Alderson was on WFAN yesterday
afternoon. He said all the right things and was careful not to go too far in
any direction. I did think he made a mistake admitting that he had secretly
flown in Travis d’Arnaud for a physical before
the trade was completed. Can you do that? I can tell you right now what he
didn’t say and that is… if he had the right offer for the right
outfielder/relief pitcher, he would have signed him before he went on the
radio. This is how the process works. Relief pitchers are only now starting to
sign anywhere, all the starters out there have both issues and agents that want
multiple years, and what’s left of the outfield FA pool is either attached to
the loss of a draft pick, or also trying to oversold by their agent. The
waiting out process worked for d’Arnaud. It may work here but the talent pool
is less. If you missed the call, you missed nothing.
I put on the end of MLB Tonight
before the Mets Hot Stove on SNY and they were breaking down great sophomore
pitchers. Matt Harvey came up and John Smoltz rated him a ‘solid 2’. Then it became Mitch Williams turn… who said Harvey was an ace and he
compared him to a young Roger Clemens. Holy
shit, Mitch. I then watched him on SNY
with Bobby Ojeda and you have to walk away that Harvey is just something
special and worth every penny to build a pitching staff around. So far, that
plan included Jon Niese, and Dillon Gee in 2013, Zack
Wheeler in 2014, and Noah Syndergaard in
2015. Sounds like a good plan to me.
Bobby Parnell signed a 1-yr, $1.7mil
contract with the Mets to avoid arbitration. I remember when he first joined
the Mets and his father used to read Mack’s Mets. The Mets had Parnell in the
programs as ‘Robert’ Parnell, but the father told me to never refer to him as
that. He was ‘Bobby’ and I would get a lot more out of my meetings with him if
I called him by the right name. As it turned out, I never shared a word with
Parnell, and I never got a chance to ask
his father how the whole Bobby/Robert thing happened. Just thought you would
find this interesting.
8 comments:
I remember smacking my head when Harvey was drafted and Chris Sale was still on the board. I could have understood a Yasmani Grandal pick, and I'm delighted in Harvey's progress & ceiling, but I really wanted Chris.
If you could rewind the clock, Mack, what would you have done?
I wanted Yazmani Grandal...was really pissed... but, I wasn't upset that Harvey was picked because he was a legitimate early first round pick... not like the ones that Alderson and Company like to pick.
I have basically nothing against either Nimmo or Cecchini but neither warranted a pick that high.
And, I'm getting awfully sick of posting prospect rankings of other teams with players we could have had (i.e. Courtney Hawkins)
Sandy did have something interesting to say in the WFAN interview. He was trying to pry two players away from "Team X" for Dickey. After the Toronto trade, "Team X" came in and offered them the two players for d'Arnaud that they wouldn't trade for Dickey. Sandy turned them down because he was too enamored with d'Arnaud at that point. Still nice to see how high the of a return we got.
Interesting. So they could have gotten what they wanted from X for Dickey PLUS Syndergaard & Beccara.
Says even more about what is thought of TDA.
Guessing it was Texas (Ott & Martin). If they would have added Jorge Alfaro, would you have done it?
Yes, I was thinking Texas with Olt+ was probably the second team. Positional value is too high on TDA for them to flip him. Can always sign a FA OF next offseason. Unlikely they'd be able to sign a TDA quality catcher.
So lets see....
Matt Harvey = Clemens
Zach Wheeler = Verlander
Jon Niese = Pettite
Noah Syndergaard = Halladay
???
Of course it isn't likely that they all reach their respective ceilings but its nice to have some high ceiling pitching talent in the organization to be excited about. I think penciling Gee into this group is a mistake. I'd either trade him or put him in the pen. Why settle when the Mets could exploit the advantage of having young and cost-controlled pitching for years. Use those savings on an established SP1 once one becomes available. The team could have a dominant staff in a few short years.
Michael:
You're watching a team being built around a future rotation of Wheeler, Harvey, Syndergaard, and Niese...
I'm not sure how important the SP5 slot will be if those four I just mentioned all work out.
There are at least 10 other young pitchers in the organization that could be that SP5 some day... but, I think it will be much more important to fill in the other positions that need attention.
This team needs outfielders, more pop, and better defense.
I think the Mets can get more outfielders, pop, add better defense AND add another pitcher. If in 2016 (for instance), all four pitchers are up and performing to their potential, the Mets will have a rotation that costs 10.5M. If a David Price or Clayton Kershaw actually makes it to free agency, I want the Mets to pursue and sign. They will have a very lucrative window of a few years where their pitching staff will be talented and cheap. They would be able to afford to add Kershaw or Price for 4-5 years until the homegrowns start requiring more in salary. Bringing in a true ace slots everyone down a position in the rotation. Niese and Syndergaard would be the #4 and #5 pitchers, and advantage over just about every other team in baseball, assuming they are what they could be. Those other talented pitchers in the system will either be bullpen material or trade fodder.
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