Mack Attack: July 1, 2008

By John Mackin Ade
Posted Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Phils: 39 losses - Marlins: 39 – Mets: 41 - Braves: 43 – Nats: 50

The Mets announced yesterday that Oliver Perez will go seven days between starts this week to put a right hander between he and Johan Santana. Pitching coach Dan Warthen wants to split up the lefties. We may see Perez get a couple of innings of relief in early in the Philadelphia series

Johan Santana quote: "All I can say is that I'm doing my job. Other than that, there's nothing else I can do. I can't go out there and do the things that my teammates have to do."

Baseball America reports that the Athletics will announce the signing of Dominican prospect Michel Inoa on Wednesday. That's the first day he's officially allowed to sign with a major-league team. Baseball America calls Inoa the "top Dominican pitching prospect of the last decade," and Billy Beane has personally flown to see Inoa twice, with a third trip planned for Monday. Inoa is expected to get a $4.25 million signing bonus, the most ever for a non-Cuban amateur player – Rotoworld

Oliver Perez changed his delivery before limiting the Yankees to one run and three hits in seven innings on Sunday. Perez and pitching coach Dan Warthen eliminated a small movement to the side before the outing. The one solid outing isn't exactly a guarantee that the new delivery will prove effective: Perez is 4-0 with a 1.52 ERA against the Yankees as a Met. Still, it's something to keep an eye on - especially since it was the first game this season in which Perez didn't walk a single batter. – Rotoworld

"The Rockies remain willing to move closer Brian Fuentes regardless of whether they climb back into contention." One reason for their willingness to trade Fuentes: they'd be hesitant to offer him arbitration after the season and then have him accept. Rosenthal said the Rockies "remain intrigued by Mets righty Aaron Heilman." – Ken Rosenthal

Mack’s Updated Prospect List – July 1st

Back to the standard way of predicting prospects. In my case, turn 25 and you’re off the list. Totally based on potential to be great, not time in service in the minors.

1. OF Fernando Martinez/B-Mets – Still the only true blue-chip prospect in the system. Martinez is back in the B-Met lineup and looks fully healed. The problem is he looked fully healed the first 2 times he went on the DL. Watch for him at Shea in September, or the next time Alou goes down.

2. SP Jonathan Niese/B-Mets - the closest thing the Mets have to a blue-chip pitching prospect, Niese has hovered around 3.00 ERA all year. I expected a little more dominance out of him this year, but half the season is left. I think there’s a good chance he gets called up in September and is currently slotted in as the Mets SP5 in 2009.

3. SS Wilmer Flores/Kingsport – Everybody is talking about this kid. Even the guys at BaseballAmerica and ProjectProspect are already planning on adding him to their top 100 list. June 1-26th stats: .400/.417/.578, 3 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 7 RBIs, 0 BB, 7 SO. And… he’s only 16 years old. I hope the Mets leave him where he is the rest of the year, play him in winter ball, and then assign him to Lucy for 2009. Imagine having an ETA of 2011 at the age of 19.

4. RP Eddie Kunz/B-Mets – has 17 saves in 20 opportunities but ERA has creeped up (3.38 vs. righties, 5.73 vs. lefties). Not as dominant as I had hoped but still worthy of consideration to be added to the September cup-of-coffee call-up. His ERA vs. lefties is down to 4.97 and he’s pitching every single closing opportunity the team is throwing at him this year. And, the good news, is the more he pitches, the better he’s getting. Definitely slotted in to replace Billy Wagner in 2010.

5. LF Mike Carp/B-Mets – hard to find much wrong this year… very few errors in the field (though he is still primarily a DHer), and a .300+ batting average from both sides of the plate. I’ve been rough on this kid and , if he keeps up the pace for the remainder of the year, bring him up in September, rest Delgado, and let’s see what he can do.

6. 1B Ike Davis/Brooklyn – just starting off in Brooklyn, but a combination of his reported talent with the weakness of the Mets current situation ranks him this high

7. SS Reece Havens/Brooklyn - Havens is currently nursing a boo-boo that is keeping him day-to-day in Brooklyn, but, we may be looking at the future Mets catcher come 2010 here.

8. 3B Dan Murphy/B-Mets – ‘Trade Bait Dan’ stays in the top 10, waiting for the phone to ring to see where he’s playing next. Why someone on the Mets didn’t turn this kid into a 2Bman, I’ll never know… just came off the DL and watch for him to continue his great season.

