Tom Brennan - 50,000 Foot View of Mets' Minors Performance; GarnerBum

Mark has been Mashing the Monster Mash (photo courtesy Richard Nelson)

"The results speak for themselves," some might say.  I know I do.

So how are the 4 Mets' minors teams "resulting" so far? 

I took my aerial reconnaissance balloon up to 50,000 feet for a high level view, traveling tranquilly over Syracuse, Binghamton, Brooklyn and St Lucie and here's what it looks like...

Syracuse:

Record: 11-10

Hitting: .281/.359/.485, 41 doubles, 32 HRs, 26 of 30 thefts. Wow.

Pitching: 5.14 ERA, 41 HRs allowed.  3 teams have allowed 17 or less.

No, they are not secretly playing back in the PCL in Las Vegas, although those are clearly PCL numbers.

Any team with healthy slugging doses of Vientos, Mauricio and Baty (combined .375 for Syracuse) will hit well.  Any team with "8 HRs surrendered  in 9 innings" Dylan Bundy will get torched. The pitching has suffered due to the loss of the likes of Megill, Peterson, and Lucchesi, all up with the Mother Ship, from Syracus's expected start-of-season rotation.

My balloon briefly lost altitude and I spotted Khalil Lee.  When we last left Mr. Lee in 2022, he was fanning an incomprehensible 150 times in 108 minor league games.  

This year, that is much improved at just 11 Ks in 57 plate appearances - but he is hitting just .171 so far.  And the lad who stole 53 bases in 129 games in 2019 has just 2 in 14 games this season.

So, for the last two seasons, he has hit like Quinn Brodey.  Maybe outfielder Lee should think about switching to pitching like Harris Brodey has.  If he did that, I'm thinking that maybe we could get Vientos or Mauricio some outfield games, which would make all Mets fans happy.

But...being full of hot air, I quickly took the craft back up to 50,000 feet.

Binghamton:

Record: 6-8

Hitting: .203/.322/.315, 24 doubles, 8 HRs, 59 runs, and 9 of 13 steals.

Pitching: 4.76 ERA with 14 HRs allowed.

A very light hitting league so far, with just two teams above .232. One team, though, has stolen 42 of 46. 59 runs in 14 games is decent, tho'.

Ponies' pitching suffers as it has lost pitching to AAA when Syracuse began losing its pitchers in great quantities to Queens, due to voracious Mets' need.

I dunno about you, but I am very psyched that Mike Vasil in 20 AA innings has walked just one - and fanned 20. Following his 18 Ks in 15 innings and 3-0, 2.93 ERA in Arizona Fall Ball last fall. After pitching really well in his first full season in 2022 minors ball. A future rotation gem?

Brooklyn:

Record: 5-9

Hitting: .215/.317/.330, 23 doubles, 8 HRs, 68 runs. 25 of 28 in steals.

Pitching: 4.57 ERA, 11 HRs allowed.

Seven SAL teams are hitting above .246, so the Brooklynites haven't hit for average, but are nonetheless putting up nearly 5 runs per game, which is a good sign.

Impairing them, as always, is Cyclone Park: 7 HRs in 6 road games, but just 1 HR in 8 home games.  Cyclonic breezes are tough on your power output.

Keep in mind, when pondering Kevin Parada's early apparent stolen base prevention struggles (3 of 31 nabbed) that the entire league is averaging about 27 steals and 5 caught stealing. So thefts are epidemic in the South Atlantic League, even if you play in the mid-Atlantic like Brooklyn.  Parada's SB results are simply close to the norm.

St. Lucie:

Record: 5-10

Hitting: .211/.321/.323, 20 doubles, 9 HRs, 54 runs.

Pitching: 4.08 ERA, a 4 HRs allowed.

Not a scintillating start for the Lucites. Playing in cold Florida weather is tough on hitters, ain't it?

OVERALL:  Mets Minors Teams are 27-37, and that ain't good.  And home run power, outside the triumvirate of Baty, Vientos, and Mauricio, has been typically scarce in Metsville.  In the Mets minors, power is hard to find, year in and year out.

BUMGARNER, OR GARNER BUM?

Madison Bumgarner's career could more aptly be described as Garner Bum:

In his early years, he GARNERed lots of wins, Cy Young votes, All Star nods, and a certain dominating performance in the 2016 playoff wild card game against a certain team we root for.

Through his age 26 season, Madison B was 100-67 with an ERA below 3.00, and 1,381 Ks.  Hall of Fame trajectory.  

Since then, 34-57, ERA well above 4.00, and just 689 Ks over the past 6+ years.  The stats of....a BUM.

Bringing him to his current 134-124 career record, with a 3.47 ERA.  

Turning lousy in 2017, over his current 34-57 span, he first earned $36 million for his last 3 seasons (2017-19) with the Jints and, thereafter, his earnings stream is as follows (source: Spotrac):

Bumgarner signed a 5 year / $85,000,000 contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks, including $85,000,000 guaranteed, and an annual average salary of $17,000,000. 

In 2023, Bumgarner will earn a base salary of $23,000,000, while carrying a total salary of $23,000,000. Bumgarner's adjusted salary with the Arizona Diamondbacks is $18,000,000.

He was recently DFA'd after going 0-3, 10.26 in 4 starts in 2023.

Just another of my very frequent warnings to management of spending on the latest shiny baseball object.   

Sometimes those shiny, star-shaped objects have the same outcome after contract signing as that Elon Musk shiny rocket did recently.  Cataclysmic blowout shortly after lift off.

Hopefully this post garners many comments, or I’ll feel like a bum.

Have a great day, and don’t let anything bum you out.