Ernest Dove - What Should Mets Do With Pitcher Carlos Torres?

  With all the talk shortstops, pitching prospects, Harvey's return, corner outfielders, Wright's health and the next LOOGY/full inning lefty option, it seems like there is one random (and steady) guy who hasn't been mentioned much in the past two seasons he has contributed to this ball club.  His name is Carlos Torres.  Amongst all the recent hoopla surrounding Harvey, Wheeler, Montero, and now Syndergaard and Matz, there was also a 29 year old in the system that the Mets made full effort to protect from other clubs possible efforts to snatch him up and not pass through any kind of waivers.
  I don't know why, but it seems like old Carlos has been around for a decade with the Mets. Maybe it seems that way because Terry Collins pretty much has called his name each and every game since he joined the team. In reality, Mr. Torres will/would only be entering his 3rd season with the Mets for the 2015 year. And despite all the high profile talent, and one year contracts that have come this teams way for 2 years, Torres had remained, pitching, and pitching and pitching. 

  After popping his cherry in the majors at age 26 with the White Sox in 2009, mostly as a starter, he was quickly moved full time to the bullpen in 2010, and continued on in that role with the Rockies in 2012.  Then he found himself in the Mets organization, where he hovered around Sin City up until he got the call in 2013 for the Mets. Torres did manage to start 9 games in 2013, but 2014 brought all kinds of additional solid pitching overall, and so his spot starts were diminished (especially with Dice K apparently needing those starts to stay happy and less confused.... or maybe more confused).
  Anyway, in comes the 2015 season.  Harvey is coming back. Parnell is coming back. Familia is a stud, Mejia is now a reliever, Black is panning out, and the young arms just keep on coming.  So, what do the Mets now do with Torres this coming season?

  Do they keep him on the 25 man?  Again, as I said, the man can be relied upon to take the ball every day, all day, and twice on Sunday (Let's play two).  And, if you check out the stats, he's pretty much had career highs in every category there is, during his still short major league career, all with the Mets the past two years. And with young guys like Mejia and mostly wheeler often going only 5 innings during their starts, it was Torres who mostly would take on extra innings to get this team to the 8th or 9th.  Talk about a LIVE arm, how about a rubber arm ( I still miss that old guy who signed with the Rockies as their closer).

  Do they trade him?  What can you really get for a solid 32 year old middle reliever who doesn't have a high 90s fastball, but still comes cheap (my two second research shows finally just being arb eligible in 2016).  Can they get a teams top 25 low minors prospect, maybe?  Do you simply do the old, traded-for-cash-considerations with a guy you've overworked and counted on for 2 years?  Or can he packaged in with some top prospect to a team looking for youth, but also a rubber arm to secure their bullpen for the upcoming season?

  Do you simply release him, in favor of Montero, Mazzoni or any other list of the hot young arms currently in the upper system of the organization, and let some team snatch him up (again, rubber arm, security).

  My personal opinion is that Carlos Torres has been a blessing to this organization. He's come in, pretty much pitched every day, and he publicly proclaims himself ready to go the next day, and the next, and the next.  And he's not just some innings eater with a terrible ERA. In over 100+ innings as a Met, his ERA is below 3.50, which seems pretty solid and consistent to me, especially for a guy who often has been counted on to pitch one, two, and even three innings per outing.

  However, life is life, baseball is baseball.  It will always equally be a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately and up-and-coming-star away from losing your job type of atmosphere.

  Maybe the Mets go with two lefties in the pen. Maybe they go with 6 right handers. Maybe somebody holds a spot only until Parnell shows up.  Maybe somebody's role is specifically to eat multiple inning every 5 days to piggy back Harvey Day (hey, isn't that what Torres seems to specialize in?) Or maybe the Mets add to the youth movement by creating roster spots for Montero, Mazzoni, heck even guys named Pill, Bowman, Gorski, etc. etc. etc.

  Arms are aplenty.  But this team keeps talking about playoffs.  You can't keep holding back talent. You also can't minimize veteran accountability (and a rubber arm).

   What say you Mack's Mets ???????????????????????????????

The Morning Report – 1-30 – Q and A: If I Owned The Mets

Rachel asked –

          Hey Mack. First of all, you run a great site. It’s one of the top three I visit every day and I think you have the best writers on the internet.

