The
test for Rojas will not be filling out the starting lineup. That will continue
by BVW with help from his analytic team.
His
test will be how he handles the starting pitcher designated by Brodie, when to
leave him in or not, and who to replace him with.
I
believe Rojas has the pitching talent in 2020 to exceed. I believe Terry Collins had it too, but he let emotion drive his
decisions here.
This
will be the test for Rojas in 2020.
Brodie Van Wagenen is on record this week saying that he was ‘pleased’ with the
progress that Jed Lowrie has made in the office
season and he hopes to see him at full strength coming game one.
At the same
time, there is chatter out there that BVW is desperately trying to find a
trading partner who he can ship off this embarrassment to. By the way Brodie.
What exactly IS Lowrie’s ‘off season’? Doesn’t the entire 2019 season qualify
as part of his off season?
Has
anyone ever identified what exactly is wrong with Lowrie? The Swine Flu? Fear
of Flying? Fear of exposing what a sham signing this was?
I like
Tom’s idea. Package him with Cespedes and ship them off to Colorado.
The
signing of veteran infielder Eduardo Nunez to a
minor league contract does complicate the shortstop position in Syracuse. It
also could have Luis Guillorme looking over his
shoulder, looking to see if anyone was calling him into the manager’s office.
According
to my excel sheet, I have Nunez, Andres Gimenez,
and Max Moroff as my shortstops in Syracuse, Luis Carpio is the only second baseman I have and Michael Paez, David Thompson, and Will Toffey at third.
This
is simply too many infielders.
My
guess where this goes? Well, it’s obvious that Carpio and Gimenez are safe. My
guess is that all the rest, including Gimenez, are up for grabs here.
I wrote
this this
last week about Rob Whalen. I was around the
same time that our General Manager called for all the minor league and draft
experts in the chain to meet with him and discuss how the team was going
forward, roster and draft wise. All this happened last week and, low and
behold, Monday morning comes and the Mets announce they are bringing Rob back
for a second shot.
It’s
hard for me to walk away from this and believe these two items were not related.
Let’s get back to that meeting.
How would
I approach this if I owned this team?.
Well
first, out of respect for BVW, I would ask for permission to speak at the
meeting. Doesn’t matter if he grants me time here. I’m going to speak anyway.
Next,
I would state that any baseball player that has or is reaching at least the AA
level, has, first, the ability to play in Syracuse first, or Binghamton second.
We are speaking about seasoned grown-ups here.
I then
would put all the starters up on the board that are projected to play for one
of these two teams come opening day.
Then I
would ask the experts in the room who they believe has the ability or at least
a good chance of starting some day in the majors.
I
would then remind my experts that, if they think someone like David Peterson is
on that list, then he should be in the Syracuse rotation come opening day.
My 6-man
rotation would be Peterson, Franklyn Kilome, Rob
Whalen, Thomas Szapucki, Kevin Smith, and Tylor
McGill.
What
say you?
Mack - your plan makes a lot of sense. Prioritize the players that can help in the bigs. What would be your plan for Harol Gonzalez, Steve Gonsleves, and Corey Oswalt? I think the Mets roster has a lot of quantity in starting and relief pitching.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, under Alderson (and initially under BVW) the Mets seemed much more interested in retreads in the minors than in promoting their own players. If the Mets don't believe in them, then how does he expect to trade them away?
ReplyDeleteThe Catcher position is slated to change quite a bit in the next couple of years. Clearly the automated strike zone is coming and it also seems likely that they come up with a system for changing the game calling aspect. The receiving/framing aspect simply will not matter any longer. I have to think this affects how teams draft and choose the catching position going forward.
ReplyDeleteThe Lowrie news was odd....everyone expected he was already a given to be ready for spring training then all of a sudden he was a question mark again? Did he re-injure himself in the offseason? Was he never healthy when they put him on the roster last year? Definitely one of the oddest things I have seen with a player. Though the whole Cespedes thing was pretty close until the details finally came to light.
Whats the deal with signing this extra first baseman Matt Chapman? Everyone thinks its a prelude to trading Dom...I mean what other conclusion could you come to...
I would keep both Harol and Gonsalves as a starter but I would push them back to Binghamton. They simply haven't demonstrated the kind of talent or results the 6 I have assigned to AAA have.
ReplyDeleteSimply put, Oswalt has disappointed me too many times and I am not sure there is a place in a MLB roster for a starter that 'hits' around 90. I would release him.
Mack, I'm with you. Too many infielders that will take at bats and development time away from prospects. Happy bringing Whalen back to the organization. Maybe it works this time around.
ReplyDeleteFrankly I wish they would start to experiment playing Gimenez (and Mauricio) at other positions so we could some day get all 3 in the Mets lineup.
DeleteDallas
ReplyDeleteInteresting point on what a future catcher will bring to the game.
Big bats and a bigger arm.
Reese
ReplyDeleteYou have to remember that minor league teams need to be stocked with 25 players also. Not everyone will be a prospect and the majority will be AAAA players at that level.
My two cents:
ReplyDelete- BVW’s embarrassment plays second base and knowing he got fleeced by DiPoto (who everyone else fleeces) while taking that long term contract off his ha dis is something that BVW will never get over. Also, BVW is on record as saying he doesn’t know what exactly was wrong with Lowrie. I would think no one in the organization does.
