Mack Ade – AM Report – 7-10-13 – Zach Dotson, Josh Satin, San Diego, Kris Benson, Biogenesis

 

I heard from ex-prospect and local hotshot, P Zach Dotson, who, so far, has made it a living being in the Mets extended camp:

zach Dotson ‏@_ZachDotson  @JohnMackinAde I'm 2 weeks away from being game ready

This is real good news for people like me that believe in this kid. 

                                                                                Giants sign Jeff Francoeur to minors deal  

James Preller -

In the professional ranks, it happens with draft picks. The guy taken in the 2nd Round will get a much longer look (read: opportunity to succeed) than the 12th Rounder. That’s life. It’s not exactly unfair, either, since the kid earned that slot through years of play. With the late draft pick, it’s the opposite; he begins with two proverbial strikes against him, almost no room for failure. That kind of player has to force his way into a team’s plans. The wonderful thing is that some of those late-bloomers develop a tough hide in the process. They compete harder, dig deeper, get tougher. They love proving the experts wrong. http://2guystalkingmetsbaseball.com/two-outliers-opportunity-knocks-softly-for-jeremy-hefner-josh-satin/

This was  a story about Josh Satin and Jeremy Hefner, two players I assume the Mets will do everything in their power to keep in their organization next season. Obviously, add these two to your 40-man. 

                                                                San Diego Padres club president Tom Garfinkel has resigned 

Word is that San Diego is now in the selling mode. What do they have out there to look for?

                                P Huston Street (0-4, 4.30)– assumption of $7mil 2014 contract

                                CF Cameron Maybin (.157 - DL) - $5.1/mil-2014, $7.1mil-2015, $8.1mil-2016

                                C Nick Hundley (.246) - $4mil-2014

                                OF Chris Denofria (.267) - $2.25mil-2014

                                LHP Cory Luebke (DL) - $3.125-2014, $5.357-2015

 

Former Mets pitcher Kris Benson's ex-wife Anna was arrested Monday after a bizarre incident in which she broke into his Georgia apartment with weapons and demanded money. According to the TMZ report, Anna had Kris at gunpoint and ordered him to pay her cash a day after a court order forced her to vacate the residence. She was wearing a bulletproof vest and also had a metal baton. Kris told her he would pay her but left to call the police instead. http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/backpage/former_mets_pitcher_benson_held_bagsmbKbalPfVmZwzjU8fL#ixzz2YY4Bx4ER

                                                My daughter went to college with Kris. Good guy, but just picked his women badly.

 

Officials have decided to slow down the process of handing out suspensions involving the Biogenesis Clinic mess in South Florida. Purists of the game wanted certain players (Nelson Cruz, Jhonny Peralta, Everth Cabrera, Bartolo Colon) from being prevented from playing in the upcoming all-star game, but investigators don’t want to rush this and screw things up.

It will happen when it happens, but what’s important here, is the fact that this is not going away, meaning, there will probably be a 50-game suspension for OF Cesar Puello, even if all he did was make an appointment and walk in the door.

I continue to be surprised that Puello hasn’t been sent to Vegas. I assume it’s so he can participate in the Binghamton playoffs and I also expect him to come to Queens in September as part of the add-on squad then. Look for the 50-games to take place at the beginning of next season.

 

Howard Megdel on Carlos Torres –

In the abstract, the Mets have the luxury of waiting until the end of the season to make decisions about Torres and 2014. But in a world where Bobby Parnell can fetch a significant return in trade, and the Mets badly need position players, how well Torres can step in is something the Mets would be better off knowing in weeks, not months, ahead of the July 31 non-waiver trading deadline. Let’s just wait on proclaiming Carlos Torres a bullpen mainstay. But don’t envy Mets decision-makers. They don’t have the luxury of waiting much longer. http://mets.lohudblogs.com/2013/07/09/how-real-is-carlos-torres/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

This sounds like a good plan, unless someone gets hurt and Torres could set in as an emergency starter for the remainder of the season.

Prospect Profile – SP – Zach Dotson – by Mack Ade

August 14, 2009 was a very special day for Eddie and Teresa Dotson. That was the day their son, Zach Dotson, signed a contract to be a pitcher for the New York Mets.

Dotson, the ace of the Effingham County High School Rebels (GA.) was drafted by the Mets in the 13^th round; however, no one really expected him to sign. He had sent the word out that he was going to attend the University of Georgia, so most teams passed on what normally would have been a first day pick.

The Mets took a shot and called out his name and the negotiating for the over-slot signing bonus began.

