St.Louis
released RP Pedro Feliciano from a minor league
contract.
I’ve spent
the last three years alerting all my readers that the future of this team will
arrive in 2014 (remember the above avatar?) and it will ride in on a horse called starting pitchers.
And, though
some of the names have changed, the basic premise has been the same… you throw
up five quality starters at the rest of the league and you can get this job we
call baseball done with a minimum amount of both runs and errors.
I knew from
the get-go that I was right about this. The Matt Harvey
draft was outstanding. Jon Niese was
improving every start. Zack Wheeler was the
first of two tremendous Sandy-trades (Noah Syndergaard)
that were going to set up a Super SP1-3 situation. And two pitchers never
thought of to have any future in this process, Dillon
Gee and Jacob deGrom, have showed us all
that we sometimes know bupkas about this process.
You bookend
one more year of Bartolo Colon in 2015 and Steven Matz on the backend in 2017, and you sit back,
smile, and just know things are going to get better around here real fast in
2014.
Did I say
2014? Yes I did. That was the year I told you all of this would come to
fruition along with another starter, Jerry Mejia.
We also
started telling you all the trading options this team was going to have in
finding a replacement at both shortstop and left field. Hell, that wouldn’t be
a problem. We could never get all these guys on the mound in 2014.
And then it
began…
In no
particular order, Harvey elbow went flooey, requiring Tommy
John Surgery.
Wheeler went
through a strain of the right oblique.
Niese opened
the 2014 season on the DL…
Gee had a
strained lat muscle in 2014 and artery damage surgery in 2012…
Syndergaard
was shut down this year for spraining a joint in his non-throwing shoulder. He
also had just come back from another injury where he went on the DL with a
forearm issue.
And lastly,
deGrom is now sitting it out on the DL with a shoulder injury.
It’s almost
funny that the only ‘super prospect’ pitcher out of the bunch that remained
healthy all year (Matz) has already lost two years in the organization due to
TJS and slow healing.
Randy asked
–
Hey Mack.
Who do you think the next addition to the Mets bullpen will be in 2015?
Mack –
Oh, that’s easy… Bobby Parnell.
Seriously,
we first have to project who will still be around from this staff.
My
guess at this point is Parnell, Jenrry
Mejia, Jeurys Familia, Vic Black, and Josh Edgin are shoe-ins to be back next season.
Others
on the 40-man that I don’t expect back (for various reasons) are Buddy Carlyle, Dana Eveland, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Scott Rice.
Carlos
Torres will probably get
another shot and Gonzalez
Germen, who is pitching
excellently in Las Vegas since being demoted there will also join the hunt.
Organizationally,
Logan Verrett, Joel Carreno, Zack Thornton, Miquel Socolovich, Chase Bradford, and John Church have really no place to go
other than to the MLB level.
The
wild card here would be Jack
Leathersich,
who just arrived in Vegas.
Do
I have a prediction here? No, but, having 10 victories in the PCL (Verrett)
should at least earn a guy a shot at the ‘long man’.
We
also probably need to spend a little more time on Logan Verrett as a possible replacement SP
sometime this season with the Mets.
For
the record, Verrett was a 3rd round draft pick in 2011 out of
Baylor, who signed ($425K) but chose to sit out the remainder of the 2011
season.
Got
off to a great start in 2012, splitting time with Savannah (11-ST, 3.06) and
St. Lucie (6-ST, 2.09). Then, the hump we call AA ball set in (24-ST, 4.25)
and, this year in Vegas, 24 more starts at 4.47.
Verrett
is a control pitcher who’s highest BB/9 ratio is this season at 2.01. The
fastball is 88-90,93, has a low-80 slider, and + changeup.
I
still project Verrett as a future reliever (in the Mets system), but he’s a
possibility to throw a couple pf starts this season before everybody goes home
to await their fate.
