5/22/15

Mack’s Morning Report – 5-22-15 – Erik Goeddel, Marlins Closer, Hansel Robles, Dillon Gee



Good morning.

Mack’s Mets has always been known for its talented writing staff, but what most readers don’t realize is all the writers here made their bones when they became a writer here.

With that, we need a couple more of you to join us as:
1.     A Monday 10 weekly writer (joining Tom Brennan, Reese Kaplan, and Ernest Dove)

2.     An occasional writer (like Stephen Guilbert, D-Whit, and Chris Soto) that I can slot into open post areas.

Please email me at: macksmets@gmail.com and we can discuss the details.




Joe Maddon says he has this written on his game card: "Do not be a fan." Says biggest way to avoid game stress is to not be a fan.




I guess we need to start taking Erik Goeddel a little more serious.

In the beginning, he was just an ex-minor league starter that was called up to fill a slot created by others going on the disabled list.

Since then, and prior to Tuesday night, he threw 11.1 innings of scoreless ball in 13 appearances. He’s also produced a 0.79 WHIP, and 12-Ks and only 2-BB, .250-BABIP, 1.86-FIP, 3.36-xFIP, and a 0.2-WAR during that period.

Marc Carig http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/mets/erik-goeddel-moves-up-pecking-order-in-bullpen-1.10442972 wrote early this week that Goeddel has developed a splitter with a 36% swing and miss rate.

Michael Baron http://justmets.mlblogs.com/2015/05/17/erik-goeddel-is-earning-himself-higher-leverage-chances/ followed this up with a similar article after listening to Terry Collins sing the praises of Goeddel.

Let’s assume that Bobby Parnell, Vic Black, and Dillon Gee all work themselves back to the Mets 25-man. Will one of these returnees mark the return of Goeddel to Las Vegas, where he absolutely doesn’t deserve being sent?

My assumption right now is Hansel Robles, Jack Leathersich, and a toss between Goedell and Sean Gilmartin will be demoted.

Me? I’m not that impressed with what I see from Parnell yet so any decision to bring him to Queens could be delayed until around the All-Star break.



Carlos Gomez on Noah Syndergaard: “How can I guy like that get traded?”



I know that the last thing any team wants to do is help a divisional rival, but sometimes you can accomplish what you need to do by supplying another team a person that can fill a position that is desperately needed to be filled.

Miami has had eight blown saves so far this season.  Eight blown saves.

At the same time, the Mets bullpen may wind up being overfilled with quality arms once guys like Bobby Parnell and Vic Black come back.

My guess at this point is that, if a closer is chosen to be on the National League all-star team, it will be Jeurys Familia. One guy it won’t be is Jenrry Mejia.

The Marlins current shortstop is 26-year old Adeiny Hechavarria, who is currently batting .312. He’s being paid $1.925mil this season and is under team control through the 2018 season.

Miami also has 26-year old Miquel Rojas (AAA New Orleans - .331) in the wings, with Jordany Valdespin playing in the N.O. behind him.

Lastly, Hechavarria is ranked 5th in all of baseball with a .981 FPCT and has only three errors for the season.

Desperate teams sometimes make desperate trades and a Mejia for Hechavarria one-on-one deal once Mejia’s suspension is over could be just what Dr. Sandy ordered.




I watched the Mets-Cards game on ESPN Monday night and the announcer mentioned that there used to be a time that, if your bullpen had two or three guys that threw the ball in the 91-92 range, you were considered to have an electric bullpen. He also mentioned that now, everybody seems to have an entire staff that throws in the 94-98 range.

I don’t think it was a coincidence that St. Louis was playing that night. They just happened to be the team that all the rest in the league have tried to duplicate when it comes to 4-5 speed-ballers at the back end of their bullpen.

It also was interesting that he spoke when Hansel Robles had just thrown a 98mph fastball. I was thrilled when the Mets converted Robles to a reliever and he seems to be settling in just fine at the major league level.

As of 5-20, Robles has appeared in eight games, thrown 7.2 innings and has nine strikeouts and two walks. His ERA is 3.52, has a .327-FIP, 3.21-xFIP and 0.1-WAR.
Right now, it’s probably a toss-up if he stays in Queens once Bobby Parnell and Vic Black come back. My guess is first to go would be Jack Leathersich, but we’ll have to wait and see.




And since we’re talking about the pen, should we consider re-building this with the addition of Dillon Gee as the primary 2-inning long man?

