Mack Attack: May 31, 2008

By John Mackin Ade
Posted Saturday, May 31, 2008

RP Juan Padilla made an appearance at New Orleans.

Mets general manager Omar Minaya reportedly is making inquiries about available first basemen, leftfielders and righthanded relief pitchers with Kevin Millar, Jason Bay and Xavier Nady rumored to be some of the names under consideration. -- Philadelphia Daily News

 

The Giants have informed other clubs that relievers Tyler Walker, Jack Taschner and Vinnie Chulk are available in fair-value deals:

Tyler Walker: 32-yrs. Old – R/R - 3-3, 5.87, 25 G, 23.0 IP, 22 K, 5 BB

Jack Taschner: 30-yrs. Old – L/L - 2-1, 3.38, 27 G, 18.2 IP, 18 K, 7 BB

Vinnie Chulk: 29-yrs old – R/R - 0-3, 3.18, 19 G, 22.2 IP, 13K, 7 BB

 

Mack’s Facts:

 

The Current State of the Mets Minors:

There are currently 95 active players on the 4 active rosters (N.O., B-Mets, Lucy, Gnats)

20 are considered “organizational players” and have no chance of making it big time in the majors…

75 to go…

43 are performing below their expectations

32 to go…

Only 5 ‘prospects’ out of 14 are performing above their expectations

That’s right… there are currently only 14 Mets prospects in the entire organization and 9 of them haven’t panned out this year

21 average players are playing above their expectations, but only 9 show the ability and are young enough to possible make the majors someday, at some level, for some team.

Right now, projected players to make the Mets:

2009: RP Eddie Kunz – RP Willie Collazo
2010: SP Dylan Owen – RP Eddie Camacho
2011 & Beyond – no standouts yet

#2 Hitters in the Division:

There’s been a fair amount of discussion lately on how well Luis Castillo is doing as a #2 hitter. Let’s compare his OBP to the other guys in the division:

Luis Castillo/Mets - .371
Shane Victorino - .360
Kelly Johnson/Atlanta - .353
Christian Guzman/Nats - .329
Jeremy Hermida/Fla. - .314

 

Mets Top 10 Draft Picks: - 1998: (God, this just keep getting worse…)

 

#1 OF Jason Tyner 3 yrs in Mets org. – traded to Tampa Bay – bounced around 10 seasons – last in 2007 with Cleveland – semi-poof
#2 RHP Pat Strange - 7 wasted years in Mets org. - poof

#3 LHP Jason Saenz - 6 unproductive yrs. In Mets org – 2 yrs Indy - poof

#4 RHP Jason Moates - never signed - 4 yrs Detroit org. - poof

#5 C Craig Brazell - next great white hope at 1B – 8 wasted yrs. In Mets org. – now playing in Japan - poof

#6 OF Marvin Seale - 6 wasted years in Mets org. (getting the drift here?) - poof

#7 C Ryan Smith - 4 shit years in Mets org – went indy ball - poof

#8 RHP Vince Vazquez - never signed, then never signed by anyone – went Indy - poof

#9 LHP Todd Bellhorn - 2 miserable years in Mets org. - poof

#10 OF Larnell Hamn - 1 yr at GCL – major poof

(Rd. 17 – Ty Wiggington)

 

Another Look at the Mexican League:

OF Eduardo Arredondo - 23 years old. Leading the league in hitting (.399). .455 OBP. .353 vs. lefties… .415 vs. righties

 

Zephyrs:

Round Rock starter Runelvys Hernandez tossed a complete game three-hitter, as the Express won their fourth straight game over the New Orleans Zephyrs on Friday, 7-1. Hernandez threw 126 pitches, and held the Zephyrs without a run for 122 of them until Chris Aguila hit a two-out home run to left to break up the shutout bid. It marked a stark contrast from the Express right-hander's first outing in New Orleans this year. On April 24, Hernandez (5-2) gave up five runs to the Z's in the first inning en route to surrendering eight runs and 11 hits in 3.1 innings of work. On Friday, it was Round Rock who put up the first inning fireworks, scoring four times off Zephyrs starter Ruddy Lugo. After former Zephyr David Newhan hit a one-out RBI single, Mark Saccomanno followed with a three-run homer to give Round Rock the early lead. Lugo (4-3) took the loss by allowing four runs on four hits in six innings. He struck out two and walked two. The Express tacked on three runs - two on a homer by Ray Sadler - in the ninth off reliever Juan Padilla, making his first appearance in a game since October 1, 2005 with the New York Mets. He missed each of the last two seasons while recovering from elbow surgeries.

