OPEN THREAD - Proposed Seattle-Mets Trade

So...

As of right now, the deal would be:

The Mets get 2B Robinson Cano, $60mil to reduce Cano's nut to $12mil/yr., and CL/RP Edwin Diaz.

Seattle would get OF/1B Jay Bruce, RP Anthony Swarzak, SP Justin Dunn, OF Jarred Kelenic, and RP Gerson Bautisa.

A 'win now' kind of deal...

An all-star closer and the 2nd WAR producer since 2009 (behind Mike Trout), for two dead contracts, a boat load of cash, and chips that haven't proved a thing yet.

Thoughts????

Reese Kaplan -- Maybe BVW Thinks Davis Can Motivate Kids

Many of the people were puzzled by the outside-the-box decision to hire Brodie Van Wagenen to head up the Mets’ front office.  While there is obviously going to be a period of adjustment to being on the other side of the desk for the first time, for the most part people are happy that he’s expressing some creativity in the prospective roster changes that need to be made.

Unfortunately, a lot of that goodwill may come crashing down quickly if the reports are true that the Mets are signing Chili Davis to be the hitting instructor.  I have nothing against the man personally, but his track record is fairly suspect.  This past season he served as the hitting instructor for the Chicago Cubs and the media was rife with the, “What happened to the Cubs offense?” stories throughout their playoff push in September.  In fact, in their final series of the year they managed just 1 run in 3 of the final four games (which means he’ll fit right in with the Mets). 

Personnel decisions are complicated in high profile endeavors like a professional sports team, particularly one based in the media-intense atmosphere of New York.  You obviously need to evaluate track record, philosophy, communications skills, character and media perception.  While there’s some truth to the old cliché, “Those who can’t do, teach”, the fact remains that if you picked a career offensive lightweight like Mario Mendoza to be your hitting instructor the media would have an absolute field day trashing you for making that choice.

Now Chili Davis as a player was a far more impressive force in the lineup.  He’s a career .274 hitter and three-time All Star who played on three World Series teams with the Twins and twice with the Yankees.  Those are good bonafides to show you have ability to hit a baseball, but the job of a hitting instructor is more about teaching players to get the most out of their natural ability, how to remain focused, how to adapt to changing pitching philosophies or defensive shifts, and, of course, worshipping at the church of launch angle.

When you delve into the teams where Davis was at the helm of run production, it’s not a pretty sight.  We already spoke about the downfall of the Chicago Cubs from juggernaut to Mets-like.  They were 4^th in MLB in 2017 in runs scored with 824 and a team batting average of .255.  Under Davis’ leadership they dropped to 9^th in runs scored with 761 and a similar .258 batting average.  Remember, this a team which has in its lineup Anthony Rizzo, Javy Baez, Ben Zobrist, Kris Bryant (though hurt some of the year), Willson Contreras, Kyle Schwarber and Daniel Murphy!  The Red Sox players like Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi and Xander Bogaerts all flourished in 2018 in a Davis-less environment. 

Prior to his stint with the Red Sox he worked with the Oakland A’s for three years from 2012 to 2014.  During this stint by the Bay he inherited a team 20^th in baseball in runs scored with a team batting average of .244.  During his first year the number of runs scored jumped by 68 but the batting averaged dipped to .238.  In his sophomore season he fostered a dramatic jump in offense good enough for 4^th in all of MLB.  In his final Oakland team in 2014 he maintained that 4^th position but the batting average dipped to .244 once again. 

People will accuse me of kicking a dead horse, but this Alderson-like move is reminiscent of hiring Terry Collins whose Houston Astros and Anaheim Angels teams improved dramatically once he left.  The Cubs saw their offense disappear while he was calling the shots and the Red Sox improved once he was gone. 

