213 Miles From Shea

Its been a little over a week since I've been able to post and a couple of moves have been made that I wanted to comment on. The first being the Francoeur for Church trade. I know a lot of people have been commenting that this was a nothing trade, but I really like this trade for a few reasons. The first being that it was an old fashion one for one trade where both teams try to make their situations better by giving struggling players a new atmosphere to play in. The second is that the Mets have really nothing to lose in this trade. Although Francoeur has been struggling the last two seasons, he still has a tremendous upside, something that Church really doesn't have. Plus, when you consider the outfield the Braves have moving up the system, they probably aren't looking for Church to be an everyday starter. The main downside to this trade is that it isn't a blockbuster that is going to fix everything that is wrong with the Mets team currently, but honestly what would do that at this point.

The next signing is that of Pedro. Look, if he does good than the Phils look like they know what they are doing on and off the field but in reality I just can't believe he is going to be that good. This is a situation where he needs to pitch in a big league game for me to believe that he has it in him to be effective (in other words, I am not entirely convinced that the Phils even need him right now).

Ruben Tejada does not project to be a knockout, all star, but there are aspects of him that are very interesting, and one of the most intriguing pieces is his age. I had no idea until recently (this season) that during this baseball season he will be 19 years old. I thought he was much older than that (and really I have no idea why I thought he was much order than that). He first played for the Mets in the VESL and in the Gulf Coast League in 2007 when he was only 17 years old. The short stop was named the Mets best defensive infielder by Baseball America (12/19/2008) and Best Strike Zone Discipline (11/9/2007) (Since then, Corey Coles was named best strikezone discipline followed by Reese Haven, Coles was traded for Pagan).

Statistically speaking, his first year was very good as he had 78 hits in 241 AB (.324 BA), 9 2B, 3 3B, 3 HR, 41 RBI, 18 SB. The next season, 2008, he played for St. Lucie where he had 114 hits in 497 AB (.229 BA), 19 2B, 4 3B, 2 HR, 37 RBI. This past Spring he had 22 AB with the Mets team where he got 6 hits, a double and 4 RBI. So far this season he has played with the Binghamton Mets where he has 74 hits in 275 AB (.269 BA) with 13 2B, 3B, 2 HR, and 22 RBI.

 Its pretty incredible how fast Tejada has moved up the Mets farm system that in only three season he is playing fairly well in AA at the age of 19, which is a positive sign. Its hard to predict what the Mets will do with Tejada if he turns on a hot streak to finish off the season, or if he has a breakout season next year. He's a young player that has shown signs of success and people tend to like his defense. The mysteries with him are where is he going and what will the Mets do. He seems to be a player the Mets will watch next Spring or over the winter to try to determine his worth between being a New York Met or being a trade chip.

Today was the first day I saw the 2009 All Star Jerseys (from the MLB.com shop online) and I was a little surprised at first about how well done they are. I like when the BP jersey's are simple and although they need some flair from home team, they also can use something to connect the two leagues across the nation and they did that this year by using Red and Blue jersey's. As for a throw to St. Louis, the bat on the Cards Jersey is featured on the front and then for both the American League and the National League there is an arch that starts on the dot of the i (in National and American) and ends at end of the team name. The hats are really well done as well as the National League is noted by a N and the American League is noted with an A, which looks nice and simple. Overall, these jerseys look really good.

Just a brief uniform history courtasy of Wikipedia:
These BP jerseys were first used in 1997. Hats were first created in 2007. So this is a recent art.

