The lone hit was a home run to Carlos Peguero and that mistake proved costly enough to pin Wheeler with the loss on the evening as the 51′s were shut out.

After the game, Wheeler apparently took recently promoted relief prospect Jack Leathersich under his wing and introduced him to a tasty burger.

Photo by Michael G. Baron

If you follow Zack Wheeler on Twitter he comes off as a determined young man who enjoys hanging out with his teammates.  While it’s impossible to know what anyone is really about from Twitter alone, it’s a positive sign when you can see a young player interacting with fans and teammates in a appropriate way through social media, especially when it’s so easy to slip up.  None of that may really matter when it comes to how they perform on the field, I just mention my opinion because the New York Daily News has an article up today that seems a bit careless in it’s characterization of Wheeler.  But hey, it’s based on observations from a ‘baseball insider’, so you know it must be true.

At any rate, with Terry Collins announcing that Wheeler will be promoted and start for the Mets this coming Tuesday during a double-header in Atlanta, Wheeler’s final numbers for Vegas will probably end up looking something like this.

Different players and different ballparks (Vegas is a launching pad), but since everyone likes to make the comparison, Matt Harvey finished his Triple-A season last year with a 3.68 ERA in 110 innings pitched and his K:BB ratio (2.3) was actually worse than Wheelers (2.7).  Fans can’t expect Wheeler to be anything but himself and while the city is starved for hope, the Mets fan base is smart enough to know that success will come with experience.  Hopefully the growing pains are limited but I think the excitement and support will be overwhelming regardless.

With a little more than a third of the season in the rear view mirror, even intrepid loyalists are losing interest in the current incarnation of the New York Mets. Fannies in the seats, SNY viewers and WFAN listeners are dwindling as rapidly as the hair on Sandy Alderson’s pate. And when the numbers go south (to the extent that they have), somebody had to do something.  Some teams would have made some wholesale changes at the top—by firing managers and coaches, but frankly, the on-field staff did not put this roster together. The front office failed to step up last July, when the proverbial s–t hit the fan. It appears the same may not be true this year, or so we hope!

Photo by Michael G. Baron

The obvious changes were made in the past 48 hours when Rick Ankiel was cut loose in favor of a Kirk Nieuwenhuis recall. Then, little used starter and Gee/Hefner/Marcum-clone Colin McHugh was sent down in favor of David Aardsma—and—Ike Davis was finally demoted to Vegas, along with Mike Baxter and Robert Carson.  But much more has to happen before this team can be competitive, it will take some out-of-the box thinking, maneuvering, and dealing because as Jay pointed out the other day, all the Mets have really done is reshuffle the deck, not replace the cards.

Photo by Michael G. Baron

Can the Mets afford to keep Jordany Valdespin on the bench and auditioning for a position, or is he better off under the wings of Wally Backman, so that attempting to steal 3rd with two outs becomes a thing of the past?  Can the team afford to keep playing Lucas Duda in LF when there is an opening at 1B? A look at Duda’s stats reveals that he is best suited to platoon against right-handed hurlers. In fact, he is batting .252 against RHP and .180 against southpaws (with 2 HR and only 5 RBI).  Can Terry Collins find some lineup consistency and defined roles for all his players? Moving Daniel Murphy to clean-up or to 1B, when he has become a plus defender at 2B, is sheer madness.

These are just some of the questions that will need to be answered between now and the All-Star break (just five weeks away), but certainly not the only ones.  Issues surround nearly every facet of this club and so here is my humble attempt at covering all the bases.

SHORING UP THE STARTING STAFF

For the most part, Mets starters have been very good for most of the past month. The truth is that Alderson & Company are intent on building a power staff with Harvey, Wheeler, Niese, Montero and Syndergaard in the lens. They also have four soft-tossers—Hefner, Gee, Marcum and McHugh—three of whom have been very good as of late, are in the rotation and have shown some semblance of brilliance in the recent past. That’s nine arms (without even mentioning Meija, Mateo, Fulmer, Tapia, DeGrom, Robles, Mazzoni, Lara, Ynoa, Verrett and several others on the horizon). Gee and Marcum are coming off off-season surgery. Harvey and Wheeler will be on an innings limit. Matt will probably be capped out at about 205 innings (on a pace for 230 right now) and Zach at about 180 cumulative AAA and MLB innings. Jonathan Niese has always pitched better on five days rest—look it up. So, why not go to a six-man rotation now? Such an out-of-the-box maneuver will guarantee longer appearances, reduce arm weariness as the season evolves and keep the bullpen fresher.

