7/10/14

Morning Report – July 10th – Marcus Molina, GMs/Drafts, Sully-Chat, Yanks Trade, deGrom


                                                                                                                                            
Coming Later Today –     
                                                                                            
            10 00 pm – Matt Gad - Plawecki: Will He Switch Positions To Make The Majors?                 

            3 00 pm – 2015 Draft Profile  -   RHP  -  Riley Ferrell  -  TCU - UPDATED 6-30-14




We’re keeping an eye on GCL Mets SP, 19-yr. old Marcos Molina

Molina was signed for a $100,000 bonus in 2013. He went into Tuesday’s Cyclones game with an opponent stat line of .090/.165/.115. He followed this with five more scoreless innings (6-K) and ended the day with a season low 0.38-ERA.

This is actually Molina’s 3rd year in the Mets system after going 14-G, 3.58 as a 17-yr. old for the 2012 DSL Mets, and then 11-G, 4.39 for the GCL Mets as an 18-yr. old for the GCL team.

I don’t expect any additional movement this year for Molina but there is a good chance he will open the 2015 season in the St. Lucie rotation. That would speed up his major league projection to a conservative 2018.



Last night was the 9th stright game the Mets homered at CitiField, a record since the place opened in 2009





OF Jared King (combined GCL/Sav/StL: .235) seems to have snuck himself onto the St. Lucie roster after rehabbing down the pathway with the GC Mets. Many have done this before rather than return to the hitter unfriendly Grayson Stadium in Savannah, Georgia.




Bill Metsiac

            Alderson vs 2 previous GMs who took over losing teams:

Cashen, in his first 5 drafts: FOUR players (Darryl, Doc, Schiraldi, and Jefferies) were ML regulars within 3 or 4 years. And these 4 were first-round picks. There may be others in those same drafts.

In Omar's first six drafts, three players (Pelfrey, Ike and Harvey were ML regulars within 3 years. Again, I'm just looking at 1st-rounders. Other rounds may have produced others.

Sandy, in 4 drafts with high selections, has ZERO, unless you can remember one I forgot.



Sully-Chat –

            Comment From Ricky - Zach Wheeler for Starlin Castro- who says no?

            Jeff Sullivan: Fun fact: Wheeler and Castro are the same age. Seems to me like the Cubs wouldn’t be satisfied by such an exchange

Mack – Boy, there just doesn’t seem to be much middle ground with Mets fans regarding Castro. They either love the chance of him playing for their team or absolutely hate it.

I walk away from this believing he’s a defensive liability but I also believe he would be the offensive solution to this position for many years to come.

I don’t see the Cubs rushing into anything regarding their four shortstops and the last thing the Mets are going to do right now is trade one of their few healthy pitching prospects.



Joey asked -

Mack, did you read the New York Post story about the Mets trading Daniel Murphy and Bartolo Colon to the Yankees? Your thoughts? 

Joey, I read the story after you sent it to me and that isn’t exactly what the story said. It speculated that the Yankees, Giants, and Toronto all were looking for a second baseman, but we know that already.
(by the way… do the Yankees actually have anyone in their upper level affiliates that the Mets would be interested in?)

What we don’t know what these teams would be offering for them. Both of these guys are very valuable to this year’s team as well as 2015 so, if I’m the GM, I’m not trading them for another middle infielder with a 2018-2019 ETA. I want an everyday shortstop or leftfielder for each of them.

I keep writing this team off and then they have series like the one that had against Texas and are currently having against the Braves. Let’s give Sandy until the rest of the month and see what he pulls off (if anything).





I couldn’t help watching the Jacob deGrom masterpiece and wonder about the game that CF Matt den Dekker went down with a fielding injury, making room for Juan Lagares to ‘spell’ him in centerfield until he could come back healthy. How many times have we seen guys like deGrom and Lagares get these kind of opportunities to make a team none of us thought they were capable of doing?

And, I guess, to a degree we have others this year. Did any of us believe that Lucas Duda was a better choice at first base than Ike Davis. And what about Eric Campbell, who only a few of us know about in the system?

Next year’s crew could even be more interesting. Thomas Brennan has been all over SS-2B-3B Matt Reynolds who just seem to be able to swing and not hit a ball on the barrel. It’s also only going to be a matter of time that C Kevin Plawecki walks in the clubhouse and sphincter muscles will be tightened in the front row of lockers.