In this week's Get To Know a Prospect, we will take a look at a 22 year old catcher who, although he is on the DL right now, in the last two seasons has started to make some noise in the Mets system as a catcher to start to watch. The catcher of course is Josh Thole. The Mets drafted him in 2005 in the 13th round and that year he played his first “season” of professional ball with the Mets at the age of 18. Thole has really flown under radar in the Mets system for two reasons. First, he hasn't really started to hit above average until last season and second, a few years ago the Mets signed the then 17 year old Francisco Pena, who was supposed to be the catching star of the future. However since 2008 Thole has really started to impress thanks to a successful 2008 minor league campaign, a good fall in Arizona and then a good start to this season. In the last season he has been named an AFL rising star, a FSL postseason all star, and a FSL midseason all star. Here are his stats from the last several years:

2009- .346 BA, 257 AB, 34 R, 89 H, 21 2B, 2 3B, HR, 30 RBI
2008- .300 BA, 347 AB, 104 H, 25 2B, 2 3B, 5 HR, 56 RBI
2007- .267 BA, 389 AB, 104, H, 17 2B, 0 3B, 0 HE
2006- .235 BA, 98 AB, 23 H, 4 2B, HR
2005- .269 BA, 104 AB, 28 H, 2 2B, 3B, HR

The stat that I would really like to point out is his doubles over his minor league career. They have been increasing every year and to have 25 in 2008 is a good sign. He already has 21 this year, and he has been injured which means that not only is his contact hitting improving (look at his batting averages) but his power hitting is starting to improve. This is the type of improvement that the Mets cannot ignore next Spring when recreating the Mets catching depth chart.

This has been a really tough week for Mets fans, and thus, since I haven't gotten any baseball scores since last Friday morning, I am pretty glad I got the news all at once and didn't have to go through day after day of bad news about the Mets. (In other words, I am glad when I checked the box scores this morning, the Mets were at least at .500 and I didn't have to see them go below). In an interesting situation, news about the Mets busride to the ballpark together actually was a full article down here in Baltimore, which is really surprising cosidering that most out of Baltimore news gets a small little blurb.

The incredible thing is although the Mets are in third place, they are only one game out of first place and they play one of two first place teams in the division that now has four teams seperated by two games (If the Phillies don't win the division I am considering it completly their fault especially considering the health of the Mets). If the Mets can have a sucessful series they can start to turn things around, and lets hope that happens.

There are two positive notes I want to touch upon from the last week. The first of which was Fmart hitting his first major league jack. The second one is Pelfrey's amazing 7 and 2/3 inning performance. Lets hope next week is better for the Mets.

If you want story lines and baseball news, this upcoming weekend should fill that void in your life. The first major story is of course the subway series as the Mets take on the Yankees in Citi Field and try to avenge themselves after that 15-0 loss against the Yanks earlier this month. The Mets just took 3 of 4 from the Cards, who play good baseball, and they now have to do it again against the Yanks who are also playing well. If that isn't enough New York Baseball, you could go to the Cyclones game on Sunday and see Oliver Perez pitch a rehab game. Speaking of the Cyclones, if you are in Maryland, you go on Saturday in Aberdeen (really strange how they split up the games this weekend in terms of locations) and see John Maine pitch in his rehab game. I wonder if he will get any special attention in Aberdeen because he was an Oriole prospect before making his way to the Mets.

There are other events going on this weekend as well as the entire NL East will take on the entire AL East including the Subway Series (New York vs New York, duh), the Beltway Series (Washington vs Baltimore, watching them promote this has been pathethic), whatever they call the series when the Rays play the Marlins, and to round off the set, the Red Sox vs the Braves and the Phillies vs the Blue Jays. Other big series this weekend include Chicago vs Chicago.

Should be a good weekend of baseball.

The Mets have a prospect on the team that is starting to get noticed, and he turns 20 in October. And this time, we are not talking about a teenage hitting machine, we are talking about a teenage pitching machine. This pitcher is none other than Jenry Mejia and he could be as much as household name as Fmart is very soon. He started this season in St. Lucie and he pitched 9 games, 50.1 innings, and had an ERA of 1.97. During that time he walked only 16 batters, while striking out 44. He was then promoted to AA where he has also had success with a 3.74 ERA over four games and 21.2 innings, walking nine batters and striking out 9. (And those stats are very inflated because his first three starts were incredible at the AA level, his last start was rough with 6 ER in 5 IP). A sign to look for this season then is to see how his numbers really
play out from this point in terms of walks and strikeouts. Throughout
his career so far, the more K's he has compared to BB's is a reason for
his success and is also a sign of a good pitching prospect.

