The Morning Report 11.3.2015 | Marcos Molina Under the Knife, Free Agency Filings, 40 Man Becomes Active Roster

Steve Sypa | Amazin Avenue- Mets' pitching prospect Marcos Molina has undergone Tommy John surgery. Molina made six starts with the St. Lucie Mets before being shut down on May 14 due to a strained right elbow. After exploring the possibility of needing Tommy John surgery, Molina and the team opted to have him rehab the injury naturally instead. On August 5, he returned to the mound for the first time in roughly two-and-a-half months, starting a rehab game for the GCL Mets. Molina returned to the St. Lucie Mets a week later, but had his season come to an end after only two more appearances due to lingering elbow issues.

(Chris Soto: Damn....what a shame. Molina is one of the more talented arms left in the system after Alderson depleted some of it's depth via mid-season trades. It is quite troubling how the situation was handled. Generally prospects are handled with great care so it's surprising that the organization let Molina go back out there and pitch again. My initial thoughts are that Molina himself had reservations about getting the surgery and the Mets couldn't convince him otherwise. Either way, sadly, we will not be seeing Molina in 2016.)

OFF-SEASON UPDATE

• The Following players have filed for free agency and are no longer members of the team. The Mets will have a 5 day exclusive negotiating window with all of these players before free agency opens.
• LHP Jerry Blevins, $2.4M
• OF Yeonis Cespedes, $10.5M
• RHP Tyler Clippard, $8.3M
• RHP Bartolo Colon, $11M
• UT Kelly Johnson, $1.5M
• IF Daniel Murphy, $8M
• LHP Eric O'Flaherty, $5.5M
• RHP Bobby Parnell, $3.7M
• IF Juan Uribe, $6.5M
• Total Salary Reduction: $57.4M
• 40 Man Roster Size: 31 players

• Per MLB Rules, all players on the 40 man roster must be placed on the active roster. The following Players have been placed on the active roster
• RHP Carlos Torres
• RHP Gabriel Ynoa
• RHP Logan Verrett
• LF Eric Young Jr.
• 2B Dilson Herrera
• RHP Akeel Morris
• C Anthony Recker
• 3B Eric Campbell
• SS Ruben Tejada
• LHP Dario Alvarez
• SS Matt Reynolds
• RHP Erik Goeddel
• C Johnny Monell

(Chris Soto: The 2015-2016 Off-season has officially begun with the procedural moves being first. One thing to take note of is that the Mets will need to activate all of their players currently on the 60 Day Disabled List. Currently the 40 man roster has enough space to accommodate the 7 guys on the DL but it doesn't leave too much room for Rule 5 Draft protections so additional removals from the 40 man roster will need to be made.)

MMs Top 25: #12 RHSP Marcos Molina

#12 RHSP Marcos Molina (LR: #17)

Bats: R Throws: R
Height: 6' 3" Weight: 200 lb
Age: 19
Acquired: 2012 International Signing, $100,000 Signing Bonus, Dominican Republic

2014: (SS-A) 7-3, 1.78 ERA, 76.0 IP, 10.8 K/9, 2.1 BB/9, 0.842 WHIP
2013: (R) 4-3, 4.39 ERA, 53.1 IP, 7.3 K/9, 2.4 BB/9, 1.312 WHIP
2012: (DSL) 5-2, 3.58 ERA, 55.1 IP, 6.5 K/9, 2.3 BB/9, 1.120 WHIP

    For all the grief we give Alderson about his drafting skills, boy is his international scouting team good. Both Amed Rosario and Marcos Molina were international signings by Sandy Alderson in 2012 and both of them had breakout seasons in 2014. While Rosario mearly "held his own" against older and, by definition, superior talent, Molina flat out dominated the New York Penn League. As the Brooklyn Cyclones ace, he lead the league in wins, ERA, WHIP, and K's (By a ridiculous wide margin.)

     Molina carries some premium stuff with him. His fastball ranges between 92-94 MPH with a max of 96 and carries some "explosive" movement. According to Amazin Avenue's Jeff Pasternostro, "even by Penn League standards, I saw some bad, desperate swings at the fastball." As with many of the Mets recent SP prospects, he has a plus change-up that is well beyond his years. As the season went along, Molina abandoned the curveball and focused on improving his slider. He has tightened up the spin on it and he has developed it into a hard, biting, 2 plane pitch, that sits between 86-87 mph on the radar gun with a max of 89. With the development of his slider, Molina now possesses 3 plus pitches that could carry a ceiling of a rotation ace for an MLB team.

