The Mack Attack - 5-18-8

By John Mackin Ade
Posted Sunday, May 18, 2008

May 18, 2008

Mets News:

Pedro Martinez will throw a simulated game Monday

The Mets signed OF Eric Reed to a minor league contract.

Eric Shane Reed OF L L 5-10 175 12-2-80 Texas A&M

Reed was drafted in the 9th round of the 2002 draft by the Florida Marlins. He played 6 full seasons in the Marlins organization and began this year, his 7th, with the AAA franchise Albuquerque. Reed had 2 small appearances with the Marlins in 2006 and 2007 (.098). His total minor stats come out to .295/.341/.379 in 2187 at bats. He signed with the Mets on May 16, 2008.

From: BronxBanter (a NYY blog):

It rained all day and deep into the night on Friday in New York and the weatherman said it was going to keep a coming today. However, the sun is out and it is a warm morning in New York. Overcast, yeah, but it seems as if the Mets and Yankees will be able to get a game in this afternoon without a hitch. Turns out this'll just be a brief encounter between the two teams as last night's game will be made up as part of a two-stadium double header in late June. So, today gives an appealing match-up of southpaws: Johan Santana vs. Andy Pettitte. The Yankees, of course, are well familiar with Santana. They know how tough he can be, and with Alex Rodriguez's return still a few days away, the team is still at a disadvantage against lefties. Pettitte has pitched poorly in three of his last four outings. Time for him to come through with an improved performance.

Mets Contracts:

Billy Wagner lhp - 4 years/$43M (2006-09), plus $8M 2010 club option - signed as a free agent 11/05 - complete no-trade clause - 06:$10.5M, 07:$10.5M, 08:$10.5M, 09:$10.5M, 10:$8M club option ($1M buyout) - $4M paid in advance (after 1/1/06) to be used toward purchase of home - Wagner to contribute $100,000 annually to Mets charitable foundation - $0.225M annually in award bonuses - $25,000 for All-Star team - $50,000 each for NLCS MVP, World Series MVP - $0.1M for Rolaids Relief Man of the Year award - 3 years/$27M (2002-04), plus $9M 2005 club option (picked up 10/04) - 02:$8M, 03:$8M, 04:$8M, 05:$9M 2005 club option ($3M buyout) - award bonus: $25,000 for All Star selection - agent: Bean Stringfellow - ML service: 11.139

2008 Draft:

Jim Callis/Baseball America had their first round mock draft this week:

1. RAYS. Projected Pick: TIM BECKHAM.

2. PIRATES. Projected Pick: PEDRO ALVAREZ.

3. ROYALS. Projected Pick: BUSTER POSEY.

4. ORIOLES. Projected Pick: BRIAN MATUSZ.

5. GIANTS. Projected Pick: JUSTIN SMOAK.

6. MARLINS. Projected Pick: KYLE SKIPWORTH.

7. REDS. Projected Pick: AARON CROW.

8. WHITE SOX. Projected Pick: GORDON BECKHAM.

9. NATIONALS. Projected Pick: YONDER ALONSO.

10. ASTROS. Projected Pick: SHOOTER HUNT.

11. RANGERS. Projected Pick: ERIC HOSMER.

12. ATHLETICS. Projected Pick: BRETT WALLACE.

13. CARDINALS. Projected Pick: ZACH COLLIER.

14. TWINS. Projected Pick: CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH.

15. DODGERS. Projected Pick: AARON HICKS.

16. BREWERS. Projected Pick: JOSHUA FIELDS.

17. BLUE JAYS. Projected Pick: CONOR GILLASPIE.

18. METS. New York has the financial wherewithal to spend as much as any team does on the draft, but it apparently will stick to slotting once again in 2008, even if Hosmer is still on the table. The Mets need a catcher for the near future, and Castro has convinced scouts he can handle the defensive responsibilities and produce at the plate. New York has checked out Friedrich, but it's unlikely he'd get this far. Projected Pick: JASON CASTRO.

19. CUBS. Projected Pick: CASEY KELLY.

20. MARINERS. Projected Pick: TIM MELVILLE.

21. TIGERS. Projected Pick: ANDREW CASHNER.

22. METS. New York has gutted its system to build up its major league club, so its focus is on restocking the farm with the best available talent. That leaves the Mets looking at the high school arms or college infielders such as Gillaspie, Miami second baseman Jemile Weeks, Havens and Arizona State first baseman Ike Davis. Projected Pick: ETHAN MARTIN.

Zephyrs:

Tony Armas retired 18 consecutive hitters in the game and earned his second win of the season as the Zephyrs snapped a five game losing streak. The Zephyrs scored a pair of runs in the first and went on to win 4-1 at Greer Stadium in Nashville. The dominating performance by the right hander as Armas worked seven innings allowed no runs, four hits and struck out 5 Nashville hitters. Raul Cassanova had a two RBI single in the first and Valentino Pascucci drilled a two run home run to provide the offense. Nelson Figueroa made his Zephyr debut working a scoreless inning and Carlos Muniz pitched the ninth and allowed the only run. The Sounds lead the series 2 games to one.

