THANKS A MILLION by Tom Brennan

THANKS A MILLION by Tom Brennan

Thanksgiving is upon us, so how about an article involving the word THANKS as we get ready to chow down?

I am thankful for my family, God, a great Mets season, and writing for a great blog site.

That said, on with the article.

When I was a little kid many years ago, doctors used to make house calls.  One time, my father had to drop off Dr. Gedarovich and as he exited Dad’s 1953 red Mercury Monterrey, he said, "Thanks a million, Jack."

You see, back then, a million bucks was a lot of money. A million was really an amazing amount.  Huge.  We even had the Million Dollar Movie on TV five nights a week.  The Crawling Eye and other such classics.  I was riveted.

A million is not so much today.  At least for Mets’ management and ownership.  Why else, since 1999, has the Yankees' home attendance exceeded the Mets' attendance by an average of about a million per season, if not for their not trying hard enough?

What have the Yankees offered its fans that the Mets have not? How about a desire to be dominant whenever possible?  How about fielding a team with swagger?  How about an unswerving commitment to always be in the playoff hunt?  How about fielding offensively muscular, scary teams?  

How about a willingness to keep on spending? How about having a core of elite players come through the system (Jeter, Williams, Rivera, Posada, Cano) and with that winning hand surrounding them with more elite talent? 

How about the Mets, by contrast, too often signing Sean Marcum retread types and hoping for the best? Calling up Pat Misch types? Having a chance to go boldly forth and sign Cespedes or Abreu as they exited Cuba?  But not. How about playing Ruben Tejada at shortstop because, well, yes he is boring but he is kinda passable? I could go on.  So could you.

Which brings us to the 2015 off season.  The Mets arguably have the chance (when Wheeler returns) to have the best young starting 5 in baseball history. They could spend big, try to be a dominant squad for years....or hope (with all fingers crossed) that their Nimmos and Cecchinis will blossom into stars and make them dominant, as the Yanks were for so many years, but on the cheap.

Those 16 years where the Yanks out-drew the Mets by about 1 million per year (plus many more playoff box office gate bonanzas) likely cost them well over $1 billion (with a B) in revenues.   

What to do?

The Mets now have the core elite.  Great starters.  Great closer.  Build on that core aggressively, and draw 1 million more fans per year. For years and years to come. That's what I want to see.

The only time as a Mets fan I felt swagger with my team was in the mid-1980s.

We have a chance to again build a team with swagger, that pitches great and hits hard (so often the missing ingredient), for years to come.  A team that owns the playoffs.  If ownership chooses boldness, Yankee style.

If they do, I'll be saying, "thanks a million."

Thanks for reading.

11.23.2015 Winter League Results | Quiet Day in the Caribbean....Wuilmer Becerra Only Met in Action (on defense..)

Arizona Fall League

Completed. Final Game was November 19th

Mexican Pacific League

- Caneros de los Mochis 4 - 8 Venados de Mazatlan

  

Venezuela Professional Baseball League

- Tigres de Aragua 3 - 11 Tiburones de La Guaira

• LF Wuilmer Becerra: Defensive Replacement

Dominican Baseball League

- Toros del Este 3 - 2 Leones del Escogido

Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League

- No Games Scheduled

The Morning Report 11.24.2015 | Bob Geren Not Hired by Dodgers/Returns to Mets, Mets NEED a Cespedes Type Player this Off-Season, Team Focusing on LOOGYs

Matt Cerrone | Metsblog- The Dodgers will hire Dave Roberts to be the team's manager. The Dodgers interviewed Mets bench coach Bob Geren during their search. They also interviewed Gabe Kapler, Darin Erstad and Bud Black. Geren, 54, managed the Athletics from 2007 to 2011, during which current Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi was an assistant to Billy Beane. Geren joined Terry Collins's bench after the 2011 season.

(Chris Soto: Too bad for Geren not to get another chance at coaching. This should quell any thoughts of the Wally Backman supporters bringing up his name as a potential candidate for the Bench Coach position as Geren will now return to the Mets to re-assume the position Terry gave him in 2012. With his advanced age, Terry Collins certainly does not have many years of coaching left so retaining Geren could have been pretty important for the future of the Mets managerial staff.)