On to my question…  you’ve said in the past that you don’t like to predict things and speculate and all that, but I’m really curious if someone gave you the money that was needed to buy the Mets, pay off all the debt, and star anew.

What would Mack do?

          Mack – Wow. Now there’s a great question and I’m happy it came on a day I’m working a little ahead of schedule and near the end of the week. It gives me the time to think about this and address it properly.

Hmm…   no debt… current team… current front office.

  1.   I assume I still have some money left over to pay out some existing contracts. For starters, I’d make some changes in the front office. I would remove Terry Collins as the manager of the team. I’m not exactly sure who I would offer this job to, but it would be someone much younger and someone that respects the players more than I believe that Collins does. I would consider one internal candidate… Tim Teufel. Past him, I would go outside of the team.

  2.   This one could be sticky and might not happen. I assume that Sandy Alderson isn’t going to be happy that I removed Collins and I understand that, but this is my dream, right? I would offer Alderson the opportunity to stay for the remainder of his recently signed contract, but he would have to accept that I am going to make decisions like the one I just made about TC. I would also make it clear that I will take an active role a la George Steinbrenner in many of the duties that Alderson had under the Wilpons. If he has problems with this, he also can leave.

  3.   Sadly, there’s very little I can do about all the baseball players that have signed with other teams. What I can do is throw some more money around and show the baseball world that things have changed in Flushing. This would start with aggressively pursuing and offering what it takes to secure the services of Cuban outfielder Yoan Moncada. No Mets fan on this planet is going to hold it against me if this kid turns out to be a bust.

  4.   Next, I do not want to rush either Noah Syndergaard or Steven Matz. To me, they will both be part of my 2016 rotation, not the 2015. Regarding this year, I would keep Jonathan Niese on board as SP5 and add Rafael Montero as my emergency 6^th starter/injury relief/long man out of the pen. I would then offer a super-duper one year contract to SP James Shields as an alternative (for him) in case he wants to push this whole free agent business back a year. If he passes, I add Montero to my rotation. The Mets already screwed up the draft (in a light draft year) so losing another pick isn’t going to kill me.

  5.   I would DFA both Dillon Gee and Bartolo Colon and take what I can get for them, even if it’s just international bonus money. As I said above, I want to make a fresh start here even though neither of these guys really did anything wrong

  6.   I would double, possibly triple, the amount of scouts I had working the international market. There’s no place in baseball where you can sign a high end, high ceiling, prospect (at 16-years old) for really reasonable money. It’s high risk though, but other teams have proven that a steady input of these kids get you more than just a future shortstop.

  7.   I’d make one more shot at a blockbuster trade with Colorado. I want both Tulo and CarGo and, if I was able to get them, this whole post should be throw away and I would start over. I would offer two things… a decent and flexible group of prospects/established players that would include Daniel Murphy, Lucas Duda (I’d play Cuddyer on first), Wilmer Flores, Brandon Nimmo, Cory Mazzoni, and even Rafael Montero. The other part of this trade is I would offer to pay 100% of both their existing contracts. Again, I really want these guys (if doctors clear them) and I want to show the baseball world I mean business.

Past this, there’s not much more I can do this year. I would probably start to sniff around for a replacement for Curtis Granderson in 2016, and I’d make myself a promise that I’m never going to sign another long term deal with someone unless he was a superstar in this game. Lastly, someone has to start the process of attempting to sign Matt Harvey past his free agent date so I’d make the first phone call and invite Scott Boras for a salmon lunch.

How’d I do?

Out - Bobby Ojeda

Bobby Ojeda is out of Mets pre- and postgame show, as he and SNY fail to agree on a new contract.

(look for another ex-Mets pitcher to join the team)

B-Mets Announce 2015 Field Staff

B-Mets Announce 2015 Field Staff

BINGHAMTON, NY – The defending Eastern League champion Binghamton Mets are proud to announce that Pedro Lopez will return to the Southern Tier for his fourth season as manager. Lopez, the winningest manager in B-Mets history, will be joined by pitching coach Glenn Abbott and hitting coach Luis Natera. Athletic trainer Deb Iwanow and strength and conditioning coach Dane Inderrieden round out Lopez’s staff.

