Mack Attack: June 19, 2008

By John Mackin Ade
Posted Thursday, June 19, 2008

Chris Aguila cleared waivers and will report to New Orleans

As a source closely connected to the heated infighting over Randolph’s future told me on Monday, “Jeff has been remorseless in his desire to get rid of Willie.” That desire went back to the 2006 NLCS, after which Wilpon looked back at the series - Billy Wagner blowing a key save, Aaron Heilman giving up a game-winning home run in Game 7 and Beltran staring at a season-ending 3-2 curveball with the bases loaded - and determined that Willie Randolph was the problem. “[Jeff] is a reactive young man,” the source said. “He thinks he is the baseball expert, and he decided that Willie was not the guy to lead this club.” ...Now, they hand the whole mess over to Jerry Manuel, who seems like a nice enough guy but obviously the wrong choice. Still out there is Gary Carter, who seems like a perfect fit: a confirmed backstabber and schemer who campaigned publicly for Randolph’s job last month while he was still the manager. How Jeff Wilpon missed out on a soul mate like that is almost as baffling as the firing of Willie Randolph. - BBTF

Draft News:

Scouting Report:

1. 18 Ike Davis 1B/OF/LP Edina, MN Scottsdale, AZ Arizona St

Wore #39 in college in deference to his father, Ron Davis, a relief P for NYY/MIN. Has 2 sisters. Played for Chaparral (Az) HS. Helped team maintain its baseball dominance by winning 3 straight state 4A state titles. Team was 95-8 from his soph thru Sr years. Named MVP of 2004 Aflac All Am. Game & 2005 HS All-Am. Game. Combined to hit .447-12-106 w.48 Ds. Set school record in Ds and Ks 213 in 174 IP. Sr year hit .450 w/6 HR and was 5-0 w/5 saves. Was 39th HS prospect and top prospect in AZ. Was drafted 19th’05 by TB. College - PAC 10 Freshman OTY. That summer played for Anchorage Bucs in the Alaskan BL. Soph year played summer ball for Wareham in the CCSL hit. 246 w/2 Svs in 2.2 IP.

From his video didn’t look like he had great bat speed, 5.5-6. From his size figure him for 15-20 HR and he may have some speed as they had a clocking of 4.1 to 1B. He was a P so should have an arm. Fielding wise he looked avg at best. At the plate he stands tall, and sweeps his hands close to his body so is susceptible to outside pitches. The NYM are pretty loaded with Ps and can’t argue that he was the best athlete available, he was rated 30th best prospect. – Braunstein

 

Seth Williams was home in his North Carolina apartment as the First-Year Player Draft was winding down earlier this month. Round after round passed, player after player had been selected, including five of his teammates, yet the senior outfielder hadn't heard his name called.
Finally, in the 40th round, the Mets made Williams the 1,214th selection. Though Williams, who says he models his game after Hall of Famer Ted Williams (no relation), didn't go until late, New York may have come away with one of the Draft's better-kept secrets. Williams is a career .299 hitter in four seasons for the Tar Heels, but as evidenced by his performance Sunday night in a College World Series opening-round victory over Louisiana State, he knows how to handle himself on the grand stage.

Williams had three hits and three RBIs in the Heels' 8-4 win, raising his season average to .323. He also now has a career-best 44 RBIs. When you're talking numbers and Williams, though, the ones that stand out the most are those he has compiled in the postseason. Williams has a career batting average of .371 (43-for-116) in the postseason with three homers and 19 RBIs. He's hit safely in 28 of 32 postseason games as North Carolina participates in its third consecutive College World Series. – NYMets

 

Zephyrs:

Roster change: C Luis Alen to Brooklyn.

SS Anderson Hernandez’s batting average was down to .186 at some point on Wednesday night. Wasn’t this one of Willie’s kids? Come on guys, this, as Crowded House once said, this dream is over. Dump the poor guy, move Jose Coronado to AAA, let 23-year old Joaquin Rodriquez (J-Rod) have one good chance at chance to impress before he hits the Rule 5, keep the Ruben Tejada Tejada experiment going at Lucy, and give the Gnats to Brandon Rickey, so Reece Havens and Wilmer Flores a full half year at half-ball. This is the most talented position in the Mets organization and we need to see what we got here before Jose throws 6-8 more ego-tantrums on the field.

