Mack Attack: July 16, 2008

By John Mackin Ade
Posted Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Pennant: Phils: 44 losses - Mets: 44 – Marlins: 45 - Braves: 50 – Nats: 60

Wild Card: Milw: 43 losses - St. Louis: 43 - Mets: 44 - Marlins: 45

Joel Sherman of the New York Post talked to Mets GM Omar Minaya yesterday, gaining insight on the team's plans for the second half. If Ryan Church is able to return (the Mets are cautiously optimistic), the Mets will focus on a righty-hitting left fielder. Raul Ibanez is a lefty, while the prospect price on Matt Holliday and Xavier Nady seems prohibitive. I assume the same applies to Jason Bay. Sherman has mentioned Austin Kearns in the past; he could make sense. The price on Brian Fuentes and similar relievers is also apparently too high. Minaya might prefer not to further deplete the farm system. The Mets could elect to solve their problems from within - Minaya suggested Jon Niese and Fernando Martinez could be in the bigs next month. - MLBTradeRumors

Richie Sexson, who could help the Yankees as a first baseman against left-handed pitching, is likely to sign somewhere by the end of the week. The Mets also have interest, and Arizona may be a fit. Sexson, released by the Seattle Mariners, was expected to clear waivers yesterday. He hit lefties well this year (.344 with five homers in 61 at-bats) but was poor against right-handers (.178 with 63 strikeouts in 191 at-bats). Once he clears waivers, Sexson would need to be paid just the prorated minimum by his new club. -- Newark Star-Ledger

Mike Pelfrey was named the NL Player of the Week.

The Yankees and Mets are among at least nine teams monitoring the progress of Freddy Garcia as he intensifies his workouts to come back from shoulder surgery. Garcia will begin throwing breaking balls off the mound this week in Miami, according to one of his agents, Ed Greenberg, and as long he avoids setbacks the plan is to schedule a showcase for teams to judge his abilities. Up until this point, Garcia has only thrown changeups and fastballs off the rubber, and Greenberg said his fastball has ranged from 84-87 mph. Greenberg said his client has suffered no pain or setbacks. Besides the Yanks and Mets, the Astros, Rangers, Royals, Red Sox, Phillies, Tigers and White Sox are keeping steady tabs on Garcia, who last pitched in the majors on June 8, 2007. Greenberg said that he does not anticipate allowing a club to negotiate a 2009 option. -- NY Post

The Mets are more seriously considering promoting from within (Fernando Martinez for the outfield, Jon Niese for the rotation, Bobby Parnell or Eddie Kunz if a bullpen arm is needed) then making a trade between now and the July 31 deadline, Omar Minaya told The Post yesterday. -- NY Post

New York Mets transactions this week:

Released: 1B Valentin Ramos, SS Brandon Richey, OF Brandon Kawal, OF Will Vogl

Recalled: RHP Carlos Muniz, 1B Nick Evans

Added to 40-man roster: 2B Argenis Reyes, OF Chris Aguila

Placed on 7-day DL: LHP James Fuller

Reinstated from DL: RHP Junior Guerra, C Luis Alen, 2B Michael Parker

Reinstated from inactive list: RHP German Marte

Evaluation of a Past Omar Trade:

8/22/06
Acquired OF Shawn Green from the Arizona Diamondbacks

1.3 yrs with Mets - .291 BA (446 at bats) in 2007

In exchange for Minor League LHP Evan MacLane

5-6, 5.02 in AAA in 2008

-conclusion: so far, the Mets got one good year out of Green while Arizona hasn’t gotten anything good out of MacLane…. But, we’ll see…

B-Mets:

The scouting section swelled (at least 10 teams were represented) to see the New York Mets ' Double-A ace Jon Niese throw seven shutout innings against the Yanks' Double-A Trenton team on Saturday. Niese is 5-7 with a 3.09 ERA, and beyond Fernando Martinez probably would be the most in-demand Met in trade requests. - NY Post

Binghamton’s Daniel Murphy (.306, 10 HR, 55 RBI) had a grounder roll through his legs for an error during his first chance during Wednesday’s game at Connecticut, but he otherwise has drawn positive reviews since moving to second base, where he’s made 12 straight appearances. Murphy asked to move from third base, where he’s blocked by David Wright. Oliveras gained permission from the organization’s player-development executives to make the move. – AdamRubin

B-Mets closer Eddie Kunz has saved eight of the Double-A team’s last 10 victories. His 25 saves are approaching the club-record 28 set by Jerrod Riggan in 2000 - AdamRubin