Adding another southpaw to the mix (none of the prospects are lefties) is desirable. The Chicago White Sox have Newark native and Mets fan Hector Santiago in the pen and spot starting. Just a few weeks ago, he pitched at gem at Citi Field. Sunday, he replaced the DL’d Jake Peavy and pitched another gem. With four lefties in the rotation and holes at 3B, C and LF, as well as two aging first sackers, the ChiSox can certainly stand to make a deal. Would Wilmer Flores (destined for the AL), Gee and Buck get it done?

CATCHER

Photo by Michael G. Baron

John Buck had a great April. Perhaps the best month any receiver ever had for the Mets? But since May 1, he has reverted to his old self, which is still better than what the Mets got from any of their backstops since Paul LaDuca. Problem is, he is overworked and Anthony Recker is underworked. Why not send down Recker for a host of at-bats until Travis d’Arnaud recovers and bring up Juan Centeno for a look-see for a few weeks? He is the ubiquitous left-handed hitting catcher who could be the match for Buck, d’Arnaud or Plawecki for quite some time. Have him catch 2-3 games a week until the All-Star break and Recker will get about 100 at-bats in the interim. There’s no loser in this scenario.

FIRST BASE

Create a strict platoon of Duda and Josh Satin, who was brought up to replace Davis. Duda hits righties. Satin rakes against lefties. Andrew Brown may have been the call-up, but a recent stint on the DL foiled his re-ascendance. Again, there are five weeks or more to see what this platoon can do while Davis sees if he can regain his stroke and confidence a la Eddie Kranepool in 1970, when he was a seven-year veteran.

MIDDLE INFIELD

To his credit, Daniel Murphy has made major strides in becoming the plus defender that few pundits thought he could be. He is also a doubles machine and a good fore-hitter to David Wright. If he had a quality leadoff hitter and another speedster in front of him, the plethora of two-base hits would turn into lots of rib eye steaks. Keeping him at 2B is of the utmost importance in terms of consistency and his continued development.

Photo taken by Michael Baron

Ruben Tejada has been a huge disappointment thus far. He may have been out-of-shape to start the season and some of the cold weather, especially in Minnesota and Denver, really sent his defensive mojo reeling. Worst of all, he just couldn’t get going offensively. Omar Quintanilla is a useful piece and perhaps placeholder for a year or more while some of the deep SS talent on the farm matures. His left-handed bat, along with Murphy’s, should deliver more at-bats to Justin Turner, who has been one of the four best hitters on the roster and deserves more at-bats. Who knows what will become of Tejada, but expect him to be the SS at Las Vegas for a good long time when he comes off the DL.

THE OUTFIELD MORASS

The clear message of Sunday’s events indicate there will be five guys in the outfield mix, all of whom should get a pretty decent number of at-bats for the short-term. Nieuwenhuis and Lagares will likely be a strict platoon in CF, while Byrd or Cowgill will give way to Valdespin when a righty is on the hill. Cowgill is likely on the hot seat for two reasons: (1) Andrew Brown, Jamie Hoffman and Cesar Puello have all been prospering down on the farm; and (2) It is hard to imagine that the Mets won’t make some deal for a quality major league outfielder between now and July 31. They have loads of pitching prospects, some catching depth and a few other interesting prospects. Also on-point is that Buck, Byrd and Marcum/Hefner/Gee could be very useful chips for a real contender, especially if they are beset by injury.

