The Mack Attack - Vol. I , Issue VII

As in the past, the 3B situation for the Mets is the same as SS. David Wright will be at the corner well past 2012.

Strangely, the Mets only have 5 total 3Bmen on their minor league rosters for the top 6 teams, which means we will probably see some of the names I listed last week as probable utility player being moved to this position.

For now, Fernando Tatis, a AAAA organizational player, will hold down the corner for New Orleans and be ready for a plane ride if King David dives one too many times in the stands for a foul ball.

I have Shawn Bowman listed as the 3B in Binghamton, though I have no idea if he’s in playing shape or still with the team. It seems like this kid has been around for 10+ years (he has played 4 years in the Mets organization and just turned 24), and I’m sure his past injuries have eliminated any chance of him making the Bigs someday. The once-prospect has lifetime minor league numbers of .232/.300/.399 in 1032 Abs. What a shame.

The problem is the fact that Bowman should be let go and Daniel Murphy (.285/.338/.430, 11 HRs at St. Lucie in 2007) deserves the bump up to the B-Mets this year. Murphy turns 23 in April and this will be only his 3rd season in the Mets organization after a full college education. I can’t see him replacing Wright, but I do expect him to be part of some future trade in the next year.

As of today, I have no 3Bman slotted for St. Lucie. Normally, it would be who played last year at Savannah, but bad-boy Levi Ventura has had his name mysteriously disappear from the roster the same time Tim Teufel was named the manager there. Boy, now that’s a surprise! I assume one of the following will play there instead… Jonathan Santos, Brandon Richey, Joaquin Rodriquez, Mathew Bouchard, or Jacob Eigsti. My vote goes to Eigsti, who played a little 3B and batted .275 for Brooklyn last year.

Savannah will continue to stockpile Latin prospects by playing Jose Jimenez in 2008 at third, though there is a chance that he will be showcased in Brooklyn. Jimenez impressed a lot of Mets officials in Kingsport last year, hitting .309/.379/.521, 7 HRs, 41 RBIs in 51 games and 188 at bats. If Jimenez goes to Brooklyn, watch for Richard Lucas (.264 in 2007 for the GCL Mets) to wind up in Savannah.

The rest of Mets minor league teams will fill their 3B openings with either Latin American players coming stateside, or free agents in the next draft.

Summation: Like SS, not a critical area to develop a prospect, though both Daniel Murphy and Jose Jimenez do seem to offer some kind of alternative in the future.

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Major/Minor League position Analysis – C

This is the time of the year that most teams stock up on under-performing minor league catchers, so they have enough of them to catch everyone that will attend spring training. By March 1st, a lot of these guys could be gone, especially Raul Casanova, Gustavo Molina, and Salomon Manriquez who were invited to the Mets ST camp and rewarded a 1-yr. minor league contract (betcha it has an out).

AAA looks to be re-tread city again, with the returnees Rafael Arroyo, Robinson Cancel, and Shawn Wooten (I think Wooten turns 100 this year).

Miserable failure Mike Nickeas heads up the B-Met squad, but don’t be surprised if Sean McCraw gives him a fight for his starting job this spring (3rd string goes to Sal Paniagua, if they carry one).

Normally, the catcher that played last year in Savannah would play in St. Lucie, and the guy that caught in Brooklyn would move south to the Coastal Empire, but I have a funny feeling the Mets will hold back super-prospect Francesco Pena for another year of A-ball, similar to what they did with 2B prospect Hector Pellot. Than again, both the Savannah manager (Tim Teufel) and Batting Coach (Mike Hart) have moved on to St. Lucie, so… aw, what the hell do I know… Pena will be starting for one of the teams and last year’s Brooklyn find, Jason Jacobs (.273/.377/.487/864) will play for the other team. Yasmil Bucce, Teddy Dziuba, and Tony Macanni will fight it out for back-up roles.

Past that, there’s a lot of names ( Cesar Cordido, Steve Malvagna, Stephen Puhl, Jefferies Talford, Rogelio Del Campo, Patrick Maat, Jordan Abruzzo, Maxime Bouchard, Juan Centreno, Juan Martinez, and Samuel Martinez), but none have given us anything exciting to dream about. Well, we could dream about the catcher with the first name Maxime, but that’s another story.

Look for more .188 hitters to be drafted this spring.

General Consensus: Nobody ever brings up the name Jesus Flores, so you know they fuk’d up big time with that one. Everyone is hoping that Jason Jacobs turns out to be a bonus, but even money is on Francesco Pena to make it all the way to CitiField, at least as a backup catcher. We’ll see.

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Ex-Mets: MLB.com reported that C Paul Lo Duca suffered a right knee injury while working out at a New York gym earlier this week. Poor baby… are you sure he didn’t hurt it hanging out at the Long Island… oh, never mind. He’s gone… who gives a shit anymore. The Nats re-signed outfielder Alex Escobar to a minor league contract. Escobar missed 2007 with shoulder, ankle and foot injuries and is 8th on the OF depth chart. I wish he’d just go away so I stop getting sick every time I read his name. What a waste of God-given talent in a fragile body... Marlins RP Henry Owens is scheduled to begin throwing Monday as he comes back from August surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff. He's expected to miss most of the year and could be sidelined for the entire season. ..