So why would Brodie Van Wagenen look to Davis to fix the problematic offense?  The best rationale I can surmise is that he did his best work with an Oakland team full of no-name players who needed motivation and direction, whereas in his Boston and Chicago stints he inherited a bunch of established All-Star types who may not have been as receptive to his style.  The Mets may be going into 2019 with young players in the lineup regularly, including Brandon Nimmo, Michael Conforto, Amed Rosario, Jeff McNeil and Peter Alonso.  Perhaps that is the basis of BVW’s thinking…otherwise the decision to hire the man with the checkered track record makes little sense. 

OPEN THREAD - WHAT IS THE BEST TEAM YOU COULD BUILD FOR THE METS WITH A BUDGET OF $206 MILLION?

OPEN THREAD:

WHAT IS THE BEST TEAM YOU COULD BUILD FOR THE METS WITH A BUDGET OF $206 MILLION?

As Macks Mets' Mike Friere pointed out in his fine article this morning, the Mets had a payroll of $150 million last year. 

Presumably, that was reduced by roughly $15 million by net insurance receipts on David Wright and Yoenis Cespedes.

Now pretend you're the new GM and have been given the green light to go right up to the salary luxury tax threshold this year. 

How would you sign and trade your way to the best $206 million team you can assemble, assuming you chose to spend that much?  $206 million is the amount that, above which, luxury tax begins. 

Remember, you are trying to build a sustainable winning franchise, not just a potentially great 2019 team that will collapse in subsequent years due to lack of foresight in making the right deals.


What would you do, and who would be on that team?

Mike Freire - Restoring Competitive Balance

Recently, Mack posted one of his "From The Desk" articles and there was an entry that paraphrased "Super Agent" Scott Boras and his concerns about the lack of "competitive balance" in Major League Baseball. Another way of stating the obvious is that the "rich" teams are dominating the landscape and the "dregs" are left to fight over the scraps and draft positions.

What was mildly amusing is that agents are partially responsible for the current state of the "salary madness" that has infected the baseball landscape. Furthermore, baseball is the only major sports league (including football, basketball and hockey) that does not have a traditional salary cap structure for teams to follow. Is it really a surprise that the structure has gotten pretty far out of whack?

Below, I have listed the 2018 MLB Team Salary Figures for general reference. With that said, the team with the largest payroll expenditure (Boston) also won the World Series. Furthermore, their total outlay of cash was almost FOUR TIMES more then the team at the bottom of the barrel (Tampa Bay). 

Or, consider that the average payroll for all thirty teams was a shade over $139 milllion dollars. The Red Sox were roughly $90 million dollars OVER the average, or basically what the Pirates spent as an organization. Does that sound like a recipe for competitive balance?

The top ten teams in payroll last year (see below) had an average record of 91-71 and the group included three of the final four teams left standing in the playoffs, plus both World Series combatants and the eventual champion. So, despite a few teams that didn't get their money's worth (San Francisco, Washington, Los Angeles Angels), there appears to be some correlation between spending money and posting a winning record.

***On a side note, for all the crap the fans throw at the Wilpons, the Mets were 12th in all of baseball last year with a payroll of just over $150 million dollars. Granted, we all want that number to rise, but it is far from the bottom teams on this list.  

Before anyone accuses me of being Socialist, I know that you cannot have everyone with exactly the same amount of money to spend. What you can do, however, is level the playing field a little bit by institution a hard salary cap, along with a minimum salary amount that functions as a "floor" (which would keep teams from doing what the Rays are doing). The biggest push back would be a loss of overall salary (dollars) for the players as a collective, but it can be mitigated by raising the floor (ideally, you add as much to the bottom as you take from the top).

For example, there are thirty teams in the league so you could figure out your salary cap by averaging the salaries for the top fifteen teams on the list and you could figure out your salary floor by averaging the salaries for the bottom fifteen teams on the list. Using this logic, the salary cap would have been $172 million dollars for 2018, while the salary floor would have been $107 million dollars for the same time period. 

Furthermore, you would lose approximately $157 million dollars in salary expenditures from the top teams, but you would gain $140 million dollars in salary expenditures from the bottom teams which is close to a "wash". The numbers could be adjusted as needed to get the differential closer to even, if need be. 