THE BULLPEN

Photo by Michael G. Baron

Suddenly Bobby Parnell and Scott Rice have lost their magic touch. Familia and Atchison are likely out for the balance of the year and Frank Francisco has been written off. LeTroy Hawkins continues to be LaTroy Hawkins—up one day and middling the next. On the plus side—Brandon Lyon looks like he has returned to form; Greg Burke seems to have worked out some of his rough edges during his stay at Triple A; The Aardsma pickup may have been well conceived. Hopefully, Josh Edgin returns to form and spells Rice from the constant abuse to his left limb. One of these arms will have to be sacrificed to accommodate a six-man rotation.

DEALING

An interesting and low-cost lead-off option could be Piscataway native Eric Young Jr. Andre Ethier may well be on the block, but he is the same age as Jason Bay when he signed with the Mets and with an even higher tariff for the next four campaigns. Perhaps the Dodgers would be willing to part with the offense Dee Gordon might someday provide. One of the soft-tossers, Tejada or Valdespin, and a couple of high-quality prospects could get the deal done, but only if the Dodgers eat some of the Ethier contract.  Clearly, the Mets have their eye on Shin Soo Choo, who would be preferable to Ethier, and a big draw to the huge Korean community around Citi Field and in the NY Metropolitan area. Can he be had before the trade deadline? A batting order that starts with Young, Quintanilla, Wright, Ethier or Choo, d’Arnaud, Murphy, Duda/Satin and Nieuwenhuis/Lagares is a lot better and provides David Wright with a lot more protection than he has currently. It should also deliver more stolen bases, more RBI for Murphy and greater depth and balance.

THE FANS

Mets fans deserve something more than just clearing payroll and developing a powerful farm system. Not to say those areas did not demand attention and remediation. They did. But the system is loaded with arms. The existing MLB roster now has three long-term fixtures (Harvey, Wheeler and Niese), at least one soft-tosser worth keeping (Hefner or Gee) and a couple of A+ prospects (Montero and Syndergaard), who should provide stability for many years to come. There will be bullpen arms aplenty from the other starter prospects, as well as Parnell, Familia, Leathersich and others. The catching is much deeper than one year ago. A host of outfield and middle infield prospects are presently patrolling minor league stadiums. And Alderson & Co. just spent their first round pick on a left-handed hitting first-baseman who may have to fill a significant hole in about three years.

The moves highlighted here, combined with the roster manipulations of the past few days, may go a long way to reawakening the fan base. No one expects a post-season appearance this year, but the players, coaches and fans deserve a wholehearted, all-in approach to making things better on every front—for the love of the game.

The New York Mets today announced the club will select the contract of infielder Josh Satin from Las Vegas (AAA) of the Pacific Coast League, and recall outfielder Collin Cowgill and lefthanded pitcher Josh Edgin from Las Vegas prior to Tuesday’s game against St. Louis.

Satin, 28, entered play today with a .306 (66-216) average, nine home runs and 32 RBI in 58 games for the 51s. He appeared in 16 games with Mets over the previous two seasons, hitting .192 (5-26) with two RBI.

Photo by Michael G. Baron

Cowgill, 27, entered today having appeared in 31 games with the 51s, hitting .267 (32-120) with five home runs and 12 RBI.  He made New York’s Opening Day roster and hit .157 (8-51) with two home runs and eight RBI in 19 games for the Mets.

Edgin, 26, made the Mets’ Opening Day roster, compiling a 0-1 record and a 9.64 ERA (10 earned runs/9.1 innings) in 11 games.  He has been with Binghamton (AA) of the Eastern League and Las Vegas, and entered play today with a 2-0 record and a 6.75 ERA (14 earned runs/18.2 innings) in 16 minor league games.

The Mets optioned first baseman Ike Davis, outfielder Mike Baxter and lefthanded pitcher Robert Carson to Las Vegas following today’s game.”

I’m not opposed to sending down Davis, Baxter, or Carson and sometimes ‘change for the sake of change’ can actually shake things up for a team.  The frustrating part is that by promoting three guys who have proven to be wildly ineffective when given an opportunity in the past, it’s hard not to feel like the front office is really just spinning it’s wheels.  This is not changing the deck, it’s simply reshuffling and frankly, the cards still aren’t very good.  None of these players inspire optimism amongst fans and while it would be nice to see them play well this go around, it’s probably not likely.  So what else can the team do to change things?  Aside from signing the next Rick Ankiel that hits the market, very little.  That’s where the problem is, the Metsecutives made the bed and now the fans are forced to lay in it.  Sure, they’ll be changes like this but I won’t be surprised when Davis, Baxter, and Carson are recalled to replace Satin, Cowgill, and Edgin.  It’s like going to the store and returning a shirt that’s too small but getting the exact same size.  You know it won’t fit, but you just hope it will.  I think Einstein had a word for that type of behavior, didn’t he?