Bill Price | NY Daily News- I don't think anyone would argue with the fact that the Mets need Cespedes back. Their lineup without him is weak, sort of like it was before he arrived. Wright is unreliable, Duda is inconsistent, Murphy is gone, d'Arnaud is always hurt and unless the Mets get Zobrist, there's not much offense from the middle infield. Conforto is going to be a star (we hope), but asking him to carry the lineup is way too much. The Mets have great starting pitching, a great closer and Curtis Granderson (which is exactly where they were on July 31). The Mets also don't have bags of disposable income lying around Citi FIeld and certainly don't have the willingness to get locked into a deal more than 5 years with anyone. And they are right on both counts: six-years, $150M for anyone these days is nuts.

(Chris Soto: Do the Mets NEED Cespedes....no in my opinion they don't. Do the Mets need a Cespedes type bat/presence on the team? Absolutely! I continue to be in the camp that thinks....Hey....if we're going to spend $25M per year on someone...I would much rather spend it on a guy that is 4 years younger, is better defensively, plays harder, and still has upside in Jason Heyward.)



HOT STOVE REPORT (courtesy of mlbtraderumor.com)

• Per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, the Mets current area of primary focus is adding a high leverage situational left hander for the bullpen. The club is prepared to give Josh Smoker a chance at cracking the pen and the team has indicated interest in bringing back Jerry Blevins.
• In ESPN's Buster Olney's opinion, Both the Mets and the Marlins are in similar no win situations with their staff aces, Matt Harvey and Jose Fernandez. However, both clubs would be wise to not entertain potential trade offers until next season when the SP free agent market is much weaker.
• MLB.com's Dan O’Dowd, thinks that the Mets should look to offer Jacob deGrom a contract extension this off-season to lock up some cost certainty over the next few years.

(Chris Soto: Sounds like while everyone is chasing the big Free Agent guys, the Mets are trying to stay under the radar to shore up the foundation of the team and lock in a few small valuable pieces while no one is paying attention. I'm guessing the hope is that 1 of the big name bats potential slips into late December, early January unsigned to give the Mets a small bit of cost leverage.)

11.22.2015 Winter League Results | Team USA Loses in Premier12 Championship, Becerra Makes VBL Debut, Torres Makes a Start, T.J. Rivera Sighting in Puerto Rico

USA Premier12 Baseball (Championship Game)

- Team USA 0 - 8 Team Korea

• RHP John Church: 0.1 IP

Arizona Fall League

Completed. Final Game was November 19th

Mexican Pacific League

- Caneros de los Mochis 3 - 7 Yaquis de Obregon
- Mayos de Navojoa 4 - 3 Naranjeros de Hermosillo
- Venados de Mazatlan 4 - 6 Tomateros de Culiacan
- Aguilas de Mexicali 12 - 3 Charros de Jalisco

• RHP Octavio Acosta: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

  

Venezuela Professional Baseball League

- Tiburones de La Guaira 4 - 1 Tigres de Aragua

• RF Wuilmer Becerra: 1 for 4, 2 K

- Aguilas del Zulia 7 - 15 Caribes de Anzoategui

• LHP Alex Torres: 3.0 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 3 K

- Bravos de Margarita 12 - 0 Leones del Caracas

• C Albert Cordero: 0 for 2

Wilmer Flores has received permission from the Mets to join the Bravos de Margarita in the Venezuelan Winter League.

— Michael Mayer (@themainemets) November 23, 2015

Dominican Baseball League

- Estrellas de Oriente 7 - 4 Gigantes del Cibao
- Leones del Escogido 9 - 0 Toros del Este

• LHP Dario Alvarez: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K

Juan Lagares has officially been added to the weekly 40 man roster of the Aguilas Cibaenas in the Dominican Winter League.