By implementing this sort of system, you would have much better chance at "competitive balance" since the top teams and the bottom teams would be much closer together and it would keep teams like Boston from an "unfair" advantage that excessive cash represents.

It is likely "crazy talk" on my part since greed will always win out in the end.

What do you think?

         League Average  $139,175,550

        Boston Red Sox                  $227,398,860

        San Francisco Giants         $205,665,348

        Los Angeles Dodgers        $199,582,045

        Chicago Cubs                     $194,259,933

        Washington Nationals        $181,382,609

        New York Yankees             $179,598,151

        Los Angeles Angels          $173,784,989

        St. Louis Cardinals             $163,784,311

        Houston Astros                   $163,524,216

        Seattle Mariners                 $160,993,827

        Toronto Blue Jays              $150,946,147

        New York Mets                   $150,187,987
        Colorado Rockies             $143,968,544
        Arizona Diamondbacks   $143,324,597
        Cleveland Indians            $142,804,703
        Texas Rangers                 $140,625,018
        Detroit Tigers                    $130,959,889
        Atlanta Braves                  $130,649,395
        Kansas City Royals         $129,944,821
        Baltimore Orioles             $127,633,703
        Minnesota Twins              $115,509,520
        Milwaukee Brewers         $108,982,016
        Philadelphia Phillies       $104,297,471
        San Diego Padres           $101,343,635
        Cincinnati Reds               $100,305,768
        Miami Marlins                   $91,817,860
        Pittsburgh Pirates            $91,025,861
        Oakland Athletics            $80,315,288
        Chicago White Sox         $71,839,808
        Tampa Bay Rays             $68,810,167

OPEN THREAD - Robinson Cano Trade

There's been a rumored trade going on at Twitter that was started by Dan O'Dowd. It has the Mets and Seattle Mariners swapping the following players:

The Mets get:

    2B Robinson Cano  (36/yrs old)
        2018:  .303
       $24mil/year due through 2023
        some $$$ would be paid by Seattle and Mets would
        work out payoff of later years of contract

    CL Edwin Diaz  (24/yrs. old)
        2018:  73-apps, 1.96/0.79, 57-SV
        team controlled 4 years

    CF Mallex Smith   (25/yrs. old)
        2018:  .296  2-HR
        team controlled 4 years

Seattle gets:

    OF-1B Jay Bruce   (31/yrs old)
        2018:   .233   9-HR
        $13mil through 2020

    1B-OF Dominic Smith   (23/yrs old)
        2018:   .224    5-HR
       team controlled 4+ years

    SS Andres Gimenez   (20/yrs old)
        2018:  AA/Bing:   .277   0-HR
        team controlled 4+ years

  SP Justin Dunn   (23/yrs old)
        2018:   A+/AA:   .359   134-IP   156-K
        team controlled 4+ years

The plan would be for Jeff McNeil to move over to 3B and Diaz take over the closer role.

Thoughts?

Reese Kaplan -- Power Vs. Speed

One of the things I found most frustrating about the Sandy Alderson regime was the pigheadedness with which he sought to build a roster.  Every year he would seek out all-or-nothing hitters who would generate a lot of power while simultaneously racking up prodigious strikeout totals.  OBP was perceived to be a good thing even if making contact was rendered irrelevant.  Think Curtis Granderson, Todd Frazier and players of that ilk who struggle to stay respectably over the Mendoza line. 

Fast forward to the post-Sandy Alderson era towards the end of 2018 when instead the Mets brought up a contact hitter you might have heard of named Jeff McNeil.  He took quality ABs, made hard contact successfully, and pretty soon had people saying, “Asdrubal who?” 

Similarly Brandon Nimmo went through a tale of two seasons in which he was very, very good and then there was a stretch during which he proved to be a strikeout machine.  However, the hope is that he can transform the good portion into sustainable success.  Again, in a tough situation you probably wanted him to be at the plate because everything was on the table – base hits, home runs, walks and HBP. 

