12/14/12

Mack Stuff - Aging Yanks, Wilmer Flores, , Jake Odorizzi, Alfonso Soriano




P Carlos Vazquez – 1.0-IP, 0-H, 0-R, 2-K, 1-BB, 4.08

C Juan Centeno – 0-2, .289


BNS = New York had an old lineup last season. Nick Swisher was still over 30 years old in right field, Raul Ibanez was over 40 at DH and Brett Gardner, who would have been the youngest position player, missed almost the entire season. Andy Pettitte and Hiroki Kuroda were both there last season as well, except New York also had Freddy Garcia being counted upon. In a vacuum that’s what makes the criticism of age so silly. It’s not how old these players are that should be feared, it’s how injury prone most Yankees are regardless of age.

                -frankly, there just isn’t enough Mets related stuff out there right now to sustain a blog… writing about bad Yankees news is the second best thing to good Mets news. It’s amazing how much this team has spent on their roster and they could easily not make the playoffs in 2013. Imagine a year where all of New York hates both their teams. Double amazing.



3B Wilmer Flores  - Bravos de Margarita – 2-2, 2-R, HR, 3-RBI, .295

                This is Flores’ fifth home run of the VWL season and he continues to impress as the premier bat in the league. Baseball is always interesting. There will be somebody someday that will walk into their bosses office saying he wants to be the guy to teach Flores how to play defensive baseball at some future position. There’s always somebody that thinks they can do something where everyone else has failed. Flores will make the major leagues because of a bat that can’t be ignored, but it won’t be as a Mets third baseman. Where we go from there is pure speculation at this point.


Fangraph\   on Jake Odorizzi - The “other” prospect acquired by Tampa Bay, Odorizzi is also ready to contribute in the majors, but the problem is he might not get the chance any time soon now that he’s switched from the pitching-starved Royals to the arms-galore Rays. The 22-year-old right-hander profiles as a mid-rotation guy, with a solid-across-the-board four-pitch arsenal. His pitchability is better than his stuff, which is how he took advantage of younger, less-experienced batters in the low minors and explains why his stats were a notch worse in the upper levels (not that a 2.93 ERA, 1.35 WHIP and 7.4 K/9 are bad). There isn’t much projection left, so it’s unlikely Odorizzi will improve a ton, but he’s also already at the point where he can be a pretty good innings-eating arm who knows his strengths and weaknesses well enough to carve out a career as a No. 4 at worst.

                -everybody was obsessed with Wil Myers, but Odorizzi could easily be the hidden gem in this deal. Time will tell.


The Chicago Cubs have announced that they are willing to pay a ‘sizable’ amount of the monies still due LF Alfonso Soriano on his contract that runs through 2014.

Look, I feel an obligation to throw things against the wall, even if I don’t think  they are a good idea. I always liked Soriano for his power and, in one sense, he could solve LF for the next two seasons while some of the kids mature.

Stay with me here… Soriano is due $19mil in both 2013 and 2014. That’s a total of $38mil. What if the Mets could get Chicago to pay $30mil of that… meaning, the Mets get an ex-all star who still hit 32/108 last season.

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