Cory Mazzoni, D.J. Carrasco, Josh Stinson

4-18-11 from bullpenbanter.  on Cory Mazzoni: - Average height; thin and athletic; not projectable 3/4 arm slot with a low effort delivery Fastball without much movement; showed some good arm side run in the third but didn't last; 92 & 93 in the first, 92, 91 & 92 in the second, 89 in the third, 89 & 90 in the fifth, 91 in the sixth, 93 in the seventh (via announcer) Slider had hard 2-8 break early in the outing; worked well as a chase pitch; 81 in the first (via announcer) Curve ball has good shape and 1-7 movement; 79 & 81 in the first, 81 & 80 in the second (via announcer) Curve ball & slider started to blend together by the middle innings to the point where I started to wonder whether they were variations rather than unique pitches Straight change-up with some arm side run and drop; used judiciously and had hitters ahead of the pitch when he threw it; 81 in the second (via announcer) Fastball command was good in the first inning, but deserted him from that point on Fastball from the second inning on tended to be left up in the zone; hittable when he wasn't hitting his spots Command of his breaking ball(s) was significantly better; he often froze hitters with pitches on the black on both sides of the plate Got more aggressive in the strike zone when his command wouldn't let him hit corners with consistency






The Mets optioned RP Dale Thayer to Buffalo at the completion of Saturday’s loss to Pittsburgh.. They followed this up with the promotion of D.J. Carrasco. D.J. has pitched pretty decently at Buffalo (2-3, 3.47), especially this month. In his two June starts he gave up only one earned run in 15.2-IP. Remember, Carrasco has a two-year contract, so they team might as well give him another shot.






6-12-11: - No one has fought harder to make it in the system than SP Josh Stinson. We gave up on him so many times, especially after I walked into the Savannah locker room and saw him sitting there at the beginning of his third stint with the Gnats. He just looked at me, smiled, and said: “don’t even ask, Mack”(he may not know this but the current players fight over having the locker where he carved his name into it). Stinny really put it together last year as a starter with Binghamton, and continued it in Buffalo until the end of the season (2-2, 2.57, 4-starts), but this year has been a grind. He gave up 8-R on 5-17, eight more in 1.1-IP last week, and lasted only two innings yesterday, giving up six. Very few of us thought he would ever make the Mets rotation, but I wish they had kept him in the pen where he might have had a future.