COMING UP BIG…AND MINORS TOILERS EARNING A BUCK
Lots of people work two jobs these days to make ends to meet. (Others go on welfare and do all right, too, it seems, but this is a sports column, so we'll not go there).
Two jobs? It wasn’t always that way.
In the late 80s, I worked as an Audit Director at Crossland Savings, headquartered in downtown Brooklyn, as the largest thrift on the east coast before a deep multi-year real estate recession and tough and rigid capital requirement rules dragged them below the surf.
The Vice Chairman and the SVP of Retail Lending of the bank back then were both in their 60s and started at the bank as tellers. They both said one day in the officers' dining room how they bought homes (probably in the 1940s) solely on their teller's salary. No second job was required.
The times, they sure have changed.
Usually, tho', these days, one thinks of baseball players as millionaires.
Or, in Soto’s case, almost a billionaire.
Not all are big-buckers though - including minors catcher Hayden Senger.
A recent SNY artice by Anthony DiComo noted that "for the past two years, Senger spent his winters stocking shelves at a Whole Foods near his Nashville-area home.
“Senger, now 27, and a former 24th rounder in 2018, has been squeezed by the reality of poor minor league pay, so he works stocking shelves at Whole Foods in the off season to supplement the income.”
Not everyone gets paid like Juan Soto. Hopefully, Senger will get to earn some healthy major league cabbage at some point, as a reward for his multi-season minor league, low pay dedication.
SUNDAY PROSPECTS GAME THOUGHTS
A little tardy on my game thoughts, but that's how it goes sometimes.
A 5-1 Mets' prospects win. In a word, impressive.
Ryan Clifford hit an absolute bomb to dead center, off the batter’s eye. Would it have traveled 475? A Mickey Mantle shot? It would have most likely cleared the CF fence in old Yankee Stadium; you remember it, 461 feet; it would have traversed over the fence and the CF monuments.
And Ryan, a lefty bomber, got some good work in against lefties, which is great because lefties seem to be awfully scarce in the minors. I think that represents discriminatory hiring practices; as a fellow lefty, I have to stand in a day of solidarity here, but I have no plans to sue. ("Tell them you're joshing", my wife Sue just told me. Let me just say that I did put in a call to AG Pam Bondi, though).
Boston Baro homered to the opposite field in left, an impressive poke, and added a second hit. I always thought those Boston guys could really hit. There's "no way" like Fenway. Yes, Baro added muscle in the off season.
Kevin Parada ripped a single and a double. Fanned his first time up on high cheese. Looked more aggressive (maybe he read my articles suggesting that). Very happy with what I saw. He would also have gunned down a base stealer with a perfect throw, but the pitcher let the base runner get too big a jump.
Go, Kevin, go. 2024 is a distant memory. The past. Time to thrive in '25.
Nick (the Quick) Morabito had 2 singles and, of course, a steal - and 2 RBIs. I think he is nearly ready for the bigs, even if he is yet to play in AA. I don't care. I liked what I saw A LOT. I could see him as a 2025 trade deadline call up. There, I said it again, and I'm sticking with it.
Jett Williams was tough at the plate. Lots of pitches. Walked, swiped a base. But had some swing-and-miss at high cheese. Hopefully it will not be an exploitable MLB weakness. He did fan 65 times in 55 games in 2024, a rather high rate. Concentrate on contact, doubles, triples, and HRs, Jett, the occasional HRs will come. Too many Ks prevent trips to the promised land in Flushing.
Carson Benge had a double and a walk, and looked like a seasoned pro despite very few pro games under his belt. Afterwards, he said he added some strength and worked hard this off season on HITTING, whereas in college he was a hitter/pitcher like Nolan McLean, which is very tough to work on simultaneously. Carson's hung up his 96 MPH heater, and his pitcher's glove, and I think that is a good call - he looks REAL.
Bohan Adderley at shortstop has a GUN. Make that a bazooka. Fast as a whip, too. Apparently, the 18 y/o and fellow Bahamian Jazz Chisolm are very close, and Adderley speaks with Jazz all the time. Maybe Bohan can make beautiful Jazz music, too. He is 6'3", and the announcers saw real parallels to Ronny Mauricio, who went from 6'4" stick figure at age 16 to a fully filled out power hitter several years later.
Colin Houck walked, got picked off, then fanned his next time up. Bohan is his age-level competition. Watch out, Colin.
Jacob Reimer was looking late on pitches. He did miss most of 2024. He has a lot more internal competition than he did at the end of 2023. But many like his offensive tools still.
Jonah Tong (Terrific) was to my four eyes slightly sloppy - but quite effective and certainly promising. I'm excited.
Johnnie Boy Santucci’s pro debut? First pro inning EVER? It was downright exciting. Wait, stop, slow down your reading...it was the lefty's pro debut, against pro hitters who are considered top prospects and have played pro ball for a while. And man, Santucci looked GOOD.
Santucci's control was slightly off, but he had real pro velocity and breaking stuff. If he harnesses his control, he could rise VERY quickly.
If someone told me he was a major league pitcher, I saw nothing in his outing that would have made me say, "Quit yer kidding."
Watching him, I wondered, who does he remind me of as a pitcher?
AHA!!
He reminded me a lot of the Red Sox’s Bruce Hurst….remember him?
You should.
Hurst almost beat the Mets in the 1986 World Series game 7, after the stunning game 6 rally. Bruce had 145 career wins and 23 shutouts. Once the lefty Hurst got out of the Boston bandbox (a lefty's nightmare) and went to San Diego, he was a terrific 55-38, 3.27. And career post-season, he was 3-2, 2.29, 51 innings - excellent.