— Michael Mayer (@themainemets) November 23, 2015

Venezuela v Dominican Republic Exhibitions
- Aguilas Cibaenas 4 - 3 Cardenales de Lara

• PH Jairo Perez: 0 for 1

- Tigres del Licey 4 - 2 Navegantes del Magallanes

• RHP Jenrry Mejia: 3.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 K

Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League

- Indios de Mayaguez 2 - 1 Cangrejeros de Santurce

• 1B T.J. Rivera: 0 for 4, RBI(1), K
• RHP Jon Velasquez: 1.0 IP, 1 H

- Gigantes de Carolina 3 - 4 Criollos de Caguas

• DH/C Johnny Monell: 1 for 4, 2 BB, 1 K
• PR Arnaldo Berrios: Run Scored

The Morning Report 11.23.2015 | Mets Lose Jack Leathersich to Cubs, Syndergaard could be a Career Met, "The Final Boss" a Mets RP Target

Adam Rubin | ESPN New York- The Chicago Cubs have claimed left-handed reliever Jack Leathersich off waivers from the New York Mets. Leathersich, 25, underwent Tommy John surgery on July 30, so he is not due to return until next summer. The Mets have a shortage of left-handed relievers, but chose anyway to remove Leathersich to clear a spot ahead of Friday's deadline to add prospects to the 40-man roster to shield them from the Rule 5 draft.

(Chris Soto: I don't blame the Mets for removing a guy from the 40 man roster who will likely not contribute to the team during the 2016. There is never a guarantee that a player comes back from Tommy John Surgery 100%, as evidenced by Bobby Parnell. That said, I don't think anyone would have expected Leathersich to be claimed. Even stranger....Leathersich was not the only New York reliever recovering from TJS to be claimed on waivers as the Yankees RHRP Chase Whitley was also grabbed off of waivers by Tampa Bay.)



Kristie Ackert | NY Daily News- Noah Syndergaard had dreamed of being a big leaguer most of his life, but ever since 2013, he had dreamed specifically about getting a chance to get back to New York City. “I love it here,” Syndergaard said. “I had some time after the season and I wanted to just experience all I could of it. I wanted to do things I couldn’t do in the season and I am having a lot of fun. I want to be a Met for life, I love it.”

(Chris Soto: Syndergaard is quickly becoming my new favorite Met....a position that has been empty since the departure of Jose Reyes. He's fiery, he's talented, he can throw it by you with a 100 mph fastball or make you look ridiculously silly on a 84 mph hammer curveball. These kind of statements, these "natural" statements, are something you don't hear coming out of the mouth of a Matt Harvey. While I'm certainly enjoying the wonders of 3 aces in the Mets rotation right now....I know when push comes to shove....we can't afford to extend all 3 of them. If I had to choose 2 of deGrom, Thor, and Harvey right now, with the 3rd being traded and bringing in a massive amount of young talent, I would be choosing Thor and deGrom.)



HOT STOVE REPORT (courtesy of mlbtraderumor.com)

• Per Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com, the Nationals have jumping into, and are now leading, the race to sign free agent RHRP Darren O'Day. The Nationals have a competitive edge in their pursuit since O'Day's wife currently in employed in the D.C. area.
• Per Newsday's Marc Carig, Korean closer Seung-hwan Oh is on the Mets radar as a potential free agent addition to their bullpen as they continue to look for options to bolster their late inning set-up core to Juerys Familia. 

(Chris Soto: Not knowing what exactly is going to happened with Papelbon and the Nationals....adding a guy like O'Day to the bullpen mix adds a ton of depth to an already good bullpen. That said though, you have to wonder what the value add is? Is $9M per season really best spent on a 7th inning bullpen arm or would it be more helpful elsewhere? As for the Seung-Hwan Oh, if I'm the Mets I would certainly take a flyer on Oh. Especially knowing that his numbers were so dominant in what is widely known as a hitting friendly environment in the Korean Baseball League. Also....he has a bad ass nickname...."The Final Boss")

Gary Giordano - A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to the World Sereis

Although the good Lord has done a work in me where I've become someone who sees the glass half full rather than half empty watching the World Series has caused me to slide back into my old ways.

