3B-1B-2B Wilmer Flores will join the New York Mets today. It's his 22nd birthday.
OF Cory Vaughn has completed his rehab and replaces Cesar Puello in the Binghamton outfield.
Relief pitcher alert... we talked about John Church earlier this week. He's keeping up the dominance in the AAA league, going: 0.2-IP, 1-H, 0-R, 1-K, 1.23. I can't think of a better September call-up right now.
We’re moving along in our series, taking a look at the system via position. Today, we look at the future of third base.
The future of third base? I thought David Wright signed a 100-year contract and we didn’t have to worry about this position anymore? Well, sorry fans, but even Wright is human and, as we’re learning right now, the Mets need to have a plan for this position in case something happens that could lead to an even more debilitating injury.
There are guys on the current 2014 team that can play third base… Josh Satin and Daniel Murphy are two of them… but let’s go into the system and see what’s there:
Wilmer Flores – AAA: - Flores, a natural third baseman, currently leads the league in RBIs (86), is tied for 11th in home runs (15) and 8th in batting average (.322). He’s done all this during a year in which he was 21-years old (turns 22 today) and, though the Mets have long since moved him to second base, he retuned there after the Wright injury to work out there in case he’s called up. My vote goes here just to get the major league jitters out of his system for the next 3-4 weeks and we can call get a look-see at the final product. I remember him well form his baby-fat days in Savannah, but that seems like decades ago. Bring the kid up so we can get a look at him. (update... he was promoted last night)
Dustin Lawley – A+ - Lawley is the ‘other’ 80+ RBI player in the system (I can’t remember the last time the Mets had two at the same time… had to be the Strawberry era). Lawley leads the FSL in home runs (23… 5 more than who is in 2nd place), runs batted in (83), and slugging percentage (.536). Yes, he has struck out 84 times in 403-AB, but, at this point, we have to raise Lawley to the potential major league slugger status. The real good news here is he also plays corner outfield and we all know we could use at least one of them. Lawley is 24 and will play Binghamton on opening day in 2014. If he keeps this up he could easily end the season in the silly PCL and be ready for a Queens opening day in 2015. I really like what I have watched develop here this year. He was excellent in 2012 at Savannah (.333, 14-HR, 66-RBI) but he’s playing 2013 levels we just don’t normally see in this system. He’s got my vote for 2015. Remember… he plays half his games in a stadium with the exact dimensions of CitiField.
Pedro Perez – Perez is playing his third year in the Mets organization after signing as a 16-year old International prospect. This year, he’s hitting .276 for Kingsport (turns 19 at the end of the month) and has only nine errors, which is low for a young Latin infielder. These are excellent numbers for someone his age and with his limited stateside experience.
Jhoan Urena – Urena is another international bonus baby. The 19 year old is playing for the GCL Mets and is hitting .272. He has a few more errors than Perez (12) but again, higher levels of infield errors are normal for young Latin American players that are used to playing on inferior infields as children.
Overall, having only Wright and a bunch of utility players is good enough, but also having guys like Flores and Lawley in the system give the Mets remarkable depth at third base (as well as outfield, second base and possibly, first base).
I can talk a little more about Jordany Valdespin now. A bunch of you have asked me recently when the Mets would be calling him back up to Queens and I told you that you will never see him in a New York Mets uniform again. Sometimes I’m privy to information that I can’t share to others. I don’t want to spend much time on this creep. He will be DFA’d and the next time you read about him will probably be about something non-baseball related. I knew this was a bad guy when I saw that the Latin players in Savannah didn’t even want to ride in the same car with him, no less sit next to his locker. Yes, he had more natural baseball talent than the players around him, but he was never a “professional”
Jim Callis on Cesar Puello –
Of the 13 players getting Biogenesis-related discipline today, only one still qualifies as a prospect: Mets outfielder Cesar Puello. He ranked No. 77 on Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospect list entering 2011 before leveling off the next two seasons. He has rebounded in 2013, putting up .328/.405/.550 slash stats with 16 homers and 24 steals in Double-A at age 22. Puello, who now must serve a 50-game suspension, is one of the top position prospects in a Mets system that’s light in that regard. He has impressive tools, including above-average speed, raw power and arm strength, though he still must make more consistent contact. I’d guess that New York will welcome him back after his suspension, because it needs outfielders and he could crack the big league lineup by the end of 2014. I also wouldn’t attribute his strong season solely to performance-enhancing drugs, because his name surfaced in connection to Biogenesis in March and I’d assume he made certain to stay clean afterward. http://ht.ly/nEhSu
According to my sources, Puello has played the entire 2013 season ‘clean’ which is quite impressive. It makes one wonder why you would even think about using something to enhance a talent that is already there. This is not thought of in the Mets offices as anything more than something stupid. He will be able to work off the 50-games this season as part of the 40-man squad and all September Mets games will count also. Look for him to open the 2014 season in Las Vegas.
I want this guy in the 2014 outfield, but I'm willing to wait another six months to get him there. What you can do is pencil in RF for him come around July 1st.
I have no idea what Sandy Alderson is going to do in the off-season to address the outfield. Marlon Byrd, Eric Young Jr. and Juan Lagares has been fun to watch but it's not two Uptons and a Heywood. I do feel a little better about the long term future when I see what Puello and Dustin Lawley (ETA opening day 2015) have done. These are two legitimate home grown outfield prospects that just may solve (along with Wilmer Flores and Travis d'Arnaud) our power problems some day.
Jim Callis on Noah Syndergaard –
Syndergaard’s Double-A performance is in line with how he has performed since the Blue Jays took him with the 38th overall pick in the 2010 draft. He now has gone 21-11, 2.47 as a pro, with a 309-78 K-BB ratio in 281 innings. Toronto may rue the R.A. Dickey trade that cost it Syndergaard and the game’s best catching prospect (Travis d’Arnaud) more than the Giants regret the Carlos Beltran deal that sacrificed Wheeler. I was going to write that Syndergaard never generated quite the buzz that Wheeler did at the same stage of his career . . . but that’s not true. Wheeler was 19 when he signed as the No. 6 overall choice in 2009, and he ranked No. 49 on BA’s Top 100 Prospects list the next spring. Snydergaard was just 17 when he was drafted, and after his age-19 season in 2012 he ranked 54th on the Top 100. So at a similar age, Syndergaard and Wheeler were equally well regarded. Wheeler dropped to No. 55 after his abbreviated pro debut as a 20-year-old, while at the same point Syndergaard jumped to 23rd on our Midseason Top 50. His performance shows no sign of slacking off, so I’d expect that Syndergaard will rank somewhere in the same range in our next Top 100—considerably higher than Wheeler was at the same stage. Syndergaard’s stuff seemingly continues to get better while he maintains his advanced feel for pitching. He has pitched more regularly in the mid-90s this year, and he also has added power and consistency with his breaking ball. His future looks just as bright as Wheeler’s, and his superior pitchability makes him a better bet to succeed. I’d enhance Syndergaard’s BA Grade to 65/Medium. http://ht.ly/nEhSu
Everybody is jumping on the Thor-train.
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