Mets: Omar Quintanilla, Taylor Whitenton, Chuck James, Cory Vaughn, Darin Gorski

Omar Quintanilla - Quintanilla was drafted 33rd overall by the A's in '03 after winning the College World Series with the University of Texas. Quintanilla ranked among Oakland's top ten prospects for the next couple seasons after batting .358 and .341 in his first two seasons, respectively. Unfortunately his bat didn't live up to the early hype. But his glove did and he's carved out a nice little niche as a Wilson Valdez-esque defensive-minded backup infielder with the Rockies and Rangers ever since. In 227 major league games he's posted a .213 career average with 2 homers and 3 stolen bases. http://www.amazinavenue.com/2012/1/31/2753903/taking-inventory-of-the-mets-minor-league-free-agents

2-1-12: - http://www.metsminorleagueblog.com   -  Taylor Whitenton has an average MLB fastball and improved his control dramatically from 2010 to 2011.  A lean 6’3”, he usually sat around 90-91, and in shorter outings in the Arizona Fall Leagues was sitting 91-93 mph, touching 94.  There were scouts who saw the Gnats in the first half of 2011 who thought Whitenton was the most promising member of the team’s rotation. He complements the fastball with a slider that has more depth than horizontal movement and a changeup.  He became much more confidant throwing his secondary pitches in games in 2011 and the change-up passed the slider as his second offering.  His over the top delivery gives batters an unusual angle and the ball seems to hop a little out of his hand.  However, many of his strikeouts came on elevated fastballs, a strategy that might lead to trouble at the higher levels.  The high angle also makes it hard for him to generate much horizontal movement on his slider. Whitenton cut his walk rate from 13.8% in 2010 to 10.5% in 2011, or if you prefer to think in terms of innings, from 5.7 BB/9 to 3.9 BB/9.  While throwing more strikes, his strikeout improved from 23% to 25.9%.

• Dec 15: LHP Chuck James - Another soft-tossing lefty, you may remember the 30-yr old for his 2+ seasons of league average work in the Atlanta rotation between '06 and '08. As a prospect he was another former blue-chipper, ranked by John Sickels as the Braves no. 2 prospect at his peak in '06 -- ahead of guys like Elvis Andrus and Yunel Escobar. He spent 2011 at Minnesota's Triple-A affiliate where he was quite good in relief, posting a 2.30 ERA with over a K/IP and excellent rates against both lefties and righties. Like Olson he'll audition for a role as a lefty out of the Mets 'pen and I'd say he's got a pretty good shot out of camp. http://www.amazinavenue.com/2012/1/31/2753903/taking-inventory-of-the-mets-minor-league-free-agents

2-3-12: - http://www.metsminorleagueblog.com/32-rf-cory-vaughn/  - 2011: Cory Vaughn graduated from Savannah at the All-Star Break after hitting .286/.405/.408 for Savannah.  He then hit .219/.310/.395 in 63 games for St. Lucie in the second half.  There are things in both of those lines that should be concerning.  In Savannah, it was the lack of power. Historic Grayson Stadium is an extremely difficult place to hit home runs. However, it’s not just the home runs that he missed. His extra-base hit percentage plummeted to 6.7% from 10.5% in Brooklyn.  Also, he just didn’t seem to drive the ball with very much authority. Nor did he seem to do much damage against quality fastballs. In St. Lucie, obviously the concern was his .219 batting average. However, across both levels, he hit a combined .255/.363/.402 with a .315 BABIP.  He aspires to join a group, MLB right fielders, who averaged .269/.341/.441 in 2011. 

