ROSTER MOVES

2B Neil Walker has been activated on the New York Mets 25-man squad.

RP Drew Smith has been activated onto the AA-Binghamton roster.

The Miami Martins traded RPCL AJ Ramos to the Mets for SP Merandy Gonzalez and OF Ricardo Cespedes (I assume Ramos has been placed on the Mets 25-man squad).

P Martin Anderson was promoted from Rookie-Brooklyn to A-Columbia

Tom Brennan - COLUMBIA PEN PROS

Tom Brennan - COLUMBIA PEN PROS

Columbia's bullpen has been lighting up like - well, fireflies. 

Columbia has a 54-45 record largely due to its pitchers having a 2.96 ERA.

Much of that was due to the dynamic starting duo of Merandy Gonzalez and Jordan Humphreys.

But there've been great pen performances too.  Here goes:

ADONIS UCETA - 4-0, 1.26, 11 saves by the 23 year old 6'1", 230 righty.  47 Ks in 43 IP.  Move him up, up, up. (And, hours after writing this on Wednesday, the Mets did exactly that, as he fanned 3 of his 4 outs in a nifty debut).

He had a 4.99 ERA as a Kingsport starter in 2016, so the switch to the pen?  Makes a lot of sense to me.

MATT BLACKHAM - 24 year old Tommy John survivor (missed half of 2015, all of 2016) is now a thriver.  4-1, 1.90, 1.10 WHIP, 62 Ks in 43 IP.  Move him up, up, up.  Fast, fast, fast.  Hard thrower. 29th rounder in 2014, likely due to being just 5'10", 170.  Queens or bust by 2019.

AUSTIN MCGEORGE - he is more St Lucie Met than Columbia man, having been promoted to St Lucie a while back.  Some combined levels' performance: 34 IP, 45 Ks, 0.95 WHIP, 1.60 ERA.  2016 7th rounder: looks like a nice selection indeed.  Maybe he shows up in Queens in 2018.

ADAM ATKINS - in his last 10 games, 15 IP, 8 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 15 Ks.   This 6'3", 220 righty (18th round, 2016) seems quite competent.

MATT POBEREYKO - this is a real interesting one.  Undrafted, 25 years old, the Mets picked him up not too long ago.  The 6'3", 230 righty relieved in 10 games total, but the last 7?  Whoo hoo!  11.1 IP, 8 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 21 friggin' Ks.  Nice.

JOE ZANGHI - 0-2, 3.02 4 saves in 28 games.  Still fans a lot, with 49 in 42 IP after crazy high K #'s in Brooklyn last year, but his WHIP is a bit high at 1.39.   A 24th round selection in 2015, by Cincy, he is 6'0" and a hefty 254.  He feels to me like a Beck Wheeler type to me so far; we'll see how he fares in his 3rd season in 2018 at a higher level.

MAX KUHNS - the 21st rounder in 2016 was really kicking it until a mid-June injury - 17 games, 1-0, 2.10, 0.90 WHIP, 5 of 6 saves, 37 Ks in 26 IP.  I hoped it was not too serious an injury for the high performing 6'2", 210 righty, but bad news: he just had (you get 3 guesses) Tommy John friggin' surgery!

An excellent batch of bugs, lighting up Columbia. 

My advice to one and all of the above righty hopefuls - learn a knuckler - as good as your numbers are in full season A ball this year, they may not be good enough as you climb further up the slippery slope towards Queens.  And send out a bounty hunter to track down Tommy John, once and for all.  Tell them to bring silver bullets.

Reese Kaplan -- What's on Second; I Don't Know's on Third

The Mets are in an interesting position with two seemingly productive ballplayers who, against all odds (and against the wishes of a certain manager who shall remain nameless) seem to be forcing their way into the lineup on a regular basis with their bats if not their gloves.  T.J. Rivera and Wilmer Flores profile somewhat similarly as bat-first players who, like Michael Jackson, wear a single glove on one hand for no apparent reason. 

This year’s spate of injuries is providing the team the opportunity to see how beneficial it can be to have their bats to help score runs.  While neither of them will win a Gold Glove (or a Silver or a Bronze) anytime soon, you have to wonder if given the opportunity whether or not their offensive games will be sufficiently good to compensate for their defensive shortcomings. 

By some accounts they have penciled in T.J. Rivera to be the everyday third baseman for 2018.  (This assessment, of course, came before his torn UCL which could end up requiring Tommy John surgery).  While corner infielders are traditionally boppers, Rivera is more of the Placido Polanco type who had a long and productive career, finishing with a .297 career batting average despite only hitting double digits in home runs three times and in stolen bases twice. 