9. 1B Nick Evans/B-Mets – Boy, everybody got excited when Evans came up in June… for one day, that is. Definitely needs another minor league year under his belt, but better watch out because Ike Davis will be crawling up his ass next spring. He's still just 22 and is turning in a fine season in the Eastern League, where he ranks second in slugging (.566) and fourth in extra-base hits (32), despite spending a couple weeks in the Nationals League.

10. 3B Jefry Marte/GCL - another of Omar’s 16-year old international signees, Marte is already impressing them early in Florida.

11. SP Dillon Gee/Lucy – having a nice season at A+ (x-x, x.xx) and is becoming the SP1 of the staff.

12. SP Dylan Owen/Lucy – right behind Gee, Owen has also been consistently impressive, even with a bad outing last week. His yearly stats: 6-5, 3.62, 78K/87.0 IP, 19 BB.

13. 2B Greg Veloz/Gnats – Veloz was 2006’s version of a Jose Reyes signing, who is finally, and quietly, turning out to be the Mets top 2B prospect in the chain. I get the chance of watching him play every night and he’s the closest thing the Gnats currently have to a real prospect.

14. SS Ruben Tejada/Lucy – another of the kiddies from the Caribbean… I’ve seen so many of these come and go; excuse me if I don’t get too excited yet, though this one is kinda holding his own. Started out horribly but has really come on in the month of June. Again, let’s give the kid credit… he’s only 18 playing A+.

15. SP Tobi Stoner/B-Mets - though it seems that Mets batters refuse to give this kid any offense support at any level, all Tobi does is quietly put up superlative numbers at every level. Way ahead of any one in his draft class. Had a rough outing Sunday night, but it was his first in years.

16. SP Mike Antonini/Lucy – on nobody’s radar, Mike has quietly done nothing wrong and has pitched himself onto my list. Now pitching at the A+ level, where he is sure to stay the rest of the year.

17. 3B Shawn Bowman/Lucy – boy, I never thought I would type this name again, but he’s ‘back’ (excuse the play on words; the dude did break his own back twice in 2 years). Bowman turns 24 in December, but, if he stays healthy, this kid will make it. He’s a pure hitter and not bad defensively either

18. OF Cesar Puello/GCL – first of 3 new names to the mix, Puello came stateside and is already making a splash for the GCL team.

19. SP Orlando Tovar/VSL - we’re keeping a close eye on this guy… incredible stats so far this year, which include 44Ks in 35.1 IP (1.53). He keeps this up and he’ll be stateside before the end of the year.

20. SP Jhonathan Torres/VSL – another starting pitcher that might come stateside sometime this year if he keeps up the pace he has set early (5-0, 1.77).

A Look Back at the Trades

11/24/05

Obtained: 1B Carlos Delgado:
2006-2008: 70 HRs, 231 RBIs for Mets

Traded: 1B Mike Jacobs:
2006-2008: 52 HRs, 168 RBIs for Marlins

RHP Yusmeiro Petit:
2006: 1-1, 9.57 for Marlins
2007: 3-4, 4.58 for Arizona
2008: 0-1, 4.70 for Arizona
INF Grant Psomas:
2008: barely playing in minors

Winner: Mets

Zephyrs:

B-Mets

OF Eric Reed released by NY Mets.

Added 3B Daniel Murphy from SS-A Brooklyn.

OF Ambiorix Concepcion reinstated from Suspended List

Lucy:

Gnats:

Jairo Heredia pitched seven innings of two-hit ball and Austin Romine and Brandon Laird connected on back-to-back solo home runs to lead the Charleston RiverDogs to a 5-3 victory over the Savannah Sand Gnats in South Atlantic League action Monday night in front of 3,096 fans at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.

Carmen Angelini drove home Suttle on a fielder’s choice to the shortstop and Montero scored on a passed ball to make the score 2-0.

The Sand Gnats sliced the lead in half in the sixth on an unearned run when Greg Veloz led off with a bunt to the mound and Heredia’s throw hit Veloz on the back for an error. Veloz stole second base before Juan Lagares moved him to third with a groundout, and Casey Craig drove Veloz home with a RBI single to right.

Charleston scored their fifth run in the seventh as Austin Krum singled, moved to second on a wild pitch and to third on a groundout, and scored on Justin Snyder’s RBI single to right.

