The Mack Attack - 5-5-08

Posted Sunday, May 4, 2008

May 5, 2008

Mets News

The 49-year-old superhuman Julio Franco decided it was time to call it quits and announced his retirement to his teammates Wednesday night to his Mexican league team, the Quintana Roo Tigers. After 23 seasons in professional baseball, he will leave the game with the following stats attached to his name: .298/.365/.417, 2586 hits, 407 doubles, 54 triples, 173 home runs, 1194 runs batted in, 281 bases stolen. He also ranked second in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1983 (behind Ron Kittle) and made three trips to the All-Stars game. He won a batting title in 1991 (.341 batting average) and was the oldest player in the major leagues from 2004 to 2007.

In baseball statistics, strikeout-to-walk ratio (K/BB) is a measure of a pitcher's ability to control pitches; calculated as: strikeouts divided by bases on balls. That sounds pretty simple even to me. Who in the Mets organization has the highest so far this year?

1. Billy Wagner/Mets 6.00

2. Johan Santana/Mets 4.88

3. Dillon Gee/Lucy 4.67

4. Tony Armas/New Orleans 4.40

5. Nick Waechter/Gnats 4.25

6. Ruddy Lugo/New Orleans 4.00

7. Angel Calero/Gnats 4.00

8. Edgar Ramirez/Gnats 4.00

Mets Contracts

Tony Armas Jr. – rhp - 1 year (2008) - signed as a free agent 2/11/08 (minor-league contract) - $1M salary if added to 40-man roster, $90,000 in minors - performance bonuses: $0.35M as reliever, $0.65M as starter (IP) - 1 year/$3.5M (2007), plus 2008 option - signed as a free agent 2/07 - 07:$3M, 08:$5M mutual option ($0.5M buyout) - option may increase based on 2007 performance - 1 year/$2.1M (2006) - re-signed as a free agent 12/05 - $2M in performance bonuses based on GS, IP - 1 year/$2.26M (2005), avoided arbitration 1/05 - 1 year/$2.1M (2004) - 1 year/$2.1M (2003), avoided arbitration 1/03 - 1 year/$0.335M (2002), 3/02 - 1 year/$0.23M (2001) - agent: Diego Bentz - ML service: 8.001

Zephyrs

Lost 9-5 to Portland...

The Zephyrs drilled three home runs including back to
back home runs from Fernando Tatis and Chris Agulia but Portland outscored
New Orleans 9-5 on Sunday afternoon. The Z’s have dropped a season high
four in a row and the Beavers have won four consecutive. The Beavers scored
six runs in the first inning as Z’s starter Brian Stokes retired one batter
allowed four walks and hits in his shortest outing of the season. Portland
scored four runs in the first inning on Saturday against the Zephyrs. The
first inning on consisted of ten hitters and only one extra base hit, a 2
RBI double by Craig Stansberry. Valentino Pascucci drilled his first home
run as a Zephyr in the second inning. The Z’s got back in the game in the
fourth with a two run towering home run from Tatis. The homer left
the stadium and landed on a Portland city street. Agulia followed the
home run from Tatis with his sixth of the season, first back to back home
runs for the Z’s this season. Pascucci led the Z’s with three hits, a
homer, single, double and a walk, falling a triple shy of the cycle. Stokes
took the loss and Cesar Ramos earned the win for the streaking Beavers.
Portland leads the series 3-0 with the finale on Monday night.

B-Mets

Fernando Martinez had three hits and Daniel Murphy drove in two runs, but the Binghamton Mets fell to the Connecticut Defenders 14-3 at NYSEG Stadium Sunday. The loss is Binghamton’s second in a row and eighth in their last nine games. Connecticut (14-15) saw their first eight men reach base against Jake Ruckle in the first, with Ben Copeland, Carlos Sosa, Adam Witter, Dave Maroul and Eddy Martinez-Esteve recording RBI hits for a 5-0 Defenders lead. Binghamton (11-18) was able to get a run back in the bottom of the first. Connecticut starter Joey Martinez walked leadoff man Emmanuel Garcia, who moved to third on a Martinez single and scored on Murphy’s sacrifice fly to cut Connecticut’s lead to 5-1. However, Travis Ishikawa, Sosa and Maroul drove in runs off Ruckle (1-3) in the second to make it 8-1. The B-Mets got to Martinez (1-3) again in the fifth. Jose Coronado drew a leadoff walk before reliever Salvador Aguilar bunted him to second. Garcia singled Coronado to third before he scored on a base hit to right by Martinez. Murphy followed with a single that scored Garcia to pull Binghamton within 8-3.

From The New York Post:

Dan Murphy, Double-A Binghamton's starting third baseman, had a great April, hitting .363 with one home run and 18 RBI in 26 games. But no matter how much Murphy, Baseball America's No. 15 prospect in the Mets system, hits in the minors, he always is going to have the same problem: David WrightDavid Wright . Because the star third baseman should have the hot corner in Queens covered for years to come, Murphy's going to have to play somewhere else if he expects to make it with the Mets.

"He is athletic enough to play different positions," Mets VP of Player Development Tony Bernazard said. "Right now we have him playing most of the games at third base, but he has also worked out at first base and the outfield."

For his part, Murphy, who played right field for his first year and a half at Jacksonville University, will play wherever he's told. "No spot on the field matters - just the opportunity to play is all I'm looking for," he said. "I'm completely happy with wherever they decide to play me."

An American League scout said he felt Murphy was athletic enough to be effective in the field at multiple positions in the majors. "I think he's athletic enough to go to left field," he said. "He also could be a more than adequate first baseman, but I think if you stick him in left, he'd be at least an average left fielder."

