The Morning Report 7.2.2015 | Wright Making Progress, Duda In Massive Slump, Gee Struggling in AAA, 2015-16 IFA Signing Period Begins

Anthony DiComo | Mets.MLB.com- Mets third baseman David Wright, the soul of a team that has lost its way at the plate in consecutive shutout losses, including Wednesday's 2-0 setback in 11 innings, is about to take the first steps toward a return. Manager Terry Collins spoke Tuesday with Wright, [and] according to Collins, Watkins could clear Wright to begin baseball activities on a "limited basis" next week. He is still a ways off from taking batting practice, and, ultimately, from appearing in rehab games, meaning a return is not imminent.

(Chris Soto: This is the best news the Mets have received in weeks. Yes...a return is not imminent, but now it is more realistic to believe that Wright can return which gives us at least some hope. Limited activity probably means things that wouldn't violate the terms of the insurance policy so if he can get through those initial workouts they'll start cranking him up. For now, I'll assume August 1st is his potential return date.) 


Joe D. | Metsmerized Online- Lucas Duda continues to struggle mightily at the plate and last night’s 0-for-5 performance with four strikeouts might have been his worst showing yet. Since June 1, Duda is batting just .177 with one home run and 30 strikeouts and get this… a .264 slugging percentage and OPS+ of 86. He looks lost up there and he has to find a way to work his way out of this if the Mets are to have any chance to make some noise in the second half.

(Chris Soto: Let's just forget about June, ok? Duda has been flat out horrible at the plate and he is one of the primary reasons that the team cannot score runs right now. His horrid June has dropped his average with men in scoring position down to .233. The team can ill afford to have Duda continuing to struggle, and yet, they can't get him a mental break because the bench is already playing short handed due to the 6 man rotation and the Cuddyer non-DL injury.)


Aaron Gleeman | NBC Sports- Dillon Gee pitched himself out of the Mets’ starting rotation and then his $5.3 million contract went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment, so the 29-year-old right-hander stayed in the organization at Triple-A. And now he’s getting knocked around at Triple-A. Gee allowed six runs in his first start for Las Vegas and was even worse Tuesday, failing to make it out of the fifth inning while giving up eight runs on 13 hits. Las Vegas is an extremely hitter-friendly environment in a very hitter-friendly league, but yeesh. Prior to this season Gee had a 3.91 ERA in 640 career innings for the Mets, but between Triple-A and MLB he’s allowed 43 runs in 49 innings this year.

(Chris Soto: When your a guy who can't generate consistent swing and misses, your gonna open yourself up to the BABIP gods and Dillon Gee is finding that out the hard way. He also has the wonderful displeasure of being a flyball pitcher in the Pacific Coast League which is also never a good combination. Gee is certainly not this bad.....but he's honestly not that good either and has no trade value at this point. His new job now is to figure it out and serve as pitching depth in case one of our stud young arms hits their respective innings limits.)

Michael Baron | Just Mets- The 2015 international free agent signing period officially began early this morning, and it looks like the Mets are already busy in that market, as predicted. The Mets have signed SS Gregory Guerrero, his agent Matthew Marotta tweeted early Thursday. According to Kiley McDaniel of FanGraphs, Guerrero was expected to sign for $1.8 million. “Guerrero has some of the same actions and swing mechanics as last year’s top player, Brewers SS Gilbert Lara, and, like Lara, also projects to move to third base eventually, but will play shortstop for the time being,” McDaniel writes.

(Chris Soto: Let the IFA market frenzy begin! This signing leaves the Mets with roughly ~$700,000 left to spend and that money may already be committed to another high profile signing in SS Andres Gimenez. As disappointed as the Mets are that Vlad Guerrero's son decided to play for Toronto, they will be happy to get his nephew Gregory and Gimenez as consolidation prizes.)

The Morning Report 5.28.2015 | No Place Like Home for Cuddyer, Vic Black Ready for Action, Minor League Promotions, 2015-2016 IFA Signings

David Wright Injury Tracker | Diagnosed with Spinal Stenosis. In California to see specialist. 