Brodie Van Wagenen is saddled with many of the talent miscues promoted by Alderson and signed off by the Wilpons.  In addition to Frazier, there’s Jay Bruce and the currently injured duo of Yoenis Cespedes and Juan Lagares.  I’ll leave the latter two out of the equation for the moment but instead focus on Mssr. Frazier and Bruce.

In Todd Frazier the Mets have the classic Alderson hitter.  The last time Frazier had a respectable batting average was back in 2015.  You remember that year – despite Terry Collins the Mets made it to the World Series on the back of Yoenis Cespedes.  It seems like forever ago, no?  Anyway, that year he hit .255, but since then has offered up .225 in 2016, a combined .213 in 2017 and again .213 in 2018.  One year might be a fluke.  A three-year run of mediocrity is a trend.  Even more disturbing is you can’t justify the average with power as that’s been trending downward as well, from a high water mark of 40 HRs in 2016 to just 18 last season.  (For what it’s worth, the aforementioned Brandon Nimmo hit 17 in 39 fewer ABs without being considered a power hitter). 

Jay Bruce is a tale of three hitters.  The first one who arrived in the summer of 2016 to try to help the anemic offense at a cost of former prospect Dilson Herrera was flat-out awful.  He finally started putting it together in mid-September, but by then the season ran out on him.  He returned in 2017 and was more the type of player they thought he was when they acquired him.  He was, in fact, leading the league in RBIs at the time he was dispatched to Mickey Callaway’s Cleveland Indians for Ryder Ryan, a so-called relief prospect who, after a spectacular 2018 got his career ERA down to a pedestrian 3.71.  (Yeah, Sandy knew how to pick ‘em, alright!)  Then, when no one was appearing to show any interest in Bruce, the Mets bid against themselves and extended him the same AAV of $13 million not for one, not for two, but for three more years.  2018 was pretty much a lost cause due to issues with plantar fasciitis, and his year-end numbers were fugly as a result. 

There’s been a lot of whining about bringing in someone like Manny Machado to play SS or 3B, rendering Todd Frazier into pop off the bench.  While that would indeed transform the lineup into a powerful one, please remember it’s the Wilpons we’re talking about and long term, high ticket contracts are not their modus operandi. 

Similarly, there were others advocating a short-term deal for Josh Donaldson in a pillow contract to allow him to reestablish his value after a 2018 lost to injury.  That’s exactly what the Braves extended to him, though the $23 million price probably caught most everyone by surprise. 

PC - Ed Delany

If the team progresses as expected, there will be power aplenty from Michael Conforto, Brandon Nimmo, Peter Alonso and even Amed Rosario who may be trending towards the 20 HR mark this year if his development continues.  And let’s not count out Jeff McNeil who between AA/AAA/MLB launched 31 HRs.  So if you can reasonably expect to get about 125 HRs out of this quintet, maybe power hitters are not the way to go. 

Instead, one element greatly missing from the Mets attack over the past several years has been speed.  We saw some flashes of it from Rosario late in the year when not coincidentally they were playing their best prolonged stretch of ball.  Perhaps when looking to replace Frazier and/or Bruce they should be targeting base stealers instead of sluggers.

One name bandied about as being readily available on the trading block is Dee Gordon.  The Gold Glove winning infielder has twice had 200 hit seasons and stolen as many as 60 bases in a season.  Last year the Mariners played him in the OF until Robinson Cano’s PED hiatus forced him back to the infield.  He’s not cheap -- $13 million plus in 2019 and 2020, with a 2021 option of $14 million or a $1 million buyout.  In other words, he’s going to cost about $28 million at minimum.  Guess who also makes $28 million over the next two years – none other than Jay Bruce.