Where Are They Now – 2011 Draft
AAA Las Vegas
#2 SP Cory
Mazzoni –
(4 teams) – 9-ST, 5-2, 4.21, 47.0-IP, 44-K
#3 SP Logan
Verrett –
24-ST, 10-4, 4.47, 139.0-IP, 96-K
#4 SP Tyler
Pill – (2 teams) – 20-G,
7-5, 3.94, 114.1-IP, 104-K
#5 RP Jack
Leathersich –
(2 teams) – 40-G, 3.00, 48.0-IP, 82-K
#8 2B Danny
Muno – 309-AB,
.256/.370/.411/.781, 11-HR, 50-RBI
#14 C Xorge
Carillo –
(2 teams) – 184-AB, .293/.359/.370/.729
#35 – RP Chase
Bradford –
(2 teams) – 49-G, 2.71, 63.0-IP, 54-K
AA Binghamton
#1 CF Brandon
Nimmo - (2 teams) – 384-AB, .286/.413/.440/.853
#9 SP Alex
Panteliodis –
(3 teams) – 13-G, 4.27, 71.2-IP, 41-K
(currently playing in
Savannah)
#18 OF Travis
Taijeron –
278-AB, .248/.362/.486/.847, 13-HR,
52-RBI
#19 OF Dustin
Lawley – 390-AB, .233/.286/.451/.737, 20-HR, 60-RBI
#27 RP Randy
Fontanez –
(2 teams) – 38-G, 3.17, 54.0-IP, 55-K
MiLB.com –
Appalachian
League - Jean Rodriguez, Kingsport
(.556/.556/1.000,
4 G, 10-for-18, 1 3B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 5 R, 0 BB, 1 K)
Rodriguez
began the week mired in a 2-for-19 slump stretching back over his previous six
games. A day off Monday seemed to help the 21-year-old third baseman flip a
switch; on Tuesday he began smacking hit after hit, with 10 coming in four
games. He closed out the week with his second and third homers of the season,
one each vs. Bristol on Saturday and at Johnson City on Sunday. A
switch-hitter, Rodriguez has not fared well against lefties (.158) but has been
teeing off against right-handed pitching with a .340 average and .509 slugging
percentage. http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140811&content_id=89049390&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_opotw&sid=milb
And lastly so you can click it
off now if you chose to…
It’s
time for the 2nd annual donation drive here at Mack’s Mets. It’s
when we try and raise some money to help defray some home and uncovered medical
costs Mrs. Mack and I have to pay because we both are prevented from working
anymore.
The
process is simple and includes one of three return gifts to you for your
generosity (as you may remember, my wife is an award winner baker and hosts her
own baking/cooking web site online).
All
you have to do is donate $24.95 to our Paypal account (name: macksmets@gmail.com) and you will receive your
choice of a box of Pure Butter Almond Shortcake, or
Chocolate Brownies (with or without nuts and with no icing... doesn’t ship well with icing). It takes
around a 4-5 day turnaround to get this in your mouth and get a taste before
the holiday season is upon us and you might want to order more for your friends
and relatives.
Naturally,
we take donations for more than $24.95 also, but that’s up to you. Mack’s Mets
will always be a free site, other than these two semi-annually drives.
Anyway,
no one that has ordered the shortbread in the past was disappointed and we hope
the addition of the two chocolate products might also generate some interest.
And
I promise to stay out of the batter.
God
Bless you for your consideration.
25 comments:
Hey Mack, ya still want Tulo ? LOL
Many potholes (injuries, etc.) in the pitcher contingent, but the state of the pitchers' union remains strong.
That 2011 was quite an interesting draft. After seeing the transformation of Dekker (who still has to prove himself with the Mets, but no strikeouts in 4 games is a huge plus sign to base optimism on), I would like to get that coach (Greer?) to work with Travis Taijeron, an absolute extra base hit machine who, like Dekker, was striking out too much until Greer fixed him in AAA. If he can fix Dekker, maybe he can fix Travis too. We'd then have a home-grown slugger.
Should be cheaper now.
Tulowitzski's trade value continues to take hits.