- The biggest test for Rojas is handling stars. He is compared to Dave Johnson, but Johnson already had some stature because he was a successful player. Rojas doesn’t even have that. I expect Rojas’ first season to be very rocky, but if he has a second season, much improvement. For his first year, the best thing the Mets can do for him is to have a team captain to give a filter. My recommendation would be Wilson Ramos. Cause from his interviews I can tell he isn’t interested in bullshit, and will probably tell you that if you bitch about something selfish.
gus -
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the toughest test for Rojas.
He needs to latch on to one of these guys to lean on.
Ramos would be a good choice.
One thing I will tell you... no one in a Mets uniform could get Thor in their corner.
The Jed Lowrie situation is way beyond bizarre.
ReplyDeleteIt would seem that he has "lower leg" issues (the hockey method of identifying injuries), but is it just one really severe one, or a series that occurred during rehab?
Short of tearing your achilles tendon off the bone, what the heck could he have done that takes over a year to rehab?
Horrible signing, in hindsight.
What about an injury settlement? It would allow everyone to move on....plus, it isn't like we are short on utility type infielders.
Michael Paez had a bad year - could be in jeopardy, I'd think. David Thompson seems like less than Zach Lutz ceiling-wise, so that looks shaky too.
ReplyDeleteEasy to say Dom should go to another team, but often, 1 B is a crowded talent area in MLB. Where would he go that would bring the best deal? And if a DH arrives in 2021, would he be an ideal candidate to split 1B duties with Pete, and both DH the rest of the time?
Carpio had a solid year, but he needs to rev it up in 2020 to be a real LT asset.
Lowrie - I guess we'll see what a "healthy" Lowrie plays like - he was a better player than Todd Frazier before 2019 (in 2017 and 2018); older too, though...maybe he will be useful. Maybe they squeeze in everyone in case someone gets hurt, and clear the roster up mid season. I haven't thought that thru. Crowded indeed.
Whalen should be intriguing in 2020. Just bring it, Dude.
Mike, think Mission Impossible...Jed Lowrie may peel off the face mask and we'll see he was really David Wright all along.
ReplyDeleteI would bolster the AAA Pitching roster even more and sign 1 or 2 of Taijuan Walker, Collin McCugh, Cody Allen and Addison Reed to minor league deals. Maybe Taijuan and Collin surprise us and give us depth for next seasons team in our starting rotation, which we have none? Because Stroman, Porcello and Wacha are all free agents.
ReplyDeleteI would even add Shelby Miller and Matt Harvey to that list. Harvey would be working on being a reliever not as a starter.
Not sure why you would think that Rojas would not be allowed to control the lineup - which most analysts think has less of an impact than what we used to think in the 1970s - but somehow would be allowed to determine how long the starter goes and who replaces him.
ReplyDeleteSure, I imagine he would be allowed a tiny bit of leeway here. But if BVW says no starter is allowed to exceed 110 pitches - do you really think Rojas leaves a guy in for 125?
Rojas' job has two components. One, he explains the decisions from above to the players and works to maintain a harmonious clubhouse. Two, he does the same thing with the media.
Not sure if people actually think Brodie sends down the lineup, I hear it everywhere, maybe it's just metaphor for our pain. But for the record, I'm sure thats not exactly how it works. They meet all the time to discuss but its not like LBJ picking targets during rolling thunder. I mention that because it plays in to your ideas about analyzing and organizing the minor leagues and the prospects The reason what you say is smart is because that's what teams have done at least since the 30s. They probably don't need a huge whiteboard any more because of the computers but I bet most teams do still keep one anyways.
ReplyDeleteI'm the first guy to question the analytics but part of why Brodie got the job was to implement an organizational plan focused on implementing an analytics group that will eventually recommend or decide everything from who to draft, his contract parameters, his diet and exercise program, to knowing the optimum time and humidity to water the grass to marketing tickets to when to play the bugle charge sound during a rally. Think Google that's exactly what it is. You cant build it in a day but these guys put numbers on everything weigh the possibilities and make their decisions. Everyone is so rapped up in framing and drs etc. That is just fluff. It's part of marketing the science of SPORTS analytics as best practice to run a baseball team or any other business. This stuff is still in its infancy. Any scout can tell you if the guy has a good curve or which outfielders get the best jump or if a SS doesn't have sufficient range. The analytics is just cataloging player attributes into formulas that can (GMs hope) replace a scout's eye. And give them the right answer to everything. Someone is going to be the master of the universe when they really figure this out.
Unknown -
ReplyDeleteRe: picking the lineup
I wish I knew who you were. And I wish you were correct. I am one of the guilty ones that continue to say the lineups come from the front office. I'm sure there is discussion, but the buck has not stopped in the past with Mets managers. I saw this first hand in the minors.
As for today, I will take your... But for the record, I'm sure that's not exactly how it works... statement as gospel and will stop saying what I say about this.
i totally agree about jed lowery...what a bad trade by brodie v....this guy is ripping us all off,i doubt if he will be ready to start...gordon.......
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of Ike Davis that one year that he ran into Wright and twisted his ankle. He was gone for the rest of the season. I think Lowrie must have some degenerative bone disease in his legs. He did bat last year but could never play the field. That sounds like the concern this year too. Sort of like Wright with the spinal stenosis.
ReplyDelete