Sal Aguilar desperately wanted to pitch last winter, but placing him with a team in the Dominican Republic or Venezuela wasn’t a high priority for Mets brass after the 26-year-old righthander went 7-9 with a 5.81 ERA last season at Double-A Binghamton. Aguilar, who actually aspires to be a corrections officer if baseball doesn’t work out, now is on the Mets’ radar. One of four Binghamton Mets representatives in Wednesday’s Eastern League All-Star Game in New Hampshire, Aguilar entered the break with a 10-2 record and 2.97 ERA. In a showdown against Yankees prospect and co-league wins leader Jason Jones on Sunday, neither pitcher got a decision. Aguilar allowed three runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings, snapping a string of 10 straight starts in which he completed at least six innings. Aguilar’s 10 first-half wins still matched the B-Mets record, also achieved by Bill Pulsipher and Juan Castillo, who both reached that total in 1994. “I never thought I’d win 10 games in a minor-league season,” Aguilar said. “It’s really just limiting the mistakes. Last year I made a lot of mistakes to where I was leaving a lot of balls over the middle, thinking I was going to get away with it, and guys made the adjustment really quick. This year I made the adjustment where I had to limit those mistakes, and luckily this year I haven’t been getting hurt that much.” Aguilar’s fastball settles in between 86 mph and 89 mph. He throws a curveball and changeup and has a much-improved slider this season in his arsenal. B-Mets manager Mako Oliveras forecasts him as a potential bullpen contributor in the majors, perhaps in long relief. Aguilar began the season in the bullpen. He moved into the rotation when Jake Ruckle was lost for the season with surgery to repair a torn labrum. – Adam Rubin

Clones:

Catcher Jordan Abruzzo, who began the season at Savannah and then had a stopover in St. Lucie, has emerged as Brooklyn’s first-string catcher. Abruzzo, drafted out of the University of San Diego last year, threw out two would-be base stealers Saturday in his Cyclones debut - AdamRubin

K-Port:

Eric Beaulac (2.45) got his first professional start Tuesday night… he was obviously on a strict pitch count, but was stretched out for 4.0 innings, giving up 1 ER, while striking out 5...

GCL Mets:

The GCL Mets won on Monday, 5-4, against the Marlins… prospect OF Cesar Puello (.267) went 3-4 and 1B Giovanni Ortiz (.333) had 2 hits… The Mets signed Ortiz as an undrafted free agent out of Wallace Community College in June 2008. He played under former-Met Mackey Sasser while at Wallace. Ortiz is a native of San Lorenz, Puerto Rico… RP Luis Rojas (1.17) pitched 2 scoreless innings and Samuel Martinez (2-0, 1.80) got the win.

Minor League Bios:

Anderson Hernandez SS S R 5' 9" 170 23 10-30-1982

Anderson Hernandez was signed as an un-drafted free agent in 2001, by the Detroit Tigers. He was immediately assigned to the GCL Tigers. Hernandez played 2002 and 2003 for Lakeland and was known for his defensive skills. In 2004, Hernandez hit .283 in 138 games at Double-A Erie and Class A Lakeland in 2004 while a member of the Detroit Tigers' organization.

The Mets acquired Hernandez from the Tigers on January 6, 2005 in exchange for Vance Wilson.

Baseball America had him the 8th top Met prospect. Hernandez was called up to the Mets on 9-17-05, but could not hit major league pitching. He went 1-18 and batted only .056 He started the 2006 season with the Mets (.146) but went on the DL with a bulging disc on 4-19-06. He finished the 2006 season with 66 at bats, and a very disappointing .152/.164/.242. OnDeck has him as the 11th Mets prospect… 1stInning.com ranks Hernandez “#6 - developing a useful bat to compliment his good glove - Grade: B”. Fantasyinfocentral.com ranks Hernandez as the current 8th top Mets prospect.

In January 2007, Rotoworld listed Hernandez as the 12th top Mets prospect for the 2007 season.

In February 2007, Scout.com ranked Hernandez as the 17th top Mets prospect.

In 2007, Hernandez proved once again that he can hit minor league pitching. For New Orleans, he hit .301/.339/.397 in 554 at bats, while making only 17 errors in 128 games. He was also named the Sterling Minor League Organizational Player-Of-The-Year for 2007.

Ex-Mets:

The Class AAA Columbus Clippers released outfielder Alex Escobar, who played for Washington briefly in 2006

Seattle released P Anderson Garcia.

This Day in Mets History:

1988 - In longest game ever played in Texas League history, the San Antonio Missions beat the visiting Jackson Mets in 26 innings, 1-0. The Keefe Stadium contest, which started on July 14, was suspended at 2:25 a.m. the following day and continued on July 16, took a total of 7 hours and 23 minutes to complete.

2003 - The Yankees send pitching prospects Jason Anderson, Anderson Garcia and Ryan Bicondoa to Mets for hard-throwing embattled closer, Armando Benitez . The 30-year old All-Star reliever, who is slated to be the setup man for closer Mariano Rivera, blew seven of 28 save opportunities and was object of much booing at Shea Stadium.

2006 - At Wrigley Field, the Mets establish a franchise record by scoring 11 runs during the 16 batter sixth inning en route to routing the Cubs, 13-7. Ten of the tallies are the result of home runs; two grand slams (Cliff Floyd, Carlos Beltran) and a two-run round-tripper (David Wright).

And lastly:

Monday I learned that a member of that ol’ gang of mine, Arthur (Red) Foley, the former Daily News baseball writer and major league official scorekeeper, had died. All those who really knew him loved him also. He, too, was an honest man who took his work seriously. The sadness of it all is that these two who loved the game of baseball so much will be missing tonight’s All-Star Game - Murcer broadcasting it and Foley keeping the score. ...It was baseball and his vast knowledge of it that brought him attention. He was such a student of the game that “Ask Red” became the byword in the press box. Eventually “Ask Red” became Foley’s column in The News. It answered any question about baseball… NYDN