After winning their Division going away and then winning 7 out of 9 playoff games it appeared we witnessed the baseball version of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers or the Stepford Wives as the 2015 Mets disappeared and the 1962 Mets showed up (other than the starting pitchers).

The Series started as an ominous portend of things to come when Cespedes (who demonstrated his best sport was soccer) deftly kicked what should have been a fly ball out deep into left field .  The very generous official scorer said it was an inside the park home run but should have been scored a double and a two base error at best.  He duplicated that by misplaying another fly ball into a hit in game four.

Daniel Murphy suddenly could no longer hit and made crucial errors on easy ground balls that would have made a little league coach wince.  Duda's throw to home which should have ended game four with a Mets victory was closer to where home plate had been at Shea than at Citi Field.  Rumor has it that it landed and was last seen in Manhasset.  Most of the Mets hitters averaged 3 out of 10.  That is 3 out of every 10 pitches they swung at were actually in the strike zone.  In 3 out of the 4 losses they managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

I  realize it was Halloween but the nightmares I had sleeping weren't from ghosts and goblins but replays of the games.

I'll be 66 next year but will offer my services to the Mets.  I can also misplay fly balls, boot grounders, run into outs, swing at bad pitches and make wild throws and can do so at a fraction of the cost. 

Future Positional Analysis – Third Base

We move on to a position that has been owned by one player for many years… third base.

There was a while this season that we thought we had lost David Wright, but it looks like we were wrong. Spinal stenosis almost got the best of him, but he came back to hit .289 in 152 at-bats. Where we go from here is a matter of debate, but I see the immediate projectable increase in operating expenses (salaries) for players giving the Mets the opportunity to limit Wright’s amount of games and extend his career through the rest of his contract (2012).

Organization wise, there’s not much to project as Wright’s replacement someday.

Eudor Garcia (Sav - .293 – 6^th in league batting average) looks like the best there is in the system and has a conservative ETA of 2019. Garcia is an excellent defensive player as well as having some pop in his bat (23-doubles, 9-HR, 783-OPS).

Past that would be T.J. Rivera (AAA - .306, AA - .341), who is an enigma wrapped in a riddle. All this guy does is hit and yet no one considers him at any of the four positions he plays well. I have him settling in at the AAA level alongside Josh Rodriquez (30 yr. old – AA: .282, 19-HR).

Binghamton may get crowded. Jeff McNeil (A+ - .312), Jhoan Urena (A+ - .214), and Phillip Evans (A+ - .234) are all scheduled to play there in 2016 which probably means at least one of these guys need to go away. My guess is McNeil will be given the opportunity to be the starter here because he also projects out as a possible long range major league player. He's also getting a bunch of work this off-season at SS which is interesting.

Eudor looks to be spelled in St. Lucie by Jean Rodriguez (Sav - .254)

My guess at this point that the ex-4^th round pick in 2015, David Thompson (Brklyn - .218) will get a chance to turn around a bad season and start in Columbia.

No one on the rookie level looks projectable at this point in their growth.

Conclusion – I think everything will be okay here in 2016 if the Mets can fine an adequate fill-in for around forty games a year. I’m still a big fan of Wright, but I just don’t like great players getting older. At some point the Mets are going to have to stop honoring him with either the second or third slot in the lineup.

Rating – B  

Reese Kaplan - Terry Collins Finishes 3rd in Manager of the Year Voting

In a somewhat surprising turn, it was't even close as Joe Maddon cinched the award with the Cubs' excellent 97 win season. Mike Matheny of the Cardinals finished second and the man who reached the post season for the first time in his long career brought up the rear.

Kaplan -- The Mets got to the World Series based upon the bat of Yoenis Cespedes, the promotion of Michael Conforto and the returns from injury by both Travis d'Arnaud and David Wright.  Everyone saw how the team performed under Collins' stewardship and his gross mismanagement of the bullpen (not to mention the unforgiveable mistake of letting Cespedes continue his AB when he couldn't even walk, thus risking a double or triple play) demonstrated he was not worthy of this honor.  He squandered an 11 game winning streak to fall below .500 and only started winning when the GM intervened.  If he'd gotten Manager of the Year it would have been a travesty.

