Observations from Mack - Rotation vs. Schedule, Cesar Berbesi, IMG Academy

Rotation vs. Schedule, Cesar Berbesi, IMG Academy

 

Morning. 

We are into “guess the next starter” home schedule and it should continue for a little while. One ray of sunshine will be the projected return of Justin Verlander during the Tigers series on May 2-4. Until then, I guess, some combination of Jose Butto and Joey Lucchesi will keep their pitching hand thumb in the dike until Max comes back. 

The good news here is the schedule. The Mets will play Washington, Detroit, Colorado, and Cincinnati. You can’t ask for a better schedule during the time of a damaged rotation. I say this after the Mets shit the bed verses the Nats. 

It’s hard for me to write about this team right now. With the exception of  Lucchese, the rotation has, frankly, sucked. 

But… 

As of close of business 4-28, this is a team who’s SP1 hasn’t pitched all season, their SP2 is on suspension, their SP3 is far from projected, their SP4 is lost for the season, their SP5 is buried on the IL list, their SP6 is a failure, their SP7 is not far behind their SP3, their pen is overworked and under producing, their middle lineup is hitting what most bottom lineups produce, have had a disaster of a week, and play in the same division as one of the top teams in the league (and leader of the division)… and yet they find themselves three games out of first tied with the 5^th highest W-L% in the NL. 

There’s only one reason the Nationals aren’t the worse team in baseball and that is the fact that the Oakland  Athletics exists. That being said, they  produced 17 runs in this week’s series again the Mets. 

My hopes is that it rains until Monday and the Mets can revisit the lost Braves series later in the season. Verlander and Max will be back next week and my hope is they will both find their old form and get this team back on a winning streak. 

 

Some of the Mets shortstops in the chain  are off to a great start this season, but none have impressed me more than Cesar Berbesi. 

The 23-year old, 5-9/200 Berbesi also plays second and third. He was in International kiddo, out of Venezuela, and debuted with the DSL Mets in 2019 (.309). His career so far has been on again, off again (2021: FCL-Mets: ,382, Lucy: .170, 2022 Lucy: .111), but is definitely on so far this season (thru 4-28: .294). 

The Mets are showing real depth at short, something that isn’t going to do them much good long time.  Junior Tillen is pushing Jett Williams to center. And we all know about Ronny Mauricio and what he’s doing in Syracuse. 

Francisco Lindor has what seems like a lifetime contract with the Mets, which wlll probably push Mauricio to second. My guess right now is Berbesi could be part of an all-star deal for a loner. 

 

If you never thought that big business hasn’t hit the high school level yet, the nation’s most prestigious athletics-focused boarding school IMG Academy sold for $1.25 billion  this week. Think about that figure. My Richmond Hill High School probably couldn’t sell for a grand.

 

IMG will join a global network of boarding schools as part of the deal, giving the school access to athletes from across the world. 

Anybody that has ever had a child that showed baseball promise knows, not only the reputation of IMG, but also the coast or attending. Expect that to soar.