Mike Puma | New York Post- Michael Cuddyer is a giant homebody. The Mets outfielder continued his recent surge with a home run Wednesday in a 7-0 victory over the Phillies, raising his average to .381 over his last 12 games at Citi Field. “I like hitting at home, no matter where home is,” Cuddyer said. “You’re used to the background, you’re used to the surroundings, the confines, you’re used to everything. The more you play somewhere, the better off you are and if you look at my track record I have always hit better at home — no matter what my home was.” Overall, Cuddyer is hitting .322 with three homers and 15 RBIs at Citi Field this season. On the road, he is hitting .195 with two homers and seven RBIs.

(Chris Soto: When the Mets initially signed Cuddyer, the biggest concern was how his Coors induced home/away splits would translate moving to Citi Field. Oddly enough, that split has actually widened by coming to New York as shown by his road stats above. That said, he needs to start picking it up as those road stats aren't going to be acceptable going forward. While he does have an unfavorable BABIP of .240 on the road, it's not horribly bad. His 27.5% K rate on the road IS a bigger concern and is putting a ton of pressure on his average.)


David Hong | Metsmerized Online- Mets reliever Vic Black, who has been trying to come back from shoulder and neck issues, passed a significant hurdle last night. The right-hander has now pitched in back to back scoreless relief appearances with Double-A Binghamton and according to Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen, Black is now ready to come off the DL. “I think I’m ready,” Black told Lynn Worthy of the Press and Sun Bulletin. “I believe I am. It’s up to them. That’s just how this whole process goes.“I can get outs right now. I don’t care where you put me, I can get outs. I think that’s the biggest key outside of the back-to-back.”

(Chris Soto: Black will likely be activated in time for the Marlins series starting tomorrow with LHRP Jack Leathersich likely to be the guy who gets demoted for him. While it may not seem like much, having Black back in the fold is a big boost to the bullpen. While they won't immediately used him in high leverage spots, once he gets eased back in, he can provide better quality in the 8th inning than Carlos Torres. This has a trickle down effect...Black over C. Torres improves the 8th, C. Torres over A. Torres improves the 7th, which in turn reduces A. Torres' usage since Goeddel/Robles are pitching better than him anyway.)


Chris McShane | Amazin Avenue- The Mets have promoted right-handed pitching prospect Robert Gsellman from High-A St. Lucie to Double-A Binghamton and sent fellow right-handed pitching prospect John Gant down from Binghamton to St. Lucie. Gsellman is as solid a mid-tier pitching prospect as you're going to find. The 21-year-old prep product has filled out his sturdy, 6'4", 200 lbs frame nicely, adding a few ticks to a fastball that still works in the low-90s but now reaches 94 MPH without maxing out. His advanced command of that pitch, along with a surprisingly polished change-up allowed him to breeze through his first taste of full-season baseball.

(Chris Soto: Promotions have begun in Mets prospect land. Expect to see a number of player movements up and down at each level of the organization as clubs around the MLB begin prepping their short season minor league teams to start play over the next 3 weeks. With Kyle Johnson now manning CF for the 51's, they are short a corner OF so look for Jayce Boyd to be promoted soon with Conforto moving to Binghamton to join Nimmo and Cecchini.)


2015-2016 International Free Agent Signing Period (MLBPipeline.com)

• One important date that is sneaking up on us is June 1st. This is the official date that clubs may no longer sign international free agents against their '14-'15 budgets, After a 30 day rest period, clubs can begin signing this year's crop of 16 yr old talent from other countries. In the Mets case, generally they sign 1 high impact youngster and spread out the rest of the funds so lesser known "wild cards." However this year, it looks like they are having a bit of a strategy change. The Mets are rumored to have $1.0M+ agreements already in place for both the #12 and #14 overall international free agents. With a '15-'16 budget of only $2,531,300, the club may have blown through their entire allowance on just these two guys. So who are they?

• #12 SS Andres Gimenez- Scouts love what they see in Gimenez, who is 5-foot-11 and nearly 160 pounds. They also love that he makes the game look easy because of his natural abilities. He's smooth. Overall, Gimenez is lean, athletic and full of energy. The middle infielder has also shown the type of speed that could land him at the top of the order one day. He has a good hitting approach and is considered a line-drive hitter. He has some power and has displayed the ability to hit the ball into the gaps on a consistent basis. On defense, Gimenez profiles as an everyday shortstop if he continues to develop as expected. He has smooth defensive actions and an arm strong enough to keep him at the position.

