DOWN UNDER: Mets Minor League Results - 7-28-15

 

DOWN UNDER: Mets Minor League Results - 7-28-15

 Late losses in Brooklyn and Kingsport prevented a clean sweep.

STAR OF THE DAY: The Michaels starred tonight.  Fulmer is flat out firing and Katz is flat out clubbing lately.

HONORABLE MENTION: Dash Winningham with a grand slam, ma'am, but just 1 for 6. Also Dillon Gee and thundering 51's bats.

 SCORES:

Las Vegas (59-45) 14 - Sacramento 2

Binghamton (56-46) 3 - New Britain 0

St Lucie (51-50)  8 - Daytona 4

Savannah (54-47) 8 - Greensboro 6

Brooklyn  (19-17)  3 - Hudson Valley 4, 10 innings

Kingsport (17-17) 9 - Pulaski 15

GCL Mets (17-14) - Nationals.  METS RAINED OUT AGAIN

DSL METS 1 (25-24) 7 - Rojos (Spanish for Reds) 3

DSL METS 2 (29-20) 2 - Braves  1

Here's the Scoop: 

Las Vegas trotted out Dillon Gee (4-1, 6.35). He was excellent, tossing a 99 pitch, complete game 7 hitter in a 14-2 blow out  He's ready to return or be traded. 

Travis Taijeron drilled a bases clearing double in the 1st inning and singled in the 4th run in the 3rd inning. Then K'd 3 times. Ceciliani (.343) has returned from the DL very hot, with 3 more hits and 3 RBIs.  Brandon Nimmo's AAA inaugural went nicely: hit, 2 walks, RBI.  Muno, Herrera on 3 times each. Gee even walked twice.

 
Binghamton's Michael Fulmer came out tonight with the intent to conquer colonial power New Britain.  And conquer the Brits he did.  Six innings, 3 hits, no walks, 9 Ks. 1.88 ERA.  LOOKING TOTALLY READY FOR THE BIGS.  

And GREAT RELIEF pitching...Velasquez, Walters, and the incomparable Sewald pitch an inning apiece while striking out 5.  Sewald lowered his ERA to 1.51 and recorded his 16th save. Is Paul major league ready too?

d'Arnaud went 1-4.  Cecchini got a hit and BB also (.302).

 

St Lucie entered the night with a 50-50 record and a 50-50 chance of having a winning record by game's end.  Mickey Jannis started and won his first for St Lucie, tossing 8 innings and allowing just 2 earned runs.

Matt Oberste and Yeixon Ruiz stayed hot with 2 hits each (Matt and Stefan Sabol went deep).  And Dom Smith (.295) singled and doubled and drove in 3 (58 for the season).

 
Savannah's Michael Gibbons  came in hoping for his first win as a Gnat against lowly Greensboro. He got it, but surrendered 4 runs and 11 hits.  Montgomery was off again, but Cameron Griffin, who's relieved well this year for the Gnats, nabbed his 5th save in as many chances.  

Seven run 2nd inning for the Gnats.  Michael Friggin' Katz had a 3 run homer and has 4 homers and 14 RBIs in his last 5 games.  Holy Gnats, Batman.  

Wuilmer Becerra (.295) added 2 hits and 2 RBIs, and friggin' hot John Mora added his 5th homer and a BB.


Brooklyn headed up to Hudson Valley in hopes of revving up their offensive game. That did not happen, as they lost 4-3 in 10, but a very encouraging outing from Chris Flexen: 4.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB, EIGHT K's!

Kingsport visited Pulaski last night which they tell me is somewhere near Podunk and Peoria.  Admiring Savannah's 7 run 2nd inning, the K Mets did the same darned thing. Amazing. 

But Pulaski outdid them with a 9 run 8th to overcome the K Mets' 9-5 lead.

A Dash Winningham grand slam, his 6th HR, boosts him to 25 RBIs.  Ivan Wilson was hit by a pitch and later left the game. Tom McIlraith started and threw 3 innings of 1 run ball, with 3 BBs and 2 Ks.  

But the K Met hurlers embraced the walk, issuing FIFTEEN walks in 8 innings!

 
GCL's Mets we're to take on the lowly Nationals today. Instead, they took on water and we're rained out. Again.

DSL METS 2: Misael Familia (1.48) with his 5th save.

DSL METS 1: the other Luis Mateo threw 6 nice innings, allowing 3 runs, to secure his 2nd win.

 GOATS: see below.

