Stoner Success

In last nights 3-2 win, Tobi Stoner picked up his league leading 2 win after a scoreless inning an lowered his era to 1.59 after 5.2 innings pitched. Eddie Kunz snagged his 2 save after pitching a scoreless inning to keep his era at 0 after 4 innings.

On the other hand the Sharks in the Hawaii Winter league had a bad loss yesterday due to poor performances by Mets farmhands. Josh Stinson gave up 5 runs in just 2.1 innings only for Junior Guerra to follow that up by surrendering a double and allowing the inherited runners to score. To top it off Ruben Tejada and Greg Veloz combined to go 0-5 with 2 strikeouts and a rbi.

Murph's Big Day

Daniel Murphy went 4-for-4 and drove in two runs as the undefeated Peoria Saguaros scored nine times in the eighth inning in an 11-6 win over the Surprise Rafters on Monday.

After the game Murphy said, "All you can do is try to have a quality at-bat, and fortunately right now I'm just missing the players on the field and finding some holes. I knew they ran a lefty out there, so we all tried not to do too much, just keep the line moving. We just want to have quality at-bats. I want to play well, give myself the best opportunity. I'm trying to get better on defense, I've taken some ground balls at second, went to the outfield a little. But mostly I'm hoping to stay as crisp as possible and play the game hard."

Kunz Blogging

Pitcher Eddie Kunz is blogging about his experience in the Arizona Fall League. To view the blog click.

"Last year I learned how to control my pitches and get my slider on track! Which worked and got me to start in AA this year and 2 weeks in the Big leagues in August. This year in the Fall Ball I am working on being more consistent with all my pitches and learning that the game is not in a hurry, I am a pitcher and I control the whole game."

Bowman AFL Player of the Week

Shawn Bowman was recognized as the Player of the Week for the first week of the AFL season. The 23-year-old, right-handed-hitting third baseman contributed a double and his second home run of the fall season to the 5-2 victory the Peoria Saguaros scored against the Peoria Javelinas on Monday. That production put Bowman at the top of the league's hitters in batting average (.545), slugging percentage (1.273) and home runs (two other players have hit two as well).

He also ranks ranks third in on-base percentage (.615) and extra-base hits (four). A native of New Westminster, British Columbia, Bowman was the Mets' 12th-round selection in the 2002 First-Year Player Draft. He was the 357th player selected.

Tejada Improving

After a poor season last year for A+ St. Lucie in the Florida State 19 year old shortstop Ruben Tejada is having a successful start to his season in the Hawaii Winter league. In 2007 Tejada hit .324 with 41 rbis, 45 runs, 16 stolen bases, 35 strikeouts, and 38 walks in 67 games between the Venezuelan summer league and the rookie gulf league. He was unable to continue that success in 2008 as he struggled throughout the year in the hitter friendly Florida state league. He only managed a .229 average with 37 rbis, 55 runs. He stuck out 77 times compared to 41 walks and was thrown out stealing 5 times out of 13 tries accumulating for only 8 stolen bases.

It looks like the 5 foot 11 kid is back on track as he is hitting .324 after 9 games and has 7 runs to go along with 8 rbis. Tejada does not have great tools. He does not have a lot of power and is more like a second baseman then a shortstop but after a great 2007 season he looked very polished and advanced for his age. This can be attributed to more walks then strikeouts and a high batting average to say the least. His defense is very good and even though he struggled in St Lucie he is said to have good plate discipline.

AFL 1 week

After the first week of the Arizona Fall League most of the Mets Prospects are performing very well. Shawn Bowman is hitting .545 with 2 homeruns and Daniel Murphy is batting .400 with 1 homerun. Vargas, Kunz, and Parnell all have an era of 0 while Stoner has a win and a 1.93 era after 4.2 innings pitched.

