The Mack Attack - Vol.I, Issue IV

By John Mackin Ade
Posted Sunday, January 20, 2008

Minnesota 2008 Team Video Without Johan

As the Twins begin their annual winter caravan this week, they'll be toting two promotional videos: one with Johan Santana and one without him. That way, if they trade the two-time Cy Young Award winner. Hmmm….

Joe Blanton?

There is some speculation from some of the newspapers/websites, that, if the Mets fail to secure Johann Santana via a trade for their entire minor league organization, that the Mets will return to attempting to close a deal for Blanton.

Blanton only turned 28 this past December, which would make him a youngster on this roster. It seems like he’s been around for 10+ years, but he’s only pitched 4 years in the bigs and here’s his stats:

4 Seasons - 42-34 4.10 ERA 102 games 98 starts 633.2 IP only 369 Ks 1.31 WHIP

30 of those wins came in the last 2 seasons.

‘Baseball Crank’ had some interesting thoughts on Blanton:

Looking deeper into Blanton's numbers, a few things stick out. First, he really was a product of good defense/good luck in 2005, with that amazing DER. Second, I wonder if THT has changed the way they compute infield flies, since all three of these guys had a much higher proportion of them in 2005. Third, it's not really fair to compare him to two lefties in terms of holding runners on. And fourth, and most important, Blanton is not a ground ball pitcher, so his bread and butter is that exceptionally low (one of the lowest in the AL two years running) rate of homers per fly ball. With a mediocre K rate and a great walk rate, Blanton's success turns in large part on his ability to combine a very low HR rate with that great control. Oakland's a big ballpark, but from what I can tell from looking at the A's numbers in recent years (including comparing, say, Barry Zito's numbers from 2006 and 2007), while Oakland pitchers do seem to have possibly a lower HR/F ratio than normal, there doesn't seem to be anything dramatic enough to suggest that Blanton's numbers are mainly park-driven. Either this is a skill, or he has been very lucky two years running.

Could The Next Mets Pitcher Come From Pitsburgh?

An interesting situation in Steeler-land... there are 4 pitchers (Sean Burnett, Franquelis Osoria, Jonah Bayliss and Phil Dumatrait) on the roster who may not make the team and are out of options. Burnett had fantastic numbers in lower levels, but has gone 12-16 in the past 2 years at AAA. Osoria has pitched for the Dodgers and Pirates (0-6 over 3 seasons), but has a career 3.33 ERA in the minors as a reliever in 235 games. Baylis went 4-3, 8.36 for the Pirates last year in 39 relief appearances, but posted a 2.17 ERA in 2006 in AAA.

But it’s Dumatrait that got my attention. Drafted in the 1st round of the 2000 draft by the Red Sox… born in 1981… a lefty… and in 7 minor league seasons, including 2007, posted a combined 45-44, 3.33 ERA in 145 games, 142 of which were starts.

We’ll keep an eye on this situation.

John Sickel’s ‘Top 5o Hitter’ Prospects

On the list:

#17 - Fernando Martinez, OF, New York Mets - ‘Hit .271/.336/.377 in 60 games in Double-A. Plagued with injuries and was extremely young for the level. Still a great prospect but exact shape of his future is unclear’.

#41 - Carlos Gomez, OF, New York Mets - ‘Hit .232/.288/.304 with 12 steals in 58 games for the Mets, rushed to the majors to cover injuries. Was overmatched, but still very young’.

That’s it.

Mets AAA to Syracuse?

Mike McGann brought my attention that one of the jerk-off U.S. Senators is getting the Mets to move their AAA franchise from the ‘perfect climate for minor league play’ New Orleans to the ‘dead deep in snow in June’ Syracuse.

I’m not sure who has their priorities more screwed up here, the Senator of the ‘Dean or Mean’.

First of all, no young pitching prospect ever blew up an arm because of sweat, heat, or humidity. Yes, they might need a shot of Gator-Ade every 10 seconds, but there are no TJS surgeries because the weather was too sticky.

