Morning Report – 3-16-14 – Dice-K, D-1 SPs, Pen, BoSox, Seattle

Coming Up –

        10 am -    Alex Jackson, Nick Gordon, Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, Gareth Morgan

        12 noon – Top 10 3B in 2014 Draft - Revised 3-10-14

2 pm –  Top 10 SS in 2014 MLB Draft - Updated 3-10-14

4 pm -    A Quick Look - C - J J Schwartz - Orangewood Christian (FL) HS

6 pm -   Top 10 OF in 2014 MLB Draft - revised 3-10-14

8 pm –   Top 10 1B in 2014 MLB Draft - revised 3-10-14

Dan Kirby ‏@DanMKirby  -  Tyler Kolek with a no hitter yesterday.  Now has 35 K/ 1 BB over 16 no hit innings. And he hit 102 mph

Bill Metsiac asked –

Hi, Mack, Between yesterday and today, we saw Dice-K, Thor, and Wheeler. Of the 3, the Dice-man had the best combo of Run, Hits, Walks, Ks. But he was the one you gave the negative review. The only run he gave up was on a 2B, SB and Ground Out. And only a misplay in the field kept him from finishing his 4th IP. What's up with that?

        Mack – Yeah, you’re right. I was a little too harsh here.

I write my ‘game notes as the game progresses and I never seem to like the way he starts off a game. Frankly,  guess I just don’t want him on the Mets. IMO, he’s just taking up a spot that would be better filed by a younger arm that could use the experience.

(I didn’t do the ‘game notes’ of Friday’s games because I was offline and out of town for most of the day)

Now, there are many that would disagree with me about veteran rotation pitchers and throwing the kids too early to the wolves could have some negative effect with their heads, but I’ve always been a ‘throw them in the water and let them swim to the shore’ kind of swimming instructor here and, on my team, the SP4 and SP5 would be Rafael Montero and Noah Syndergaard and the hell with Super Two.

It was an interesting weekend for some of the top pitchers that will be available in the upcoming draft.

East Carolina’s Jeff Hoffman continues to be lit up this season… 6.1-IP, 7-H, 6-R, 5-ER, 5-K, 2-BB vs. lowly Tulane. The supposed top college RHP in the draft is now 0-3, 4.06 in five starts.

Florida State’s Luke Weaver (6.1-IP, 7-H, 1-ER, 7-K, 2-BB) won the battle of Giants v1.0 over NC State’s Carlos Rodon (6.2-IP, 5-H, 2-ER, 12-K, a surprising 4-BB). Giants v2.0 went to LSU Aaron Nola (6.2-IP, 6-H, 1-ER, 12-K, 2-BB) over Vanderbilt’s Tyler Beede (7.1-IP, 3-H, 2-R, 0-ER, 7-K, 1-BB).

Cal Poly’s Matt Imhof was the weekly strikeout king (8.0-IP, 3-H, 1-ER, 14-K, 3-BB), against Wagner.

Boy, what’s the pressure like pitching for the just named number one South Carolina Gamecocks (vs. Ole Miss)? Jordan Montgomery: 6.0-IP, 6-H, 6-R, 6-ER, 5-K, 3-BB, loss. Mississippi countered with Chris Ellis: 5.1-IP, 10-H, 3-ER, 3-0).

Adam Rubin projected that the opening day bullpen would be Scott Rice, Jose Valverde, Jeurys Familia, Bobby Parnell, Vic Black, Carlos Torres and John Lannan.

Left off the list are Gonzalez Germen, Jenrry Mejia, Ryan Reid, Kyle Farnsworth, and Joel Carreno.

My guess is Germen and Carreno would be Vegas bound while Reid and Farnsworth would be released. The wild card here is Mejia. Does he beat out Dice-K for the 5^th rotation slot (unlikely right now), is he sent to Vegas for another rotation placement (again?), or does he replace one of the names listed above and once again return to the Mets pen (equally unlikely).

Boy… Mejia and Wilmer Flores are just two guys without a position on this team.

Mack's Mets @JohnMackinAde - @AdamRubinESPN saw your pen predict - where would Mejia slot in if he loses SP5 to Dice-K? - 15 Mar   

Adam Rubin @AdamRubinESPN - @JohnMackinAde If that analysis is correct and Dice-K is the 5th starter, Mejia would be in AAA rotation.

The Red Sox have begun combining their substantial resources with the obsessive advantage-seeking mind-set of a small-revenue club, and in so doing have set themselves up to vie for championships in 2014 and beyond. They’re simultaneously outspending their rivals and deploying Moneyball-esque methods of squeezing the most value from their players, and this hybrid approach is manifesting itself in four main areas. http://grantland.com/features/boston-red-sox-moneyball-but-with-money-2014-preview/

D Whit to me –

So the Mariner's Joe Mac is still trolling around St. Lucie even with most of the regulars in Viva Las Vegas. Last night Rubin reported there were three Mariner scouts in attendance. I don't think they're there for the dogs and sunshine do you? My thoughts: they're scouting denDekker, Familia, and Satin-possibly even Gee or whoever pitches relief today. I wonder if this is also why all of sudden Montero and deGrom are being considered for relief duties. So den Dekker and Familia for Franklin? Or is something potentially bigger in the works, possibly involving a third team? And that something bigger could involve Gee?

Mack – Baseball scouts don’t get paid sitting around their living room. Additionally, baseball scouts don’t build and execute trades. A team tells one scout to track one player… period. Three of four scouts at one game could be one of three scenarios… one, multiple players are being considered for a single trade of one player…. Two, multiple players are being considered for a trade of multiple players… or three, the guy in Seattle that scheduled the scouts came from Malaysia. Every team knows the Mets are in play for a shortstop, especially Seattle. You can’t hide a scout, especially one that used to work for you. This is the game we follow.