AFL Update:

In todays 9-2 Peo Saguaros win Shawn Bowman had a double, a homerun, and 4 rbis. Murphy went 0-4 but scored a run due to a walk. Finally, Kunz had another strong outing recording 2 more strikeouts in an inning

Hawaii Winter League update:

The Hawaii Winter League a few weeks ago and there are several players in the Mets minor league system on the Honolulu Sharks. Representing the Mets are pitchers Junior Guerra who has a 10.29 era after 7 innings pitched, Roy Merrit who is 0-1 with a 4.05 era after 6.2 innings pitched, Scott Shaw with a 1.35 era in 6.2 innings, and Josh Stinson who is 2-0 with a 0.87 era after 10.1 innings.

Position player wise the Sharks have young shortstop Ruben Tejada who is batting .308 after 6 games, catcher Jordan Abruzzo who has a .214 average after 14 at-bats, and second baseman Greg Veloz who is hitting .323 in 8 games.

Josh Thole

Catcher Josh Thole had a breakout year at the plate in A St. Lucie. Prior to the 2008 season, Thole never had the position all to himself. In 2007, Thole had to split time with Francisco Pena, and boy how he developing, or should I say not developing. Prior to the start of the 2008 season Thole did not have the starting job and was set to split time with Sean McCraw and Jason Jacobs. While McCraw and Jacobs struggled, Thole began to hit. As the all star break arrived Thole was hitting a mediocre but fine for a catcher average of .262. Then Thole really performed, he hit .333 after the break raising his average to .300 for the year and also ending with 25 doubles, 5 home runs, 56 rbis, 38 strikeouts, and 45 walks in 111 games. Anytime a player has more walks then strikeouts, you know he is putting together good at-bats.

The soon to be 22 year old was selected by the Mets in the 13th round of the 2005 First-Year Player Draft out of high school. Thole had a slow start to his career but has finished up the season strong and received FSL Mid and Post Season All-Star. The 6 foot 1, 190 pound righty hits lefty and will split time this season in Arizona. But with the Mets lack of depth in catchers in there farm system, Thole is at the top of the list and if he continues to improve he might see playing time in a year or two, especially if he continues to hit.

AFL Mets:

The Mets have 7 players representing them in the Arizona Fall League on the Peoria Saguaros. Representing the Mets are pitchers Tobi Stoner, Jason Vargas, Eddie Kunz, and Bobby Parnell, and Shawn bowman (infielder but primarily 3b), Daniel Murphy who will usually be playing 2b, and the solid hitting catcher Josh Thole.

Both Murphy and Bowman are in the opening day lineup and will be playing second and thirdbase while batting second and seventh in the lineup.

Mets Prospects will provide more information on the players representing the Mets in the AFL in the next couple of days.

Early Future

So how will the Mets Prospects affect the Mets next year? I honestly see Evans being traded and Murphy will continue to get a lot of playing time. Mike Carp could be used as a power hitting lefty off the bench but could just play in AAA and will not get significant time with the Mets if he is called up. I see Fernando Martinez playing a lot more of his games in the Minors this year and possibly making the move to the Mets later in the season if he plays well.

The Mets will also rely on young pitchers. Niese will probably be in the rotation and Parnell could be in either the pen or rotation. Dillon Gee or Dylan Owen could be called up at some point if they have success in AA next year. In 4 starts in AA Gee was 2-0 with a 1.33 era. Eddie Kunz could be used in the Mets bullpen but I believe he still needs a lot of work in the minors first. Eddie Camacho could be a sleeper for the bullpen as he posted good numbers in AA before struggling in 14 games for New Orleans. He has good stuff and is dominant against left handers 1.80 era but has shown he can get rattled pretty easily (7.5 era away games, runners on 8 era, behind in count 8.44 era).

Not Again!

The Mets season once again ended in a blink of the eye. Once again, on the final day of the season the Mets were unable to win just one game and get themselves into the playoffs. But we learned a lesson this year. We learned what we will need to make our club a championship club.

