The Morning Report 12.15.2015 | Cespedes Price Tag Still a Tad Too High, Mets Extend PDC with Kingsport, Mets Sign 4 to Minor League Contracts

Kristie Ackert | NY Daily News- The Mets still have a hole in their outfield, but they are not going to a burn a hole in their pocket to fill it. Despite newfound money due to the retirement on Michael Cuddyer and not having to spend $56 million for Ben Zobrist, the Mets are not interested in Yoenis Cespedes and other expensive outfield bats — at least at the current asking price. Industry sources said the 30-year-old outfielder is looking for a deal in the neighborhood of six years at around $120 million. That is not the kind of neighborhood the Mets are interested in. But the door is not completely shut on Cespedes. The Mets have had contact with his representatives this winter and if his price tag and length of contract come down, the Mets would be happy to welcome him back.

(Chris Soto: Focus really hard on the wording of the article...Kristie is basically saying that the Mets DO want Cespedes back but it seems like they are unwilling to go the 6th year needing to obtain him. Personally, I'm ok with that thinking, especially for a guy who is more of an athleticism play than he is baseball instincts. Lets first see if anyone is willing to give him a 6th year before committing ourselves to that kind of figure.)


Staff Report | Kingsport Times-News- The New York Mets signed a five-year contract extension with the Kingsport Convention and Visitors Bureau and the city of Kingsport that will keep the minor league Kingsport Mets at Hunter Wright. The agreement extends a long-running commitment between the Model City, the KCVB and the Mets. The K-Mets have had a player development contract with New York since 1980, making them the eighth-longest affiliated team in minor league baseball. “We are ecstatic that the New York Mets have extended their long-term presence in Kingsport an additional five years,” Jud Teague, KCVB executive director said. “They contribute to our local economy and are great community partners. We look forward to working with the Mets organization to continue to improve the stadium and game experience.”

(Chris Soto: With all the movement and rumors swirling around multiple upper level minor league affliates of the Mets, It's good to see having some stability in the lower levels. The Kingsport team is now locked up for 8 more season, the St. Lucie team has a low standing relationship with the county that is unlikely to be broken, and the Brooklyn team is owned by the Mets.)



Danny Abriano | Rising Apple- The Mets have agreed to terms with four players on minor league deals, the team announced. RHP Buddy Carlyle, LHP Duane Below, and IF Marc Krauss signed and were invited to Major League Spring Training. The Mets also signed LHP Andrew Barbosa, who did not receive an invite to Major League Spring Training. Of the players, the only one who might be on the radar for a spot on the 25-man roster out of Spring Training is Carlyle, but that would likely only happen if there are injuries to those ahead of him on the depth chart.

(Chris Soto: Expect to see a lot more of these types of signings during the month of January. With the large number of prospect promotions and trade the Mets made in 2015, the AAA and even the AA ended up carrying a number of journeymen who were eligible for Minor League Free Agency. Las Vegas lost 13 players to MiLB free agency, 1 to Rule 5, and Binghamton lost 8 to free agency and 3 to trade. Their just aren't enough bodies in the middle minors to fill those spots.)



HOT STOVE REPORT (courtesy of mlbtraderumor.com)

• Binghamton Mets OF Joe Benson has signed a minor league deal to play for the Minnesota Twins.
• Las Vegas SP Dillon Gee has signed a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite to play for the Kansas City Royals.
• The San Francisco Giants signed RHP Johnny Cueto to a 6 year/$130M contract with an opt out after 2 seasons.

The Morning Report 6.2.2015 | Positive Injury Updates, deGrom's Fastball Improvement, Trade Candidates, May's Top Prospects

David Wright Injury Tracker |  Received a cortisone shot. Meeting with Team Today.

Michael Baron | Just Mets- Dilson Herrera has begun some light baseball activities at the team’s minor league complex in Port St. Lucie. Rafael Montero has progressed his throwing program and is now throwing off a mound in Port St. Lucie. Travis d’Arnaud began baseball activities in Port St. Lucie today, and he is hopeful d”Arnaud can resume his rehab assignment this week. Lastly, Buddy Carlyle, who strained his back in Chicago on May 12, is also mostly idle at the moment.

(Chris Soto: Excellent injury updates on most of these guys, d'Arnaud was pretty much almost good to go before taking a foul off the hand. He'll probably get an additional 3-5 rehab games before the Mets declare him ready to join the club. I'd say he returns June 9th when the club comes back to NY. As for Herrera and Montero, it'll be a while before we see those guys again. Lastly, the fact that Carlyle has not resumed throwing for what was considered a mild back injury is concerning. If he continues being idle the club may consider moving him to the 60 day DL to open a 40 man spot.)


Zachary Rymer | Bleacher Report- Against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park, deGrom was superb. He led the Mets to a 7-0 victory with eight shutout innings that featured just two hits, no walks and eight strikeouts. He also darn near celebrated the anniversary of Santana's no-no by one-upping him, taking a perfect game into the sixth. In his last four starts, he's pitched 29.1 innings and struck out 34 with just one walk. He's also allowed only three earned runs, equating to a 0.93 ERA. "This is as good as I've ever seen [him] play" said Terry Collins. 