PC - Mack 

Another player rumored to be obtainable is the Cincinnati Reds’ Billy Hamilton.  The former SS turned centerfielder is pretty one dimensional, but what a dimension – speed personified.  Far be it from me to praise FINALLY former Met Jose Reyes, but remember how much fun it was to watch him get into pitchers’ heads once he got on base?  Hamilton is a singles hitter with a just a .245 lifetime average.  He’s surely not my first choice as he smacks of Eric Young, Jr.  Speed is great but you can’t steal first base. 

Others who have enviable stolen base totals are the Royals’ Whit Merrifield and the Orioles Jonathan Villar.  In these cases I would simply shift McNeil to 3B and open up 2B to one of the speed demons.  The Pirates’ Sterling Marte and the Mariners' Mallex Smith both play CF, a position of need given Juan Lagares’ inability to stay on the field and Jay Bruce’s inconsistency. 

Having guys who can not only get on base but disrupt the pitchers, making them focus less on getting out the subsequent hitters than on preventing the runners from advancing could have a major ripple effect on the thus far moribund offense. 

With the manner in which the Mets have struggled to hit ever since Sandy Alderson was steering the ship, I’d say it’s time to try a new course. 

OPEN THREAD - 1B/OF - Jordan Patterson

As of yesterday morning, the Mets had an open slot next spring at first base (once Peter Alonso is promoted) and in the infield.

That seems to have been filled now.

The Mets signed 26-year old LHH Jordan Patterson who was waived from the Colorado Rockies.

Patterson was a fourth round 2013 draft pick, out of the College of South Alabama. He has played all six professional seasons in the Rockies chain.

He has a career major league batting average of .444 (18 at-bats, 2016), which he has followed with 26-HR, 92-RBI in 2017 and 26-HR, 76-RBI in 2018 at the AAA level.

This is not the kind of move that wets the Reese whistle, but organizations need quality filler material, Patterson is a professional bat that is a phone call away in case of an injury.

No, it's not Brian McCann, but I'll take it,

Tom Brennan - To Which I Say, "SO WHAT?"

 

Tom Brennan - To Which I Say, "SO WHAT?"

Former Mets minor leaguers turned free agents Jhoan Urena, Levi Michael, and Nabil Crismatt just signed with other organizations.

I could wax eloquent about them.  I could say, "Oh, no!"

Instead, I say: "So what?"

I mean, don't get me wrong - I liked following how the trio were playing in 2018 and prior seasons.

But, if one is focused on the Mets winning a World Series, which has happened just once in 49 years, I have to say again, as regards these 3 fellas, "So what?"

Those 3 are likely to be no more than marginal major leaguers, if they reach the bigs in the future at all.

Likewise, the Mets, like all big league teams, released a slew of under-performing minor leaguers after the season.

To which I say: "So what?"

Not that I did not follow them closely, to see if they might somehow evolve into the next Jeff McNeil or Seth Lugo, but they didn't, "So what?"

Where I don't, however, say "So what?" is where the Mets most often fall short, and cannot afford to do so in this winnable upcoming season.

In past years, while true contenders opened the purse unabashedly and with great purpose, the Mets signed cheaper, aging, previously injured players in hopes of reversal and over-achievement.

What the Mets got instead was under-achievement - as in: 

Cespedes, Bruce, Swarzak, Frazier, Reyes, Bautista, Gonzalez, Vargas.

To that, I don't say, "So what?"

To that, I say, "The acquisition grade for the above is an F, so what can you do this off season, in terms of player moves, such that the moves will be viewed by impartial observers as an A or a B, not an F?"

The Braves, you see, they want an A or a B.

As in, the Braves, not the Mets, just signed Josh Donaldson.  

To that, I don't say, "So what?"

To that, I ask, "Here we go again?  Again?"

The Mets need to make excellent, impactful moves to make the team playoff-probable.  

Not just sit there getting out-maneuvered by clubs like the Braves, the Phillies, the Bronx Bombers, the Red Sox, and the Dodgers, whose first 10 team goals, I imagine, are summarized as "Winning, and winning big."

To anything else, I say, "So what?"

To anything less, those teams say, "Not interested."