Yeah, let's hope John Santucci can be the second coming of Bruce Hurst.
I say, "Why the heck not?"
Moving on...
Righty reliever Ryan Lambert was throwing hard…very hard. But a little out of sync. But who cares...he threw HARD. Finally:
Daiverson Gutierrez, the bonus baby, was catching him. He has a very open batting stance, and drew a walk.
That's all I got. Well, almost.
OPENING DAY 26 MAN ROSTER PREDICTION
Danny Abriano of SNY posted this roster projection on Tuesday:
Here is our 26-man roster prediction 3.0 for Opening Day...
REGULAR LINEUP
Luis Torrens: C
Pete Alonso: 1B
Brett Baty: 2B
Francisco Lindor: SS
Mark Vientos: 3B
Brandon Nimmo: LF
Jose Siri: CF
Juan Soto: RF
Jesse Winker: DH
TOM’S TAKE: Siri is a breeze-generating machine at the plate. He puts the whiff in whiffleball. He starts out on my bench as a 5th outfielder, if I was making the call.
STARTING ROTATION
Clay Holmes: RHP
David Peterson: LHP
Kodai Senga: RHP
Griffin Canning: RHP
Tylor Megill: RHP
BULLPEN
Edwin Diaz: CLS
A.J. Minter: LHP
Reed Garrett: RHP
Ryne Stanek: RHP
Jose Butto: RHP
Max Kranick: RHP
Danny Young: LHP
Paul Blackburn: RHP
TOM’S TAKE: Dedniel Núñez might well be on the OD roster, but as Danny Abriano noted, he has not pitched much - but he threw superbly the other day. Huascar Brazaban would be going north on many other teams….hard thrower who keeps the ball in the ball park.
BENCH
Tyrone Taylor: OF
Hayden Senger: C
Donovan Walton: INF
Starling Marte: DH/OF
21 comments:
The highest salary I ever had as an employee was $136,000 at WNEW radio in 1984.
As an owner I paid myself in the 80K range.
What's the minimal MLB salary now? 70K to sit on the bench?
I'll take it.
Yep, if I could sit on the bench and earn $4,500 per game, count me in.
Excited to get this thing started and pleased with the team. Baty and Torrens look ready and hope it continues into the season. Acuna should go north as he really doesn't have anything more to prove in the minors and his versitility is needed. i think we will be surprised by our pitching depth going forward or maybe I'm just trying to convince myself of that. Moribito could be our CF before to long and pass Jett and Siri ....your thoughts?
Tom, you forgot Winkler. Isn't MLB minimum $760K? Good recap Tom, finally get the feeling some of these guys will contribute in the near future.
I hope he's wrong about Siri. He'll probably get a few weeks before he's the 5th OF.
It will be interesting to see how they handle the Acuña situation
Do you sit him on the bench to give you better UT talent/only SS backup or do you send him down for regular reps?
$136k was pretty good money in the 80's.
When I think of WNEW, the name that comes to mind is the DJ whose full name was William William Williams.
I guess his parents weren't very creative.
I vote for the reps. He didn't exactly show mastery of AAA last year.
Well, SNY indicated Donovan Walton as the sub instead of Acuna. In looking at Donovan's 1) limited MLB career stats (3 for 23), 2) current spring training stats (.188), and 3) lifetime spring training stats (slightly above .200), if he is the Mets sub heading north, I hope he is used exceedingly sparingly.
I think something we are overlooking is if Acuna is sent down, then Baty will have to play against lefties. I think Walton is a LH hitter.
I was reading that they might platoon Baty and Acuna.
Willie B Williams
Was dying of cancer when I worked there
Was surly on his best day but I got a great story him and Sinatra
Yesterday on Mets’d Up, I saw an interview they did with Zack Scott and he spoke about an executive balancing the present and the future benefit of the organization. In September, the benefit to make the playoffs was urgent enough so Acuna was brought up to help gain that spot. At this point, there is no reason to stunt Acuna’s growth for a few weeks of having a backup to a few positions on the team. I agree with SNY in that Walton would be thrilled to have that job and Stearns would be thrilled to have Acuna continue to show better pitch selection by playing everyday.
It was
Should have stayed in Metromedia rather than go outmy own in smallmarkets
We all did things we'd like a do over on.
I think we need to see Baty play every day. Even though he has apparently broken out this spring, he has to go through the whole cycle - righties, lefties, day and night games, slumps and surges. Then we will know if this is real.
Meanwhile, Lindor will continue his demands to play every day, so there are no opportunities for reps on the left side of the infield. You don't need multiple utility players to solve that.
The Mets yesterday picked up a familiar face, Diego Garcia, an infielder that they picked up last year too, that plays the infield and hits righty, and…… has options.
I like your thinking Paul.
Paul, I largely agree. Let Brett sit vs. tough lefties, though.
As you all may recall, I wrote ad nauseum that Brett Baty needed to really ramp up his aggressiveness on first pitches, from last year's 25% first pitch at bat conclusion rate more towards Brent Rooker's 45%. Well, Baty homered and doubled today - BOTH ON FIRST PITCH STRIKES. He seems indeed to now be smartly more aggressive - with great, breakthrough results. If Alvarez returns healthy, this line up could be totally lethal.
I didn't see the game live, but just watched the video of Baty's homer about 5 times. The first time I saw the video I thought I was watching John Olerud hitting. I didn't change my mind after watching it again.
Cool!
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