The Iowa Cubs defeated the New Orleans Zephyrs 5-3 Wednesday night at Principal Park. Iowa starter Kevin Hart's outing was cut short when he was hit in the head by a line drive in the second inning off the bat of Raul Casanova. Juan Rodriguez answered back for the Zephyrs with a solo shot to close the gap, 2-1. Casey McGehee drove in two runs with a double to give the Cubs a 4-1 lead in the fourth inning. The Zephyrs tallied two runs in the fifth inning when John Rodriguez singled, and cut the lead 4-3. New Orleans' starter Tony Armas (5-6) took the loss.

 

B-Mets:

 

Looks like we have to start taking SP Sal Aguilar more serious. All the SP attention this year in Binghamton has been on Jon Niese, Jake Ruckle, and Bobby Parnell; however, Sal just keeps churning out good game after good game. Another 6.1 IP Wednesday night that lowered his ERA to below 3 (2.97). That’s now 8 straight starts (after 10 relief appearances) and he has only given up 12 ERs in 46 IP.

 

Salvador Aguilar allowed three runs over 6 1/3 innings, leaving with a chance to win, but the Erie SeaWolves scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to pull out a 5-4 win over the Binghamton Mets at NYSEG Stadium Wednesday. The three-game series is now even at a game apiece. Erie (31-40) got to Aguilar in the first, thanks to Deik Scram’s RBI double. Dusty Ryan added a solo homer in the second for a 2-0 SeaWolves lead. Binghamton (38-32) picked up a run in the second when Ambiorix Concepcion reached on an error, moved to third on Salomon Manriquez’s single and scored on Jonathan Malo’s sacrifice fly. Ryan Roberson’s RBI single in the top of the third put Erie up 3-1, but Binghamton tacked on another in the bottom of the frame. Singles by Emmanuel Garcia and Eric Reed put runners at the corners for Nick Evans, who singled in Garcia to pull Binghamton within 3-2. The B-Mets took the lead in the fifth. Jose Coronado, Garcia and Evans all singled, loading the bases with one out for Mike Carp. Carp reached on an error that scored Coronado with the tying run. Caleb Stewart followed with a sacrifice fly, bringing in Garcia to put Binghamton up 4-3. Binghamton closer Eddie Kunz (1-4) allowed singles to Dusty Ryan and Casper Wells before Will Rhymes cleared the bases with a go-ahead, two-run triple.

Lucy:

 

I’ve got to give a special shout out to Shawn Bowman, who went 3-4 in his return Tuesday night to the starting lineup. For those of you don’t remember him, remember this:

1. Bowman had all the prospect tags and there was serious discussion that he was showing higher potential at 3B than David Wright.

2. Bowman has 19 HRs in A ball in 2004.

3. He followed that in 2005 with 15 HRs at A+ Lucy

4. He broke his back.

5. Twice.

6. He’s still only 23.

Remember the name.

 

Gnats:

Matthew Bouchard (.215) and Michael Parker (.198) have been dropped to Brooklyn.

(My guess… Brandon Richey returns from Lucy, and Mike Hernandez comes off the IR)

K-Port:

I sure got lots of criticism when I put 16-yr. old SS Wilmer Flores high on my last Mack’s Prospect List, but so far, he’s making an honest man out of me… two games in, he’s batting .600 with something like 5 RBIs in 2 games… just think what he’ll do when he starts shaving…

Clones:

1st round SS Reece Havens has elbow soreness - MRI showed no damage, hopes to play in a week

Clones Scouting Report:

It may be a very good year for Cyclone fans as the NYM seemed to have stacked this team very nicely to run roughshod over their division. First and foremost in the lineup is Zach Lutz who severely broke his ankle on his 1st at-bat and hasn't been in a game that counted until tonight. He could have easily been sent to the SAL and they are in need of a 3B of his caliber. He is a top prospect with good bat speed, power. Jury is still out on his 3B play. OF Kirk Nieuwenhuis, the Mets #3 pick was a long reach as he wasn't even among the 150 best prospects in California tho he shows a quick bat, decent enough bat speed and a good sense of the strike zone and pitch recognition to go hi up the ladder. He could be a very good pickup. He faced his college teammate tonight, Andrew Shive and Kirk got the better of him driving a shot in R/CF field. The team has a number of veterans to turn to Brandon Richey, Michael Parker, Cesar Cordidio, Luis Alen, Will Vogl, Brandon Kawal, Nick Giarraputo, Jeff Tatford, 3 of them returnees, Vogl, Kawal and Tatford to provide the veteran prescence in the lineup that should juice up the offense. Reese Havens should add another professional bat to the lineup and if Sean Ratliff, who is currently helping his Stanford team try to win the College World Series, and 1B Ike Davis, sign they should be assigned here and this team will be at least 5 deep, which should spell trouble for NYP pitching staffs. As for their pitching RHP Tim Stronach was in SAL and wasn't doing that bad a job, should be a stopper, Pedro Martinez tonight was a beneficiary of the umps largese in the SZ. RRP Wendy Rosa dazzled the SI lineup with his low 90 FBs and once he stopped throwing his SL and CU which went for balls, he blew them away.Matias Carrillo had good stuff in the APP and Brad Holt looked good on the video I saw of him should form the backbone of a decent rotation. The rest of the candidates are at least teen draft picks and we'll see if they have anything. The closer seems to be Yury Santana, the former C who found a low 90s FB and good moving SL to be able to handle the job at least at this level. LRP Jimmy Johnson has a big dropping with good bend CB and looks good especially as a lefty situational P. - Braunstein

