OT: Raise the Jolly Roger: Draft Day!

[DJ Spinoza]

Regarding promotions, my .02 is that I don't think it's do-or-die, and I also think we might see a handful this coming Monday. I think the ones to bump are Fraizer and Mitchell, with everything else basically staying as it is. Maybe you think about an aggressive push on Head to a hitter friendly Greensboro situation (I am not sure what to make of good power for Bradenton + OBP + high K%), but that's about it from what I see.

Even in Fraizer's case, I don't think age/level tells you much because we're talking about someone who essentially lost their first pro year of development and still hit the ground running in an aggressive placement. I think placement is most important, and we're already seeing a bit that there's not a linear path or # of ABs guys need. Cherington has become increasingly candid that there was no plan for Castro to do anything but stay at AA this year, but he's probably going to skip AAA entirely. So in short, I think a similar thing could happen for Fraizer, or as IE said, he could bypass Altoona for Indy next year anyways. There are probably 40-man implications, too. Fraizer won't need added until Dec 22, so he probably stays in the minors all year next year anyways. Zooming back some, but Reynolds ended up getting the call due to injuries decimating, and similar depth issues + already on the 40-man paved the way for Castro this year.

If anything, I'd like to see us more aggressive with getting Mitchell up to AAA, since between the FO seemingly being totally out on Oliva and Mitchell being added to the 40-man this offseason, there is some chance Mitchell may be called upon early next year for an MLB audition.


With Brault and Moran soon to be activated, there are probably some more shoes to drop. I hope one of them is not Castro back to the minors. I've lost track of the 40-man, but it may be as simple as Kranick and Evans out (for the 26-man), and if a 40-man is needed for Brault, Evans can be DFA'd. I'd also like to see us try for Peters on the 40-man and tucked away in Indy. If I am counting right, even including Brault and Park, there are still 2-3 spots that are open for some additions, since we sent out Frazier, Holmes, RichRod, Davis, and Anderson (5) and the only 40-man guys we got back were Marcano, Wilson, and Chavis. We added Park with no corresponding move necessary, which leaves us +1 for Brault, and De Jong hasn't been put on the 60-man yet. Moran and Gonzalez are still on the 40-man.

Tldr; is that there should still be at least one 40-man spot to take a stab at Peters or some other DFA'd options. Peters just has such electric tools and relatively little "he failed" experience at the MLB level that I think it's worth taking a shot at if Arizona passes.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Found this little nugget in the Greensboro write up after their win:

The Pirates made two roster moves in Greensboro, sending backup catcher Dylan Shockley down to the Florida Complex League and promoting catcher Eli Wilson from Class-A Bradenton to the Hoppers. Eli is the son of former Seattle Mariners star catcher Dan Wilson.

With Eli Wilson (having a great hitting year in A) getting the bump to Greensoboro that opens the door for Henry Davis to be called up to Bradenton. Probably won't be more than a week or so I'd wager. He'll get a handful of AB's, just enough time to get re-acclimated to game action.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Park making his debut and playing SS!

And the shortcut version of what I rambled out last night is FG's roster resource, which currently has us at 39 players, so no move will be necessary for Brault. De Jong can also be transferred to the 60-day, which would open up one more potential spot for a waiver claim at least without needing to DFA anybody.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Park making his debut and playing SS!

And the shortcut version of what I rambled out last night is FG's roster resource, which currently has us at 39 players, so no move will be necessary for Brault. De Jong can also be transferred to the 60-day, which would open up one more potential spot for a waiver claim at least without needing to DFA anybody.

There is a Trib article which Shelton talks a little bit about Park's versatility and finding ways to get him into the lineup at multiple positions so as long as he doesn't completely bomb, I'd say he'll get a fair amount of playing time, at least in the short term!

/ccpa/

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Yeah, that's a good point. It's probably a little bit of a stretch to assume that for sure, all of these players will be Opening Day guys next year, but I think you can look at the tools + flexibility of Castro, Marcano, Park, and Chavis as an indication that we will do a lot more rotating, playing matchups, platooning, etc., than we are used to seeing in recent years.

Especially if you are confident that Reynolds sticks in CF (as we should be), then you basically staple him there, Hayes at 3B, and have a fair bit of rotation at other positions. In an ideal world, of course, you want someone to really nail down shortstop, but I like the direction that can be intuited from bringing in lots of new blood that can do various things (power, contact, speed) well.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

Yes like Toronto and Tampa have multiple players who can play anywhere on the field. The bats play. Also feel the DH will be here next year.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Glad to see Castro being trotted out like a starter.