Lopez guided the 2014 Binghamton Mets to their first Eastern League championship in 20 years. The team fulfilled Lopez’s preseason request of “six more wins” in the playoffs by beating the Portland Sea Dogs in a thrilling five-game Eastern Division Championship Series and sweeping the Richmond Flying Squirrels to earn the franchise’s third Eastern League title.

The 2014 season also saw Lopez move into the top spot among B-Mets managers. The team’s 3-0 victory over the Harrisburg Senators on August 10 was his 226^th win at the helm of the B-Mets, pushing him ahead of John Tamargo, who managed from 1994 to 1996. Lopez currently owns 237 regular season wins in Binghamton.

Lopez has steadily climbed the Mets’ minor league managerial ladder; compiling winning records at each stop leading to Binghamton. His journey began with the Kingsport Mets (Rookie) in 2008, where he guided the club to a 34-32 mark. Under his watch in 2009, the Brooklyn Cyclones (Short Season-A) punched their ticket to the New York-Penn League postseason with a 45-30 record. Lopez kept the success rolling with another trip to the postseason with the Savannah Sand Gnats (Low-A) in 2010. His 2011 St. Lucie Mets (High-A) made it all the way to the Florida State League championship series.

The former catcher logged 13 seasons in the minor leagues as a player after being drafted in the 21^st round by the San Diego Padres in 1988. He reached Triple-A with the Las Vegas Stars before joining the Milwaukee Brewers organization in 1995. Lopez finished his playing career in the Houston Astos’ system in 2000. In 909 career games, he hit .247, clocked 49 home runs and drove in 338 runs.

Abbott returns to the Southern Tier for his fourth year as pitching coach. Prior to his time with the Mets, Abbott was a pitching coach for five years in the San Diego Padres’ system, spent four seasons with the Texas Rangers’ organization and logged 13 years at various levels with the Oakland Athletics. The Arkansas native began his coaching career with the Little Falls Mets in 1985.

After getting drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 8^th round in 1969, Abbott spent 11 seasons in the Major Leagues as a starting pitcher for the A’s (1973-76), Seattle Mariners (1977-83) and Detroit Tigers (1983-84). In 248 career games, the righty made 206 starts, went 62-83, amassed a 4.39 ERA, struck out 484 batters and hurled five shutouts.

As a member of the Athletics in 1975, Abbott was part of the first four-pitcher no-hitter in MLB history. On September 28, he combined with Vida Blue, Paul Linblad, and Rollie Fingers to baffle the Angels on the final day of the regular season.

Natera returns to Binghamton after spending last year in the Majors as assistant hitting coach with the New York Mets. This season will be his 24^th with the Mets organization and eighth in the Southern Tier. He has served as a hitting coach at five different levels during that time, including stints with Buffalo (AAA, 2009), St. Lucie (High-A, 2007), Hagerstown (Low-A, 2005-06), Kingsport (Rookie, 2003-04), and Capital City (Low-A, 1999).

Natera served in his native country as coordinator of the Mets’ Dominican Academy in 2001 and 2002. He managed the Dominican Mets (Rookie) in 2002 and skippered the DSL Mets from 1992-1997.

The former shortstop played in the Mets’ system from 1984 to 1988 and reached as high as Low-A. He lives with wife Maria Elena and their sons Luis Alberto, Jose Luis, and David Luis.

Deb Iwanow will head back to the Southern Tier for her second year as athletic trainer. The Delhi, New York native spent three seasons with the St. Lucie Mets from 2011 to 2013. A graduate of Ithaca College, she served as an assistant athletic trainer at Binghamton University in 2005 and 2006.

Inderrieden joins the B-Mets staff for his first season at Double-A. The Marty, Minnesota native served in the same capacity with the St. Lucie Mets last year. He received his B.S. from St. Cloud State University and attained a master’s degree in Exercise Science from Northern Michigan University. He has also spent time with the Gulf Coast League Mets (2013) and Brooklyn Cyclones (2012).

Tom Brennan - Majoring on the Minors: Top 30 Prospects - # 8 Matt Bowman

MAJORING ON THE MINORS: TOP 30 PROSPECTS – # 8 MATT BOWMAN - VOL.23 – Tom Brennan

I’m doing my Top 30 Prospects articles a bit differently – in 2 lists:

·       A top 10 list of lower minors guys who likely won’t show up until 2017 or later.  See list at end of this article. 