I want a World Series in 2019 in Queens - not the usual excuses, nor distractions that cause me to say "So what?"

Tony Plate - The Mets Name Jim Riggleman Bench Coach

The New York Mets have hired Jim Riggleman to serve as their new bench coach. General manager Brodie Van Wagenen’s plan for the bench coach search was to look for someone that had prior experience managing games. Riggleman has a decent resume. He has served as a manager for 13 years with the Padres, Cubs, Mariners, Nationals and Reds with a 726-904 record. He was Cincinnati’s bench coach from 2016 until he became interim manager for five months last season. He led the Reds to a 64-80 record after taking over for Bryan Price.  

I think Riggleman is a fine choice and will be a big help to Mickey Callaway. Gary DiSarcina who was the bench coach in 2018 was reassigned to serve as third base coach. The Mets have claimed outfielder/first baseman Jordan Patterson off waivers from the Colorado Rockies. He has shown good power in the Minor Leagues during the last two seasons hitting 26 homers each year and has been versatile defensively by playing at first base and the two corner outfield positions.

The Mets are also looking to improve their roster in the following areas: catcher, bullpen and the infield. The New York Yankees have what the Mets need and are looking for while the Mets also have what the Yankees mostly need and are looking for and that is another front-line starter even though the Yankees acquired James Paxton from Seattle last week. They still need another front-line starting pitcher to get by Boston and Houston. 

So, a trade between the two New York teams would be very interesting.  I would like to see a trade of Gary Sanchez and Dellin Betances to the Mets for Noah Syndergaard, Bobby Wahl and Kevin Plawecki. In my opinion if the two sides got together and discussed this type of deal, they both would be fine with the deal especially since this trade can possibly help both teams make it to the World Series. 

The Mets recently have been shopping Syndergaard and they are not looking for prospects. They would like an impact player in return since they feel they can contend in 2019 especially since the starting rotation is very good and is the strength of the team.

In other baseball news the Mets announced that they have released Jenrry Mejia who had been granted conditional reinstatement to Major League Baseball after being banned for life back in 2016. He became the first Major League Baseball player to receive a lifetime suspension for committing a third violation of the league’s joint drug prevention and treatment program. 

The World Series Champion Boston Red Sox have signed World Series Most Valuable Player Steve Pearce to a one-year deal.

Mack… Position By Position Analysis: Catcher

PC - Ed Delany

Good morning.

We continue with a projection for the 2019 catchers in the pipeline.

A word about Queens first. The Mets need to look to a trade (Realmuto) to solve their catching needs for the next two or three years. If not, it’s back to a one year decision which two to go with in 2019, d’Arnaud, Lobaton, or Plawecki.

Secondly, everyone knows that a minor league team needs three catchers on their roster… a starter, a backup, and a bullpen guy who usually has no chance of making it someday to the majors.

For some strange reason, the Mets released a bunch of their minor league catchers. No explanation.

Right now, there are only 17 catchers that are under contract and will play for the top seven affiliates. Based on what I said above, that leaves four openings.

So why do you drop players last month? We know that this is mostly an AAAA position in the minors.

Makes no sense.

So, let’s start…

          AAA – Syracuse

                   Patrick Mazeika (25/yrs. old)  –

                             AA:             295-AB        .231/.328/.363/691        9-HR

                   Tomas Nido  (24/yrs old) –

                             MLB:           83-AB          .167/.200/.238/438        1-HR

                             AAA:           17-AB          .235/.316/,353/669        0-HR

                             AA:             215-AB        .274/.298/.437/735        5-HR

                   Colton Plaia  (28/yrs. old)–

                             AAA:           196-AB        .255/.332/.474/806        9-HR

                            

                   Jeff Glenn  (27/yrs old) –

                             AAA:           6-AB           .000/.143/.000/143        0-HR

                                     