There is a good chance that IF Wilmer Flores will get his third (and last) chance to start here, while RF Cesar Puello hopes he can outplay Brandon Nimmo for an early invite out of camp.

And then there’s the pitching… Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard, Rafael Montero, Bobby Parnell, Jeremy Hefner all could walk into the Big Boy Clubhouse in spring training and change the whole makeup of this team.

But back to the original point. Are there more? Could there be additional Lagaares’ and deGrom’s lurky out there waiting their turn? Darin Gorski? Matt Bowman? Tyler Pill? Danny Muno? Yeah, even Andrew Brown.



From Zozo - 

      Since the Red Sox are DFAing AJ Perzinski, why not trade Chris Young for him and see what we can get out of him, He would play part time to d'Arnaud, but might build some trade value in the next few weeks and then we could trade him. I think both contracts would cancel each other out, so no harm. We also have one too many outfielders anyway.

               Mack - Cute idea, but you first have to sell the Red Sox on it. I thin they plan on just releasing him anyway and it's real hard to sell anyone on the Young contract.

               Anybody have thoughts on this?
      


And lastly...

    I was particularly thrilled to see RHP Rafael Montero return to the mound yesterday afternoon in a rehab outing for the GCL Mets. The assumption is he will work his way back to the Las Vegas rotation and await the next call to Queens. Will it be in September or before? Will it be as a starter or reliever? Stay tuned.

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Umm....why would we trade for a 37 yr old catcher that's hitting worse (.419 OPS) than our back-up Anthony Recker (.735 OPS) over the past 30 days?

Quiet frankly I don't understand why there's even a controversy over why we need to keep Teagarden on the 40 man roster when Centeno and Plawecki are both in AAA......Sorry but pass.

Tom Brennan said...

Seeing pitchers drop like flies makes one hesitant to trade them. Yet, I wonder if Montero and Ynoa would get pitching-starved Cubbies (25th in major league ERA and now without a few pitchers) to part with Castro. And would the Mets be willing to do that? Ynoa is only 21 and had a fantastic outing in his 2nd start at AA last nite. Wonder if he could turn out to be better than Montero?

Tyler Pill only gets a call up if Duda goes down with an injury or something, and they need a clean up hitter. Tyler's the man...and we'd let him pitch once in a while to keep him happy!

Anonymous said...

@Tom Brennan

I get the sense that the Cubs are going to hold onto Castro. I'm hearing that the organization does not feel that Baez or Russell are capable of staying at SS long term.

I keep hearing that Baez would move to 3B, Russell to 2B, and Kris Bryant to LF. If this were to happen.....oh my lord would the Cubs middle of the line-up be deadly.

CF-
3B- Baez
1B- Rizzo
LF- Bryant
SS- Castro
2B- Russell
RF-
C-

Anonymous said...

I am also getting the sense that the Mets will NOT be major sellers at the deadline.

They are going to keep Murphy but let him go to arbitration 1 more time before deciding on a long term contract.

Colon on the other hand is going to get traded. This will open up $11m of payroll next year in addition to Chris Young's $7.5M and $3M from Jason Bay's 2014 contract buyout (people forget about that one)

Unknown said...

AJ had a pretty productive year last year. So I would send down recker for awhile even til end of August, because we could probably put AJ through the waver wire for a trade at that time as well.
We got something for Buck last year and I figure we might be able to do the same with AJ.
C Young is just wasting a roster spot for us and since the Red Sox are in need of a center fielder maybe a change of scenery for both could help, since both salaries are practically similar and if they are DFA'd we have to pay them anyways?

Hobie said...

There is no one in the Yankee organization worth Murphy. He's here until Dilson is less than a half-season away.

Now Colon for Aaron Judge? Even if I had to sweeten the deal with, say, Reynolds? Hmmm.

Unknown said...

Yeah that will free up about 20 mil, but we have a lot of arbitration guys this year and that should eat up about 10 of that.
I would definitely trade Murphy right after the all star break, because his stock won't ever be higher, and we have plenty of guys that can fill in at second til Herrera is ready. It would also free up $10 million more for free agency. I would personally put in Flores and Campbell and see which one fits best.

Anonymous said...

@Zozo

Why? Recker is more than a capable back-up. Adding AJ means adding a pro rated $8.5M to the payroll.