Sure - would take Tulo in a heartbeat
@AdamRubinESPN: 16-year-old Kenny Hernandez from Venezuela signed with #Mets for $1 million, per @BenBadler
I thought it was someone new, but they were just waiting on the kid to turn 16. Got excited for a second thinking they spent some money!!! What was I thinking?
Its barely 10:15am and a buddy of mine already has quote of the day on this..........."Great. He can be Wilmer Flores in 7 years".............
Ya know, I would still go go a Tulo deal...
I would get a brand new version right out of the mash unit, at probably a huge discount... maybe we pay 1/3 of the contract and give them Recker and Quintanilla...
seriously, there would be a cheaper deal in here somewhere and you do have to ask yourself... would you deal for Matt Harvey the day after it was announced he was out for the year?
Of course you would roll those dice...
oops... thre I go again thinking the Mets are going to operate like a normal team
Well, at this point, I sure as hell wouldn't trade thor, wheeler or degrom in ANY kind of Tulo package. .......maybe montero, maybe Plawecki. Maybe others ranked 15-20 on mets prospect list.
As long as Mets medical staff checks him out, sure.
I wonder if this does anything to the price.
I agree. This should give the Mets more leverage. Now Tulo's contract is as much of a risk for COL as it is for an acquiring team and they might be jittery about keeping him.
we're just dreaming again...
Honestly....I don't think this budges the asking price for Tulo at all.
Amongst MLB SS, Tulowitski in only 91 games has been worth +5.1 WAR.
THe next closest player is Jhonny Peralta who is at +3.9 in 25 additional games.
The Rockies know that even a half a season of Tulowitski is better than every other SS in the majors right now.
Hey
I see Lowrie is going on the 15 day DL.
Maybe they would want R. Tejada.
Quick. ....Sandy get on the phone. ...
oh wait. ...... that's right.
Sandy doesn't do anything quickly
Thomas, I mentioned this in the minor league updates, but doesn't den Dekker's new batting stance look like Ike's when he came back from Vegas last year? That must be what Wally & crew are teaching in Vegas to lower their hands to be quicker through the zone. Whatever works and it appears to be working for MDD, clearly Ike's a lost cause.
You must be crazy to still want Tulo, this is an injury that ended Delgado career and cost ARod a year at least. I had this exact injury from football, but did not require surgery. it is often considered a recruitment injury from some other lower body deficiency and though surgery can correct the impact, it does not remedy underlying causes, like changes made adapting to a torn quad. he will be lucky to start next year and could possibly miss the whole thing if not totally solved, so I cannot believe any team with trade for him until he is back on the field without a setback for several months. The Mets would be insane to try to acquire him until he gets back on the field.
for Recker and Quintanilla ?
In a heartbeat
Maybe if u also give them EY Jr back too, that should seal the deal ;)
Why 2017 for Matz? He's DOMINANT in AA right now and should start '15 at AAA. I'd expect him by OD of '16 at the LATEST if he stays healthy.
Bill -
I just have Matz 'backend' in 2017 as a full time SP, but that doesn't mean he won't break through in 2016 - just being conservative here
Two thoughts for today...
If Wally & company are fixing players -- developing them and turning them into productive major leaguers -- perhaps they could get more out of the ML crew than the current regime is able to do.
2nd thought -- Wilmer Flores isn't hitting for much power but he is on a .290 roll for the month of August. Let's say he does do well in the month of September -- say, 4 HRs, 20 RBIs and a similar batting average...what does that do to his trade value? What does it do to the likelihood Daniel Murphy (and his soon-to-be $9 million salary) gets traded?
If Flores does well, there may be a
Meta-Murphphosis at 2B this offesason!
Closer
It sure did not work for Ike like it. Ike should try the Marlon Byrd approach of 2 offseasons ago. Play Mexican winter ball and hope he straightens himself out...that is, of course, if a team would start him!
Collins did. Ad nauseum. Way past when it was obvious he was lost. That's part of why Collins needs to be fired. He resists change as if his life depends on it.
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