The Mack Attack - 5-9-8

By John Mackin Ade
Posted Friday, May 9, 2008

May 9, 2008

Mets News:

Jon Heyman’s odds on where Mark Teixeira goes:

1. Yankees. No shot they bring back Giambi and his .150 batting average for $26 million next year. The $5-million buyout will be the best money they’ve ever spent. The Yankees are believed to be interested in Teixeira and also interested in keeping him away from the team that plays eight miles to the south, in Queens. Odds: 3-2.

2. Mets. Mets owner Jeff Wilpon is said to have been a Teixeira admirer for years, and Delgado’s only chance to stay with the Mets (his option is for a more reasonable $12 million and the buyout is for $4 million) would be to beat last year’s numbers, and that appears to be a long shot now. The tough fans at Shea already appear to have spoken with their boos for Delgado. Odds: 4-1.

3. Orioles. Baltimore owner Peter Angelos covets Teixeira. Angelos loves the fact that Teixeira has spoken positively about playing for his hometown team, and Teixeira seems to be a genuine Baltimore booster. However, 10 straight losing season can’t be a plus for the O’s. 8-1

4. Mariners. Sexson’s homecoming certainly hasn’t worked as hoped, and it’s time to move on. Mariners GM Bill Bavasi has an excellent working relationship with Boras. Odds: 10-1.

5. Braves. He does, after all, love it there. Odds: 15-1.

International Signing By Mets This Year:

Dominican Republic:

RHP Jeurys Familia, 17; RHP Leandro Geremy, 20; 3B Jefry Marte, 16; OF Andres Perez, 17; SS Carlos Perez, 16; OF Cesar Puello, 16; C Hansel Santana, 16; SS Miguel Tejada, 16; C Amauris Valdez, 18; C Milvin Vargas, 17

Mexico:

IF Edgar Ortiz, 19

Netherlands:

3B Marinus Vernooij, 18

Venezuela:

C Hector Alvarez, 16; SS Wilmer Flores, 16

Moises Alou's steal of home Tuesday night was the first by a player older than 40 since Paul Molitor did it as a member of the Twins on May 19, 1998, against the Tigers

Mack’s Facts:

Oranizational OPS over .750:

On-base plus slugging (OPS) is a baseball statistic calculated as the sum of a player's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.[1] The abilities of a player both to get on base and to hit for power, two important hitting skills, are represented, making it an effective way of measuring the player's offensive worth. An OPS of .900 or higher in Major League Baseball puts the player in the upper echelon of offensive ability. Typically, the league leader in OPS will score near, and not necessarily below, the 1.000 mark.

1. Nick Evans/B-Mets .963

2. Mike Carp/B-Mets .940

3. Ryan Church/Mets .935

4. Jordan Abruzzo/Gnats .926

5. David Wright/Mets .906

6. Fernando Tatis/N.O. .902

7. Dan Murphy/B-Mets .893

8. Chris Aguila/N.O. .886

9. Lucas Duda/Lucy .848

10. Leivi Ventura/Lucy .803

11. Jesus Feliciano/N.O. .781

12. Francesco Pena/Gnats .753

13. Jose Reyes/Mets .753

Mets Contracts

Claudio Vargas rhp - 1 year (2008) - signed as a free agent 4/10/08 (minor-league contract) - $1M salary on Major League roster, $75,000 in minors - $1M in performance bonuses - 1 year/$3.6M (2008) - re-signed 1/16/08 (avoided arbitration)- released by Milwaukee 3/25/08 (due 45 days' pay, or $0.9M) - 1 year/$2.5M (2007) - re-signed 1/07 (avoided arbitration, $2.85M-$2.15M) - 1 year/$1.275M (2006), re-signed 1/06 (avoided arbitration) - 1 year/$0.325M (2005), re-signed 2/05 - DFA by Washington 5/05, claimed by Arizona 6/05 - 1 year/$0.3075M (2004) - ML service: 4.157

Zephyrs

You have to be impressed with Claudio Vargas’s outing last night… 7 IP, 0 R, 7 K… if this was a normal rotational pitcher from your ‘big 5’ that was on a rehab (like Pedro, let’s say), it wouldn’t take another outing to replace Pelfrey with this man. He also wasn’t signed to play AAA ball. My guess he’s now next in line and I expect him in the rotation by the Yankees series.

The New Orleans Zephyrs won their second-straight game on Thursday, beating the visiting Fresno Grizzlies by a score of 1-0.

It was a scoreless ballgame throughout until right fielder Valentino Pascucci blasted his third homer of the season in the seventh inning to give the Zephyrs their only run and final margin of victory.

Starting pitcher Claudio Vargas (1-1) recorded the win after shutting out the Grizzlies in seven innings and giving up only four hits.

Reliever Carlos Muniz got his fifth save of the season, retiring the final three Fresno batters of the game. Muniz has not given up a run all season for the Zephyrs.

Fresno starting pitcher Victor Santos (2-1) gets the loss after giving up three hits and the Pascucci home run in seven innings.

Anderson Hernandez is batting below .200 again. Can’t we cut bait here and make Dan Murphy the first call up (or, at least, Luis Rivera)?

B-Mets:

Going into Thursday’s game, the B-Met bullpen has only allowed 2 ER in the last 9 2/3 innings they have pitched, but starters have only won 3 games (Bobby Parnell 2x, Jon Niese 1x) in the last 23 played.

Fernando Martinez went 3-4 last night and has raised his average to .264. 2 of those hits were home runs. I think we’re beginning to see what we all hoped to see someday out of this kid.

Danger Mr. Robinson! A B-Met starter didn’t get out of the 5th inning again!