Like I said....Recker has been way better than AJ this year, is cost effective, and is younger....No brainer in my opinion.

Ernest Dove said...

Puello has quietly been putting together a few really good offensive performances..........would still love to see em get a few at bats playing left field in September.
Has anyone else noticed that Dom Smith seems to have pretty much decided to hit in EVERY single game out there in Savannah.
Regarding the whole buy or sell: only sell vets like colon dice k and CY, or if Anyone wants EY, Recker and the like......

Mets Dreams said...

On the Castro talk, I don't think the Mets need to go there yet. There are going to be several FA shortstop options in the off-season that could fill the spot. If the Mets are going to trade pitching I would rather see a long-term solution in the OF to go with Lagares and Granderson.

On the current state of the Mets: I keep flip flopping between glass half full and glass half empty. If d'arnaud and Duda continue to improve as they have so far, then suddenly the Mets have C and 1B figured out. 3B, RF, and CF are all in good shape. Assuming Murphy sticks around, 2B is above average. That leaves LF and SS as wildcards for the everyday lineup. Release CY, keep running Campbell out to LF with an occasional off day for EY and see if he can do the job. Somehow this team is a plus 6 in run differential so let's give the offense a little more time.

I agree with Mack to let the month of July play out and see where the team is at. The next 4 games are very important to test the ability of this team to get back into some semblance of contention.

Reese Kaplan said...

Am I the only one who thought of Wilmer Flores when I read Mack's comment about Starlin Castro?

"I walk away from this believing he’s a defensive liability but I also believe he would be the offensive solution to this position for many years to come."

The difference is Flores costs minimum wage and Castro makes more than Colon and Duda combined.

Tom Brennan said...

Hey Reese, how about Castro at SS and Flores at 2B if/when Murphy goes? Defense would be scary, but so would the offensive output in a good way. Lagares in center to scoop up all their miscues. Let's hit .280 as a team. Offensive players - I favor them. That's what late inning defensive replacements are all about!

Ernest Dove said...

I don't know........at some point the mets (and fans) need to focus on acquiring and maintaining major league producing talent.
We can dream all we want about Thor, Montero, Nimmo, Plawecki, Dom Smith and dilson herrera.....the fact is that NONE of them have succeeded at the major league level yet (Montero had a couple nice starts).
Starlin castro has and is producing against major league pitching.

Reese Kaplan said...

Tom Glavine said it best -- "Chicks dig the long ball."

No one comes to the park to see walks, bleeders and bloops. That's what we get out of our incumbent shortstop

The Closer said...

I know some people think this will be crazy, but after reading some talks about Tulo being interested in getting out of Colorado, I would look to make a blockbuster with Colorado in the offseason. The question becomes, "Do we have enough to get him" and I think we do.

With a package of 4 of these guys to choose from:

2B Daniel Murphy
IF WIlmer Flores
OF Cesar Puello
OF Brandon Nimmo
C Kevin Plawecki

SP Dillon Gee
SP Noah Syndergard
SP Jacob de Grom
SP Rafael Montero
SP Gabriel Ynoa
SP Logan Verrett
RP Jack Leathersich

amongst quite a few add'l throw in guys like Matt den Decker, Ruben Tejada, Matt Reynolds, etc.. if need be.

You think the Rockies would pass on:

SP Noah Syndergard
2B Daniel Murphy
C Kevin Plawecki
SP Jacob de Grom

for

SS Troy Tulowitski

4 ML ready players that could step in on opening day and make an impact for the Rockies, while filling a HUGE hole for us at SS/clean up hitter/support for DWright/give the team a little edge and show the fans that, ITS TIME!

Mack Ade said...

Afternoon everyone - you've been busy.

The problem with 'blockbuster trades" is you need to talk a team into giving you one of their top assets instead of trading him to another team that could offer you more.

The Mets don't currently have a tremendous amout of top players so they can only offer players in bunches. Other teams can just step in, offer 2-3 top players, and the deal is done.

Right now, I don't think the Mets could put together a deal for Tulo without losing 2 of their top pitchers and I'm just not ready to sign off on that

TP said...