 Jenrry Mejia...only one GOAT in the Mets organization tonight.  He'll be a goat for the next 365 days.

But the K Met hurlers walking almost as many hitters (15) tonight as Gabe Ynoa did in 22 starts in 2013 (16) earns them GOAT horns as well.

July 28th 2015 -- Mets 4, Padres 0

Tuesday night in Queens, Noah Syndergaard was perfect through six innings, while the Met offense played long ball again…the Mets blank the Padres 4-0.  Syndergaard was spectacular.  He took a perfect game into the top of the 7th inning.  Will Venerable singled to center to lead off the inning and ruin Thor’s bid for perfection. The Mets took a 2-0 lead in the 1st inning.  Curtis Granderson singled and was erased on a double play.  Daniel Murphy then singled and that brought up Lucas Duda who hit a titanic 456ft home run to right center, for Duda #15 on the year.  James Shields started for the Friars. He allowed the Duda blast. Shawn Kelly relieved him and then yielded a two run blast to Granderson in the bottom of the 8th, also his 15th and the Mets had a 4-0 lead.  Syndergaard went 8 scoreless allowing just 3 hits while striking out 9.  He gets the win and evens his record at 5-5. His ERA drops to a crisp 2.70. In his 7 career starts are Citi Field, Thor is now 5-1 with a 1.46 ERA.  New Met Tyler Clippard pitched the 9th inning. He was greeted with a leadoff double by Abraham Almonte, but had no problem retiring the next three in a row to nail a scoreless debut.  Shields take the loss he falls to 8-4. With the win the Mets have won 3 straight and improve to 52-48 overall and 35-16 at home. The Nats lost to the Marlins in Miami. The Mets are now 1 game behind the Nationals for first place in the NL East. Wednesday night Bartolo Colon (9-9 4.60) goes for the Mets, Tyson Ross (6-8 3.45) goes for the Padres.

162 Game Suspension - P - Jenrry Mejia

Mets reliever Jenrry Mejia has been suspended 162 games for testing positive a second time for a performance-enhancing substance, Major League Baseball announced Tuesday. Mejia's suspension is effective immediately.

Kristie Ackert ‏@Ackert_NYDN  8 minutes ago

Mejia was in the clubhouse before game, joking around with Familia and Colon.

Mack - This should do it...  

ROSTER CHANGE - Las Vegas

MiLB 

OF Brandon Nimmo has been promoted from AA-Binghamton to AAA-Las Vegas

HOW SOON? METS MINORS PITCHERS EDITION - Tom Brennan

HOW SOON? METS MINORS PITCHERS EDITION - Tom Brennan

Last Tuesday, I started out with "A lot of folks clamor for Michael Conforto to be promoted to the Mets ASAP".  Well, our prayers were answered quickly. 

Now to the pitchers.  I love to see guys shoot up to the ranks right to the big leagues, like Jake deGrom, or even Michael Conforto.

But sometimes, you have to not ask “Why Not Yet?” and ask another question:  What is the weak spot so-and-so needs to improve upon before he gets promoted?

Let’s consider 10 pitcher type guys (stats mentioned are thru Saturday) - to be utterly arbitrary, how about 5 minor league starters and 5 relievers?

Sandy made it easier to pick from by making 2 great trades in recent days to gear up for a pennant run, while culling the prospect list of Corey Meisner, John Gant and Rob Whelan in those trades.  Neither Gant nor Whelan would have made my top 5 starters-in-waiting, but Meisner did - still, there are more than 5 very solid starter guys remaining, IMO.

 I wrote a Mack's article about a year ago on the Mets Minors incredible pitching surplus.  Since then, Matz and Thor have been promoted, the 3 guys above just got traded (as did Brad Weick), Wheeler and Molina went down with major elbow injuries, and Pill and Bowman have appeared more supect than prospect in 2015...and they still have starter prospect depth, not even including draftees in 2015.

Before I move on to our remaining guys, a few words on Meisner, Whelan and Gant.

Casey Meisner - outstanding at a very young age as he has progressed thru all levels of A ball.  The 20 year old could have been a mid-2017 call up. Maybe he still will be - for the As.