Future Positional Analysis – Relief Pitching

Good morning.

The Mets have 12 relief pitchers on their 40-man squad: Dario Alvarez,  Josh Edgin, Jeurys Familia, Sean Gilmartin, Eric Goeddel, Jenrry Mejia, Akeel Morris, Addison Reed, Hansel Robles, Josh Smoker, Carlos Torres, and Gabiel Ynoa.

Very few of these guys are guaranteed an opening ay spot in Queens. Alvarez, Morris, and Smoker will open up in the minors... Mejia will be suspended for most of the season and then probably let go when he comes off the suspension.... and Edgin will open the season still recovering from TJS.

My guess is Familia will be joined by a couple of new names, a re-negotiated Reed, Gilmartin, Robles, and probably Goeddel. Torres and Ynoa could be odd men out here.

There are bunches of quality young relievers that will play this next season at all four full season team. Some you have heard of before, some are new names, but all are showing the ability to stat up with the best of them.

Las Vegas will most probably feature four prospects… Paul Seward, Akeel Morris, Josh Smoker, and Dario Alvarez.

We all know the LH Alvarez (AAA – 16-AP, 2.45, 11.0-IP, 19-K) we fell in love in Vegas, though his 10 appearances in Queens over the past two seasons have only produced a combined 12.60-ERA.

As for Morris, he too had a scary debut in Queens (1-appearance, 67.50-ERA), but his combined 2015 stats for St. Lucie and Binghamton last season were 47-appearances, 0-2, 2.05, 61.1-IP, 81-K.

Smoker is a recent addition to the 40-man after posting 14-appearances, 1.69 in St. Lucie and 21-appearances, 3.00. He also had 52-K in a combined 42.1-IP.

And lastly, Seward just hasn’t done anything wrong yet as a professional baseball pitcher. He’s thrown for four teams since 2012 (Brooklyn, Savannah, St. Lucie, Binghamton) and his combined stats are… wait for it… 138-appearances, 11-5, 1.82. 0.97, 192.1-IP, 227-K.

My guess is all four of these will open up in Vegas, led by Seward.

There looks to be four more relievers slated for Binghamton that you should keep your eye on. Robert Coles (St. Lucie: 40-appearances, 2.45,), undrafted Mike Hepple (St. Lucie: 38-appearances, 2.51,), Kelly Secrest (St. Lucie: 38-appearances, 3.14), and undrafted Kyle Regnault (St. Lucie: 39-appearances, 1.99, 1.06) have put up some outstanding professional numbers so far. The one downside is none have showed the ability to produce a K/9 ration above nine.

Four more will probably start the season in Florida with St. Lucie. The ex-starter prospect Luis Mateo (Sav: 10-appearances, 2.31, 0.94, 11.2-IP, 13-K), Paul Paez (Sav: 20-appearances, 1.36, 1.01), Cameron Griffin (Sav: 24-appearances, 1.67, 1.04, 27.0-IP, 26-K), and Ben Griset (Sav: 28-appearances, 2.97, 1.19, 39.1-IP, 41-K) produced wonderful stat lines for the lost Sand Gnats. I especially like the 23-year old lefty Griset that was picked up from Tampa Bay.

Lastly, P J Conlon (Brooklyn: 17-appearcnes, an incredible 0.00-ERA, 0.59, 17.0-IP, 25-K) , Alex Palsha (Brooklyn: 22-appearances, 0.36, 0.77, 24.2, 34-K), Carlos Valdez (Brooklyn: 24-appearances, 1.59, 1.09, 28.1-IP, 28-K Craig Missigman (Brooklyn: 21-appearances, 2.34, 1.15), and Corey Taylor (Brooklyn: 18-appearances, 1.50, 1.00, 18.0-IP, 16-K) will all travel to Columbia (check out Palsha and Conlon’s K/9 ratio).

It’s impossible to predict how many of these guys can someday be successful at the major league level; however, this is the first year I have ever emphasized so many names in a positive manner.

It looks to me that the Sandy Alderson scouting system is in full gear, especially in the low rounds at smaller schools.