@ Closer,
I like Tulo, and the Mets should be in on any conversation, but that price is too high. Tulo is a stud, no doubt, but he has a few concerns - home/away splits, injury history, age/comtract commitment. None of these on its own is a big deal, but together they should serve to drive down the price a little. Personally, I can't trade all the MLB-ready chips myself, even for a Tulo-caliber talent. Stanton maybe due to his age and 3+ years of control at a decent cost. Personally, I'd rather see the Mets fill the SS and LF power bat spots while maintaining as much pitching depth as possitble. That likely means two non-superstars, but I think a plus-fielding SS and deep balanced lineup with the pitching they have lined up can challenge for the division for years to come.

Unknown said...

I would trade our big 3 of Niese, gee and Murphy. They alone should bring us back enough for a Tulo trade, but I would add a wheeler and Nimo to a package to make it work.

Steve from Norfolk said...

MetsDreams,

The problem with the FA shortstops next offseason is that they are all within a year of 30 or well over. That means we would be paying high prices for declining performances. When we make a change, we would be better off with a ML ready prospect, someone under team control for a while at a controlled cost. Right now we have a good defensive SS who, while he's no powerhouse, is getting on base. Got to have runners on base for the power guys to get RBI's. While Tejada may not be our long-term solution, he's doing well enough that we don't have to rush and maybe get burned. We can live with him for a while - until something better comes along.

Mack Ade said...

First... let's see what Alderson comes up with before the end of the month comes

Past that... I think everybody is going to have to fall in line with what Alderson seems to planning here.

1. as long as this team is trying to win a playoff slot THIS year, Tejada will be the shortstop

2. next year... Tejada will NOT be offered arbitration

3. my guess is Flores will play every day in Las Vegas THIS year and be a late call up... then, 2015 is his year to start

4. Matt Reynolds could sneak in as a 2015 UT infielder

5. And the long range plan has always been Cecchini in 2017

Reese Kaplan said...

@Steve -- where were you with this logic when we hamstrung the budget for the declining years of David Wright? :)

Bill Metsiac said...

Ernest--Except for Montero, none of those on your list have even played a game on the ML level. I completely agree with you about wanting ML talent instead of more "futures". In the comment I made that Mack quoted, I gave examples of players drafted by both Cashen and Omar who reached the majors as regulars, even stars, within 3 years of being drafted. In 4 years of drafts, Alderson has yet to produce ONE ML player. He's traded ML talent for "maybes", but nothing more.

Especially in the NY market, to me that's unacceptable.

Dallas said...

Nice to see DeGrom finally getting some love from you Mack. He has to be a major factor in next years plans. He is pretty consistent and is one of the few Mets pitchers not getting hurt. Who is his competition for ROY?

So the Mets now have a better run differential than the Braves but are 7 games behind them. They have the 7th best run differential in the NL. Maybe the tide is turning. Guys like Duda, Granderson, TDA and even Tejada have started to produce.

The Closer said...

Mack,

"The Mets don't currently have a tremendous amout of top players so they can only offer players in bunches. Other teams can just step in, offer 2-3 top players, and the deal is done."

Thor, Plawecki, Murphy aren't considered top players? along with de Grom would be a lot to give up. Thor & Plawecki are Top 50 prospects on their own and Murphy is an All -Star. Colorado doesn't have a 2B at the moment, but they do have Trevor Story & Herrera, who are the potential heir aparts to Tulo if he leaves. Let's say we replace with Flores if they would prefer and resign Murphy. They also need top flight pitching, Thor & de Grom and while they have Rosario at catcher, Plawecki is a big ticket item right now and I'm sure they would love to snag him.

TP, I agree with you, but we have to give up big time players to get what I believe would be the Keith Hernandez / Mike Piazza our this generation and would instantly bring credibility to our team and make us the back page darlings. In a few years when Tulo can no longer be a SS, he can move to 3B or 1B (Wright to the other position) when Rosario is ready to take over the position, but that's still 4 years away.

For the Mets, we still have Harvey, Wheeler, Gee, Niese, Montero, Colon (likely traded soon) to pitch next year, plus other arms that could pitch in the 5 SP (Verrett, Bowman, Ynoa, Gorski, etc.) if we needed replacements due to injury. We also have d'Arnaud as our long term catcher, so Plawecki is redundant.

Let's say:

Flores (crushing it in the thin air of Vegas, Colorado has similar thin air. He could turn into a superstar in Colorado to be honest)
Plawecki
Syndergard
de Grom

for

SS Troy Tulowitski

My point was, I think we have more than enough to get a franchise changing player like Troy Tulowitski to hit in the middle of the order. Make a strong bid for Yasmani Tomas to play LF, sign Michael Cuddyer to platoon with Duda at 1B and backup OF and suddenly we have a playoff roster.