2-3-12: - http://www.amazinavenue.com/2012/2/3/2760606/2012-amazin-avenue-top-50-mets-prospects-20-16  LHP Darin Gorski - Of all the pleasant surprises in the Mets system in 2011, none was more impressive than the 24-yr old Gorski. The 6'4" lefty was nothing short of brilliant as he rode roughshod over the Hi-A Florida State League, posting a superb 9.09 K/9 and an even better 1.88 BB/9. Gorski was simply too good for the FSL for most of 2011 yet the organization curiously kept him there all season. Likely this was a result of a numbers game as Binghamton's rotation was crowded all season. Additionally, Gorski certainly didn't carry the kind of reputation of a Familia or a Harvey. In fact, the '09 seventh rounder out of DII Kutztown University was just coming off a 2010 where he posted a 4.58 ERA bouncing between starting and relief for Savannah and looked like the epitome of org depth. But that's why you always keep an eye on big lefties; suddenly the big kid with the soft stuff began throwing harder. Reports had him in the low 90's by season's end, up from the 87-89 mph range from past seasons. That new-found differential was more than enough to make his already impressive change-up downright deadly. Moving forward it's still hard to place him with the upper echelon pitchers -- he was very old for the FSL -- but armed with spot-on command and improving stuff from the left side, Gorski suddenly put himself on the map as a potential back of the rotation guy or lefty out of the 'pen.

Mets: Chuck James, Adam Rubin, Oliver Perez, Team Value

If Chuck James sounds familiar, that’s because you remember him as a pitcher on the Braves. Chuck James was signed to a minor league contract this offseason by the Mets and is next in line with Jeremy Hefner on the outside looking in for a spot in the rotation this season. As already described in an earlier post, the Mets rotation is probably set right now, with Santana’s mark being the current question mark. Both Hefner and James could step in for the next available role, so who ever performs better in the spring will get the spot. Chuck debuted with the Braves in 2005. He had a very successful 2006 season where he posted a 3.78 ERA in 116 innings of work. His 2006 season was OK, his ERA was good at 4.24, but he allowed a lot of homers (32) over 161 innings of work. 2008 was a bad season for James as he bounced around from the minors and the majors, while posting a 8.10 ERA in the majors. During the 2010 offseason, the Nationals signed him to a minor league deal, where he recorded his second straight season without making it back to the majors. The next offseason he signed with the Twins, where he spent time in the minors and the majors:  http://www.213milesfromshea.com/2012/01/18/get-to-know-a-mets-minor-league-player-chuck-james/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

One writer I've continued to follow is Adam Rubin of ESPN. His tweets are almost exclusively news. He rarely traffics in rumor or editorializing. His tweets generally lack the negative cast of many colleagues. In general, he seemed to exemplify the unglamorous aspects of what a reporter is supposed to do. That's why I was so blown away by a series of tweets he unleashed last night. The tweets were not only uncharacteristically emotional, but also full of mushroom-cloud details about the idiocy and incompetence the Mets displayed with regard to medical treatment of injured players, most of which had never appeared before in any forum. The tweets raised some huge questions about what gets reported when, and why. http://www.amazinavenue.com/2012/1/18/2715337/call-the-doctor

Mariners signed LHP Oliver Perez to a minor league contract. The deal includes an invitation to major league spring training. Perez showed some signs of life last year at Double-A Harrisburg, registering a 3.09 ERA and 58/27 K/BB ratio in 75 2/3 innings, but he's highly unlikely to land a spot on the Mariners' Opening Day roster.  http://www.rotoworld.com/headlines/mlb/348083/baseball-headlines?r=1

It's not that the Mets aren't a valuable commodity in fact Forbes ranked them the 44th most valuable sports team which puts them #5 amongst baseball teams ( Yanks, BSox, Dodgers, Cubs).  It seems that they're cash broke and their revenue flow wasn't constructed properly.  So even if they aren't squirreling money away for a settlement or supporting their struggling real estate entities through the Mets, if the Wilpon's stay they are constructed to be cash broke. Most teams will rank their sources of cash revenues, in order of TV, naming rights/sponsorship/merchandising and then attendance/concessions.  But just like the team maybe valuable, so is the TV station, we've all heard that SNY in it's own right is a very appealing commodity but that doesn't mean it's earning the team cash flow. Apparently the way the Wilpon's set up the contracts regarding SNY they won't receive TV revenue shares from the league the way most teams get much need infusions of cash, while the stock value of the network goes up the cash flow doesn't  http://networkedblogs.com/sTHLz

