Mack – New Weekly Post

Good morning.

The Mets quietly added seven more players under minor league contracts and assigned them to various camps. They are:

SS Cody Bohanek – 23/yrs – 30th Rd. 2017 – 2018 A+/AA/AAA stats: .214/.324/.293/.617 (and we need another light hitting minor league shortstop???). For now, I have placed him on the Binghamton roster, backing up Andres Gimenez.

OF Gerson Molina – 23/yrs – signed out of Cuba. Very limited stats available so you are on your own here. I’m placing him on the St. Lucie roster.

RHP Zach Lee – 27/yrs – 1^st Rd 2010 - $5.25mil signing bonus. Lee was a big time prospect out of  high school that I wrote extensively about back in the day. He early on had great starter stats for the Dodgers (2015: AAA – 19-starts, PCL – 11-6, 2.70) but he just couldn’t crack the glass ceiling that would have led to the Dodgers reotation. Last year, he split time in AA and AAA posting a combined 3.65 ERA. Normally, I would place him at the AAA level, but that looks overfilled. There is an opening in the Binghamton rotation so I would start him there. His $5+mil signing bonus should get him fair housing thre.

RHP Robert Ramirez, RHP Jose Valdez, OF Ronis Aybar, and RHP Alvaro Figueroa – The Mets have listed these four guys as recent signees; however, I can’t find a thing online about each of them. For now, I’m leaving both off any roster projections. SMH

Overall, I like the Lee add. Like P Ian Kroll and SS Christian Colon in the past, these are quality AAAA fills after a prospect entrance into this game. They know how to play this game and have been winners in the past.

Let’s talk more about walks and BB/9.

Mets management said last week that the secret of coming to Queens, as a relief pitcher, is the amount of base on balls they give up verses the innings pitched.

Through Sunday, here is where the remaining relievers stand in spring training:

          Robert Gsellman –      6.2-IP                  1-BB

Tyler Bashlor –            6.0-IP                  4-BB

Luis Avilan                   5.2-IP                  0-BB

Seth Lugo –                  5.2-IP                  1-BB

Jeurys Familia –          5.0-IP                  1-BB

Eric Hanhold –             5.0-IP                  2-BB

Jacob Rhame –            4.2-IP                  2-BB (optioned)

          Tim Peterson –            4.1-IP                  1-BB

          Kyle Dowdy –               4.1-IP                  4-BB

          Drew Smith –               4.0-IP                  3-BB  (inj)

Justin Wilson –            4.0-IP                  0-BB

Daniel Zamora –          4.0-IP                  3-BB

          Paul Sewald –              4.0-IP                  1-BB (optioned)

Daniel Zamora –          4.0-IP                  3-BB

Edwin Diaz –                3.0-IP                  2-BB

So, if the pen is built on this premise, the above guys highlighted in red are, so far, your top seven.