Been quite impressed with him. He seems very relaxed at the plate and has made for some long AB's, controls the strike zone well enough and has been able to drive fastballs and off speed pitches alike. He's had a few outs that were absolutely smoked so his BABIP is artificially low.

He's definitely more of a pull hitter right now and I'd wager the holes will present themselves like they do for most any young hitter, but he's only K'd 6 times in 34 PA (17%) and that's a fantastic number, obviously a small sample size to be sure. But make no mistake, he doesn't look overwhelmed and definitely has some legit pop. He's a fly fall hitter no doubt.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Sounds like Rocker's arm is shot.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Sounds like Rocker's arm is shot.

Just beat me to it! This is a major loss for the Mets.

Also, not sure his arm is shot at all. I don't see any definitive info stating as much. Definitely a strange situation because he has never missed time with an injury so the absolute worst I can see this being, is TJ surgery and while that obviously sucks, is it worth not signing the guy? Obviously you'd want a discount and Rocker/Boras are not going to budge because Rocker does have a strong history of pitching all of his games.

Just crazy.

 

[ImporterExporter]

 

[WheresRamziAbid]

Just beat me to it! This is a major loss for the Mets.

Also, not sure his arm is shot at all. I don't see any definitive info stating as much. Definitely a strange situation because he has never missed time with an injury so the absolute worst I can see this being, is TJ surgery and while that obviously sucks, is it worth not signing the guy? Obviously you'd want a discount and Rocker/Boras are not going to budge because Rocker does have a strong history of pitching all of his games.

Just crazy.

id say the worst case is something in the shoulder. Those can be career enders.

id imagine an elbow would be worrysome but not a dealbreaker

 

[ImporterExporter]

I feel for Keller. His fastball is just way too hittable.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Always have a back-up plan. Yikes.

Seems like a shitty situation, but the report must be pretty damning to make not signing him make sense. Sure the Mets get a comparable pick next year, but almost surely won't go to a player with as much upside. If it's a sign and Tommy John Surgery situation and the alternative is a punted draft it'd be awfully hard to sell the save money option to fans in the largest media market in a league without a salary cap.

Let's be real...TJS at this stage of his career with no prior medical red flags prior would do little aside from delay his development. It sucks, but I'd rather have the high-end prospect with an injury over a punted nothing draft and an 11th overall pick that must be signed or lost next year.

Always possible the medicals are worse than that, but this has the stink of ownership not wanting to take a chance instead of getting a "sure-thing" when that $6 million is only worth about a single solitary WAR elsewhere. From my vantage it looks cheap, which is something a team based in New York City never has a valid reason to be. For all we know it could be a significant issue...without knowing what the report says it could be anything. That cuts both ways, though...without knowing what it says they could have chickened out at the checkout because he coughed.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Keller won't be on this team next year.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Always have a back-up plan. Yikes.

Seems like a shitty situation, but the report must be pretty damning to make not signing him make sense. Sure the Mets get a comparable pick next year, but almost surely won't go to a player with as much upside. If it's a sign and Tommy John Surgery situation and the alternative is a punted draft it'd be awfully hard to sell the save money option to fans in the largest media market in a league without a salary cap.

Let's be real...TJS at this stage of his career with no prior medical red flags prior would do little aside from delay his development. It sucks, but I'd rather have the high-end prospect with an injury over a punted nothing draft and an 11th overall pick that must be signed or lost next year.

Always possible the medicals are worse than that, but this has the stink of ownership not wanting to take a chance instead of getting a "sure-thing" when that $6 million is only worth about a single solitary WAR elsewhere. From my vantage it looks cheap, which is something a team based in New York City never has a valid reason to be. For all we know it could be a significant issue...without knowing what the report says it could be anything. That cuts both ways, though...without knowing what it says they could have chickened out at the checkout because he coughed.

I don't get it. Guy has never missed a start as far as I know. That doesn't mean a person can develop some serious issues that go unnoticed, but if his elbow/shoulder was that f***ed up, how in the hell did he P so deep into the year? I definitely saw a fatigued player by the last few stats in the CWS, and you had a velo dip earlier in the year, but again, how do you get from that to not signing a guy who never missed time?

I think Ramzi is probably spot on with something glaring in the shoulder. Just can't imagine a guy being able to P at a high level for months with F'd up tendons or whatnot.

We'll eventually get the story one way or another.

 

[ChaosAgent]

Mitch gets like 3 more starts, then I'm just giving up.