Satin .192 avg last 2 yrs, Cowgill .157 avg & Edgin 9.64 ERA this yr. Insanity: doing same thing over & over & expecting different results

June 9, 2013 11:48 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

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Andy Martino of the New York Daily News believes that the changes my by GM Sandy Alderson and company might actually be followed by some meaningful moves on the trade market.

As Alderson told the Daily News a few weeks ago, the Mets will spend the next seven weeks looking for hitters, especially outfielders, who are under control beyond this season.  The Mets pursued Michael Bourn and Justin Upton last winter because they wanted to avoid building an entire outfield in one winter; the same philosophy will guide their deadline strategy this year.

Alderson acting so aggressively over the weekend to shake up his team can be read as the beginning of what we expected: The ballclub he assembled over the winter, which is horrible, will not be the ballclub for very long.  The time for sitting idly while Terry Collins does his best to manage a deeply flawed roster is over.

What can Alderson do? Giancarlo Stanton and Carlos Gonzalez, both of whom the Mets covet, now seem more likely to be dealt in the offseason, if they are moved.  The Marlins are still insisting they will keep Stanton, although few in baseball believe them.

The Rockies are surprisingly relevant, and don’t seem to have arrived at the right moment to blow up the franchise and deal one of its two faces. If that changes this summer, the Mets will be ready with their stash of young pitching, prepared to deal from strength.

The Dodgers’ Andre Ethier is a more realistic, but significantly less appealing possibility.  According to major league sources, the Mets have considered Ethier at least since last year’s winter meetings, when they floated internally the idea of asking for him in an R.A. Dickey trade. Ethier appears to have become expendable in Los Angeles, but he is hardly a player who will transform the Mets’ lineup.  Chicago’s Alex Rios is another option, as the White Sox will likely become sellers.

I’m cautiously optimistic, but far from sold.  Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me…..Mr. Alderson.  The sad thing is that even in a market like New York, it’s likely that the Mets will be forced to overpay for top free agents in the future because the team is so bad, ala the Nationals prior to the signing of Jayson Werth and company.  Who would have thought that this is how things would unfold when Omar and Jerry were ousted from town what seems like forever ago?

According to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York:

The date is not set in stone because of factors such as potential rainouts in the interim, but is tentatively set.

Jay Horwitz, the team’s vice president for media relations, flew to the West Coast during Monday’s Mets off-day to prep Wheeler for dealing with the New York media.

The Mets have been waiting until after the “Super 2” deadline to promote Wheeler. By ensuring he is not in the first portion of MLB prospects called up this season, the Mets can delay Wheeler’s arbitration eligibility by a year, until after the 2016 season. Either way at this point, Wheeler would not be eligible for free agency until after the ’19 season.”

John Harper chronicled Horowitz’s trip to meet and prep Wheeler in his column for the New York Daily News:

Mets PR chief Jay Horwitz made a stealth trip to the West Coast on Monday, the club’s off day in Washington, D.C., to prep Wheeler on the do’s and don’ts of dealing with the big, bad, New York media.

Photo by Michael G. Baron

The Mets wanted the trip kept quiet, and so Horwitz, Twitter sensation that he has become, didn’t even tweet about it.

However, when I told him that I had I heard about it from someone in the organization, he agreed to answer questions.

The first question was fairly obvious, but as it turns out, someone had already asked it.

“When I got to the airport,” Horwitz recalled, “the guy at the counter looked at my itinerary and said, ‘Hey, brother, did you lose a bet or something?’ ”

Horwitz, who had flown on the team charter from Miami to Washington, D.C. Sunday night, was up at 4 a.m. for a 7 a.m. flight Monday from Reagan National to Phoenix, where he connected on a flight to Fresno, Calif., where the Mets’ Triple-A Las Vegas club was playing.