(Chris Soto: Not to be overlooked by Harvey or Syndergaard, deGrom has been superb over his past 4 starts. According to Pitch F/X, his fastball velocity is up from last year and he is taking advantage of it by throwing it almost 5% more than in 2014. The added velocity has also helped the bite on his slider which he has also begun to use more than his curveball. Those two pitches alone are dominating hitters to the tune of a .164 AVG against the 4 seamer and a .238 avg against the slider. The only knock against him right now is that the added velocity seems to be hurting the break on his change as hitters are hitting .321 against vs .237 last year. )


Joel Sherman | New York Post- We are in that period between Memorial Day and the draft, when clubs begin to intensify at least the chatter about doing something in the next two months, before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. Let’s assume the Mets are going to be aggressive over the next two months to try to deliver their first playoff team since 2006. Where should they be concentrating? I offer these four names — Aroldis Chapman, Martin Prado, Ben Zobrist and Justin Upton.

(Chris Soto: I don't think Upton would be a fit for the club, considering the money they spent on Grandy and Cuddyer, unless an injury occurs to one of the OF'ers. Chapman is certainly an interesting idea but the front end of the bullpen has not been a problem for the Mets and they have a number of reinforcements on the way to shore up the middle and back end of the pen. Now Zobrist or Prado are two very likely candidates to be Mets. Both are multi positional guys who play every position well while bringing a consistent hitting approach that matches the overall team philosophy. Plus the cost to acquire won't be nearly as much as it would be for Upton.)


Bryan Zarpentine | Rant Sports- The New York Mets continue to get standout seasons from many of its prospects up and down its farm system. Several prospects have already earned a promotion to the next level less than two months into the season. Here is a look at 10 Mets prospects that made themselves stand out from the pack during the month of May.

1. Steven Matz
2. Gavin Cecchini
3. Dominic Smith
4. Amed Rosario
5. Casey Meisner
6. Robert Gsellman
7. Akeel Morris
8. Bradley Weick
9. Eudor Garcia
10. Wuilmer Becerra

(Chris Soto: May was a strong month for a number of Mets top prospects. In fact the only real "down" guy for the month in my opinion was the fact that Brandon Nimmo got hurt. You can make a case that Conforto has a "down" month, but if a guy's down equates to .255 AVG, .715 OPS, and a meager 11.7% K rate then sign me up today. The Mets still have a number of studs in the minor league system that will refuel the parent club in 2016, 17, 18, and beyond.)

The Morning Report 5.12.2015 | More Injury Updates, deGrom Misses d'Arnaud, The God of Thunder Arrives.

More Injury Updates | Chris Soto

• Despite Terry Collins stating that 3B David Wright, was scheduled to resume baseball activities yesterday, reports revealed that Wright has still not received team doctor clearance to resume his rehab assignment.

• RP Bobby Parnell struggled mightly in his 1st rehab appearance. While his velocity was between 92-96 mph, he struggled badly with his fastball command and bounced a number of curve balls which led to a blown save on 3 R, 2 H, BB, and 2 WP. 

• C Travis d'Arnaud has received clearance to resume all baseball activities except hitting. As he gets back into baseball shape, once he does receive hitting clearance he is expected to use a 1 week rehab assignment before returning to the Mets. ETA could be roughly post Memorial Day.

• SP Rafael Montero attempted to throw yesterday but had to shut himself down as he was still experiencing significant pain in his pitching arm rotator cuff. 

• RP Buddy Carlyle pulled his hamstring last night as he ran to cover first base in the 7th inning. He is considered day to day at the moment but looked for Hansel Robles to receive some more opportunities in medium leverage situations.

Adam Rubin | ESPN New York-  Jacob deGrom bluntly described his recent problem after the loss to the Chicago Cubs, "It boils down to location, Tonight I struggled with it. And I think that kind of makes me get off my game plan. I can't throw the pitches that I want for strikes. I made some mistakes over the middle of the plate and they seemed to hit it a long way." Collins said he could detect frustration in deGrom's body language on the mound. "I saw that tonight for the first time," Collins said about deGrom's visible frustration. "But you've got to also understand, he really hasn't struggled like this before. We've got to get him through it and we've got to get him to get that confidence back and still trust his stuff and make pitches with it."

(Chris Soto: Ughh....your killing my fantasy team bro! deGrom has not been as sharp the past few games and you have to wonder if maybe it's because of Plawecki? Sounds crazy but check this stat out...Plawecki has caught 4 deGrom starts, d'Arnaud has caught 3 deGrom starts. On nights that Plawecki catches, batters hit .276 with a .810 OPS against deGrom, his ERA is 5.64, and his BB rate is 8.9%. On nights that d'Arnaud catches, batters hit .260 with a .618 OPS against deGrom, his ERA is 0.93, and his BB rate is 3.8%)


Ed Coleman | CBS New York- Last year he wasn’t ready, by his own admission and in the judgment of others. This year he is...Yes, Noah Syndergaard is prepared to make his major league debut, and he will do exactly that today at Wrigley Field. Last year, Syndergaard appeared apprehensive at times, a little overwhelmed by his surroundings. This year, he seems to have matured and appears to be much more at ease. When you’re young, big, strong and possess a great fastball like Syndergaard, sometimes you forget how to be a pitcher, and become too reliant on your strength. Syndergaard now is a more well-rounded pitcher.

(Chris Soto: THE GOD OF THUNDER COMETH DOWN UPON THY SOULS OF WRIGLEY FIELD. HE SHALT BRINGTH STRIKEOUTS IN GRAND NUMBERS AND BASEBALLS SHALT NOT LEAVETH THY INFIELD!  I don't know about you guys....but I am excited about seeing Syndergaard in action tonight. The 1st major piece of that Dickey has already show us how good he can be and now we get to see the 2nd piece hopefully dominate tonight and for the next 6 years. The Mets need a win and Thor shall bring it!)