Lucy:

Lucy lost Sunday, 8-3. A decent star for Eric Niesen (5.0 IP, 2 ER, 7 Ks), but the relief pitchers couldn’t keep the game close. Steven Clyne’s ERA is now up to 11.57. CF Ezequeil Carrera keeps hitting ball well, going 2-4 and raising his BA. to .278. LF D.J. Wabick also remains hot (2-4, .297). Weird lineup… Josh Thole played first with Lucas Duda in at DH, then Thole was replaced… at first… with Leivi Ventura(?).

Gnats:

SS Joaquin Rodriquez (‘J-Rod’) rejoined the Gnats (he played a little here last year) last week and brought with him his lively bat that produced a 1188 OPS in 2006 for Jackson State. Well, he quietly moved over to first base on Saturday night and kept his hot hitting going.

From The New York Post:

Nathan Vineyard, one of the Mets two supplemental first round draft picks in 2007, was scheduled to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery Friday. The 6-foot-3 left-hander lost both of his starts for Low-A Savannah this season, allowing 13 runs on 13 hits in eight innings. "The one advantage to having surgery is that he is younger," Bernazard said. "He is young enough (19) that he should recuperate quicker (than an older pitcher).Vineyard, who will be 20 in October, was drafted out of Woodland High School in Cartersville, Georgia, where he went 8-2 with a 0.84 ERA in 10 starts in 2007. He struck out 105 and walked 12 in 59 innings.

Jose Jimenez’s RBI triple in the ninth inning provided the only run Savannah would need, as the Sand Gnats handed the Tourists a 2-0 loss – their second in a row. With one out, Jimenez tripled to center off Craig Baker to give the Sand Gnats the first lead of the ballgame. Richard Lucas then delivered an RBI single to clean things up and give the Gnats the 2-0 lead.

The Tourists rallied in the bottom half of the ninth with a one-out single by Michael Mitchell and a walk of Brian Rike by eventual winning pitcher Jose Bierd (1-0). But South Atlantic League RBI leader Darin Holcomb grounded into a game-ending double play to preserve the win for Savannah.

Pitching was the name of the game through the first eight innings, as both starters threw seven scoreless innings. Sheng-An Kuo, in perhaps his best start of the year, yielded only four hits while walking only one hitter and striking out three. But Savannah’s Angel Calero was even more dominant – allowing just two hits and striking out three without allowing a single walk. Calero retired the last 13 Tourists he faced following Everth Cabrera’s two-out double in the third.

Minor League Bios

Elvin Ramirez P R R 6-3 182 10-10-87

Ramirez pitched for Kingsport in 2007, posting a record of 1-4, 5.52, 1.77 in 12 starts.

In late January 2007, Baseball America listed Ramirez as the 30th top Mets prospect, adding: "..has a big arm, having hit 96 regularly.."

April totals at Savannah: 4.03 era | 1.29 whip | 18/8 k/bb (22.1 innings)

Jorge Reyes P R R 6-4 170 5-15-84 Altagracia, Dominican Republic

Reyes is a product of the Mets' Dominican Summer League team. The 2005 season marked his first in the United States.

In 2003, Reyes was 0-2 with an 8.10 ERA in Reyes made 13 starts for the Cyclones in 2005, going 4-5 with a 5.20 ERA. In 62.1 innings, he allowed 80 hits and 10 walks, while striking out 35. He spent the previous two seasons with the Mets DSL affiliate.

2004 was a solid year for Reyes, in which he posted a 4-4 record with a 2.18 ERA in 21 games. Over his 42.1 innings of work, Jorge picked up four saves, while allowing 29 runs, 22 of which were earned, on 42 hits, while walking 17 and striking out 29.

Reyes consistently throws in the 88-95 MPH range. He made 13 starts for the Cyclones in 2005, going 4-5 with a 5.20 ERA. In 62.1 innings, he allowed 80 hits and 10 walks, while striking out 35. He spent the previous two seasons with the Mets DSL affiliate.

Reyes started out the 2007 season 1-0, 0.00 with Savannah, and then tested positive for illegal substances for the 2nd time. He went on a 100 game suspension and I tend to think we’ll never hear from him again.

Ex-Mets:

Xavier Nady had 3 hits and 3 RBI for Pittsburgh.

Kaz Matsui reached base 4 times, stole a base, and scored 2 runs

The Hardball Times ranks the top teams in baseball:

#1 Arizona Diamondbacks, #2 Chicago Cubs, #3 Oakland Athletics, #4 St Louis Cardinals, #5 Tampa Bay Rays, #6 Chicago White Sox, #7 Atlanta Braves, #8 Los Angeles Dodgers, #9 Boston Red Sox, #10 New York Mets: Oliver Perez has walked 21 in 29 innings and while his ERA is kept down by the just one homerun allowed, that's not going to continue and history suggests the walks probably will.

This Day in Mets History:

1995 - Thirty-four years after Don Zimmer played third base in the franchise's first game, Edgardo Alfonzo becomes the 100th player to cover the 'hot corner' in Mets history. Howard Johnson played the most games at the position appearing in 835 games over a span of 8 seasons.

2004 - With his 352nd round tripper as a catcher, Mike Piazza of the Mets passes Carlton Fisk for most home runs hit by a catcher. The Norristown PA native's historic 405-foot opposite field homer comes off a Jerome Williams' 3-1 fastball during the first inning of the Mets 8-2 victory at Shea Stadium.

2004 - With his strike out of Raul Mondesi swinging in the fifth inning, Roger Clemens moves ahead of Steve Carlton (4,136) into second place on the career strikeouts list. Nolan Ryan is the all-time K King with 5,714 whiffs