I May Be Wrong, But… Steve Matz, Chad Zurcher, Alex Panteliodis, Hunter Carnevale

·         LHP Steve Matz checked in after his bullpen session on Friday: 

“…bullpen went good, so far so good…”

The best thing this kid has going right now is the fact that most people have forgot he’s still around. He’s always been kind to me as a writer and I wish him well, though I have no idea where he would pitch come April. My guess is they will hold him back to make sure everything works well, and start in his home town with the Cyclones.

·         SS Chad Zurcher also filled us in on his plans in March: 

“My goals for spring training are just to go back and show the staff I worked on the things they told me to during the off season. My main goal is to earn a spot on a full season team. I've been able to put on about 10 pounds so hopefully I'll be able to drive the ball a bit better. I just want to be able to give great effort every day and show what I'm capable of. I feel at my age I have to be pushing for a full season spot and I want to show the organization that I am able to do the things they want me to. I just need to go out and prove my worth to this organization.”

 Zurcher is a dark horse in the system. He was drafted last year in the 31^st round, after hitting .443 for the University of Memphis (it will always be Memphis State to me). I had him projected much higher. He went on to finish the season with Kingsport, hitting .283/.386/.336/.723 in 113-AB. No power here, but a good bat and great defense.

·         We also spent a few minutes with one of my  favorites, P Alex Panteliodes.  His comments caught me off-guard: 

This preseason I just want to get back out on the field and pick up from where I left off. My hip is feeling a lot better and I am just looking forward to starting my career as a New York Met.

Pants had a torn labrum in his hip, but had successful surgery and is now 100%.

·         I also spent a few moments with Hunter Carnevale. He was well on to a great season (2011) with Brookyn, going 1-1, 1.08, 19-K, 16.2-IP, in 12 appearances, when his arm gave out. I wanted to see how the process is going and Hunter was happy to fill us in:

“Hey Mack. My goals for spring training are pretty simple. Since I had Tommy John in August, I'm really focused on getting healthy and getting back into live action as soon as I can. I know that the earliest that I could get into a game would be later in the season, so that's what I'm shooting for.”

At worse, we won’t see Hunter in 2012; however, don’t bet on it.

Jason Bay, Craig Paquette, Matt den Dekker, Scott Kazmir, Chad Zurcher

Photo by Michael G. Barion

Jason Bay:


7-13-11: - amazinavenue.  - C+ - Equaling last year's home run total in almost half the PAs gets him a passing grade. Everything else keeps him from advancing. Well, he did cut his swinging strike rate and marginally improve his strikeout rate, so let's give him a plus. But the big question is his power, and there's little positive in the numbers. His career-low ISO is 'supported' by a career-low in fly balls. He's also at a career low in line drives. You could contend that 100% of all home runs are one or the other. We need some loft, Bay-be.


Craig Paquette:


1993-2003 (Cardinals/Athletics/Royals/Tigers/Mets) - I got so many Craig Paquette baseball cards as a kid that I always assumed he was an average ballplayer. Paquette wasn't. He spent 10 years as a disposable corner outfielder and infielder, incapable of hitting, unable to defend at any of his positions, and unable to muster enough power to overcome either of those shortcomings. On the back of a baseball card, 99 career home runs look just fine. Too bad there are other stats on the backs of cards, too - http://deadspin.com/5820622/the-100-worst-baseball-players-of-all-time-a-celebration-part-2  


Matt den Dekker:


7-14-11: - http://www.amazinavenue.com/2011/7/11/2270752/mets-minors-road-report-binghamton-7-9-brooklyn-7-10  - The scouting report is pretty accurate. Den Dekker’s swing is hard and long and he’s going to strike out a lot. The biggest thing I noticed is once he commits, he can’t really adjust to offspeed stuff. However, when he does make contact, it is loud. He is walking more at AA, though 6 of those walks have come in two games, and he only has 4 in the other nineteen. He plays a confident center, and while he didn’t really get tested too much, he is very fluid and quick to get to flyballs. He looks like he will be boom or bust with the bat, and has a very low ceiling compared to a lot of other Mets prospects, but he is probably more likely to have a quiet 5-10 year major league career then, say, Cesar Puello. It will be as a 2nd division starter/4th outfielder, mind you, and you will probably have to hide him against lefties, but CFs with plus gloves and decent pop find the field.