 

B-Mets:

The Binghamton Mets took advantage of four hit-by-pitches, three of them in the seventh, defeating the Connecticut Defenders 5-3 at Dodd Stadium Friday. The B-Mets have won two in a row. Binghamton (26-27) went ahead in the third on Jonathan Malo’s leadoff homer off starter Paul Oseguera. Two batters later, Emmanuel Garcia was hit by a pitch and scored on Jose Coronado’s double for a 2-0 B-Mets lead. Connecticut (25-27) put together a two-out rally against Salvador Aguilar in the fifth, tying the score on back-to-back RBI singles by Kyle Haines and Antoan Richardson. Aguilar (5-1) gave up a leadoff homer to Travis Ishikawa in the sixth that put the Defenders ahead 3-2. Reliever Steve Palazzolo (3-1) began the top of the seventh by hitting three consecutive B-Mets batters – Ambiorix Concepcion, Salomon Manriquez and Malo – loading the bases with nobody out. Pinch-hitter Eric Reed then reached on catcher’s interference, scoring Concepcion with the tying run. Two batters later, Daniel Murphy singled in Manriquez and Malo, giving Binghamton the lead for good. Relievers Joe Hietpas and Eddie Kunz combined to allow one hit over the final three innings. Kunz faced the minimum in the ninth, earning his 11th save in 12 chances.

 

Gnats:

 

Carlos Guzman laced a single to left field to score Jose Jimenez with the winning run as the Gnats secured a 3-2 triumph over the GreenJackets in front of 2,250 at Historic Grayson Stadium on Friday night. Guzman fell behind 0-2 in the count before fouling off several pitches from Daniel Turpen before slapping a base-hit through the left side to score Jimenez from third to end the first extra-inning contest of 2008 at Historic Grayson Stadium. Starters Elvin Ramirez and Madison Bumganer each pitched superbly. Ramirez allowed just 2 hits and a run in a season-high 7.0 innings. Bumgarner struck out 9 while allowing 1 run on 6 hits in 6.0 innings. The bullpens were equally impressive, allowing one run each until Turpen gave up the game winner in the 11th. Savannah took its first lead in the seventh when Matt Bouchard singled with two outs and came around to score on a Greg Veloz double. Augusta would answer right back in the top of the eighth to tie the game at two. Edgar Ramirez (3-1) pitched a prefect top of the eleventh to pick up his third win of the season. Steven Cheney pitched well in relief for Savannah as well, giving up an unearned run in 3.0 innings of work while striking out 3. Every batter in the Savannah starting nine had a hit except for Jake Eigsti with Jimenez leading the way with 3 hits.

 

Minor Mets Bios:

Jordan Abrusso C R R 6-3 230 8-2-84 University of San Diego

Abrusso was a 2006 All-West Coast Conference 2nd team honoree, batting .314 as a junior, with 8 HRs and 58 RBIs Abrusso was taken in the 13th round of the 2007 draft by the New York Mets. He was signed and assigned to Kingsport. He was the first catcher the Mets selected in the ‘07 draft.
He was assigned to Kingsport to begin his pro career (.222 in 11 games; .489 slugging percentage), but was quickly promoted to Brooklyn. Abruzzo is a native of El Cajon, California.

Ex-Mets:

Xavier Nady and Jason Bay each doubled, homered, and drove in 2 runs as the Pirates cruised to a 7-2 win over the Reds

Carlos Gomez went 4-for-5 with 2 RBI

Deolis Guerra moved to 6-1 at Single-A Fort Myers after allowing one run in six innings on Thursday

 

This Day In Mets History:

1999 - Umpire Frank Pulli uses a television replay to take away a home run from Cliff Floyd of the Marlins in the fifth inning of 5-2 loss to the Cardinals