"I wanted to play for the Mets since they drafted me," said Dotson. "The decision came down to seeing what was there and when the offer was where I liked it, the decision was made."

Dotson did a smart thing. He knew his pick in the 13^th round was one of over-slotting, so he took his sweet ass time in signing. This got him the maximum signing bonus which he quickly stashed away in the bank past the applicable purchase of one tricked out truck.

The world was his for taking and the Georgia boy had ‘done good’.

Then, the shit hit. Nagging injuries were followed by a stupid mistake. The major league baseball drug program basically says you can’t take anything internally unless it is approved by both the team, in particular and baseball in general. We, as fans, write all this off as PEDs, heroin and the stuff grown behind the corn fields in the back forty of our family’s country home. Dotson had some medical issues he chose to address through his private doctors and what’s wrong with that, right? Well, in major league baseball, it’s a lot wrong and Zach found himself tagged with a 50-game suspension.

Things changed immediately. Friends ran in the other direction. Players wanted their lockers moved away from Dotson’s. I’m not even sure his dog wanted anything to do with him. Dotson was sent home to heal and he eventually was sent home to await another season.

That came and went with more injures, none of which were skeletal or based on genetics. They simply were things caused when one tries to get his body back in major league shape before it is ready. 2009 became 2010, which quickly became 2011 and Dotson’s name was only spoken when the subject of ‘what ever happened to…’ came up. The Mets did let him get up on the bump at the end of last season and he gave up around 1100 runs in 0.1, but’s that’s okay. He felt the rubber. He was on the mound during a professional baseball game. He was going in the right direction.

Dotson is now playing Kingsport in 2012. He would now be a junior in he went to Georgia, so we need to put this whole story in perspective. He’s sporadically coming out of the pen which does nothing for arm strength, but he’s still pitching. He rooms with his buddy, Steve Matz, who is another Mets prospect that has strayed, but that’s another story.

This story remains incomplete. In one sense Zach is now playing for his impending Rule 5 year, but that won’t go well unless he starts to put the numbers up. I talked to him earlier this week and, by his report, he’s 100% physically. All that is left is mound time and confidence.

I believe in Zach Dotson. I’m not sure if the Mets do anymore, but I know that Eddie and Teresa do also. I look every night to see if he got in the game and I was sure I’d see him name last night. Kingsport had a sizable lead and what better time would there be to throw in someone that needed to throw at least 25 pitches. It didn’t happen. Maybe tonight.

Don’t forget this guy. Remember, he’d be a junior in college and we’d have him projected as a first day pick come next June.

Hang in there Zach. Better times are coming.

Stock: Dillon Gee, Nick Carr, Zach Dotson, Jeurys Familia, Luis Mateo

Stock Down – SP Dillon Gee - Overall season wise, you couldn’t have asked for a more pleasant surprise this season in Gee; however, a closer look shows the wear and tear: First 13 starts of the seasn: 7-0, 2.86. Last nine starts: 3-4, 5.61. It’s not the innings… he has 112.1 this year as a Met, but threw 161.1 in 2010 for Buffalo. Just might be the hitters are catching up with the 4-pitch juggle.


8-13-11: - Stock Up – RP Nick Carr – Carr has come off the disabled list for the umpteenth time and pitched the first inning for the GCL Mets on Saturday. Stat line: 1.0-IP, 0-R, 1-H, 1-K. I assume he will eventually be assigned to St. Lucie, even though he should easily be pitching AA-ball right now. Another high ceiling prospect that went down multiple times with injuries.


8-13-11: - Stock Down – P – Zach Dotson – Holy smollies! Dotson finally got off the suspension schneid (sp) and pitched his first inning of the 2011 season. Almost. His stat line was: 0.2-IP, 2-H, 2-ER, 3-BB, 27.00. Ya think there were some butterflies? No big deal. The important think is he’s finally pitching.


8-13-11: - Stock Up: - SP Jeurys Familia – The best news about Saturday’s outing was the fact that Familia was on a strict 80/pitch/5-iP limit, whichever came first. Familia has very little more to prove this year and there’s no reason to over pitch him. That being said, his line was: 5.0-OP, 2-H, 0-R, 7-K, 0-BB, hit 95 consistently, touched 96.


8-14-11: - Stock Up – SP Luis Mateo – prospect pitcher Luis Mateo started again today and turned in a good outing: 6.0-IP, 2-ER, 1-BB, 7-K. His seasonal ERA now stands at 2.17 and he has 72 strikeouts in 58.0 innings pitched, with only five walks. Outstanding.