Savannah added their third run in the top of the ninth as Jose Jimenez belted his eighth home run of the season that came on a 0-1 count from reliever Stephen Artz, who was called up earlier in the day.

Charleston collected eight hits on the night with Romine leading the way with a pair.

Brant Rustich, one of the New York Mets’ top prospects, pitched four innings and surrendered two runs on three hits while walking one and striking out three. Combined with relievers Brad Burns and Polanco, the Sand Gnats fanned seven RiverDogs while the three Charleston pitchers collectively had eight punchouts.

Clones:

Shortstop Reese Havens, the Mets' first-round pick, who has been slowed by an elbow injury, is expected to make his pro debut Monday at DH for the Cyclones

K-Port:

Rained out

GCL Mets

Rained out

DSL Mets:

VSL Mets:

Minor League Bios:

Ike Davis 1B/OF L L 6-4 215 3-22-87 Arizona State University

Davis was drafted in the 1st round of the 2008 draft by the Mets.
His stats at ASU were: .394/.468/.778, 198 AB, 62 R, 78 H, 26 doubles, 1 triple, 16 HR, 73 RBI, 30 BB-31 K, 3 errors in 49 games, .993 FPCT
MLB.com’s scouting report on draft day:

Hitting Ability: Davis tends to be a slow starter, but showed a smooth swing from the left side.

Power: Davis has some untapped raw power that could be developed as a pro.

Running Speed: He's a tick below Major League average in terms of speed.

Base running: Not a base-clogger by any means, he's a decent baserunner.

Arm Strength: Also a pitcher who throws about 87 mph, his arm plays fine from the outfield or first base.

Fielding: He's a solid corner outfielder and can handle himself well around first.

Range: He's got good instincts in the outfield and would have no trouble covering enough ground to stay there.

Physical Description: Davis has a good, projectable and athletic body.

Medical Update: Healthy.

Strengths: Smooth swing from the left side; good athleticism; good bloodlines -- former big league pitcher Ron Davis is his dad.

Weaknesses: He doesn't always repeat his swing, leading to incomplete at-bats at times. Sometimes he appears to be a little low energy.

Summary: On radars since high school, when he was a 19th-round pick of the Rays in 2005, the son of ex-big leaguer Ron Davis has a sweet left-handed swing that should generate more power in the future. He's not speedy, but he is a solid base runner and would be fine as a corner outfielder or first baseman at the next level.

In June 2008, BA did a post-draft adjustment of their top 10 Mets prospects and Davis was ranked #2, with the comments: “hulking lefthanded slugger can handle the outfield and pitch, too.

Scoutingbook.com on Ike Davis:

18. Isaac Davis, 1B, NYM - Another slugger who went a little earlier than expected, and again it's to a team that could sorely use some power from the first base position. Ike is a legitimate threat to hit 40 homers in the big leagues, and his refined college approach to the strike zone means he should do it without Howardesque strikeout numbers. One of the draft's most polished picks, Davis could be ready as soon as 2009.

In mid-June 2008, Baseball America on Ike Davis:

The son of former big league reliever Ron Davis, Ike was not a scouts' favorite coming into his junior season. A decorated high school career that included a star turn with Team USA's youth national squad and an MVP award at the 2004 Aflac Classic, and his pitching family pedigree, had most scouts regarding him as a pitcher out of high school. He decided to go to Arizona State rather than sign as a Rays 19th-round pick, and he started on the mound and batted cleanup in his first game as a Sun Devil. He struggled with wood in the Alaska League in 2006 and in the Cape in 2007, when he cut his summer short to have right wrist surgery. He returned to the mound as a closer in 2008 and played first base to keep his arm fresh. He also worked to incorporate his lower half more and was having a banner season, leading the Sun Devils in the triple crown categories as well as saves, before missing time with a ribcage injury. Davis has excellent raw power, comparing to former ASU star Jeff Larish, but he's a much better defender with a better swing and better pitch recognition. Davis is above-average at first base and should be able to play an outfield corner as well due to his plus arm; his below-average speed could limit him to left.

This Day in Mets History:

2003 - The White Sox trade three minor league prospects to the Mets to obtain their catcher's brother, Roberto Alomar. The 12-time All-Star, who struggled during his season and a half in New York, is exchanged left-handed reliever Royce Ring, right-hander Edwin Almonte and infielder Andrew Salvo

And lastly:

"Baseball must be a great game to survive the fools who run it." -BILL TERRY, Giant first baseman (1923-36)