Mack Ade – Morning Report – 6-20-13

Peter Gammons ‏@pgammo  - 4 times today heard "Harvey has the best stuff I've seen all year" 

The news that SP Luis Mateo had TJS this week came as little surprise to me and members of my inner circle. Scouts have always tagged him with prospect-like tools, but those inside the Mets organization have always had this feeling that Mateo arrived as damaged goods. You have a hard time trusting a guy that, in the past, lied about his injuries, his age, and his name. Is there something else we should believe here? Do yourself a favor here. Forget about this guy until this time next year and don’t be surprised if he never came back.

 

RP Pedro Feliciano got in the first game of a twin bill at Binghamton last night. Feliciano pitched 1.1 scoreless innings. It was Feliciano’s second AA appearance (0-R) and he now has 6-appearanced at St. Lucie/Binghamton (6.2-IP, 1-ER). His fast ball may hit 83 and he’s got 6-Ks in 5.2-IP. Technically, he is not a ‘rehab’ pitcher and is an active member of the Binghamton roster.

  

The Mets made a couple of quiet moves to improve their 2013 outfield.

-Andrew Brown was recalled from AAA-Las Vegas. Brown has hit .346 in Vegas and deserves as much of a shot as anyone else has gotten this year.

-The Mets traded P Collin McHugh to Colorado for OF Eric Young Jr. The 28-year old switch hitter plays all three outfield positions and gives the Mets a legitimate lead-off hitter. He has struggled this year at .242 (which qualifies as a good batting average for the Mets J. Last year, he hit .316.

(Fangraph - Young’s ownership percentages should tell you just how readily available he is right now in most leagues. Owned in just one-percent of Yahoo leagues, 0.8-percent on ESPN, and a big, whopping four-percent on CBS, the speedster has been overlooked for some time now without a regular job on the Rockies. He’s received some opportunities here and there, but with Dexter Fowler controlling center field and the team leaning more towards power than speed (Coors Field, duh), it hasn’t been easy for Young to break through and gain regular playing time. That should change with his move to the Mets as Collin Cowgill was sent to the minors, leaving just an inexperienced Juan Lagares and an under-performing Kirk Nieuwenhuis manning center field. Young immediately becomes a more attractive option. http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/eric-young-gets-new-life-in-new-york/)

                From Andrew Wharton –

Young makes a decent bench piece in almost any city, which means he could still be a part of this team if Sandy Alderson made a few moves to rebuild the roster. He’s also a switch hitter, which lessens the need to platoon every single outfield position and gives the team a little stability in the lineup, regardless of how (un)impactful his bat may be in a full-time role. http://metsblog.com/metsblog/what-to-expect-from-eric-young-jr/

-Continuing the purge of anyone named Collin, Collin Cowgill was DFA’d to make room for someone.

The acquisition of Young is secondary to the quality of player the Mets could obtain for a pitcher that wasn’t even in ‘the Sandy plan’. It only makes one wonder (and get excited) what the team could get for pitchers like Logan Verrett, Tyler Pill, Michael Fulmer, Cory Mazzoni, and Jake deGrom?

(IMO) None of these moves will help build a 2014 all-star, but I like the new approach to run people through Flushing for a look-see. The worst thing that can happen is you will build an absolutely great defensive outfield or better utility backups.

Frank -  Hey Mack, long time. The blog looks great and I love both the morning reports and the noon articles by the other great writers. We’re obviously all excited about both Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler and Bobby Ojeda said tonight that this might be the beginning of a new winning team. My question to you is does this team have what it takes to get to the playoffs in 2014?

                Hey Frank.

Well, you know me, I’ve been preaching 2014 for three years now, but I thought that there would be better players in the outfield by now. Add to that the complete bust of Ike Davis and the answer to your question is a simple no.

I believe the team will continue to improve rotation wise, and Rafael Montero will join Harvey and Wheeler in the ‘future dream rotation’. Jon Niese and Dillon Gee will fill the other two slots in 2014 unless either or both are traded for every day players. Noah Syndergaard and Domingo Tapia should arrive on opening day 2015

There’s no way to juggle these names and come up the best set of names until 2015. And, judging by the lack of talented free agents available in the off-season, there may not be any way to improve your lineup than to start dealing off your pitching prospects.

This is when we will learn if Sandy Alderson can carry his weight in this league. There are seven pitchers listed above and at least seven more prospects in the system, which means there are plenty of guys to deal for what this team needs to compete at a playoff level.

I write this same post almost every week, with small modifications. As of tonight, ‘my’ team needs a shortstop, three outfielders, and a couple of relief pitchers. I’m not going to worry about the relief pitchers until the rest of the deals are done. There’s always a 100 guys out there looking to sign a one year deal to throw an inning or two.

D’Arnaud, Duda (1B), Murphy, and Wright are fine with me, but, in reality, it’s going to take the Mets two years to properly fill in the four other positions correctly. I’ll assume Alderson will pull off one deal for a very good player during this off-season.

Is there a chance that they will develop one great starter from the likes of Puello, Vaughn, den Dekker, Cecilliani, and Taijerson? One yes, but not two.

I don’t know Frank, but I will tell you this. Harvey and Wheeler may make it fun to watch this team 40% of the time again and if the ownership and management get behind this with the $50mil they probably have to spend in the off-season, it could happen in 2014.

@bbhkf78 who u willing to give up for ‘CarGo’? –

                I’m not sure the Mets have the players to pull off this kind of trade.

                David Wright, Zack Wheeler, and Matt Harvey are off the table.

Any package would have to include at least two quality pitching prospects, like Noah Syndergaard and Rafael Montero. You could throw in Wilmer Flores and Jordany Valdespin, but I still don’t think it’s enough to get it done.

(I would still like to build my ‘dream’ rotation with both Montero and Thor, so I would pass on even submitting an offer)

                But that’s just me…