MMO Minors Mailbag: Will Vegas Affect Pitchers?

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• Alex68 October 8, 2012 at 2:53 pm

  What do you think the effect will be on our prospects moving from Buffalo to Las Vegas? I read that the climate could be bad for our pitchers and I’m concerned about Zack Wheeler”

  Doesn’t sound like a question to me, more like some sort of built in excuse.. If he struggles then it’s on vegas.. If he does well, he’s the second coming and SA is the greatest GM of all time… SMH
  • TRS86 October 8, 2012 at 2:56 pm

    So you deny the reality that a minor league park or league can inflate or deflate numbers?
  • Alex68 October 8, 2012 at 2:59 pm

    Excuses…. And we’re not even in the 2013 campaign…
    • TRS86 October 8, 2012 at 3:13 pm

      Are you denying the facts that there is a difference in the ballparks of the two different leagues? Answer the question, LOL.

      Sometimes there is a difference in between reasons and excuses.

      I know I am wasting research on you but have at it:
      2012:
      International League: 3.92 ERA, 4.30 R/G, .715 OPS
      Pacific League: 4.62 ERA, 5.13 R/G .775 OPS

      2011:
      International: 4.03 ERA, 4.34 R/G .729 OPS
      Pacific 5.12 ERA, 5.56 R/G .807 OPS

      2010:
      International: 4.15 ERA, 4.51 R/G .740 OPS
      Pacific 4.78 ERA, 5.22 R/G and .780 OPS.

      How in the hell is it not a fair question to wonder what the effects of this hitter’s league will have on the stats of our AAA pitchers?
  • Sloatsburg Mets Fan October 8, 2012 at 7:01 pm

    Do you even root for this team? It was clearly a legit question that he went on to expand on. You can find the negative spin to anything. Sad
• Metsie October 8, 2012 at 2:56 pm

  Question: Yes they can not negotiate until the team’s season is over but what was to stop them from negotiating with some other team for the 2013 season in the 2011 Offseason?

  Are they forbidden to negotiate a contract with them for a year they have no future agreement just because some other team has a contract with them for the time in between?

  Why couldn’t we have negotiated a contract with some other team whose current contract expired in 2012 for 2013 and beyond?
  • Tim B. October 8, 2012 at 3:46 pm

    Metsie, looking at the MLB rules (Rule 56 – Standard Player Development Contract) here is some of the language that prevents the Mets from looking beyond the end of their current PDC (or beyond the end of their contract with Buffalo):

    •Between the end of the season and September 11 in a PDC’s expiration year, a team may terminate its PDC by written notice to the Commissioner or the MiL President. The Commissioner has the right to deny such termination in the best interests of baseball.

    •Between September 12 and 15, the Commissioner shall notify the clubs of approved termination notices.

    •Between September 16 and 30, clubs receiving notification may negotiate with new clubs for an affiliation at the same classification level, and may enter into such affiliations.

    Not sure if that speaks 100% to your question, but the nuts and bolts of the rule make it seem like the Mets didn’t have the opportunity to even speak with anyone about an affiliation change until September 16th of 2012 (for the 2013 and beyond period). If they had tried in 2011 they would have been in violation of Rule 56 and subject to at least $500,000 in fines.
    • Metsie October 8, 2012 at 5:03 pm

      It may answer it if there is another rule that says teams can not negotiate with any affiliate still under contract.
      If they are limited to only negotiate with those teams that have been identified as “Terminated” or whose Contract has “already expired”.

      But I don’t think that is the case. Could be but it doesn’t make sense because what if an Affiliate wanted to not renew a contract with a franchise in a year where there was no other franchise available (the reverse is a little different here so I won’t mention it). They have no issue being unaffiliated for a year but the MLB team is out a AAA farm team.

      This is almost exactly what happened to us, Our Affiliate didn’t want to be affiliated and we were left with zero choice on who to affiliate with. They just happened to have another team willing to affiliate with them this year.

      I can’t see any legal reason why knowing full well our Contract with Buffalo was expiring in 2012 and some other affiliates was expiring this year why we could not negotiate an agreement for 2013 despite the fact they may be under contract to someone else until that date.

      It’s possible they do have a rul (or there is a good reason) but it doesn’t seem like a good way to do business as one franchise will wind up stuck with the worst Affilliate in AAA and have no recourse to change.

