Gonzalez Germen, Not Zack Wheeler Promoted to Buffalo

The Mets have announced that RHP Gonzalez Germen has been promoted from Double-A Binghamton to Triple-A Buffalo, and that  Cory Mazzoni has been reinstated from the DL and on Binghamton’s active roster.

To note, Germen was the scheduled starter for tonight’s game in Binghamton. Looks like Zack Wheeler will spend a bit more time in Double A.

Germen holds a 6-7 record in Binghamton with a 4.60 ERA.  Germen’s last start in Binghamton was on July 21st against the Bowie BaySox, a game in which he lasted one inning giving up four earned runs on five hits, striking out one and walking one.

 

Would you promote Zack Wheeler to Buffalo now or

keep him in Binghamton for the rest of the season?

Thanks for the update, Tim. We were all waiting to see how this was going to play out here at MMO. Yesterday, I posed the above question to our staff and here were the responses I received back. – Joe D.

XtreemIcon: Yes, I would promote him. I watched Wheeler pitch on Wednesday, and despite the poor results, you can see why this kid has a future. He lived mid-90′s all day with movement on his pitches that fooled even the umpire on more than one occassion. He hasn’t been able to harness it yet, which accounts for his bouts of wildness, and when he took a little off and sat in the low-90′s for better control, his pitches lost some of that movement and became hittable. In the first two innings, the Rock Cats scored four runs on two, two-run doubles, both with two outs and two strikes. In the first, two HBPs and an excuse me, inside out, check swing, accidental double just inside the right field line did the damage and in the second, two seeing-eye, well placed singles preceded a well struck double to score the runs. Even when he was hittable, he wasn’t getting banged around. A little better luck and the results are completely different and there wouldn’t be a question. I’d promote him now, left him run the string in Buffalo so he can start there next year.

NYMets945: I would promote Wheeler when he has his next successful start. I do believe he needs some time in AAA to end this season, but I want him leaving AA on a high note and wait until we see him pitch like he did in the beginning of this year.

Sean Kenny: Wheeler may be struggling now, but at this point a promotion isn’t far-fetched. Harvey was promoted to Buffalo with a 4.53 ERA with the B-Mets and a 23/64 BB/K over 59 innings. Wheeler is at 3.29 with a 39/106 BB/K over 109 IP for the B-Mets.

Jessep: I think if you’re promoting Harvey which obviously they are now, you gotta give Wheeler his shot in AAA. Your goal if you are the Mets has to be to bring these 2 arms up within a season of each other. I don’t know if Wheeler is ready yet, but I can see him and Harvey being the type of starters who feed off of one another’s performance. If you can get Wheeler to a point where he is almost ready by April 2013, it changes everything.

Dave [Retire31]: If the Mets expect Wheeler to be a part of the team in 2013, he needs to be in Buffalo now. So, yes.

Joe D: Pete was on hand, as well as Xtreem, yesterday for Wheeler’s start against the Rock Cats. He told me something worth noting. Pete said that he was swarmed by beat writers, scouts and New Britain officials after Wheeler had a small press conference on Tuesday. They all wanted to know what Wheeler was still doing in Double-A. I thought that was interesting. I also thought it said a lot that an opposing team held a press conference for a visiting team’s prospect. How often does that happen?