Lucy:

Another tough outing for Dillon Gee (6.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 Ks O BB). Not bad, just tough. One bright lining is the fact that he improved on his impressive K/BB ratio. (note: the winning pitcher of the game was Deolis Guerra).

Roster moves today: P Arthur Santos goes to the DL and Lucy adds P Casey Hoorelbeke.

Casey P. Hoorelbeke P R R 6-8 245 4-4-80 North Idaho Junior College

Hoorelbeke was drafted by the Florida Marlins in the 29th round of the 2000 draft; however, he chose college instead. He was then signed as an undrafted free agent by the Los Angeles Dodgers, who he pitched 4 years for (A-AAA level). His minor league stats are 21-14, 3.66 in 178 games.

A recent scouting report by Andy Braunstein:

Lucas Duda - 1B - He has the bat speed, the power to hit prodigious HRs to remain a force in the middle of the order. Has the bat control to be a #3 hitter, even #2. Is a good fielder. Has better hitting ability than Michel Abreu, Nick Evans and Mike Carp and a better glove. Would be the last one I would trade of the 4, and 1B is a position the Mets are going to need someone next year.

Gnats:

Looking to avoid its first seven-game losing streak in more than a year, Hickory turned to starter Dustin Molleken for an answer Thursday night and he delivered six no-hit innings in a 5-2 victory.

The Crawdads, who last lost seven straight from April 20-26 of 2007, were never in danger of matching that string with Molleken on the hill against Savannah.

The right-hander, who had struggled in allowing nine home runs in his last four starts, showed no signs of his recent mound troubles with masterful command of his low 90s fastball and slider/change-up combination.

In all, Molleken threw six hitless innings, walking none and striking out seven. Two runners reached against Molleken via error and hit batsmen, but a double play and caught stealing ensured the Saskatchewan native would face the minimum in his six frames of work.

Molleken would have to leave the game because lightning in the area delayed action between the sixth and seventh innings for 1:26.

By the time the delay hit, Hickory (16-19) already held a 4-0 lead over Savannah (13-21).

Miles Durham hit a first-inning two-run homer -- his fifth long ball of the year -- to put the Crawdads ahead early. Bobby Spain's two-run single in the fourth would give Molleken all the run support he needed.

Savannah would stage a mini rally in the ninth inning, scoring two runs and bringing the tying run to the plate in Jordan Abruzzo. Hickory's Tom Boleska would enter with two outs, though, inducing a ground out to third by Abruzzo to end the game.

Molleken earned the win to improve to 3-2 on the year. Boleska threw five pitches to earn his first save.

Savannah starter Elvin Ramirez dropped to 3-2 with the loss, allowing five runs (three earned) and seven hits in five innings.

Minor League Bios:

Jacob Ruckle P R R 6' 1" 180 05-27-1986 Chandler-Gilbert C.C

The Mets drafted Jacob with their 41st selection (1214th overall) in the 2004 amateur draft. Ruckle attended Mohave High School in Arizona and was signed by the Mets as a draft and follow in May 2005 after a year with Chandler-Gilbert Community College. He also was given a $100,000 signing bonus.

Ruckle has one of the most deceptive deliveries in baseball, which makes it very difficult for batters to pick up the ball. They’ve actually given a name and wrote a song about his herky-jerky motion… the ‘Ruckle Shuffle’. He loves to keep the ball down low and is known as a groundball pitcher. Home runs off of him have been rare.

Ruckle’s a 3 pitch man… fastball, sinker, and change-up, which is considered his best pitch. Teammate Jon Schemmel was quoted to say “he’s what you don’t see in the minor leagues anymore. He doesn’t throw 95, he doesn’t throw 90 for that matter, but he knows how to pitch"

Career wise, Ruckle’s 2 year Mets stats are very impressive: 17-7 in 36 appearances (28 starts), 111 Ks, only 25 BBs, 2.49 ERA and a skimpy 1.12 WHIP. He was a Gulf Coast Leauge all-star in 2005 and was tied for 1st in the league for amount of wins, and 4th in ERA and strikeouts. In 2006, Ruckle was 5th in the NY-Penn league in innings pitched. OnDeck ranks Ruckle as the 25th Mets prospect.

He started the 2007 season at St. Lucie (6-6, 3.48, 1.18, in 27 appearnaces, 11 starts), getting of to a good start; however, a slight forearm tightness put him on the IR in last April.

Ex-Mets:

Xavier Nady hit a 2-run home run against the Giants Wednesday night

Carlos Gomez hit for the cycle, scored twice and drove in 3 runs

Wax Heaven on Gomez:

A few months ago Wax Heaven had a guest writer named Adam G. who would provide weekly posts called ‘The Prospect Corner’ for those looking to invest in young players. Although his articles gathered huge numbers for Wax Heaven the lack of feedback left much to be desired and eventually Adam G. would go on to start his own blog. Well, one of his early posts was on Carlos Gomez and wouldn’t you know it, yesterday Gomez did the unthinkable! Last night, Carlos hit for the cycle in a Twins uniform, something that was last done 22 years ago and months before Carlos was even born! I think everyone knows “Go-Go” is destined to be a star but it’s a shame that he will probably never get the hobby love that he would have gotten had the Mets not traded him away so soon. I think it’s fair to say his cards are a bargain at the moment, considering that some of his big release autographs can be had for under $20 on eBay!

This Day In Mets History:

1995 - Indians tie a major league record by scoring eight runs in the first inning before making an out. Seven of the runs score as the results of home runs including Kenny Lofton's leadoff round-tripper, Paul Sorrento's grand slam and Carlos Baerga's two run blast.

1999 - After 552 relief appearances, Mike Stanton starts a major league game breaking Gary Lavelle's record for most appearances prior to starting a game