Morning Report – May 10th – Mejia, Cecchini, Draft, Jeff Reynolds, Eric Campbell

        Coming Later Today –

                11 am - Reese Kaplan - 

                2 pm – Top 12 C in 2014 MLB Draft - Updated 5-10-14

                 5 pm -  Austin Cousino, Michael Chavis, Jeff Hoffman, Joe Wainhouse, Luke Bonefield

                8 pm - Top 12 3B in 2014 MLB Draft - - Updated 5-10-14

***Important*** –

        We have opened up the ‘anonymous’ posting option on the site again which should give some of you (like William James, Bill Metsiac and ‘Charley’) the option back to post comments.

        For those of you that have been prevented from leaving a comment…  please test the system now, try and figure out if you can still insert your name, and leave a comment here as a test.

William James asked -

Hey Mack, hope all is well, just wanted to say Mejia out of all his starts this season did bad in his last 2, prior to this season he has done well also….To say he is done as a starting pitcher is uhmmmm kinda flying off the handle a bit. He is in a rut and can potentially get out of it. He does best serve us in the pen but he still has value as a starter and I think can flourish in that role as well.

                Mack – Hey Bill. Good hearing from you.

I’m not giving up on Mejia. A lot of what I am writing comes after major stores being written by the beat writers on the same subject.

I always liked Jeurys Familia, Jenrry Mejia, and Rafael Montero as back-end relievers.

Bill, Mejia only looked well in his early outings because he was on a strict pitch count and NEVER got past the fifth inning. 

That’s the limit of his game. I just don’t think he’s a starter anymore and he can serve the team better in the pen.

And... guess what? He proved it once again last night. Mejia can pitch very good... for max four innings... please reassign him and let's on to the task of building a baseball team.

Prospect wise, what’s the story on Dom Smith? Are people thinking he is overmatched or is he just getting use to the rigors of full season ball? Cecchini is looking good as well.

Yeah, we’ve talked a lot about both of them in the past few days. Both are red hot and the hope is that they have now adjusted to ‘The Grind’ here in Savannah. The problem is the chocking humidity has just begun here.

Drafts coming very soon, who are your top three players you hope the Mets pick with the 10th overall pick and why?

I always want the ‘best player available’ but my first choice would be LHP Kyle Freeland from Evansville, followed by NC State SS Trae Turner and Vanderbilt RHP Tyler Beede. I probably have zilch chances here since all three are college juniors.

BTW I can't comment on any post for some reason, am I missing something?

Yeah, the site has ‘issues’… per your email, we made some changes and I addressed them at the beginning of this post.

I heard back from recently retired infielder Jeff Reynolds. I was curious if it was an injury that caused him to make that decision:

“No injury. Problem for me was that there are too many good players in the Mets system and not enough roster spots. Good news for Mets fans! For me, though, it was time to move on rather than remain inactive. I have no complaints, look back on my career with pride, and wish the Mets and all of my teammates the absolute best!”

        

          A class act.

Christopher Soto to me -

SABR Talk on Flores promotion:

When it comes to quantifying what Flores needs to do to provide league average SS production, his goal is not a lofty one.

Once you subtract Troy Tulowitzki (who is having a monster season), the average MLB SS has a .245 AVG with only 2 HR, 9 RBI, a 7.4% BB rate, and a 17.3% K rate.

In AAA Flores produced a .307 AVG, 5 HR, 25 RBIs, a 16.7% K rate, and a 7.1% BB rate.

In his stint last year with the Mets, Flores produced 9 RBI's and 3 multi hit games in his 1st 6 games as a Met before spraining his ankle.

Adam Rubin on Eric Campbell –

Campbell stuck around until the very end of spring training, even going to Montreal with the club for the final exhibition games, even though he was a non-roster invite to camp. He has continued his torrid production with Vegas, hitting .341 with three homers, 24 RBIs and a .428 on-base percentage through 31 games. Although Campbell has been given limited exposure to second base this season -- and even dabbled at shortstop -- he's really a righty-hitting corner infielder/outfielder. That means he likely would have to displace Josh Satin. Satin is off to a 3-for-23 start, but Terry Collins notes that any player like Campbell who came up might have the same difficulty producing in only limited opportunities to bat. The Mets haven't faced many southpaw starters this season. And, more recently, Collins has expressed a desire to start Duda against lefties, too, anyway.  http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/86133/beyond-flo-5-other-potential-triple-a-call-ups

I think Adam just answered his own question about replacing Satin with Campbell. Either way, there aren’t going to be enough at bats to sustain any decent kind of return. It’s why in the ‘old days’ teams always went with power hitters off the bench. At least you got a home run once in awhile.

Evan asked –

       Mack, would you consider now drafting East Carolina RHP Jeff Hoffman who will probably still be on the board at #10?

               Mack – Let me throw this question back at you.

       Hoffman regularly hit 98 before his ‘slight tear’… would you draft Matt Harvey again knowing he had to sit out a year before he could put your uniform on?

Klaw-Chat –

       Craig (Dover, DE) - From the comedy department, have you seen this "True New Yorker" campaign that the Mets ran?

Klaw  - It's embarrassing. Bush league is too kind.

Bob (NYC) - Who do you think the Mets are looking at at #10?

Klaw  - If I tell you BPA (Best Player Available), that's with the caveat that neither they nor I have a great sense of who that'll be at this point.

JR (Vegas) - How well do BB project? Brandon Nimmo has 33 walks in 33 games; is that a skill that tends to stay constant at at levels?

Klaw  - Coming into 2014 he had 121 UIBB in 189 career games. This is a skill he already had, so while he *probably* won't walk once a game forever, you could ignore this year's numbers almost entire, just go off his career figure (the base-rate), and still say with confidence that he's a patient hitter.

Randy (Germantown, MD) - any thoughts on when Trea Turner may get drafted? As Mets fan from the 70s and a NC State alum '89, I'm hoping it is to the NY Mets! thanks.

Klaw  - If you're a Mets fan, you should want them to take someone better.

Matt (Charlotte, NC) - It looks like Wilmer Flores is getting called up, and he'll play SS. Do you plan on watching at least one Mets game just for shoots and giggles?

Klaw  - Maybe when Zack Wheeler is pitching, so there's something to balance it out.