Perhaps as parallel for T.J. Rivera who is familiar to Mets fans (and makes them cringe) is Justin Turner.  He was a Baltimore infield prospect who floated from position to position, always having hit well in the minors with a career .308 mark.  He never tallied more than 12 HRs in a single season so it was assumed he was a singles/doubles hitter when Sandy Alderson chose to let his $800K utility player leave.  The rest, as they say, is history.  Interestingly Turner provided 27 HRs in 2016 for the Dodgers during his age 31 season so he’s either a late bloomer or perhaps he found the syringe of youth (no rumors nor accusations, but it was out of character). 

The other big stick who gets no respect is Wilmer Flores.  He’s demonstrated an ability to mash left handed pitching, and although he struggles more with righties, his numbers speak for themselves.  If you extrapolate what he’s done over the past few years he’s good for about 25 HRs and 88 RBIs over the course of a full season while batting in the .260s. 

The analogous player in Mets lore who comes to mind also causes some cringing – Jeff Kent.  He was a guy who did 20/80 production but the Mets thought he was not a good fit and banished him to Cleveland as part of a trade to get Carlos Baerga, the poster child for underperforming former All-Stars until Jason Bay came to town.  Kent didn’t really become a mainstay regular until age 29 with the San Francisco Giants but he put together an extremely solid run producing career that saw him make multiple All Star Selections as well as an MVP award. 

Although sometimes it seems as if Flores has been around forever, he’s not yet hit his 26^th birthday and that suggests there’s still time for him to get even better.  With a more supportive manager he might develop into an All-Star himself. 

Many people have clamored (myself included) for the Mets to go hot and heavy after Mike Moustakas to take over 3B for 2018.  Moustakas is also a late bloomer, having his first truly noteworthy season as part of the 2015 World Series Champion Royals when he hit .284/22/82 with only 76 Ks for the year at age 26.  The following season was lost to injury, but he's come back with a vengeance, already having hit 29 HRs, 62 RBIs and batting .277.  There is an uptick in his strikeouts with 62 already, but he's on a pace for around 110, hardly a high number for someone who should crack 40 HRs.  The question is do you want to fork over $80 million or more in a FA contract to someone like Moustakas or roll the dice on your homegrown, under $3 million solution in Wilmer Flores?

The question for the Mets in 2018 is who plays where?  Everyone is assuming the two minor league blue chippers – Amed Rosario and Dom Smith – are being handed the jobs at shortstop and first base respectively.  With perhaps no Asdrubal Cabrera, no Neil Walker and no Jose Reyes next season, could the strong gloved rookie duo help make up for the defensive liabilities of both Rivera and Flores with one at 2B and the other at 3B?  As bad as Wilmer Flores has shown at SS and 3B, he makes himself look like Brooks Robinson compared to Rivera at 3B.  Maybe the flip-flop makes sense with Flores at 3B and Rivera at 2B.  

Many have written here about the need for strong defense up the middle.  If that’s the new direction, then catcher, 2B and CF are all up for grabs.  If the team pitched the way everyone had hoped they would, then you could probably withstand glove-first players in those positions with sufficient offense coming from Yoenis Cespedes, Michael Conforto, Dom Smith, Amed Rosario and one half of the lead-gloved duo at 3B.  However, with a staff ERA closer to 6.00 than it is to 3.00, is that the right path to take?

Oddly, I think a lot rides on how well Chris Flexen does in his part-year trial in Queens.  If he can show flashes of success, they may opt for the defensive route assuming you have solid contributions from Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, more consistency from Steve Matz and a comeback from Matt Harvey.  If he merely muddles through the last two months then the Mets may continue looking to put a team capable of scoring 6 runs per game on the field in support of lackluster pitching.  Or they could surprise us all and actually reinforce the roster with more pitching and have contingency plans for a change.  

Do Rivera and/or Flores see what they could do with 500+ ABs?  If you're the Mets, do you take a chance on making both of them full-time infielders and thus freeing up all of your departing FA money to go after pitching and catching?

TRADE!!! Mets Acquire Marlins CL A.J. Ramos for Merandy and R. Cespedes

     According to Ken Rosenthal via Twitter, the Mets have acquired closer A.J. Ramos from the Miami Marlins.

The Mets send SP Merandy Gonzalez and OF Ricardo Cespedes to the Marlins.

UPDATE - OF - Brandon Nimmo

OF Brandon Nimmo to New York Mets from AAA-Las Vegas

P Tyler Pill from New York Mets to AAA-Las Vegas

UPDATE - 1B - Dash Winningham

Effective Friday, July 28, 2017

                - 1B Dash Winningham was placed on Columbia’s disabled list

                - LHP Blake Taylor was placed on Columbia’s disabled list

UPDATE - IF - T.J.Rivera

IF T.J. Rivera to DL - partial UCL tear in elbow

IF Neil Walker activated

And the beat goes on... 

UPDATE - C Ali Sanchez

C Ali Sanchez - fractured hamate bone in left hand - lost for the remainder of the season

UPDATE - OF - Desmond Lindsay

OF Desmond Lindsay underwent 'Ulnar Nerve Transposition'... probably lost for the remainder of the season.