The Morning Report 6.11.2015 | Matt Harvey Struggling, Mets/Brewers Trade Talks For Ramirez, Alex Guerrero Available?

Associated Press | CBS New York- Matt Harvey has hit a major snag in his return from Tommy John surgery. Brandon Belt launched one of San Francisco’s three homers off a struggling Harvey, who gave up seven runs for the second time in four starts during the New York Mets’ 8-5 loss Wednesday night. “Everything was all over the place,” Harvey said. “I’m not putting people away when I need to. I’m not keeping people off base when I need to and obviously I’m not keeping the ball in the yard when I need to.”

(Chris Soto: Boy...Harvey is giving us plenty of reason to be seriously concerned. Over the past 18 IP he has given up a total of 18 ER. Harvey has always been know for being incredibly hard to hit a HR against and yet he's given up more jacks in his last 4 starts then anyone else in baseball. We know he likes to work up with his fastball but right that fastball doesn't seem to have the same explosion that he had earlier in the year. Perhaps he is still dealing with that dead arm phase that Terry Collins referenced 2 weeks ago. Either way, the club needs him to turn it around quickly.)


Joe D. | Metsmerized Online- Here’s the latest on the Mets and Brewers trade buzz and my thoughts on some of the players being discussed. To begin, just when we thought we were out on Aramis Ramirez, based on what Adam Rubin heard from team sources, Marc Carig and Matt Ehalt dragged us back in. Both of them say the Mets have got their sights set on Ramirez, although for the life of me I don’t know why. Besides the fact that 37-year old Ramirez is mired in the worst season of his career, batting .217/.257/.390 with seven homers and 18 RBI in 175 plate appearances, he’s one-dimensional defensively and can only play third base. What happens when David Wright comes back? Is there something about Wright that they’re not telling us?

(Chris Soto: While I agree with Joe, I understand why the Mets are going after him. We know the club really wants Ben Zobrist but there are a lot of suitors after him and it is very likely that someone is going to overpay for him. The Mets do not want to be that team. While Ramirez is having a rough season, the sabermetric analysis has him pegged for upside. He has a pretty good K rate of only 15.7% and his Isolated Power rate of .174 is only behind Duda and d'Arnaud. His .216 AVG is also on a .218 BABIP so one could assume that it will normalize towards his career BABIP rate of .281. If it does it will drag his AVG up as much as 60 points.)


Bryan Zarpentine | Rant Sports- It’s no secret that the New York Mets are in desperate need of some offense. Unfortunately, in the second week of June, there are not a lot of players available on the trade market, and the Mets can’t afford to wait for a market to develop. One player the Mets may be able to get is Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Alex Guerrero, who may be available and could be New York’s best option at this point. 

(Chris Soto: Oy vey....how many times do I have to point this out. Alex Guerrero is SHOULD NOT be a trade candidate nor should fans even believe that he is available. The Dodgers just traded a guy who hit .311 for them last season in order to find playing time for him due to his power potential. Why would they now trade him? If that doesn't convince you....then how about the fact that while he is signed for a reasonable $5m per year for the next 3 years, he also has clauses in his contract that state, A) may not be optioned to minors without permission after 2014, B) may become Article XX(B) free agent after 2017 season (so no arbitration eligibility), and C) if traded, may become a free agent at season’s end. So fans are suggesting the Mets pony up 1 of the key pitching chips for a 3 month rental player? Thanks but no thanks....Oh by the way....since the Juan Uribe trade, Guerrero is hitting .188 AVG with a 35% K rate. (drops mic....)

The Morning Report 6.8.2015 | Mets STILL in 1st...How?, Reinforcements Coming this Week, D'Aloia Scouts Twins v. Brewers...Trade Rumors.

Mike Vorkunov | NJ Advance Media-  As of June 6, only the Rangers have lost more games to players on the disabled list than the Mets. The Mets have had 13 players go on the disabled list this season and just one player come off. That's Dillon Gee and he's now a reliever after the six-man rotation has been scrapped. Their offense has scored the fourth-fewest runs in the National League. Of course, it's tough when Wright, d'Arnaud and now Daniel Murphy are all on the disabled list.

And yet, the Mets wake up Monday in first place.

(Chris Soto: Let that sink in for a moment. The Mets have been rolling with a skeleton crew for almost 2 months now....and they are STILL in 1st place. Does a trade need to be made? Absolutely...but should the Mets be frantically making a move just for the sake of making a move? Heck no... They are still able to afford to wait out the market, see what's available while waiting for reinforcements to arrive. They've made it this far....and guys start coming back beginning this week.)


Barry Bloom | Mets.com- Help seems to be on the way. Rehabbing reliever Bobby Parnell and catcher Travis d'Arnaud could both be back by the end of the [home] stand, manager Terry Collins acknowledged. "I think we're pretty close with Bobby," Collins said. "I think he'll have one more rehab outing [AA] before he gets here." About d'Arnaud, Collins said he expected the catcher to join infielder Dilson Herrera at Triple-A Las Vegas on Monday. "I want them to get some consistent playing time so I think they're headed to Vegas today to get some at-bats there," Collins said. "I hope [d'Arnaud] will be back by the end of next week as well."

(Chris Soto: Like I said above....this is just the beginning. This week d'Arnaud and Parnell will be back, next week Vic Black and Dilson Herrera will be back, the week after you can expect Daniel Murphy and Jerry Blevins to also be ready as well. Fresh players reinforcing the team as we enter the middle of the summer months is going to have a massive positive impact on the team.)


Joe D. | Metsmerized Online- The Mets director of pro scouting, Jim D’Aloia, was in Minnesota on Friday night presumably to scout the Milwaukee Brewers. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports says that the Mets and Brewers have not talked in several weeks, but that Milwaukee could have two possible fits for the Mets; third baseman Aramis Ramirez and shortstop Jean Segura. Ramirez is the more practical fit says Rosenthal, and not only would he be the easiest to acquire, but he no longer has any trade protection because he plans to retire at the end of the season.

Chris Soto: Ok....I have a ton to say about this....

     I don't think Aramis Ramirez would actually be a very good fit for the team. While he does has a nice low K rate, defensively he is not the same player he used to be. Over the past 5 seasons, On average he has been worth -9 Defensive Runs Scored. That combined with his declining Line Drive Rate and Hard Hit Contact Rates tell me that he's pretty much done. 

     Segura on the other hand would be a decent, albeit not perfect, fit. He makes all the routine plays and has much needed speed, but his low OBP would only fit at the back of the line-up. However it allows Flores to slide over to 3B where he is much better defensively and still provides strong offensive value in comparison to the rest of the league. 

   In my opinion, do not be surprised if D'Aloia was also scouting Twins 3B Trevor Plouffe. Yes...they are in 1st place...but every talent evaluator will tell you that they don't know how. The Twins cannot hold off the vastly superior Royals, Tigers, or Indians for much longer. In addition their 2nd top prospect Miguel Sano is absolutely crushing AA pitching to the tune of a .850 OPS. With so many top prospects being called up this year, we may already have passed the Super 2 deadline so the Twins could call up Sano to replace Plouffe in the line-up and add more firepower.