• Whelan is 21, a 12th rounder out of HS.  He was great before this year (143 IP, 99 H, 38 BB, 140 K, 30 earned runs), but this year in St Lucie, the WHIP and ERA jumped, although still at good levels; he allowed 38 runs in 83 innings.  Remains to be seen how good he'll be as major leaguer.  My projection is he'll be a 5th starter.
• Gant was a 21st rounder, about to turn 23, and was terrific in 2013-15 in A ball (235 IP, 70 earned runs (plus 20 unearned), 243 Ks.  In AA, he hit headwinds - ERA up to 4.70, WHIP up too, lower K rate.  I also project him as # 5 starter.

I wish them all well - except down the road vs. the Mets.

I am leaving off Logan Verrett and Rafael Montero, since in my view, they've already successfully made it to the bigs, even if they are still in the minors as of right now. But those are two already.

Anyway...here goes:

Michael Fulmer - more and more he is looking like a #2 or #3 level starter, so perhaps he will be good enough to be good the Mets' 5th starter!  He has been fantastic in AA of late, and most importantly, has plus major league velocity.  The next month may dictate if he makes the Mets' rotation opening day 2016, but more likely he is a post Super 2 call up.

Gabe Ynoa - Ynoa was getting little love from me when he entered mid June with an ERA of nearly 6 with a very low strikeout rate.  So he promptly shut me up with an outstanding stretch of pitching over his last 9 starts.  Maybe ready to start in the bigs by mid-2016 as a #5. Walks no one, but needs to miss more bats.


Luis Cessa - part of the great Cyclone rotation in 2012 (Robles, Ynoa, Lara, Cessa, and rehabbing stud Luis Mateo - even Matt Bowman pitched there, mostly in relief). Luis has struggled against AAA hitters in the PCL so far (8.84 ERA in 19 innings), but pitched really well at AA earlier this year (2.56 ERA in 13 starts).  Still 23, throws hard, may be a solid bullpen piece, trade chip or ML starter.

Seth Lugo  in AA, also has turned heads. A hard throwing righty defying his 34th round 2011 draft slot odds, he has refined his slider to go with his curve, learned to mix his pitches better this year, and spots a 3.20 ERA with 8 Ks per 9 IP over 98 innings this season. Red hot of late, with just 1 earned run in his past 4 starts. A few more starts like his recent ones, and maybe he is a trade chip or 2016 pen guy. Can't rule out major league starter if he keeps refining his stuff.

Rainy Lara - Like Cessa, Lara recently made AAA. Like Cessa, he is finding out AAA is a super challenge. After posting a 5-3, 3.57 Mark in 12 AA starts, he is sputtering with a 7+ ERA in 24 AAA innings. Time will tell as to whether he is hitting his ceiling or can conquer AAA and make the majors in some capacity.

OTHER GUYS OF NOTE: I've listed 5 guys above, plus Montero and Verrett - that is still a lot of "inventory."  But there are more "down under".

Other notables are: Matt Bowman, who is trying to slay the AAA Dragon that has been flummoxing him badly for most of this year; Marcos Molina, who may be a top tier major league starter if he fully recovers from his elbow issues; Scarlyn Reyes, having gone 10-4, 3.40 in Savannah, and just promoted to St Lucie, and...

Martirez Arias, who got rolling late (he actually was in the system for 2009-12 very unimpressively, but in Kingsport rookie ball in 2014 as a 23 year old, flipped the switch: he has been fine in rookie and A ball this year and last: (11-4, ERA around 2.00, strikeout per inning, including a recent great first start for St Lucie). Some really tall guys like him take a while.

NOW FOR THE 5 RELIEVERS: righties except for Alvarez and Secrest:

1. Paul Sewald - not the hardest thrower, but simply tremendous in his 175 innings since being the Mets' 2012 10th round selection (204 Ks, 1.79 ERA).  Should be a solid bullpen piece in Queens in 2016.

2. Dario Alvarez - since June 1, 15 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 22 Ks.  Bullpen lefty in Queens in 2016. Just promoted to AAA, where he threw a pefect 0.2 innings to get the win Sunday.

3. Akeel Morris - before he was called up to Queens for one lousy relief outing, he was invincible.  Since then, spotty.  I believe he will rebound and be a bullpen piece some time in 2016 in Queens.

4. Christian Montgomery - one bad outing so far in 2015, a lot of great ones. Hard throwing righty who may show up in Queens by 2017, IMO.

5. Kelly Secrest - been a very solid reliever since he was drafted in 2014.  The lefty, now in St Lucie and 6-2 there, is 9-3, 2.34 and a K per inning since turning pro.