          AA – Binghamton

                   Ali Sanchez (21/yrs. old) –

                             A+:              135-AB        .274/.296/.385/681        2-HR

                             A:                193-AB        .259/.293/.389/681        4-HR

                   Dan Rizzie  (24 yrs. old) –

                             A+:              214-AB        .248/.304/,318/622        2-HR

                             A:                22-AB          .318/.375/.318/693        0-HR

                   Jose Garcia  (23/yrs/old) –

                             AA:             18-AB          .333/.429/.333/762        0-HR

                             A+:              14-AB          .071/.133/.071/205        0-HR

                   TBD -

                                     

          A+ - St. Lucie

                    Scott Manea (22/yrs. old) –

                             A:                345-AB        .261/.368/.432/800        12-HR

                   Carlos Sanchez (23/yrs. old) –

                             A:                107-AB        .178/.198/.196/394        0-HR

                             Low-A:        26-AB          .308/.400/.346/746        0-HR

                   TBD -

                  

A – Columbia

          Jose Mena  (21/yrs. old) –

                   A:                6-AB           .000/.000/.000/000        0-HR

                   GCL:            78-AB          .295/.353/.346/699        0-HR 

          Nick Meyer (21/yrs. old) –

                   Low-A:        137-AB        .226/.275/.270/545        0-HR

          TBD –

Low-A – Brooklyn

                   Hayden Senger (21/yrs old) –

                             Low-A:        68-BM        .250/.373/.324/697        0-HR

                             K-Port:        35-AB          .400/.488/.600/1.088     1-HR

                   Juan Uriarte  (21/yrs. old) –

                             Low-A:        1-AB           .000/.000/.000/.000       0-HR

                   TBD -

                                     

Rookie – K-Port

                    Phil Capra (22/yrs. old)–

                              K-Port:        103-AB        .146/.266/.184/451        1-HR

                   Wilfred Astudillo (18/yrs. old) -

                             GCL:            50-AB          .260/.315/.340/655        0-HR

                             DSL:            82-AB          .256/.371/.354/725        1-HR

                             TBD

          Rookie – GCL

                    Andres Regnault  (19/yrs. old) –

                             DSL:            192-AB        .333/.420/.573/993        9-HR      

    

                    Nelson Mompierre (23/yrs. old) –

                             GCL:            70-AB          .171/.322/.329/650        2-HR

                   TBD -

Summary –

          Finding a great catcher is the most difficult task in baseball.

          The Mets pipeline is particularly low on fuel.

The closest we have for a major league prospect would be Mazeika, though he did have a miserable year in 2018. He was sailing through the chain (2015 K-Port .354… 2016 Columbia .305… 2017 St. Lucie .287) when he hit a wall at the AA level. He got off to a miserable start in April (.239) which only got worse in May (.176) and July (.140); however, he bounced back in August (.315) and September (.545). He’s known for his bat though he has a very powerful arm. He also is a rare left-hand throwing catcher who many think, at 6-3, is destined to wind up on a corner position. Still, he needs to return to doing what he does well… hitting. If he does, he could wind up in Queens before the season ends.

I have Nido listing in Syracuse; however, he is a strong candidate for Queens as  a defensive backup on opening day. He's the best defensive catcher in our system, which says a lot when you also have Sanchez. Let's remember he hit .320 in 322-AB for St. Lucie in 2016. He did hit .272 last year in the minors, but poof out in Queens (.167, 84-AB).

A lot of people like Sanchez but, frankly, I need to see more before I get excited about him. I have seen so many shooting stars like him only fade at the AA level.

Speaking of shooting stars, keep an eye on Regnault. He’s coming across the channel with a hot bat which is already showing signs of big power.

Comclusion:

Like the past years, not much to get excited about; however, players like Senger and Uriarte could prove me wrong here. Still…

Rating:       F

Helium Alert – The Mets gave 16-year old Francisco Alvarez more bonus money to sign ($2.7mil) than they have ever done in the International market. I expect him to start off in 2019 for one of the DSL teams but he will be fast tracked to Florida before the season ends. Alvarez, though years away, is easily our top catcher prospect in the system.