      Until some other affiliate is unhappy with thier current franchise.
      • Tim B. October 8, 2012 at 5:58 pm

        To be a AAA ballclub you have to have a MLB affiliation – there are no ‘independents’, nor is there an opportunity to be independent. There are as many AAA franchises as there are MLB franchises (AA as well) and all have to be affiliated with a MLB team.

        Rule 56 in some legalize does state that teams can not negotiate with an affiliate still under contract – that’s where the $500,000 penalty comes in to play that I mentioned.

        Unfortunately the Mets were hogtied. By the time the ‘open’ affiliate dance started, they only had one option. Is it fair? Probably not; but, that’s the way the rule is written right now.

        I may not be remembering correctly, but isn’t that how the Mets ended up in New Orleans as well? They were the last two standing so they had to affiliate? Interesting how history has repeated itself with the Mets and their AAA club – I don’t think it’s a mere coincidence.
      • 51s October 8, 2012 at 8:37 pm

        That’s why the Mets are going to Vegas. They are regarded as the most hideous organization. Plain and simple. Vegas is the worst AAA city and that’s why the get the Mets. nobody wants to deal with Mr Alderson. Everyone in the game knows what Alderson is about, evertyone outside the game except the cultists know as well.
• srt October 8, 2012 at 2:58 pm

  Will Vegas affect pitchers?

  Facts point to yes. Since it’s reported the Blue Jays skipped Vegas all together for some of their top prospect pitchers, I can’t imagine that the problem that necessitated that is no longer valid. Bottom line is, it still exists.

  I know they were caught between a rock and a hard place with Vegas being the only place left. I would have signed a one year lease, not 2. Get out as quick as they can.
  • Metfan Lou October 8, 2012 at 8:31 pm

    I bet the show girls on the strip will affect them more than the park!
• Hank October 8, 2012 at 3:12 pm

  Park factors obviously matter, but so do big league lineups. I’d say figure out a formula that indicates what the inflation rate will be, and then have our pitchers face the league that looks closer to big league lineups. I’m seriously not as worried about this because it’s only a short-term problem. The bigger problem is how will this impact moving guys up and down. In an organization so money conscious, moving the Vegas might significantly up how much is being spent transporting players.
  • TRS86 October 8, 2012 at 3:15 pm

    The biggest problem will be pitcher ego IMO. Getting a kid that was mowing down AAA in the international league to adjust to the fact that his stats will take a hit and that he doesn’t need to start worrying and pitching to the park. Which is most likely why the Jays skipped it all together.
    • Hank October 8, 2012 at 3:30 pm

      Agreed.

      Like I said, to me the bigger problem is transportation.
• Andrew October 8, 2012 at 3:14 pm

  Hey they gotta adapt and do whatever they need to do to protect their top prospects. They should have seen this coming, is this DePo’s department?
• Sean Kenny October 8, 2012 at 3:43 pm

  In regards to Alex – no, because his velocity and wildness can play up with hitters who know if they hit it high it will carry well. However, how can you develop consistency with a breaking ball that won’t break in a climate?

  The only Jays prospect who has spent any significant time in LV is Drabek, and he’s a whole different type of nut to crack. Alvarez skipped LV, as did Hutchingson and I believe Romero. It is counter-productive for pitcher development to be in Vegas.

  In regards to Metsie – I am pretty sure negotiations cannot begin until the end of an agreement, as most teams do renew and for one place to open up, another team has to want to move as well. A few of the possibly landing places were owned by the MLB club (which I think would be a smarter purchase for the Mets within the next 10 yrs, but that’s an entirely different story)
  • Hodges14 October 8, 2012 at 4:40 pm

    Trying to be rational with an irrational person is a futile endeavor.
    • Chest Rockwell October 8, 2012 at 8:04 pm

      Good lord, this is the best comment EVER.
• Metfan Lou October 8, 2012 at 6:26 pm

  To me if I had to do some planning I would make Port St Lucie Triple AAA and move the team at Port St. Lucie to another park. There are empty parks in the Southeast that would love to have the St. Lucie Mets. Maon GA has a nice park but needs some updating. Pete Rose played in Macon and baseball movies have been made at Luther Williams Park. It used to host a Braves team.
• Metfan Lou October 8, 2012 at 6:28 pm

  “Hey Joe you were doing great for the 51′s. Why are you on the DL?” “I have what the doc calls “One Arm Bandit Elbow.”