There are plenty of other good relievers in the system, some recently drafted, who could be pushing their way onto the list in the future. One guy I hold out hope for is Luis Mateo, getting back on track after essentially ax2 year Tommy John hiatus.  

Good times in Sandy's minor league pitcher production factory.

Who knows? A few more may depart as trade chips this week. Sandy's doing some deep sea fishing these days and needs plenty of bait...

So stay tuned. 

The Morning Report 7.28.2015 | MORE TRADES!

Evaluating The Trade: Troy Tulowitzki | Chris Soto

• Let's just get right to it shall we? At 12:14AM EST this morning, the Colorado Rockies traded SS Troy Tulowitzki and RP LaTroy Hawkins to Toronto for SP Jeff Hoffman, CL Roberto Osuna, SS Jose Reyes, and SP Jesus Tinoco. This deal was straight up with no money exchanging hands. So of course people are going to ask, "What is the equivalent trade for the Mets?" Well....there is none.....at least not a complete one. I'll do my best to re-create it though

• SP Jeff Hoffman- The Blue Jays top right handed pitching prospect is a potential ace with 2 plus pitches in his upper 90's fastball and his power curveball. His 3rd pitch is a an above average change-up that keeps lefty hitters off balanced.
• Mets Equivalent- Noah Syndergaard

• RP Miguel Castro- Despite only being 20 years old, he displaced Brett Cecil from the closer's role early in the season but giving it up himself to another 20 yr old flame thrower in Osuna. With his mid 90's fastball and a devastating change-up, Castro could develop into one of the better closers for the next 2 decades. 
• Mets Equivalent- Akeel Morris

• SS Jose Reyes- The Rockies do not feel that prospect Trevor Story is ready for the MLB so essentially Jose Reyes is a SS replacement for Tulo. On top of bringing 30 SB wheels, Reyes still has some solid pop in his bat and could be a legitimate threat to hit 15 HRs out of Coors Field. Getting away from the punishing turf field should also work wonders for his legs.  
• Mets Equivalent- .....ummm....I got nothing....Wilmer Flores?? just for the replacement part

• SP Jesus Tinoco- A 2011 Venezuelan bonus baby, the 6' 4" 20 yr old has a ton of projectability. He already has a plus sinker that generates a ton of ground ball outs as well as swings and misses. He still needs to work on improving the breaking stuff and his change-up but if both of those pitches come around, the Rockies could have a potential #3/#4 guy here
• Mets Equivalent- Casey Meisner

• As you can see, the Blue Jays paid a HEAVY price to grab Tulo. A potential top starter, a potential top closer, a significant wild card piece, AND an MLB starting caliber player.

Evaluating The Trade: Tyler Clippard | Chris Soto

• Now that the Tulo evaluation is out of the way....lets turn our attention to the Mets trade yesterday. Sandy Alderson agreed to send SP prospect Casey Meisner to Oakland in exchange for CL Tyler Clippard + cash. The deal utilizes the Mets current SP depth in the lower minors to not only bolster the MLB bullpen, but also provides Terry Collins with a solid weapon against left handed hitters.
• SP Casey Meisner- Meisner is a very RAW prospect who could has some significant upside. When he was drafted out of high school his FB only clocked in at 86-88 mph, but he has since improved it to 92-94mph. He combines this with an ok curveball that flashes promise of being a plus pitch and a change-up that still needs some work but could potentially be an MLB average pitch. Meisner is the definition of the long term project as he still needs significant time to develop his "stuff." If he does improve he could have a solid ceiling as an 200+ inning #3 starter in the big leagues
• RP Tyler Clippard- The former Nationals set-up man, is a battle hardened veteran with 2 years of high leverage bullpen experience in the playoffs. During his 8 seasons with the Nationals and A's, Clippard has a career 2.69 ERA supported by a 10.2 K/9 rate. His superb change-up makes him particularly dangerous against left handed hitters. In his career, lefties are only hitting .183 AVG with a miniscule .571 OPS. 
• Clippard should immediately step into his familiar role as a set-up man in the NL East and knows the Nationals extremely well. He is going to a ridiculously strong weapon for the Mets who suddenly have 4 closer quality arms in the bullpen.