     Unfortunately, we cannot give him that super high ceiling yet. Molina's delivery still uses maximum effort to reach those mid 90's velocities. The amount of energy he expends disallows him the ability to hold his velocity deep into games. Reports have him starting games in the 94-96 mph range but slowing down to 90-92 by the 3rd inning and 88-90 by the 5th on most nights. Mechanically, he has not yet learned to use his lower half to generate power and his follow through has a significant amount of arm re-coil which could be shredding his elbow with each pitch.

     Just like with Rosario, Molina is still very young and not without his major flaws which is what makes him a high risk, high reward prospect. While conquering the NY-Penn League is an important 1st step, we have learned from countless occasions that even Brooklyn stats need to be taken with a grain of salt. Both Molina and Rosario will likely continue to climb the list like they did this year and we could very well could be looking at the next #1 and #2 prospects in the system by the end of next year. However, currently the risk is just too great. Specifically in Molina's case, it's two-fold. A) the motion screams bullpen right now and B) can he stay healthy with the max effort delivery

Ceiling: Dominating #2 MLB SP
Floor: Flames out due to an arm injury from the max effort delivery
Anticipated Assignment: (A) Savannah starting rotation

MMs Top 25: #17 RHSP Marcos Molina

#17 RHSP Marcos Molina (LR: N/A)
Bats: R Throws: R
Height: 6' 3" Weight: 188 lb
Age: 19
Acquired: 2012 International Signing, Dominican Republic

2014: (SS-A) 5-2, 1.78 ERA, 55.2 IP, 9.9 K/9, 1.8 BB/9, 0.898 WHIP
2013: (R) 4-3, 4.39 ERA, 53.1 IP, 7.3 K/9, 2.4 BB/9, 1.312 WHIP
2012: (DSL) 5-2, 3.58 ERA, 55.1 IP, 6.5 K/9, 2.3 BB/9, 1.120 WHIP

    In reality Molina and Rosario should be both tied for this 17th spot. Both were international signings by Sandy Alderson in 2012 and both of them are having breakout seasons in 2014. Molina has been especially good with the Brooklyn Cyclones leading the league in K's and WHIP while holding the #2 spot for ERA.

     Molina was placed on the map last year by Baseball America who listed him as #10 on their list due to his athleticism and physical projectability. While many believed Mr. Jason Parks ranking was quite pre-mature considering his lackluster stats in the Gulf Coast and Dominican Summer Leagues, the overall scouting report caught some eyes.

     Molina's fastball ranges between 92-94 MPH with a max of 96 and, as with many of the Mets recent SP prospects, he has a plus change-up that is well beyond his years. Molina's also has 2 breaking balls currently; One is a curveball that has sloppy slurve like movement to it currently. He'll have to tighten up the spin on it or else it'll end up being scrapped when he reaches higher minor league levels. The other breaking pitch is a slider that has shown to the be the better of the two. He throws it hard, reaching 86-87 mph on the radar gun, with excellent two plane movement much like Matt Harvey's slide piece.

     Currently, Molina has a max effort delivery which is better suited to the bullpen. The amount of energy he expends disallows him the ability to hold his velocity deep into games. Reports have him starting games at 95/96mph but down to 91/92 by the 3rd inning on most nights. He also doesn't repeat his arm speed between his fastball and his breaking pitches. Sometimes he will slow his arm speed down which will tip off the breaking pitch to hitters.

     Just like with Rosario, Molina is still very young and not without his major flaws which is what makes him a high risk, high reward prospect. While conquering the NY-Penn League is an important 1st step, we have learn from countless occasions that even Brooklyn stats need to be taken with a grain of salt. Both Molina and Rosario will have chances to shoot up the list rapidly as they slowly progress through the lower minors. We very well could be looking at the next #1 and #2 prospects in the system by the end of next year.

Ceiling: Dominating #2 MLB SP

Floor: Flames out due to an arm injury from the max effort delivery