First the bullpen; the Mets need a total reconstruction of the bullpen. They need to trade Heilman, Schoenweis, and one other reliever whether it’s Ayala or Sanchez I don’t really care. Everyone knows Heilman has good stuff but he is a complete nutcase and can not get it done when it counts. Schoenweis is just a joke but give him a little credit because at least he cares, something you can’t say about a lot of other Mets.

The Mets starting pitching will be significantly different next season. The Mets will most likely not retain Oliver Perez and who really wants Pedro back after his inability down the stretch. That means the Mets will only have Maine, Pelfrey, and Santana. Most likely Niese will also be in the starting rotation but who knows. With that being said the Mets will need to get 1 solid starter if they want to have a deep rotation.

Time to talk about the Mets position players; the easiest decision this off season might be to trade Luis Castillo. Castillo batted a mere .245, .47 points under his career average. He cannot do anything at the plate in all honesty and he doesn’t have the same range he used to have on defense. I feel like Orlando Hudson would be the perfect player to put at second. He wants to play in New York and his personality is great and he can be a leader in the clubhouse. I also see an outfield change whether they bring in a free agent in left or trade church.

AA Update:

Dylan Owen made his AA debut last night and earned his first win after going 6 innings while allowing 1 run on 6 hits. Fernando Martinez who was hitless in his last 4 games had a very good night going 3-4 with a double and 3 runs.

Gee makes good debut

Dillion Gee made his first start for AA Bingamton last night. Gee pitched very in his 7 innings of 4 hit ball as he allowed only a solo home run and had 5 strikeouts.

Some Respect for Murphy

Dan Murphy is turning heads right now as he is 10 for his first 20 with a home run and 5 rbis. Murphy has not always been this highly looked upon. In November of last year, when Murphy was tearing up the Arizona Fall League, Minor League baseball rated him as the 18th best prospect behind players like Hector Pellot, an ok second baseman, and Mike Carp, who at the time had not hit for power or average after his wrist injury.

Even as early as spring training Murphy was not getting the respect he deserved. Everyone talked about Nick Evans or Mike Carp ahead of Murphy. I always thought Murphy would be the best player out of the three and now everyone is seeing his patience, desire to win, and apparent opposite field power...

Notes from B-Mets game

I was fortunate enough to attend the Bingamton Mets game tonight in New Britain. Bobby Parnell made the start tonight pitching 6 innings while allowing 3 runs on 7 hits. Personally, I am a big fan of Parnell. He has a very good fast ball, a pretty good change, but a pretty flat breaking ball from what I saw. His biggest problem was leaving his fastball up in the strike zone and that resulted in two big home runs. He looks good but very raw and needs more work until he will be ready for AAA or the Majors.

Mike Carp looked good tonight. He went 1 for 3 with a walk, a triple, and 3 rbis. There was actually an overthrow on his triple so he ended up scoring. The ball seemed to carry off Carps bat very well as he hit all his balls to deep parts in the outfield and most of the time it went a lot farther then it looked, always a good thing.

Kunz looked pretty good but a little wild as he walked 2, struck out 2, and gave up a hit while recording his 27th save.

Prior to the game, I showed up nice and early to interact with the players. Fernando Martinez did not play tonight but he said that he thinks he will play tomorrow night. He did however take batting practice and boy does he look good using the entire field. He was also real nice and signed autographs for everyone. Carp signed for only a short time because he was so busy trying to practice first and outfield. By the way, Mike Carp and Shawn Bowman look exactly the same. Bowman even ran by saying, "Sorry, I'm not Carp." The nicest guy though was Eddie Kunz. He signed before and after bp making sure everyone was happy. I asked Joe Hieptas if he was planing to catch again and he said that ship has sailed which cracked up Kunz. (Pictures: Martinez top, Kunz bottom)

Promotions:

The Mets have called up Dan Murphy to AAA. Murphy was batting .308 with 13 home runs and 67 RBI to go with 14 stolen bases for AA Binghamton. Earlier in the week, the Mets promoted Jon Niese who had a successful first start where he went 7 innings, allowing 1 run on 3 hits.