End of June Observations

1. First of all, this has been a very enjoyable season to observe the New York Mets. I expected far less of a result, even with David Wright and Ike Davis in the lineup. We have to continue to remind ourselves that this team started the season 5-13. Play .500 ball for those eight games, and the team would be just two games out of the wild card.


2. Injuries over the past two years has caused the graduation of “The Class of 2011”. Casualties have been SP Jenrry Mejia (surgery) and OF Fernando Martinez (everything). 1B Lucas Duda, 2B Ruben Tejada, IF Justin Turner, C Josh Thole, RP Pedro Beato, and SP Dillon Gee have more than impressed, making this “Class” a successful one.


3. Duda will spend most of the season, if not all of it, at first base, which will give him the opportunity to win, with his bat, an outfield position next season with the Mets. First base belongs to Davis, but the Mets need all the offensive pop they can find and Duda currently represents the best bat in the sytem.

4. Tejada will continue to play second base until Jose Reyes goes away. The combination of Reyes and Ruben on the field is the best Mets defensive combination I have ever seen. I see no reason to return him to the minors under any condition, though I am not going to remove him from the Keepers series until the end of the season (same for Duda).


5. The more I read, the more excited I am getting about OF prospect Brandon Nimmo. All signs are that he will sign at the end of his American Legion season this year, and you might see him play a few games for the GCL team. It will be tempting to rush him and start him off at St. Lucie in 2012. If so, he could make Queens in 2014, as a 21-year old.




Photo by James Brosher

 6. I don’t add players to my “Keepers” series until they sign; however, if he does sign, Nimmo would be ranked as the top outfield prospect based on ceiling and tools alone. He would be 8th on the list.


7. I know I’m old school, but I can’t tell you how much it disappoints me that people don’t return my tweets or emails. In my day, you asked someone a question via the phone or eye-to-eye. They had to say something. Social media has caused a serious deterioration of social skills and lack of respect for etiquette.
8. It seems to me that the recovery process for injuries has become even more conservative than the Omar days. The Mets seem hyper-sensitive to recent diagnosis snafus, like the Davis boot story.The minimum return from all players placed on the DL is ranging in the 30-45 day period.

9. The “Class of 2012” will be thin. Mejia will enter either the Queens bullpen or rotation around June. Kirk Nieuwenhuis has a chance of earning a reserve outfield position. Chris Schwinden will make the conversion to the Mets pen.


10. The next big prospect wave will be “The Class of 2013”. It will include SPs Matt Harvey and Jeurys Familia, RP Josh Edgin, IF Reese Havens, and OF Matt den Dekker