DOWN UNDER: Mets Minor League Results - 7-27-15

 

DOWN UNDER: Mets Minor League Results - 7-27-15

 STAR OF THE DAY: Martires Arias, Witt Haggard

HONORABLE MENTION: Alberto Baldonado, Josh Smoker

 SCORES:

Las Vegas  (58-45) 0 - Reno 3

Binghamton  (55-46) 1 - New Britain 4

St Lucie (50-50) 2  - Daytona 1

Savannah  (53-47) 9 - Greensboro 0

Brooklyn  - DNP

Kingsport  - TWIN BILL:

- Game 1 LOST 4-1

- Game 2 WON 2-1

GCL Mets (17-14) 8  - Nats 1

DSL METS 1 (25-24) 1 - Rojos 6

DSL METS 2 (29-20) 2 - Braves  6  

AND NOW THE SCOOP:

 
Las Vegas sent Comrade Gorski to the hill against the Reno front. He got no support from his L 51 bombers in this one, as Vegas got shut out on 5 hits (2 by Comrade Ceciliani). Thru 6 innings, Gorski allowed 5 hits, 6 walks and 3 runs.. Cody Satterwhite, subject of a recent Steve Guilbert article, pitched 2 perfect innings in relief, fanning 2. Nice.

 
Binghamton's Gabe Ynoa came into action having allowed just 9 earned runs and 2 walks in his last 7 starts. Not quite as sharp tonight (6 IP, 3 R). Excellent relief, of late and tonight, from the hot Josh Smoker, who K'd 4 in 2 IP, and has fanned 47 in 37 innings for the year.

Cecchini 2-4 and d'Arnaud 1-3 on a quiet night for B Met bats. Most excitingly, d'Arnaud picked a guy off 2B, a good sign that the arm is healthy.

 

St Lucie's Kevin McGowan returned to the mound after his 12 run disaster last start, and the Lucies hoped to get to 50-50 in game # 100. Mission accomplished, as McGowan tossed 7 innings of 3 hit, one run ball.

Three Daytona pitchers fashioned a tidy 15 hitter, only allowing 2 runs somehow. Three hits each by Champ Stuart (.183) and Colton Plaia, and 2 hits each by the red hot Phil Evans and Yeixon Ruiz, pushing both up to .243, a long way from where both were very recently. Kudos to Jeff McNeil, who had a walk off single in the 9th.

 
Savannah's excellent pitching Martirez Arias took the start vs. lowly Greensboro. The tall righty was excellent again for 6 shutout innings, with Alberto Baldonado (somehow 0-6) finishing off the shutout with 3 fine innings to drop his ERA to 1.77.

14 hits evenly spread about the line up, with Michael Katz dropping another 33 run bomb and SAL player of the week continuing to streak with a 2-4 night.  Nido, Moore, Biondi, Becerra and Garcia added 2 hits apiece.

 
Brooklyn DNP

 Kingsport. - the Gonzalez boys - Merandy and Harol - got today's twin bill starts. Merandy has struggled in two appearances wish the K Mets.  Prior to that, in 2 of his 4 GCL outings, he allowed No Hits (as in ZERO) in 12 innings. Today, Merandy pitched quite well, and got a 4 out, 4 K relief effort from Witt Haggard.  Dale Burdick drove in both the first run and the winning run.

In the first game, Harol pitched well until 2 late homers cost him the game.

IVAN WILSON: he has not struck out in 4 straight games, and had 2 hits tonight. Terrific for him.

GCL Mets welcomed back rehabbers  Cesar Puello (0-3) and slick Matty Reynolds (1-2, BB), but it was the guys several years younger that got the deal done today. Desmond Lindsay went 2-4 (.429) with 2 RBIs and Ali Sanchez (.349) added a hit and an RBI (12). 

18 year old Jake Simon (2-0, 0.00) tossed 2 scoreless for the win.

 DSL METS 1: the Mets got rolled by the Rojos.

 DSL METS 2: Nick Debora's ERA dropped to 0.84 because his 4 runs were all unearned.  Life in the DSL - more boots than a Thom McCann factory.


GOAT: B Mets hitters.

Troy Tulowitzki to Colorado for Jose Reyes & LaTroy Hawkins

This late night stunner was about the money.  Reyes at $22 million per year actually makes more than Tulowitzki at $20 million, but his contract is shorter, so the deal saves Colorado quite a bit of money.  There are unnamed minor leaguers coming back to Colorado as well, but at first glance it seems like Toronto got the better end of this deal.

Did Toronto really need to add another slugger in addition to Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion?

ROSTER MOVES - Savannah

Please be advised of the following Sand Gnat roster moves:

7/27 - Scarlyn Reyes transferred to St. Lucie Mets

7/27 - Natanael Ramos activated from Disabled List