He went to the ballpark and greeted manager and old friend Wally Backman, who looked at him the way the guy at the airport had and said, “What, are you nuts?”

Then Horwitz met with Wheeler for 30 minutes, essentially reassuring him the Mets organization will do everything it can to ease him into the spotlight that awaits in New York.”

Last week Mets manager Terry Collins warned that the 23-year-old, who is 4-1 with a 3.86 ERA for the Las Vegas 51′s, should not be viewed as the team’s savior:

He’s not going to be the savior,” Collins said today before the Mets took on the Nationals. “There’s a lot of pieces that have to work. One guy is not going to turn this around. It takes 25.”

“Certainly everybody’s excited because he’s a prospect,” Collins said. “You look down the road, with that arm and that stuff, that he could be a good pitcher for a long time. But there’s a lot of adjustments that are going to have to be made by him.  He’ll help. He’s got great stuff, but there’s been so much made of this poor kid. He hasn’t pitched a game in the big leagues yet and it looks like he’s going to be in the finals for the Cy Young. He’s not even here. We’ve got to let him get up here and pitch a little bit.

If he pitches good, great. That’s super. If he struggles, this is the big leagues. You’re going to have tough times”

Fortunately for Collins, Mets fans are to the point where they’re not sure if anything can save them, let alone a prospect (even one of Wheeler’s caliber).  Let’s face it, fans are jaded due to the unfulfilled expectations of prospects past and while Matt Harvey single-handedly ignites the fanbase every fifth day, nobody expects to hit the jackpot twice.

Photo by Michael G. Baron

What Wheeler undeniably offers, justifiably or not, is a chance for fans to get excited about watching a team that was recently swept by the worst team in baseball, the Miami Marlins.  Any time a player can do that it’s good for the club.  Whether or not it’s good for the player remains to be seen, but the team has certainly taken it’s time in promoting Wheeler and there are options to back him up if things don’t go well as both Dillon Gee and Jeremy Hefner have pitched very well of late.  The pressure is on, but with expectations surrounding the team at an all time low, now is as good a time as any to get a glimpse into the future.

Notes-

Here’s an interesting tweet from Jon Heyman, wonder how fans feel about the comparison?

1 scout likened zack wheeler to a.j. burnett, very good but not quite matt harvey 2. zack & aj have “slurvy” breaking ball

June 4, 2013 8:37 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@JonHeymanCBS

Jon Heyman

Parnell, who has been one of the few bright spots for the Mets this season, entered the contest in the ninth and was greeted by Ryan Zimmerman with a double off the right-center field wall.  Zimmerman advanced to third on a wild pitch before scoring the tying run when Adam LaRoche singled past the drawn-in infield.  Ian Desmond followed the LaRoche single with a double and Roger Bernadina was intentionally walked to load the bases for Steve Lombardozzi.  Lombardozzi hit a walk-off sacrifice fly to shallow left field, scoring LaRoche with the game-winning run.

“I struggled a little bit, but it’s not my first one, it’s not my last one. I have to get them tomorrow,” Parnell said of his third blown save of the season. “I left a few balls over the middle that I didn’t like. But they’re a good-hitting team. It’s a good part of the lineup. They earned it. I didn’t walk them or anything like that. They hit some decent pitches. It could have been better.”

The blown save ruined a terrific effort by starter Jeremy Hefner, who allowed just one run on four hits.

Hefner’s lone rough patch of the game came in the bottom half of the sixth.  The 27-year-old starter allowed back-to-back singles before striking out Ryan Zimmerman for the second out of the frame.  Hefner walked the next batter he faced, bringing Ian Desmond — who homered off the right-hander earlier in the game — to the plate with the bases loaded.  This time, however, Hefner would get his revenge, inducing Desmond to ground out to end the inning and the Washington threat.

“I haven’t had much success against [Desmond],” Hefner said after the game. “He’s hit a few homers off of me. And I’ve mostly stayed away from him. I think it was a good plan — we talked about it before the inning — to crowd him a little bit. And that’s what we did the two at-bats after he hit the homer. And he grounded out twice.  Typically, in my career, I would give up a hit there and they would go ahead and that type of thing. For me, confidence-wise and trusting my stuff, that was a big inning for me.”