1. RF - Curtis Granderson (L)
2. 2B - Daniel Murphy (L)
3. 3B - David Wright (R)
4. SS - Troy Tulowitski (R) **Trade
5. LF - Yasmani Tomas (R) ** Free Agent
6. 1B - Lucas Duda (L) / Michael Cuddyer (R) ** Free Agent
7. C - Travis d'Arnaud (R)
8. CF - Juan Lagares (R)

Bench
Eric Campbell - (R)
Eric Young - (S)
Backup Catcher
Matt den Decker (L) / Kirk Niuwenhius (L)
Lucas Duda (L) / Michael Cuddyer (R)

SP
1. Matt Harvey (R)
2. Jonathan Niese (L)
3. Wheeler (R)
4. Gee (R)
5. Montero / Matsuzaka / Free Agent / Ynoa / Matz / Verrett

Bullpen
Parnell - (R) (Closer, assuming healthy)
Mejia - (R) Setup man
Familia - (R)
Black - (R)
Edgin - (L)
Leathersich - (L)
Veteran FA - (Neshek, Gregorson, K-Rod, Soria, preferable former closer to mentor the younger arms)

No one wants to give up our SP depth, I certainly get that, but between the guys we have NONE of them are over 28 (Gee), which means at least the top 4 will be around for quite awhile, so we won't have a need for another arm anytime soon.

The starting line up is a little too left handed, but you could move Grandy down and use Murphy or Lagares to lead off, as well as EY to hit lead off when he's in the lineup. I for one would purchase opening day tickets and atleast a 6 game package with a lineup like that, anyone else? Our payroll would be in the $115 M area, which is MORE than reasonable for a championship level roster.

If I were Sandy and assuming Colorado would listen to an offer for Tulo, I would go ALL-IN for him, otherwise it's a significant drop off in talent for the next best SS available, which would be Hanley Ramirez, who I wouldn't be against, but I would much rather Tulowitski if knowing how much we have to give up to get him.

Agreed/Disagree?

Thoughts?

The Closer said...

"The starting line up is a little too left handed"

Meant right handed**

Michael S. said...

NYM: Tulo
ROX: Gee, Flores, Plawecki, DeGrom

Rockies get two pitchers who have had success in the majors, a hitter who can replace Tulo short term and will likely thrive in Coors, and one of the best catching prospects in baseball. I'd even throw in a lesser 5th piece. But, I'm not upsetting the apple cart of our future rotation that includes Syndergaard.

Mack Ade said...

Closer:

Plawecki and Syndergaard are NOT top players. They haven't played a single inning in the major leagues.

Never confuse a prospect with a 'top player' in this game.

Stephen Guilbert said...

I don't understand the coup against Ruben Tejada. Sure, if we had Francisco Lindor, I would be with you, but for Flores instead? And eventually Cecchini? I'll keep Ruben Tejada. Flores is not a shortstop and he'll have to do some convincing to make me believe Cecchini is one either.

The Closer said...

Mack, who has 2-3 top ML players that they would be willing to trade for 1 top ML player? You don't typically see that type of trade, nor would it make sense really. I'm not sure if I understand since I'm sure most even casual fans understand the premise of a all star player vs highly rated prospects. Most of these all star players were highly rates prospects at one point, so they all have to start somewhere.

You don't see trades for big stars for big stars since there's been such an emphasis with having cost controlled talent under team control for 6 years. These types of blockbuster trades are typically for top prospects, which Syndergard, Plawecki and Flores to a lesser degree all are. All three are in AAA, so just a phone call away from the big leagues.

Michael: I would have to assume any trade for Tulo STARTS with Syndergard or the other end of the phone will be dial tone. Would you accept that deal if you were Colorado, I wouldn't if I were them. Obviously you'd love to keep him but I'm sure Colorado would insist. If they take Gee instead, fantastic but beggars can't be chosers and we most certainly are major beggars at this point so incredibly desperate for a superstar on this team. If you could make this happen any other way, I'm all for it but I was just trying to be realistic from both sides not just what works best for the Mets.

Mack Ade said...

Closer -

I was just saying that there is a big difference between a minor league prospect and someone that already has had success in the majors