Mack Ade - Morning Report - 6-18-13

Mack Ade @JohnMackinAde  @lguillorme13 - Morning. Luis, are you going to play Kingsport or GCL Mets?

luis guillorme  @lguillorme13 @JohnMackinAde GCL Mets

It just wasn't the fact that Lucas Duda was slotted in the lineup at 1B last night. It also was the fact that Ike Davis was hitting .174... at Las Vegas.  There's an outside chance that the whole Davis thing is a bust and the Mets may have to start all over at first base until either Jayce Boyd or Dominic Smith come of age. All of this is actually fine with me. We're never going to find out the true value of Duda until he's back playing at his natural position and, trust me, some schmo will come along and want to try and 'fix' Davis and offer some kind of return to the Mets in a back door trade. Look for an elevation of guys like Matt den Dekker, Cory Vaughn, and Cesar Puello to go along with Juan Lagares and Kirk Nieuwenhuis next season. Believe free agents when you see them.

The Mets continue to heal and it was great seeing Matt den Dekker back in uniform. It will be interesting to see what they do with him for the rest of the season. He was just about major league ready prior to the injury.

Another outstanding six innings from SP Matt Bowman (0-R, 8-K, 2,25). He simply masters five pitchers each and every time he steps on the mound. I need to elevate this guy to 'blue' prospect status. He just might be the real deal.

And welcome to professional baseball, James Roche, who homered for the Cyclones last night.


Gary Seagren to me -

Hi Mack, Hope you and all your readers enjoyed Father's day as much as I did. O.K.  so today's game aside lets face it we ALL knew this would be a very "interesting" (staying positive here) season and we haven't been disappointed. Trying to stay with that positive theme is a lifetime exercise for most sport fans so why should we be any different. After 5 very uneven and difficult seasons in Citi-field including changes in the F.O. and many on field moves things certainly seem like 1 step forward and 2 back but through it all I MUST remain upbeat because hey it is just a game ...right? So with a gazillion dollars coming off the books this winter and a gaggle of super prospects (staying positive here again) moving through the system I am focusing on 2014 with much more optimism because, let’s face it, with the bar set this low there has to be a HUGE upside next year (that positive thing again). So I'm relying on you Mack to keep us up on the top draft picks next year because there HAS to be a Bonds, Griffey Jr., Harper or Strasberg available to us (right......positive again) and this along with a free agent OFer and a trade or two we WILL complete next year along with the feeling that if I say this often enough (yup....positive again) it HAS to happen........right? Hey the alternative is become a .........Yankee fan.....YUK!!!!!!!! that was even hard to type. So altogether now LETS GO METS. Thanks, Gary Seagren

Gary – what’s interesting is the content of your email has primarily become filler. Now you see how hard it is coming up with a different way of saying the same thing about this team.

I was particularly happy with one of TC’s comments after the Sunday walkaway. He said that, once you decide to play the kids, you have to let them play. He’s 1000% right. What you can’t do is handle them like they did the first time Josh Satin came up. Everybody deserves 100 at-bats and, if you’re not going to give them that, leave them on the farm.

Draft wise, there always is plenty of talent left when the Mets make their first pick. The problem is we all don’t get a vote regarding who would be taken. My guess is the Mets will get one of the top five picks, but the first two will go to Miami and Houston. One of those two teams will pick North Carolina State LHP Carlos Rondon (complete game victory Sunday vs. #1 ranked North Carolina). He’s a lock and will never fall to our level.

However, there will be plenty of good players at the college level for the Mets to ignore. Please, don’t get me started.

I couldn’t help but notice as I watched the UCLA-LSU game Sunday night in the CWS that the two great pitchers (Adam Plutko and Aaron Nola) were the typical kind of first or second round college pitchers that Alderson and Company would never consider drafting. Too set in their ways? Too old? Too good? Who the hell knows with this troika

Texas Ranger 3B (OF) Mike Olt blasted 2 Home Runs at AAA Round Rock. 4HR's in last 7 Games

Oklahoma head coach Sonny Galloway announced he was becoming head coach at Auburn. Junior prospect SP Dillon Overton had some choice tweets for his ex-coach as it seems both (63^rd overall pick by Oakland) are leaving:

“All the crap I went through this year/season... But my team helped me through it. Good luck with the new coach boys. Thanks for being two faced the entire time I knew you. Lied to our whole team and never had any of our backs. The program made me better...which is something you couldn't do. I hope all the talking behind my back to my teammates comes back to you in some way. You really disappointed me and all my teammates. Good luck at Auburn.”

Christopher Soto heads up the Mack’s Mets prospect list; however, mine seem to change hourly. Here’s where I am today, based on performance, ceiling, and projectablity:

                1 – RHP                 Rafael Montero

                2 – C                      Travis d’Arnaud

                3 – RHP                 Noah Syndergaard

                4 – OF                   Brandon Nimmo

                5 – 1B                    Dominic Smith

                6 – RP                    Jack Leathersich

                7 – LHP                 Steven Matz

                8 – SP                    Domingo Tapia

                9 – SS                    Gavin Cecchini

                10 – 2B                  Wilmer Flores

                11 – RHP              Michael Fulmer

                12 – OF                 Cesar Puello

                13 – RHP              Logan Verrett

                14 – C                    Kevin Plawecki

                15 – OF                 Travis Taijeron

                16 – OF                 Vincente Lupo

                17 – OF                 Ivan Wilson

                18 – RHP              Rainy Lara

                19 – OF                 Darrell Cecilliani

                20 – RHP              Luis Cessa

Cincy signed OF Corey Wimberley

Seattle released OF Corey Patterson

And lastly... an interesting graph on the decline of Miami's home attendance this year, compliments of 
Maury Brown   - click on Maury's name... it's a great story