We all know how much we hate the 5-7th inning of these games. Most of the Mets starters still haven’t mastered their skills past six inning and they also seem to come close to their innings limit at the same time.

The Mets need… well, the Mets need another starter to step in and get each game into the 9th inning for Jeurys Familia (who’s also starting to look a little worn out). Gee could be perfect in this role, at least two or three games a week.

Discussion…



11 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

Writing for Macks Mets is fun - try it, you'll like it.

They have SO many pitchers to sort thru...so to me there is no rush for Black or Parnell. Black stunk last Nite,and Parnell is having tons of trouble with A ballers. Last thing we need is for them to rush back and mess up a good thing.

Lots of talk about sending Thor down and Gee up. Thor gets a chance to speak in his defense on the mound tonight.

Mack, I agree on trading relief to Marlins if they will overpay out of desperation. By the time Mejia is back, Blevins will be too. Add in Black, Parnell, Montero(?) and cripes, what a logjam.

Ernest Dove said...

Gonna be tough to take Robles and/or Goeddel out of this bullpen.
Screw the Marlins (and yes I live in south florida) Don't give them anything.
The 2015 Mets need to do whats best for the 2015 Mets. Not supposed to still be rebuilding mode anymore. If Black and/or Parnell are throwing 95+ in June, then send down Leathersich and choose between whoever else is having any kind of struggle. If they seriously dont want mejia then trade him for a bench player, a defensive specialist or a high level prospect.
Perhaps Mets have run into a good time to face Pirates, and then the upstart Phillies will hopefully come back down to earth against us after that.
Then bring on wright and tda and lets go!!!

eraff said...

I'd like Roebels to stay, for right now....

Charles said...

Miami wouldn't trade their starting SS for our suspended ex closer, even after he gets reinstated. Starting SS's that have decent bats and great gloves don't get traded, when they have years of control left, for relievers.

The Mets unfortunately just don't have an immediate answer to their SS problem unless they trade Thor or Matz plus other prospects. Since they won't do that, they have to wait until next off season or until Gavin Cecchini is ready sometime in 2016.

Hopefully Wilmer settles down and his bat picks up...

ZachBoyer said...

Did anybody here see this?

These are tweets from the Mets reporter who covers them for mlb.com.

A link: https://twitter.com/AnthonyDiComo

1. "Matt Harvey gave Noah Syndergaard some ribbing for answering postgame questions on a day he didn't pitch. Resulted in an awkward situation."

2. "Reporters had approached Syndergaard asking about tomorrow's start. Syndergaard seemed baffled by Harvey's joking (?) disapproval."

And 3. "Yes. He repeatedly asked Syndergaard "what did you do today?" to warrant the media attention."

This guy was the only reporter I know of to acknowledge this anywhere, Twitter or otherwise. Is he story-chasing? Is this a big deal? Apparently not. Because it seems like the kind of thing the media would make a big deal of and, well, they haven't.

But it did elicit such twitter responses as "I feel like the Met players don't like him?"

And to that I'd just like to say that I really hope that's not true. I think he's a sensitive kid. As one, a sensitive kid, I'm not much older than Noah, I know what that's like. You don't immediately laugh at something, people think you're not part of the team or trying to stand out or otherwise not one of the guys. And if you've heard him do interviews he's clearly intelligent (which bodes well for pitching). I just don't want anyone to get isolated like Valdespin was. I didn't think that was right, although I don't know all the details.

Mack Ade said...

Zach -

I think the story you were referring to was Harvey being critical of the reporters.

It's been a long unwritten rule to not talk to or question starters the day night before or day of their next start

Tom Brennan said...

Agree with eraff on Robles. If he is throwing 98, he might be the best of him, Panell, and Black when the walking wounded return.

Mack Ade said...

Thomas -

I agree.

If you can throw 98 for an inning, you don't have to do much of anything else.

Michael S. said...

Noah is just young, he'll catch on and fit in.

As far as dealing Mejia, I'm all for it...just as part of a package deal. We don't need him and other teams might. Just add this chip to the pile we have.

Brian Joura said...

That's an interesting trade proposal because I think both sides would say no.

I'm not 100% on board with AH because he profiles too much like Juan Lagares as a hitter. He doesn't walk, doesn't have much extra-base power and needs the hits to fall in to be productive.

But boy, would he be an upgrade on defense!

Mack Ade said...

Brian -

All I want is someone to get the play done.