Baseball: Trevor Bauer, Anthony Renaudo, Gerritt Cole, Ryan Theriot

Trevor Bauer’s specialty is his ability to miss bats. He struck out over 13 batters every nine innings, and accumulated an amazing 203 strikeouts in just under 137 innings of work at UCLA. That K-rate actually understates Bauer’s performance. Because he allowed so few hits for reasons mentioned earlier (fastball movement, deep repertoire of pitches, ability to change speeds), that means he faced fewer hitters. So if you look at his strikeouts as a percentage, Bauer struck out an astounding 45.5% of all batters he faced. Bauer has no problem throwing strikes and his command is improving. However, it is still inconsistent and he can go through stretches where he struggles to hit his spots. His stuff is good enough to make up for any mistakes in location http://www.baseball-intellect.com/arizona-diamondbacks-top-prospects-2012/

A right-hander from the Jersey Shore town of Belmar, Anthony Ranaudo passed up signing with the Texas Rangers out of high school in 2007 and went on to dominate for Louisiana State University, leading the Tigers to the College World Series in 2008 and '09. An arm injury his junior year saw his Draft stock slip slightly, and it was the Boston Red Sox that selected him 39th overall in 2010 (he found out he was drafted when an LSU teammate tipped him off while on an airplane on his way back from Omaha). A towering 6-foot-7 righty, Ranaudo made his professional debut last April for the Red Sox's Class A affiliate at Greenville before moving up to Class A Advanced Salem for the second half, ftinishing 9-6 with a 3.97 ERA and 117 strikeouts in 127 innings. Both Ranaudo and Boston fans hope the 22-year-old continues progressing this summer at Double-A and beyond, but for now, the righty is only focused on getting ready for Spring Training.  http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120112&content_id=26329042&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb&tcid=tw_share

The Pirates organization entered the 2011 amateur draft in an enviable position with the first overall selection. The club had its pick from a number of high-ceiling players and ultimately chose Gerrit Cole. It’s easy to see the move working out well for the organization as long as the right-hander can stay healthy (and there are no red flags… or even yellow for that matter). Cole, who has been a top prospect since his prep days and actually turned down the Yankees as a first rounder in ’08, has the chance to develop into a No. 1 starter and could get to Pittsburgh in short order. The California native’s repertoire includes two strikeout pitches: a 92-97 mph fastball and a slider. He also features a solid changeup. Expect Cole to open 2012 in either high-A or double-A and he could reach the Majors by year’s end – unless the club wants to be cautious with his service time  http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/top-15-prospects-pittsburgh-pirates/

Giants signed SS Ryan Theriot to a one-year contract. The deal was reported earlier and has now been confirmed by the club. CBSSports.com's Jon Heyman reports that the contract is for $1.25 million, with $750,000 more possible in incentives, but it's interesting to note that the deal is not guaranteed. But, barring something unforeseen, Theriot should make the Opening Day roster and is probably the favorite to start over Brandon Crawford. He produced an unimpressive .271/.321/.342 batting line with one home run, 47 RBI, four stolen bases and a .662 OPS over 483 plate appearances in 2011 for St. Louis. http://www.rotoworld.com/headlines/mlb/348399/baseball-headlines?r=1

Tapping The Non-Tender List

Firstly, to explain. When a player still has years of arbitration left, sometimes teams opt to allow them to hit free agency instead of negotiating a new deal. This is done primarily for money savings as you may see the Mets do with Angel Pagan, Mike Pelfrey, Ronny Paulino and Taylor Buchholz. The following players are on the edge of not being asked back by there teams and I think they might have value as Mets.

NOTE: Not all of these players will be non-tendered.


Hitters:

Jesus Flores - Back in 2008, Jesus Flores seemed like a pretty steady catcher. He hit for a pretty good average, had some power and used it to drive in some runs. In 2009, Flores hit some injury problems and by 2011 he had been supplanted as the starter for the Nationals. He'll only be 27 this season and might be a good alternative/platoon to Josh Thole.


George Kottaras - Is George a superstar? No. Is George a power catcher? Yes. I have always liked George Kottaras. Part of this is years of playing Baseball Mogul and watching him become a 30+ HR hitter. Kottaras is potentially good enough to be an everyday player and I'd give him a look.

Ian Stewart - Let us imagine that we trade David Wright and have lost Jose Reyes. The Mets will NEED NEED NEED offense. After Stewart's 2011... maybe I shouldn't list him. HOWEVER... I think I still should. Assuming we trade Wright and don't want Murphy AND Turner starting every day, Stewart is an option to add quite a bit of power back into the lineup.

Ryan Theriot - Purely if we DID move Reyes... I'd prefer Theriot as an everyday player to what I see as a BAD situation for Ruben Tejada. Before you ignore this and assume I'm just being my usual self with Ruben, think about being THE GUY who came in to replace REYES.

Andres Torres - So... for all those anti-Angel Pagan people out there. Here is a guy who I'd like to look at. He's got a similar tool set to Angel and might be a better fit. If he were non-tendered... I'd probably like him. WITH OR WITHOUT Angel being on the team.

Pitchers:

Tom Gorzelanny - Should Tom not be tendered a contract he becomes a reasonably attractive SP in general. I like the idea of Gorzelanny because he's a lefty and the Mets really could use another lefty in what will eventually be the post-Johan era.

Hong-Chih Kuo - has had issues since being hurt, but if there ever was a buy low candidate for a bullpen it might be him. If he can rebound to his 2010 numbers he could not only be the closer, but he might be better than most of the closers on the list.


Joe Saunders - HOORAY FOR BORING! Joe Saunders isn't a sexy pitcher, but he IS an innings eater who can be mighty useful to a team on a rebuilding year. He doesn't need to win 20 games... he just needs to go out and throw 6 innings every 5th game.

Kevin Slowey - Slowey... should he be healthy... could be another guy like Gorzelanny who draws some interest on the free agent market. Slowey has shown plenty of glimpses of stuff to make me think him capable as a #3 pitcher. That's not a terrible thing.

Chris Volstad - Alright... scoff. Volstad has been a HUGE... COLOSSAL... GIGANTIMOUS disappointment for the Marlins. Why would we want him? Well... when he isn't giving up HRs and hits to just about everyone... he's still gifted with stuff scouts like. Low Risk... High Reward?

Take a look and see who else the Mets should look at:

Non-Tender List