·       Followed by my top 20 list of guys who are closing in on the big leagues.  Guys who could help in the near future or be trade bait. 

Here is the list so far:

20.   Daniel Muno

19.   Michael Fulmer

18.   Miller Diaz

17.   Dario Alvarez

16.   Jayce Boyd

15.   Rob Whalen

14.   Hansel Robles

13.   Gabriel Ynoa

12.   Gavin Cecchini

11.   Jack Leathersich

10.   Cory Mazzoni

9.      Cesar Puello

Today, selection #8:

MATTHEW BOWMAN

Matt is another Mets arm that impresses the heck out of me.  A lean 6'0" righty, he throws in the low 90s with good secondary offerings and, most importantly, succeeds and proceeds.  

And has succeeded and proceeded quickly since being drafted out of Princeton in 2012 in the 13th round, no less, having reached Vegas and pitching well there in the latter portion of 2014. In fact, he tossed 6 great starts there, and only had a 3.47 ERA in AAA because in his final outing, in relief, he gave up 5 runs in 1/3 inning.  Shoulda taken a sick day, Mr. B.

Some pundits peg him for long relief or spot starts because of a crowded rotation.  Me?  I say let the dude compete and set his own ceiling.  Maybe those Princeton brains of his can help him wedge his way into a starting role on this team some time in 2015, no matter how daunting the competition.

More likely, he could be a fine trade chip. Why wouldn't another team want a competent starter making $500K?

A 13th round draftee who's climbed 5 minor league levels, sports a 22-14, 3.06, with 270 Ks in 291 innings? Overachiever.  But wait, shoppers...there's more.  Just 2 errors in 57 games.  As Mel Allen would say, “How 'bout that?”

And pitchers in the NL do have to hit. Matt has gone 5 for 17 with just 3 Ks.  Impressive.

Maybe this guy is a slightly inferior version o the NL's rookie of theyear in 2014, what was his name again? Oh, yeah, Jake deGrom.  Matt's minor league stats actually resemble those of deGrom.  Hmmm...   Is Bowman to be deGrom, Part II?

Whaddya think, readers?  Me?  Me like!

MY TOP 10 LOWER MINORS LIST:

# 1 - Marcos Molina

#2 – Michael Conforto

#3 – Amed Rosario

#4 – Dominic Smith

#5 - Jhoan Urena

#6 – Vicente Lupo

#7 – Wuilmer Becerra

#8 – Luis Guillorme

#9 - Casey Meisner

#10 - Milton Ramos

Mack - 2015 Prospect List - #8 – OF – Brandon Nimmo

My rankings is solely subjective and based on nothing more than what is in my head at time I’m writing this. I’ve followed the Mets minor league players for many years and I feel I can recognize talent at various levels of their development. What I have failed at is how to determine when this talent seems to diminish. It’s amazing how many first round picks never make it in this game.

I’m old school, so you won’t seem much SABR-discussion here, I do research and, when I find a good quote or two, I’ll add them to my analysis, but, like I said in the beginning of this post, most of this us subjective.

Let’s get started.

#8 – OF – Brandon Nimmo – 21-years old – 6-3, 205 – L/R – Cheyenne East HS (WY)

                                   1^st round 2011 draft –

                       2011 – K/Port/GCL – 38-AB, .211/.318/.368/687, 2-HR, 4-RBI

                       2012 – Brklyn – 266-AB, .248/.372/.406/778, 6-HR, 40-RBI

                       2013 – Sav -  395-AB, .273/.397/.359/756, 2-HR, 40-RBI

                       2014 -  StL/B-Mets -  467-AB, .278/.394/.426/820, 10-HR, 51-RBI

What did they say about Nimmo at the time of the draft –

           Keith Law -               Nimmo's high school in Cheyenne, Wyo., doesn't have a baseball team, so he spent the spring playing with his American Legion club after opening eyes all last summer on the showcase circuit.

He has strong hands and good hand-eye coordination, with a frame that looks built for some future power if he can get a little more rotational. He has the arm to play right field and has shown good speed in the past, although he's been bothered this spring by tendinitis in his right knee, which is the same knee he had ACL surgery on in 2009.