Though Hefner struggled earlier in the year, he has turned it around of late, having been the recipient of some tough luck losses.  Over his last eight starts, spanning 50 innings of work, the right-hander is 1-3 while allowing 20 earned runs on 41 hits and 13 walks with 41 strikeouts. With Zack Wheelers promotion looming Hefner is in danger of losing his spot in the rotation even though he has not been the worst starter in the Mets rotation.  That award would go to Dillon Gee, who turned in his best start of the season last week versus the Yankees.

“Jeremy pitched another very, very good game,” said Mets manager Terry Collins.  “After giving up the home run, he just bounced back and worked hard and pitched very well. He had the tough sixth inning. He threw a lot of pitches in the sixth. But he managed to come out and have a decent seventh inning and got us to where we wanted. A lot of times — we’ve said it before — you don’t have a lot of wiggle room.”

New York managed just four hits on the evening, two of which came off the bat of Omar Quintanilla.  Quintanilla who doubled in the eighth and walked in the third, blasted a two-out, two-run triple in the fifth against Nationals starter, Jordan Zimmerman.

With one-out in the frame, Jordany Valdespin was rewarded an infield single when Adam LaRoche’s toss to Zimmerman covering first base was dropped.  Rick Ankiel followed the infield single with a should-be 3-6-3 double play, but an errant throw by LaRoche allowed both runners to reach safely. Hefner sacrificed the runners into scoring position setting the stage for Quintanilla’s two-out, two-run triple.

The Mets will continue their three-game set versus the Nationals tomorrow night at 7:10 p.m. in Washington.  New York will send Dillon Gee to the mound to square off against Dan Haren.

“I’m not stupid,” Gee told reporters. “I know that many bad outings in a row, you’re probably hanging on by a thread there.”

With a Wheeler promotion most likely slated for mid-June, Gee still has time to change his managers mind.  The 27-year old starter took a step in the right direction on Thursday night, turning in his strongest performance of the season, allowing one run over 7 1/3 brilliant innings of work, leading the Mets to a 3-1 victory over the New York Yankees.

With their season spiraling into irrelevance, the Mets have put together their best stretch of baseball this season, winning a season high five-straight, including a four-game sweep of their cross-town rivals.

“For the first time ever the Mets have swept a season series against the Yankees”-Gary Cohen, May 30, 2013

May 30, 2013 9:56 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

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GEE-WHIZ: Dillon Gee turned in his best performance of the season, needing just 88-pitches to navigate he way through 7 1/3 innings, en route to his third win of the season.

Photo taken by Michael Baron

Gee’s only mistake came in the third when he allowed a solo-blast to Robinson Cano on a pitch that got a little to much of the plate. Following the Cano blast, Gee retired the next 15 batters he faced, striking out nine.  The 27-year old starter struck out a career-high 12 batters, including the last five he faced.

“I needed that on so many levels,” Gee told reporters after the game. “Finally he told me, ‘Good job. He didn’t say ‘finally,’ but he said, ‘good job’ for once when I came out of the game.  Like I said, I needed that.  And I’m just glad to finally be on the side where I helped the team out. …I didn’t want to be the guy to let everybody down again.”

BYRD BYRD BYRD, BYRD IS THE WORD:  After a lead-off walk to Lucas Duda, right-fielder Marlon Byrd absolutely crushed a fastball out over the plate.  Byrd deposited the pitch into the left-field seats, giving the Mets a 2-0 lead they would not relinquish.  The homer was Byrds sixth of the season and second in as many days.  Marlon saw his average dip to .238 after collecting just one hit over 18 at-bats, but he has since gone 3-for-9 with 2 home runs and four runs batted in raising his average to .244 in the process.

TRAP GAME:  The Mets will travel to Miami to face the Marlins, looking to continue their stretch of strong play.  NY will send Shaun Marcum to the mound to square off against highly touted prospect, Jacob Turner tomorrow at 7:10 p.m. at