Scott Kazmir:


In 2004, the New York Mets thought they were one starting pitcher away from making the playoffs and decided to trade a minor-league prospect, Scott Kazmir and Joselo Diaz to the Tampa Bay Rays for Victor Zambrano and Bartolome Fortunato. Well, Zambrano was injured when the trade was made and only ended up making three starts for the Mets before being placed on the DL. He also went on to miss the entire 2006 season. - http://bleacherreport.com/articles/764844-mlb-trade-rankings-the-20-worst-deadline-deals-of-the-last-25-years#/articles/764844-mlb-trade-rankings-the-20-worst-deadline-deals-of-the-last-25-years/page/8  


Chad Zurcher:


7-15-11: - http://www.gotigersgo.com/blog/2011/07/doing-work-with-zurc-blog-2.html#more  - As for Kingsport, it has been awesome, outside of the results. As a team, we have been struggling to put wins together. We lead the league in batting average, but we just can't seem to pitch and hit at the same time. Individually, I have performed decently, but not as good as I need to. I moved into the everyday lineup a few weeks ago and played 10-straight days before getting a day off. It is different in college in the fact we actually play every day. We have played 23 games and we have had one day off! I've recently had some extra days off because I was hit in the head with a pitch Tuesday night. I've missed the last few days as precaution and I am ready to get back in the lineup.

Chad Zurcher, Mike Harvey, Nick Evans, Cost of Reyes, Justin Verlander

Chad Zurcher:


6-29-11: - http://www.gotigersgo.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/zurcher_chad00.html  - With the 2011 NCAA Baseball season complete, University of Memphis infielder Chad Zurcher has officially claimed the NCAA batting title with his .443 batting average. "We are extremely proud of Chad and this is another honor in a long line of awards for him," head coach Daron Schoenrock said. "He is going to go down as what we feel is one of the most decorated and celebrated players in Tiger baseball history. This is an award that nobody votes on or can play favorites on since it is based strictly on production. He definitely deserves this honor." The Knoxville, Tenn., native also led the nation with a .547 on-base percentage. Drafted by the New York Mets in the MLB Draft in early June, Zurcher has since begun his pro career with the Kingsport Mets.


Mike Harvey:


6-29-11: - http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/blog?name=law_keith&id=6711904&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fmlb%2fblog%3fname%3dlaw_keith%26id%3d6711904  - Harvey was the seventh pick in last year’s draft and came into pro ball boasting a plus fastball with good downhill plane and a solid average-or-better changeup but struggled with both breaking balls. Reports this year have the breaking balls improving but the changeup regressing — which would still leave him a three-pitch guy, plenty to be a front-line starter given the strength of his fastball.


Nick Evans:


Nick Evans only needed one hit to continue his recent hot streak Wednesday. He didn't settle for that. Evans went 5-for-5 with a double and a run scored to extend his hitting streak to 19 games in Triple-A Buffalo's 7-5 win over Lehigh Valley. Evans, who appeared in two games with New York this year after hitting .306 in 20 games last year, is batting .513 (38-for-74) with three homers and 15 RBIs during his run. It's the longest streak this season in the International League, matching the mark of Columbus' Luis Valbuena, whose streak came to an end June 9. Louisville's Juan Francisco also had a 19-game streak, although it began in 2010.- http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110629&content_id=21181928&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb&tcid=tw_share  


Cost of Reyes:


For the Mets, we’ll start here: Six years, $126 million. Slightly higher average value than (Carl) Crawford, one less year, a nod to a legs-driven player. For the Mets, it means a $10 million raise over Reyes’ current deal, offset nicely by the disappearance of $36.5 million worth of Luis Castillo/Oliver Perez/Carlos Beltran -- and nearly matching the $11.5 million the Mets are paying Frankie Rodriguez this year (we’ll put K-Rod’s $17 million vesting issue in that vacuum, for now). That’s a cool $21 million a year, which still only would place him fourth (behind A-Rod, CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and Johan Santana) on the yearly salary scale of New York baseball players. If that’s not enough? Well, that’s more motivation for the Mets to find viable ownership again so they can play varsity ball again - http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/27949/mets-morning-briefing-6-30-11  




Justin Verlander:


Verlander said he didn't recall meeting anyone from the Mets in 2004. But he knew New York was a potential landing spot for him. "I remember my agent calling me right before the draft and saying, 'The Mets want you bad,'" he said. So did the Tigers, though. Detroit considered taking two other pitchers, Jeff Niemann and Jered Weaver, along with shortstop Stephen Drew. But Greg Smith, the Tigers' scouting director at the time, was convinced Verlander was the best prospect, even though the San Diego Padres showed little interest in taking him with the first pick. - http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/27949/mets-morning-briefing-6-30-11