Last year he pitched in the Gulf Coast League and the New York Penn league where he had a 2.89 ERA in 14 games and 71.2 innings pitched where he walked 26 and struck out 67. The year before he played for the Mets Dominican Summer League Team where he had a 2.47 ERA in 14 games and 7 starts in 43.2 innings pitched with 27 BB and 47 K.

Beyond the stats though he has three noted pitches that are causing him to get noticed. His first is his fastball which has been clocked as high as 97 miles per hour, and that was last year so he could still be getting stronger. He also has changeup that is in the mid 80's that is has been reported as above average and his curveball, as of last year, was in the mid 70's and has been used as a once in a while type of pitch, something that he needs to work on. 

Mets Minor League Blog has the best story about him though. They talk about he first started to play baseball when he was 15 years old. In other words, he is a prospect at the age of 19 but he didn't start playing until he was 15. Things look good about Mejia as he is a very interesting prospect to follow. He is a gem in our farm system that is generally underated.

I am on right now my first day off from my summer job (sleepaway Camp Counselor) for the first time in about a week and a half and I am also on the internet for the first time in a week and a half. Furthermore, I am getting real news since that time and baseball news. On the baseball side, that means I was treated to the Mets frustrating play against the Orioles, and the Rays. Then their surprisingly good play against the Cards. Oh yeah, and that the Mets have lost Carlos Beltran and have basically lost Sheffield.

And you know that what the worst part is? I am not surpised. That is how this season has been going, I am not suprised at all.

However, I don't want to make things sound too negative because there have been some bright spots on this team, mainly being Nieve. Wow! Seriously, did anyone predict that he would pitch the way he has been pitching? If this team needs a spark he is a place where the Mets can get it! Also, Evans has been a nice help since he has been called up to bigs and lets hope we are ready to keep him around (while juggling players that are very similar to him on the roster at the same time).

There are two things making this time of injured players and hard luck go a lot better. First, the Phillies have been worse, and even though they are not healthy, compared to us the look like the healthiest team in the worlds. Second, the Mets farm has been very promising this year so far. Ike Davis was recently moved to AA, Thole is really hitting, Mejia is hitting his stride. There are reasons to be happy in Metsville and realsons to hope. Even now while our team is banged up, we are a half a game out of first place. How awesome is that!

Some of you may remember this from last year but over the summer I work a very rewarding job, but one that keeps me away from the internet almost all the time. Well that job starts again tomorrow and for the next nine weeks ago I will have a limited update schedule. But still come back because “limited” is a very relative term. I update about 14 to 21 times a week normally I'll probably be down to 5 to 7 but its still worth it to come back.

Anyway see you all again soon!

Thursday was the third day of the MLB Draft and the teams drafted players for rounds 31 to 50 as they the minor league teams fill up with players and we start to look to see if the Mets got any hidden gems in the bottom rounds. Here are the Mets picks for those rounds starting with the round number, the name, and the pick number:

31. Mitchell Haniger (944)
32. Thomas Chism (974)
33. James Schoreder (1004)
34. Camdem Maron (1034)
35. Wesley Wrenn (1064)
36. Lance Hoge (1094)
37. Brandon Sage (1124)
38. William Cherry (1154)
39. Anthony Whitenton (1184)
40. Jerome Pena (1214)
41. Travis Ozga (1244)
42. Ryan Gunhouse (1274)
43. Robert Rinard (1304)
44. James Wooster (1334)
45. Jacob Johanson (1364)
46. John Pillzington (1394)
47. Ryan Mollica (1424)
48. Joseph Mantiply (1454)
49. Joshua Easley (1484)
50. Zachary Godly (1514)

And the overall last pick in the draft was selected by the Angels with pick 1521 and they selected Alibay Barkley, out of high school, which makes you wonder if he will go to a school.