Fangraphs Top 50 Relievers - 

                        Top 50 Relievers

	Pitcher	Team	Status
1	Edwin Diaz	NYM	CLOSER
2	Blake Treinen	OAK	CLOSER
3	Roberto Osuna	HOU	CLOSER
4	Kenley Jansen	LAD	CLOSER
5	Aroldis Chapman	NYY	CLOSER
6	Craig Kimbrel	FA	CLOSER
7	Felipe Vazquez	PIT	CLOSER
8	Brad Hand	CLE	CLOSER
9	Kirby Yates	SD	CLOSER
10	Corey Knebel	MIL	CLOSER
11	Sean Doolittle	WAS	CLOSER
12	David Robertson	PHI	IN THE MIX
13	Ken Giles	TOR	CLOSER
14	Jose Leclerc	TEX	CLOSER
15	Jordan Hicks	STL	IN THE MIX
16	Raisel Iglesias	CIN	IN THE MIX^
17	Jose Alvarado	TB	CLOSER
18	Josh Hader	MIL	IN THE MIX?
19	Wade Davis	COL	CLOSER
20	Pedro Strop	CHC	CLOSER
21	Archie Bradley	ARI	IN THE MIX
22	Cody Allen	LAA	CLOSER
23	Arodys Vizcaino	ATL	CLOSER
24	Trevor May	MIN	IN THE MIX
25	Alex Colome	CWS	CLOSER
26	Matt Barnes	BOS	CLOSER
27	Will Smith	SF	IN THE MIX
28	Seranthony Dominguez	PHI	IN THE MIX
29	Shane Greene	DET	CLOSER
30	Blake Parker	MIN	IN THE MIX
31	Ryan Pressly	HOU	NEXT UP
32	Hunter Strickland	SEA	CLOSER
33	Drew Steckenrider	MIA	IN THE MIX
34	Sergio Romo	MIA	IN THE MIX
35	Joe Jimenez	DET	NEXT UP
36	Mychal Givens	BAL	CLOSER
37	A.J. Minter	ATL	HURT
38	Ryan Brasier	BOS	HURT
39	Jeremy Jeffress	MIL	HURT
40	Dellin Betances	NYY	NEXT UP
41	Andrew Miller	STL	IN THE MIX
42	Wily Peralta	KC	IN THE MIX
43	Brad Boxberger	KC	IN THE MIX
44	Mark Melancon	SF	IN THE MIX
45	Brandon Morrow	CHC	HURT
46	Kelvin Herrera	CWS	HURT
47	Jeurys Familia	NYM	NEXT UP
48	Alex Reyes	STL	IN THE MIX
49	Keone Kela	PIT	NEXT UP
50	Ty Buttrey	LAA	NEXT UP

From Bob Gregory –

          Mack

Just noticed an interesting statistic that should be eye-opening in terms of perceived reality being biased due to reputations.

Wilmer Flores -

Rdrs (defensive runs saved) stats as a shortstop with the Mets:

2014: 51 games, 441 innings, 193 chances   Rdrs: -3

2015: 103 games, 835.2 innings, 400 chances    Rdrs: -10

2016: 8 games, 34.2 innings, 18 chances    Rdrs: -2

Amed Rosario

Rdrs (defensive runs saved) stats as a shortstop with the Mets:

2017: 45 games, 374.2 innings, 172 chances    Rdrs: 1

2018: 146 games, 1271.2 innings, 508 chances    Rdrs: -16

Maybe Rosario is not the shortstop of the future.

PC - Ed Delany

Regarding T.J. Rivera, his release was a victim of the system as well as not being able to rush his return from Tommy John Surgery. You can’t rush a recovery from TJS. It’s like trying to rush a quad injury. You just can’t do it. Add that to the fact the system says you only can have 40 players on the 40 man, and, in order to release them from the 40. You have to first release them from the team and leave them open for other teams to pick them up. That’s the system and the injury caused the release, not any lack of talent.

You can’t have a better utility infielder than T.J. He has consistently has hit .300+ since he entered organized ball as an undrafted free agent in 2011.

He has hit .304 in two major league seasons and .323 in eight minor league seasons. Let me repeat…

.323  -  eight seasons

And, he is only 30.

Emily Waldon  -  @EmilyCWaldon

“You know what sucks? If I don't do well this year, I can't afford to play anymore and I'm done,” a minor league player shared with me. “I can't stick it out an extra year, and it's because of pay.”

Emily is a minor league writer for The Athletic and covers the minor league teams for Detroit Tigers.

We follow each other. She posted this yesterday.

I never understood the lack of concern by teams for these players. Sure, they get signing bonuses, but the majority of them are roster fills at the minimum.

It’s sad watching some of these guys piss away their mid-20s (critical employment years) following a dream they are never going to reach.

Add to this a paycheck you can’t get fair housing at and… well… this life turns bad real quick.


Lastly...

I really like what I see from this team this past week. All the right people are producing... hitters are hitting... starters are dominating.

It's now mid-March and the first big cut happened on Tuesday. The starters will now start 5 or 6 innings and regulars will be used through 7.

Watch to see what they do with Dom Smith. If the Mets decide that Pete Alonso will open the season with parent team, it is time to give Smith serious field time in left field... at least until Yoenis Cespedes rides his horse down Roosevelt Blvd.