(there’s just something wrong about a baseball team with both a Cassanova and a Valentino…)

P Nelson Figueroa cleared waivers and will report to the Zephyrs on Saturday, Figueroa ended up with a 5.12 ERA in nine appearances for the Mets, allowing 24 walks in 38 2/3 innings

P Ruddy Lugo pitched on the side and is expected to be activated from the DL on Monday in Oklahoma City

B-Mets:

OF Fernando Martinez placed on Disabled List.

OF Eric Reed signed by NY Mets and assigned to Binghamton.

St. Lucie

Saturday was just a bad game. Daytona beat Lucy 8-4 in 10 innings, but the story of the game was poor relief pitching. Another decent outing by Dylan Owen (6.0 IP, 1 ER, 3.14 ERA) was wasted. Batting wise, Chris Fournier went 2-2 in his Lucy debut.

Gnats:

Felix Doubront tossed 6.0 strong innings and Mike Jones went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI as Greenville rolled past Savannah 6-2 before 1,876 at Historic Grayson Stadium on Saturday night.

Doubront (5-1) scattered 7 hits over his longest outing of the season to pick up the win. His only mistake was a two-run triple from Jake Eigsti in the second.

The Gnats best chance to score occurred in the eighth when Richard Pena walked and Casey Craig reached on a bunt single to begin the inning. Chad Povich did well to escape, retiring Jordan Abruzzo, Jose Jimenez and Michael Parker in order to end the threat. He would pitch three scoreless innings to earn his first save.

The Drive (24-19) chased Savannah starter Maikel Cleto in the sixth when Luis Exposito doubled to left to score Ryan Kalish and give Greenville a 3-2 lead.

Josh Stinson relieved Cleto and pitched well until the eighth when he walked David Marks to begin the inning. He eventually allowed a pair of runs on singles from Jones and Kristopher Negron as the Drive pushed the lead to 5-2.

Cleto (0-3) lost his third straight start, permitting 3 runs on 6 hits in 5.2 innings.

Craig and Parker each had a pair of hits for the Gnats.

The Red Sox announced Friday night that Minor League first baseman Anthony Rizzo has been diagnosed with Limited Stage Classical Hodgkin's Lymphoma. The 18-year-od Rizzo was hitting .373 with 11 RBIs at Class A Greenville, where he last played on April 26.

Brooklyn:

This summer, the Cyclones will be giving away five different bobbleheads, immortalizing Dodgers legend Carl Erskine, WFAN's Boomer & Carton, and mascots Sandy, Pee Wee and Maverick (the Wonder Dog).

Potential Free Agents for 2009:

Shortstops - Orlando Cabrera CWS Alex Cintron CWS Alex Cora BOS Craig Counsell MIL Adam Everett MIN Rafael Furcal LAD Cristian Guzman WAS Cesar Izturis STL Ramon Martinez LAD Edgar Renteria DET Juan Uribe CWS

Minor League Bios:

Tim Stronach P L R 6’5” 185 12-20-85 Worcester State College

Stronach comes out of Haverhill, MA. and played college ball at Worcester State College. In his sophomore campaign, Tim was 6-0 with a 2.45 ERA and a .209 batting average against. That year, Tim helped lead the Lancers to their first win in an NCAA Regional Tournament game. 2006 was his junior year where he compiled a 3.72 ERA and struck out 71 batters in 65 innings. So much for the senior year.

Stronach was drafted in the 22nd round of the 2006 draft. He pitched for Worchester State College, where he only went 3-7 in his last year with a 3.72 ERA; however, he had 71 Ks in 55.3 innings. 2006 was Stronach’s first year in the Mets organization and he impressed at Kingsport, starting 13 games and posting a 4-2 W-L , 3.76 ERA profile. His opening game for Kingsport was nothing less than spectacular, against the Johnson City Cardinals, where he threw five shutout innings, facing the minimum 15 batters. He gave up only one hit and then he promptly picked the runner off first base.

OnDeck updated their end of the year 2006 ratings for the Appalachian Leauge and ranked Stronach as the 35th overall (132.46 rating) starting pitcher in the league. He has added a changeup to his fastball, curveball, and slider. The fastball has been consistently clocked between 87 and 92 MPH.

Stronach started the 2007 season at Savannah (2-7, 5.45, 1.44, in 14 starts), but was farmed off to Brooklyn around the All-Star break (4-2, 3.42, 1.74, in 11 appearances, 4 starts).

In September 2007, Baseball America ranked Stronach as the 20th top SAL pitcher in ‘groundout-to-flyout ratio”.

Ex-Mets:

The Denver Post reports that the Rockies have signed lefty Glendon Rusch to a minor league deal

This Day In Mets History:

2000 - In a 6-2 loss to the Padres, the Marlins steal 10 bases which is one shy of the National League record. Luis Castillo (3), Cliff Floyd (3), Preston Wilson (2), and Mark Kotsay (2), the top four batters in the Fish lineup, are responsible for the grand theft.

2004 - At the age of 40, southpaw Randy Johnson becomes the oldest pitcher to ever throw a perfect game as the Diamondbacks beat the Braves, 2-0. The ‘Big Unit’ joins Cy Young, Jim Bunning, Hideo Nomo and Nolan Ryan as the only hurlers to throw no-hitters in both leagues and creates the longest time span between no-no’s having first accomplishing the feat against the Tigers in June of 1990.