The biggest problem for scouts, however, is the fact that Nimmo won't see high-quality pitching this spring. His swing looks good, but evaluating his plate discipline or ability to catch up to better velocity will be tough.

First of all, we are now entering the ‘Elite Eight’ on this team. Most of these guys could be interchanged from ranking #2-8 (#1 stays the same), so don’t think that I have lowered Nimmo here to #8. I just have some other guys that, in my mind, have past him on the list.

As you can see from above, not much was said about Nimmo at draft time because not much was known about him. I was very vocal about the pick, not because of the player’s talent but because you just don’t take a chance and use your 13^th overall pick on someone who never even played high school baseball (he also lived in Wyoming, not a mecca for baseball talent so even the American Legion pitching he faced was sub-par compared to high school pitching in States like California, Georgia, and Florida).

Given all this, the boy’s done well.

I’m drawn to two facts… one, he hit .322 for St. Lucie (227-AB) last year… and he hit a combined career high 10 home runs for St. Lucie and Binghamton last season.

We’re so used to players going in the wrong direction as they climb affiliate levels. This isn’t happening here.

Outlook –

The Michael Cuddyer signing might be the best thing that ever happened for Nimmo. The Mets 2015 outfield is set and there is no reason to rush things here. He really needs some more time at the AA level, which would set him up to finish the season in Las Vegas.

We’ve written before that he’s living in Port St. Lucie during the off-season, working on conditioning and muscle development.

I’ll give him a safe, conservative ETA of opening day 2017 which would fit perfectly with Cuddyer’s departure.

Brooklyn Cowbell Guy - Top 5 Cyclones of the 2014 Season

Top 5 Cyclones

5: Michael Bernal RF

Michael Bernal was a solid player for the Brooklyn Cyclones in 2014. Another member of the NYPL South All Stars, he connected for 56 hits in 71 games, 8 of them being doubles, 4 being triples and he tied Urena with 5 home runs. He also scored 29 runs while driving in 36. He led the team with 12 stolen bases.

However, Bernal did lead the Cyclones with 95 strikeouts, which resulted in a batting average of .240

.

4: Amed Rosario, SS

Amed Rosario hit .289 on the season and was #3 in the NYPL in hits, 2nd on the Cyclones behind Jhoan Urena. He also had 11 doubles and led the Cyclones with 5 triples while driving in 23 runs. This led to him being named to the NYPL All Star Game.

Despite his great offensive output, he led the NYPL with 20 errors, something that must be worked on.

3: Shane Bay LHP, Closer

Shane Bay was the closer for the 2014 Cyclone. After missing the remainder of the 2013 season with an injury, Bay bounced back for an All Star Year. He was tied for the league high with 15 saves. He produced an ERA of 1.59. He also struck out 22 batters in a little over 22 innings. Of the 4 runs he gave up, only 2 of them effected the outcome of a game, a loss to Jamestown.

2: Jhoan Urena 3B

Jhoan Urena was an amazing offensive force on the 2014 Brooklyn Cyclones. He led the NYPL in hits with 85. He led the team with 20 doubles, which was good for 2nd place tie league wide. He also drove in 47 runs, only 2 less than the league leader. He racked up 122 total bases, 3rd best in the league. Jhoan also connected for 5 homers, tied for the team high. He also drew a team best 27 walks. Urena also needs to work on his fielding, as he committed 17 errors last season. Urena was also named to the 2014 NYPL All Star Game.

Urena appeared in all but 1 game for the Cyclones. The one game he missed was due to umpire Ryan Wilhelms ejecting Urena right after the anthem in a controversial move.

1: Marcos Molina RHP, Starter

Marcos Molina led the Brooklyn Cyclones starters with an impressive 7-3 record in 12 starts. His ERA on the season was an amazing 1.78. He led the New York – Penn League with 91 strikeouts over 76 innings pitched. He also had the lowest WHIP of all eligible NYPL pitchers with 0.84.

For all his great pitching efforts, Molina was rewarded twice. Molina was named to the 2014 NYPL All Star Game at MCU Park. He started that game. Molina was also the Brooklyn Cyclones recipient of the 2014 Sterling Award, which is given to the top player on all the NY Mets minor league affiliates.