Cutnpaste: - Cole Frenzel, Chuck James, Ike Davis, Darrell Ceciliani, Marc Kroon

12-7-11: - http://baseballdraftreport.com  - Like so many players we’ve talked about before, Arizona 1B Cole Frenzel’s greatest challenge will be hitting enough to warrant playing time at a position that demands consistent offensive excellence. A baseball pal who has seen Frenzel play a lot compared him to a poor man’s Jeff Cirillo at the plate. If he can play a few other positions passably, he could have a future as a four-corners utility guy. Also, there’s no way I’m the only guy who reads his name and immediately thinks of this guy, right?

Chuck James was picked up by the Mets after being released by the Minnesota Twins back in November. He posted a 6.10 ERA and no record in eight relief appearances across two two spells with the Twins this season. James spent the other five-and-a-half months of the year at Triple-A Rochester in the International League. He was 3-2 with a 2.30 ERA in 38 outings for the Red Wings. James has been a non-factor over the last three years at the big-league level. He hasn't been a full-timer since '07, and prior to in May with Minnesota, he had not thrown a pitch in the Majors since July 2008. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/987616-new-york-mets-2012-preview-what-to-expect-from-left-hander-chuck-james

I don’t know — your guess is as good as mine. Ike Davis has a long, uppercut swing that would seem to be prone to the streakiness that we’ve seen. But when he’s “on” — wow — he’s “on”. He has the propensity to hit majestic, towering homeruns. He can also take a walk. He has also shown an ability to go the other way. His fielding is stellar. On the down side, we’re not sure how much he’ll struggle against lefties, he tends to strike out quite a bit, and his already slow feet likely will be slower after the injury. Will he become an Adam Dunn type of player? Maybe. Or will be more like an Adam LaRoche? I think that’s the range for him from ceiling to floor, and if LaRoche is the floor, that’s not too bad. My guess is Ike Davis will fall somewhere in between the two Adams, and that’s fine by me. First, though, I want to see him healthy and on the field — let’s all keep our fingers crossed on that. http://www.metstoday.com/7305/11-12-offseason/2011-evaluation-ike-davis

12-19-11: - http://www.amazinavenue.com/2011/12/19/2622862/2011-mets-minor-league-season-in-review-savannah-sand-gnats  - OF Darrell Ceciliani - STOCK DOWN - After a stellar 2010 with Brooklyn where he batted .355 with 33 extra-base hits in just 68 games, the '09 fourth rounder came back to Earth with a so-so campaign for the Gnats. His numbers were down in pretty much every department, most significantly his BABIP which dropped from .430 down to .327. And the scary thing is that's still kind of a high number. And while his average naturally took a huge hit as a result, the bigger concern is the nearly 200 point drop in slugging he experienced.  Now Savannah is a notorious pitchers paradise and like his underwhelming debut campaign Cecilliani battled some injuries this season. However, it's undeniable that the sky-high enthusiasm that many had for him last winter has to be dashed...at least somewhat.

On Sunday, The Baseball Historian posted an interview with early 1990s New York Mets prospect Marc Kroon. The Mets picked Kroon with their second round selection in the 1991 June Amateur Draft, their third overall pick that year. (New York had two picks in the first round, choosing high school outfielder Al Shirley with their first choice and California State University pitcher Bobby Jones with a supplemental choice received as compensation when Darryl Strawberry signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a free agent.) The 6′ 2″ right-hander spent three years in the Mets organization before being traded to San Diego during the winter of 1993 for journeyman pitcher (and Brooklyn native) Frank Seminara.