I mean I've already given up, but I'm saying this for the team's sake.

Dude doesn't have the stuff or have it between the ears. He doesn't have good enough stuff to have such poor location.

 

[ChaosAgent]

Walk had a pretty exasperated assessment.

"What positives do you see here, Bob."
"Sigh. He threw strikes I guess. Lotta hard hit balls. Have to find a way to take the sting out of the bats."

Just kinda done looking for silver linings with Keller.

 

[WheresRamziAbid]

Walk had a pretty exasperated assessment.

"What positives do you see here, Bob."
"Sigh. He threw strikes I guess. Lotta hard hit balls. Have to find a way to take the sting out of the bats."

Just kinda done looking for silver linings with Keller.

bold strategy cotton

 

[DJ Spinoza]

The biggest screw up for the Mets is that they had no contingency plan in place to spend a little bit of that extra money. It's probably a weird situation as people are pointing out where the Mets no longer have a 6M valuation on him, but without knowing details, it sorta just has to come down to whether you prefer Rocker or the pick and its advantages next year, since signing Rocker to a cheaper deal doesn't really do much except save you a pittance.

Again, without knowing the full details, there is at least an argument to be made that next year's pick + its incentives are preferable to Rocker. It's a deeper draft, especially towards the top, and having two first round picks might allow you to throw a little bit of weight around in terms of either pushing a talent to your pick, or getting good additional value with the second pick, depending on how the draft unfolds. But even if this is all the case and next year goes well, it's a big fat F for not doing homework and not throwing at last one or two hail marys with post-10th round picks.

These homestands seem to almost be following a pattern where it's a really nice, surprising first two games and then just utter misery in game three. Keller was lucky that he didn't get torched for a lot more, and it's hard to see what the plan was/is. I don't think he's comfortable throwing the ball up in the zone, as it works out to be the case that a few fastballs can sneak up and get by guys, but then others get crushed and he leaves breaking stuff up. About half the sliders look good and are buried where they need to be, others are cement mixers. I think one of the roots of his issues is that he's tried to be someone who can throw up in the zone, which he does have the velocity to do, but nothing else in his arsenal is clicking the way it needs to, and I think it's a departure from how he used to pitch. I'm not sure there's much point in gaining an extra year of control by yo-yoing with Indy, but it seems to me that he'd b better served trying to get a sinker back in his arsenal than throwing <1/3rd ok up in the zone stuff and everything else left to get tattooed.



In better news, Greensboro is rolling again. Two dingers already for Peguero, and Thomas is again looking good, as he's through 4 scoreless with just 1 walk, lots of soft contact from what it looks like and only 52 pitches. 4 Ks.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Guess he is going to Japan for a year?

 

[ImporterExporter]

Keller's fastball is dead straight. And he can't locate it. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Sucks, but this is a common story for most guys. Most guys don't make it, even after having success in the lower minors. That's why you need to keep things in perspective with guys in the lower levels now. Even some of the better names simply won't pan out. Harsh reality.

Anyway, as DJ just stated, Peguero now has homered in 4 straight, w/the 2 blasts today.

Gonzo just ripped an RBI double and is 2-3 himself. He's red hot.

How about Jared Jones! Has some filthy stuff. He's had a couple of absolute gems so far including today for Bradenton. Raw, but electric, put away profile.

 

[OnMyOwn]

Guess he is going to Japan for a year?

Maybe we can snag him afterall, haha. Sucks to see this, though. I wonder what the issue was.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

It's hard to guess what will happen with Rocker without knowing his medicals, but it sounds like the Mets may have just screwed him -- seeing reports that they didn't even offer a contract.

If he pitches really well and has clean medicals, he probably still goes somewhere in the first round, but it's an unusual situation and he will continue to lack leverage I think. Could end up being that the best case scenario is kind of an overslot late first/second rounder.

 

[TNT87]

 

[ChaosAgent]

Keller's fastball is dead straight. And he can't locate it. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Sucks, but this is a common story for most guys. Most guys don't make it, even after having success in the lower minors. That's why you need to keep things in perspective with guys in the lower levels now. Even some of the better names simply won't pan out. Harsh reality.

So accurate. For me the frustration with Keller is the "delicate, potential-filled flower" stuff we have to endure from the team/broadcasters/fans. Look at his stuff versus Brubaker's. For that matter, look at his stuff versus Wil Crowe's. It isn't better. He can still get another few starts but let's stop applying the top prospect label. The stuff doesn't play at this level (which you don't really know until you see it), therefore he is not a top prospect.