• #14 SS Gregory Guerrero- The nephew of former Major League star Vladimir Guerrero and the cousin of fellow top prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Gregory Guerrero has a famous last name, but he's also making a name for himself. Known for his strong arm and quick feet, Guerrero has opened eyes with his easy actions on defense. He's a fluid defender and has a knack for making plays look easy. His tools and athletic ability will likely keep him at the position as he grows into his body and develops as a player. On offense, the teen is not as strong as his cousin Vlad Jr., but Gregory has shown some raw power and the ability to hit home runs. He's a decent runner and has been working on stealing bases.

The Morning Report 4.23.2015 | Gee's Frustration, Marlins Front Office Trouble, Dan Rohlfing, Vladimir Guerrero's Nephew

Mets Current Winning Streak: 10 Games and Counting

Adam Rubin | ESPN New York- The day after his second start of the season, with his ERA sitting at 7.59, Gee initiated a meeting last Friday with manager Terry Collins. Said Collins: "He's been a little frustrated with the whole scenario -- the wintertime, spring training, all he's had to do. And he said to me, 'Hey, it's time for me to go pitch. It's time for me to go out and pitch, and pitch my kind of baseball, which I know I can do."I said, 'Dill, you don't owe anybody any explanations. You deserve this chance. You deserve to be in this rotation. You've just got to go do your job.'

(Chris Soto: No matter what anyone says or thinks about Dillon Gee, the fact is, he IS a MLB caliber SP and does deserve to be in the rotation. Even though his ERA says otherwise, Dillon has been just as good as the rest of the guys in the Mets rotation so far this season. His K rate is holding flat year over year but he has cut his BB rate in half. The only thing hurting him right now is the fact that 20% of the flyballs he's giving up are leaving the park! That's twice the normal MLB rate. It's unsustainable and it will normalize itself out over the next few starts, thus dropping his ERA.)


Ken Rosenthal | Twitter

Sources: Backman not a candidate to replace Redmond if #Marlins change managers. Loria actively reviewing. Redmond remains under scrutiny.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) April 22, 2015

(Chris Soto: Apparently, Loria's lack of patience is causing quite a stir amongst his front office personnel. It sounds like he wants to make a move and is extremely intriguied by Wally Backman but none of the people he has hired to run the actual operations does. We know all too well that this is the kind of  ownership meddling that can ruin an organization's chances at winning. April is not even over yet and the Marlins are already 8 games behind 1st place. It's the old adage....."You can't win the division in April, but, you certainly can lose it.")


Michael McCarty | Amazin Avenue- With Travis d'Arnaud's injury, the subsequent promotion of Kevin Plawecki to the major leagues, and announcement that Anthony Recker has a bone spur in his elbow, the Mets needed to bolster their depth at the catcher position. The result of all of that is that the Mets have acquired Dan Rohlfing from the Twins in exchange for cash considerations. Rohlfing will immediately report to Triple-A Las Vegas to take Plawecki's spot on the roster.

(Chris Soto: A minor move to take care of a small problem. If Recker ends up needing to miss time due to the bone spur, you can expect the club to call up Johnny Monell, who was the only catcher on the Las Vegas roster left before this trade. In his minor league career, Rohlfing is a .243/.319/.327 hitter so he is nothing more than organizational filler.)



Kiley McDaniel | Fangraphs- Gregory Guerrero, SS, Dominican Video: Guerrero’s defensive and offensive actions remind me of the top player from last year’s class, Brewers SS Gilbert Lara. Lara has a good bit more juice in his bat and I think both eventually end up at third base, but Guerrero has looseness to his swing and above average bat speed and power projection, so he would profile fine there. He’s rumored to have a deal with the Mets for $1.8 million..

(Chris Soto: Well sounds like we lost out on Vlad Guerrero's son who is expected to sign a $4.4M signing bonus with the Toronto Blue Jays, but, we did get his nephew. This signing would leave the Mets with approximately $750,000 left in the international pool to sign other players. I suspect that the requirement of having to incurre IFA penalties to sign Vlad Jr. is what scared the Mets away. The Blue Jays signing of Guerrero is going to cost them 2 years of limited IFA signing abilities)

Lets Go Mets!