On the other side, who in the hell wants to send a young pitching prospect like Deolis Guerra or Jon Niese to the snow belt in March and let their tendons free up on the pitching mound. This is baseball development, not dog sledding.

The Senator said, after talking to Fred Wilpon, that the Mets were showing “great interest” in moving back upstate. Hey Senator, do you know what’s a nice way to end a telephone conversation you don’t want to be part of?

Has anyone asked the guys in Binghamton what an organizational nightmare it was last year when they snowed out all those opening games, some against teams that were not scheduled to come back there for the rest of the season.

No. I don’t buy it. And I won’ believe it until I see the Mets do something stupid like this.

Then again, they did sign Stephen Register.

Minor League Analysis – IB:

It’s that time in the year to start looking ahead, position wise, to just who is in the organization and what we can look forward to in the near future. We will cover 1B first, so hear goes.

First of all, most MLB teams carry only one 1Bman on their parent roster and usually have another person that can fill in a la Julio Franco. Well, the 2008 Mets don’t and there is an outside chance (actually, a very outside chance) that you could see the Mets carry Michael Abreu on the 40-man.

The starters are pretty set on the first 5 teams… Mets: Carlos Delgado. New Orleans: Mike Carp. B-Mets: Nick Evans. St. Lucie: Josh Thole. And Savannah: Lucas Duda. There is a chance that Duda might move directly to Lucy and, as of the last season of 2007, everyone was still trying to figure out what position Thole will play in 2008 (he also catches and plays OF).

I will be very surprised if Ryan Coultras is carried this year and Joshua Peterson will wind up as backup somewhere in AAA, AA, or back at AA.

Now, it gets difficult. This is pure speculation: Aussie Stefan Welsh in Brooklyn, Luis Aguayo at K-Port, and Dan Hernandez would remain at the GCL Mets camp.

No one can even begin to figure out the VSL or DSL situation yet.

Overall: I stand by my opinion that neither Nick Evans or Mike Carp have a future as a starting Mets 1Bman, no less a MLB starting 1Bman. There’s only one of these on every MLB team and none of them hit less than 20 HRs a year. If Craig Brazell can’t get a job after hitting 5,697 HRs last year at AAA, neither can these too power puffs.

Right now, the only major league prospect is possibly Lucas Duda, but that too is too early to tell.

This just in…

Lenny Dykstra, founder and president of The Players Club, will deliver the keynote address at the 2008 Financial Communications Forum. A former All-Star outfielder with the Mets and Phillies, and an influential contributor to theStreet.com, Dykstra will speak to the launch and specific targeting of the new magazine he is starting to serve professional athletes, an audience of extremely high net worth individuals

Question… just who in the hell cares?

The Chicago White Sox signed OF Miguel Negron to minor league contract. Negron, who still is only 24 years old, played the 2007 season for both the B-Mets (362 at bats - .262/.324/.359/.683) and New Orleans (144 at bats - .229/.307/.278/.585). An OPS under 600 doesn’t get you invited back for a 2nd chance.
The Washington Nationals signed a one-year contract with OF Lastings Milledge.
The San Francisco Giants have invited 1B Brett Harper to Spring Training.

What makes one team think this guy is young enough to keep around, while another (Mets) doesn’t? I really expected Harper to sign with an AL team and thought he had a good chance of catching on as a young DH. By the way, would someone tell me what this guy did wrong in the 7 seasons he spent in the Mets organization?

2013 at bats 82 HRs 367 RBIs .296/.360/.483/843

ESPN’s Buster Olney reported another one of his things that never transpire… he said that Bartolo Colon was almost signed by the Mets, who eventually backed off after a particular bad outing (3 R 6 H in 5 IP) down in the DWL.
And lastly…

Let’s compare a trade that might happen, with one that happened a few years ago:

Proposed trade: OF Carlos Gomez, OF Fernando Martinez, SP Deolis Guerra, SP Phil Humber, and SP Kevin Mulvey for SP Johann Santana.

Past similar looking trade: Jack Savage, Tim Drummond, Kevin Tapani, David West and Rick Aguilera for Frank Viola