Kristie Ackert | NY Daily News- The Mets have two young catchers projected to be frontline players. And at least for next season, they are planning to keep both Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki, with the possibility that one may be getting at-bats at another position, Mets assistant GM John Ricco said.“Catching is, we’ve said this many times, a position you can’t have enough depth. We have two guys we think are frontline catchers. I think there are ways for us, especially in the short term, ways to make use of both of them. Short term I don’t think we’d be talking about either one of them, because they are both gonna help us win.”
(Chris Soto: This is a very wise non-move that the Mets are making. Catcher is a tough position to play with a higher risk of injury then other positions on the field. In addition, while Travis d'Arnaud has certainly shown to be capable of being one of the Top 5 offensive C in baseball, he hasn't proven that he can stay healthy during the course of the season. I know that the club continues to be very high on Kevin Plawecki and there are some in the organization that are hoping that Plawecki progresses enough as a hitter to start pushing d'Arnaud out of a full-time job. While his framing is not as good, they feel Plawecki has more leadership skills, better blocking skills, and does a better job controlling the run game.)
Joel Sherman | New York Post- The Mets have not completely shut the door on bringing Jenrry Mejia back next season, and they are gathering information by watching him pitch in the Dominican Winter League. Though Mejia’s 162-game suspension is still in force in the majors and will run until approximately July 26 next season, Mejia is eligible to pitch in Winter Leagues. The Mets – and others – will be watching to see what Mejia looks like after essentially not pitching in 2015 and, presumably, what he looks like pitching clean. He was suspended twice last season for failing tests for performance-enhancing drugs. Even if Mejia looked good, the Mets might not bring him back for a variety of reasons, including that their clubhouse turned against the righty for his irresponsibility.
(Chris Soto: I would not bring Mejia back for 2016....but I recognize the situation that the Mets are in that favors them heavily. Since Mejia is arbitration eligible and pretty much screwed up his entire 2015 season, the Mets probably could get away with making him an offer that is the maximum below his 2015 salary which is 20%. On top of that, if they did tender him a contract, they wouldn't have to pay him until July 26th anyway, thus saving themselves 66% of the total contract. So conceivably, the Mets could keep Mejia without sacrificing a 40 man roster spot at a bargain price of $685k in 2016.)
Brian Devine | Metsmerized Online- One player who has also received a lot of attention lately is shortstop Luis Carpio. Only 18, Carpio was extremely impressive this season in rookie ball for Kingsport, batting .304 while playing good defense. He was rated as the 7th best prospect in the Mets system by Baseball America, which caught a lot of people by surprise. “He’s just a pretty complete player — a pure defender at shortstop,” DePodesta said. “There’s no doubt he stays there. Offensively, he’s really, really polished for such a young guy. He has great control of the strike zone. He has some strength in his hands. I think he’ll hit for some more power as he matures. Overall, he’s just really, really polished — not just even his skills, but just his mental approach to the game for such a young player is really advanced.”
(Chris Soto: Luis Carpio is a name most of us had not heard. I came across his name last season and was intrigued by his K:BB ratio at the time [33 to 33] but when I saw a SLG% below his OBP, I wrote him off for the time being. Now there are some jumping on the Baseball America bandwagon placing him in Top 10 lists which is just flat out not fair. The kid just turned 18, played in the lowest USA based minor league level, and is not displaying any power. He certainly has potential, but for my "rolling style list" he's in the #25-30 range where I like to place long term potential international young guys such as Adrian Almeida and Ali Sanchez like I've done in the past.)
HOT STOVE REPORT (courtesy of mlbtraderumor.com)
(Chris Soto: Quite day for the Metsies on the rumor mill, but this news is important. One of the Mets top priorities this off-season is to add another strong arm to the front end of their bullpen to combine with Addison Reed and Juerys Familia. O'Day's market is moving extremely quick which means the dollars being thrown around are likely to be outside of the Mets comfort range.)
(Chris Soto: This is a very wise non-move that the Mets are making. Catcher is a tough position to play with a higher risk of injury then other positions on the field. In addition, while Travis d'Arnaud has certainly shown to be capable of being one of the Top 5 offensive C in baseball, he hasn't proven that he can stay healthy during the course of the season. I know that the club continues to be very high on Kevin Plawecki and there are some in the organization that are hoping that Plawecki progresses enough as a hitter to start pushing d'Arnaud out of a full-time job. While his framing is not as good, they feel Plawecki has more leadership skills, better blocking skills, and does a better job controlling the run game.)
Joel Sherman | New York Post- The Mets have not completely shut the door on bringing Jenrry Mejia back next season, and they are gathering information by watching him pitch in the Dominican Winter League. Though Mejia’s 162-game suspension is still in force in the majors and will run until approximately July 26 next season, Mejia is eligible to pitch in Winter Leagues. The Mets – and others – will be watching to see what Mejia looks like after essentially not pitching in 2015 and, presumably, what he looks like pitching clean. He was suspended twice last season for failing tests for performance-enhancing drugs. Even if Mejia looked good, the Mets might not bring him back for a variety of reasons, including that their clubhouse turned against the righty for his irresponsibility.
(Chris Soto: I would not bring Mejia back for 2016....but I recognize the situation that the Mets are in that favors them heavily. Since Mejia is arbitration eligible and pretty much screwed up his entire 2015 season, the Mets probably could get away with making him an offer that is the maximum below his 2015 salary which is 20%. On top of that, if they did tender him a contract, they wouldn't have to pay him until July 26th anyway, thus saving themselves 66% of the total contract. So conceivably, the Mets could keep Mejia without sacrificing a 40 man roster spot at a bargain price of $685k in 2016.)
Brian Devine | Metsmerized Online- One player who has also received a lot of attention lately is shortstop Luis Carpio. Only 18, Carpio was extremely impressive this season in rookie ball for Kingsport, batting .304 while playing good defense. He was rated as the 7th best prospect in the Mets system by Baseball America, which caught a lot of people by surprise. “He’s just a pretty complete player — a pure defender at shortstop,” DePodesta said. “There’s no doubt he stays there. Offensively, he’s really, really polished for such a young guy. He has great control of the strike zone. He has some strength in his hands. I think he’ll hit for some more power as he matures. Overall, he’s just really, really polished — not just even his skills, but just his mental approach to the game for such a young player is really advanced.”
(Chris Soto: Luis Carpio is a name most of us had not heard. I came across his name last season and was intrigued by his K:BB ratio at the time [33 to 33] but when I saw a SLG% below his OBP, I wrote him off for the time being. Now there are some jumping on the Baseball America bandwagon placing him in Top 10 lists which is just flat out not fair. The kid just turned 18, played in the lowest USA based minor league level, and is not displaying any power. He certainly has potential, but for my "rolling style list" he's in the #25-30 range where I like to place long term potential international young guys such as Adrian Almeida and Ali Sanchez like I've done in the past.)
HOT STOVE REPORT (courtesy of mlbtraderumor.com)
- The market for free-agent right-hander Darren O’Day is moving quickly, reports ESPN’s Buster Olney (links to Twitter). The Beverly Hills Sports Council client already has offers in hand, according to Olney, and he’s planning to meet with the managers of some of those teams in the coming week.
(Chris Soto: Quite day for the Metsies on the rumor mill, but this news is important. One of the Mets top priorities this off-season is to add another strong arm to the front end of their bullpen to combine with Addison Reed and Juerys Familia. O'Day's market is moving extremely quick which means the dollars being thrown around are likely to be outside of the Mets comfort range.)