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Ex-Mets on 2008 40-Man Squads

Did you ever wonder what a team of current ex-Mets that are on other team’s 40-man would pan out as?

1B - Mike Jacobs Florida .265/.317/.458

Justin Huber Kansas City .100/.100/.100

2B – Kaz Matsui Houston .288/.342/.405

Jeff Keppinger Cincinnati .332/.400/.477

Marco Scutaro Toronto .260/.332/.361
Mack rounds up the Catcher and Third Base lineups for the Mets Minor Leagues along with plenty of ex-Mets info.Mack rounds up the Catcher and Third Base lineups for the Mets Minor Leagues along with plenty of ex-Mets info.Mack rounds up the Catcher and Third Base lineups for the Mets Minor Leagues along with plenty of ex-Mets info.Mack rounds up the Catcher and Third Base lineups for the Mets Minor Leagues along with plenty of ex-Mets info.Mack rounds up the Catcher and Third Base lineups for the Mets Minor Leagues along with plenty of ex-Mets info.
Jeff Kent LAD .302/.375/.500

SS - Miquel Cairo Seattle .253/.303/.328

3B – Melvin Mora Baltimore .274/.341/.418

Ty Wiggington Houston .278/.333/.459

OF – Jay Payton Baltimore .256/.292/.376

Lastings Milledge Washington .272/.341/.446

Cliff Floyd Tampa Bay .284/.373/.422

Tike Redman Baltimore .318/.341/.462

Mike Cameron Milwaukee .242/.328/.431

Jason Bay Pittsburgh .247/.327/.418

Xavier Nagy Pittsburgh .278/.330/.476

C - Jesus Flores Washington .244/.310/.361

Paul LoDuca Washington .272/.311/.378

Vance Wilson Detroit 0 stats last year

SP - Lenny DiNardo Oakland 8-10, 4.11

Scott Kazmir Tampa Bay 13-9, 3.48, 239 Ks

A.J. Burnett Toronto 10-8, 3.75

Tom Glavine Atlanta 13-8, 4.45

Brian Bannister Kansas City 12-9, 3.87

Kenny Rogers Detroit 3-4, 4.43

Mike Hampton Atlanta IR

Yusmeiro Petit Arizona 3-4, 4.58

Bradon Looper St. Louis 12-12, 4.94

Paul Byrd Cleveland 15-8, 4.59

RP – Chad Bradford Baltimore 4-7, 3.34

Neil Musser Kansas City 0-1, 4.38

Matt Lindstrom Florida 3-4, 3.09

Henry Owens Florida 2-0, 1.96, 4 saves

Darren Oliver LAA 3-1, 3.78

Royce Ring Atlanta 1-0, 2.70

Octavio Dotel CWS 2-1, 4.11, 11 saves

Tyler Yates Atlanta 2-3, 5.18

Guillermo Mota Milwaukee 2-2, 5.76

Jason Isringhausen St. Louis 4-0, 2.48, 32 saves

Heath Bell San Diego 6-4, 2.02

Anderson Garcia Philadelphia 0-0, 13.50

-not a bad team…

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Ex-Met SP Brian Bannister on the Mets:

“As baseball players, all we want is an opportunity to play. I don’t know what plans the Mets had for me in 2007 before the trade, but I knew that the Royals wanted me to step up and be in the starting rotation right away, and that’s all I could ask for. The Mets will always be very special to me…I have a lot of respect for the Wilpon family and the way they run their organization, the coaches that made sacrifices for me, and the fans that supported me.”

-very politically correct… the fact remains that’s it’s a long shot for any minor leaguer to make it to the majors, no less with the team that drafted him. Bannister was expendable and the trade for Ambiorix Burgos looked like a good one at the time. The Mets were clogged up with SP4 and SP5 futures (Pelfrey, Humber, Perez, Maine, etc) and they needed to take a shot on a power pitcher like Burgos. It didn’t work, and it looks like we may never hear from him again, but at least Bannister wasn’t another Kazmir… right?

Scott Kazmir’s 1st full yr. in Bigs: 2005: 10-9, 3.77 1.46, 174Ks 100 BB 186.0 IP

Brian Bannister’s 1st yr.in Bigs: 2007: 12-8, 3.87, 1.21, 77Ks 44 BB 165.0 IP

Right? Right?

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There was an interesting analysis by Eric Hz on faketeams.com regarding the emergence of SP John Maine:

Maine came over from the Baltimore Orioles in the Winter of 2005-06 in the Kris Benson swap. He showed some a lot of promise with the Mets by posting a 3.60 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 71 Ks in 90 innings of work. He did not disappoint in 2007 by striking out 180 in 191 innings with 15 victories. Those encouraging efforts have Maine ranked 34th amongst starting pitchers in Mock Draft Central's ADPs. He is being taken ahead of Yankees' consecutive 19-game winner, Chein Ming Wang, and right after $55MM man A.J. Burnett. That company indicates Maine has arrived a legitimate fantasy pitcher.

Mack