here now, at the same one time. I certainly am.
It's been wonderful ALCS and NLCS series.
I think overall that Milwaukee is done now, just did not have two things yet. The pitching and maybe one more homerun batter added into their lineup.
Like one more top-end starter, a rookie starter with promise and hope, and then a homerun catcher or corner outfielder more.
The Red Sox go up 3-1 in their Astros series. Big pivotal win last night. Houston will have to dig deeply into their own souls to get back into the hunt. But can they. And Altuve is playing somewhat injured for Houston.
Will be tough for the "Stros"!
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