DSL Mets:

SP Ismael Mendez continues to throw up run-less ball… that’s 7.0 IP with a 0.00 ERA… 2 more hits for LF Julio Concepcion (.344) in the 3-1 loss to the White Sox.

VSL Mets

The VSL Mets lost to the Pirates, 3-1… SP Oliver Tovar (0-1) showed he was human, dropping his first game, and ‘raising’ his ERA to 1.53… he still has 44 Ks in 35.1 IP… 1B Adrian Pirela (2-4, HR, .301) continues to be one of the few guys hitting on this team

Minor League Bios:

Nicholas Carr P R R 6' 1" 195 04-19-1987

Carr was drafted #41 in the 2005 MLB draft by the Mets. He came straight out of Twin Falls High School, where he posted a 17-4 record over his junior and senior year. Carr decided not to sign, and instead attended the College of Southern Idaho, where he went 5-3, 2.18 ERA, last year.

The Mets signed him as a draft-and-follow on May 24, 2006. Terms of his deal were not disclosed. Currently Carr is all speed, with a fastball that tops out at 95. OnDeck updated their ratings for the Appalachian League at the end of the 2006 season and ranked Carr the 10th best starter in the league (181.34 rating) and the 14th top league prospect overall (1st on the team). His stats were… well… ok: 12 Games, 11 starts, 3-3, 4.88, 1.50. He did have 44Ks in 48 IP but gave up 23 BB as well.

From BA on 8-24-07:

The Brooklyn Cyclones feature more veteran minor leaguers than true prospects, but righthander Nick Carr is one to keep an eye on. The 20-year-old had 56 strikeouts in 42 innings, issuing 16 walks en route to a 3.25 ERA.

The Mets drafted Carr in the 41st round of the 2005 draft, and signed him as a draft-and-follow after he played at the Junior College of Southern Idaho. Carr threw in the low 90s a year ago, but this season he his fastball has been clocked in the mid- to high-90s, thanks in part to improved conditioning. He threw 48 innings in the Rookie-level Appalachian League last year, posting a 4.88 ERA with 44 strikeouts and 23 walks.

In 2007, Carr played for the Cyclones, going 5-2, 3.80, 1.24 in 14 starts.
In September 2007, baseball America ranked Carr as the 16th yop prospect in the NY-Penn league.

In November 2007, he was named the 13th top Mets prospect by Scouts.com.

In late January 2007, Baseball America listed Carr as the #14 Mets prospect in their system, adding: ‘looks like he is close to having 2 + pitches, fastball and slider.’

In late January 2007, Baseball America named Carr as the 19th overall Mets prospect (notice his ranking going down…)

Carr is currently pitching for the Savannah Sand Gnats.

Ex-Mets:

Kaz Matsui had 3 RBI for Houston

Cliff Floyd went deep for Tampa Bay

Willie Randolph went home

This Day in Mets History:

1995 - Despite the fact he is under a 60-day suspension for drug abuse, Darryl Strawberry signs a one-year contract with the Yankees.

And lastly:

Johnny Buzhardt, who pitched for the Chicago Cubs and the White Sox during 11 seasons in the major leagues, has died. He was 71. Buzhardt had a stroke several years ago and had been in declining health, according to the McSwain-Evans Funeral Home. He died Sunday at his home. Buzhardt pitched in the big leagues from 1958-68 with the Cubs, Philadelphia, the White Sox, Baltimore and Houston. His best years were with the White Sox when he went 9-4, 10-8 and 13-8 from 1963-65. Buzhardt's final season was with Houston in 1968 when he was primarily used as a reliever. Buzhardt went 4-4 with five saves in 39 appearances that year. He retired with a 71-96 mark and a career ERA of 3.66.

(all my heroes are dying...)