wasnt he injured last year?

lets take our time with the kid…id rather see him play half a season in AAA and brought up along with Wheeler in August…

knowing the wilpons, they will look at marketing first, common sense a distant 2nd…and basically look at attendance records as the indicator when to bring wheeler and travis up…

Look at Matt Harvey. He was terrific in most of his starts here last year but never looked uncomfortable on the mound even in the few games where his command was oiff.

All young pitchers will have some bumpy roads but some handle it better than others. Look at Mike Pelfrey!

If TAD is healthy…he will be with the team on opening day!

As far as D’Arnaud…if he’s fully recovered from that injury, I suspect he’ll only spend the minimum time at AAA to push his clock back another year. Once that time frame is up (3 weeks?) I bet they call him up.

Start TDA in Vegas and call him up May 1. I think it wise for the organization to protect that extra year of control (just like the Nats did with Harper). The idea of holding him off until July so he doesnt fall into the early arbitration is stupid because if this kid pans out, he should have a long term deal by then.

As for Wheeler, I would let him pitch a couple months in AAA. He wasnt that effective to end the year plus there are some things to work on. Another problem with bringing pitchers up in this day and age is the inning count. Since teams are intent on adhering to the 30 inning increase, that means Wheeler is a 170 inning pitcher. The minor league season starts a bit later than the majors so Wheeler might be moved back a few starts which will give him an extra 15 innings or so when he does get to the big leagues. Also, pitching in Vegas actually will be good for him since it is a hitters mecca. Success there will translate into major league success because he will have to be as fine as he is with major league hitters. People will say that he gave up cheap hrs on good pitches. Well guess what? Big league hitters get hrs on good pitches. Success at the level requires making excellent pitches consistently.

Finally, I dont buy into the idea of needing TDA and Wheeler work together and have their development coincide. They are professional ballplayers. TDA should have Wheeler down after a few games of catching him. If you are telling me that TDA can figure out Wheeler’s stuff after 34 or 5 games, then he doesnt belong in the majors to begin with. And if you are having TDA down in Vegas to work with Wheeler, that is time he isnt with Harvey, a pitcher anticipated to be in the rotation for a long time. Or Niese, one who is already a long term foundational piece. Or Gee who might be there for a number of years.

Start TDA in Vegas coming out of ST and then May 1 (or 15th the latest) move him up to NY and send Recker (or whatever his name is) down. From that point on, let TDA start with Buck as mentor and backup. Move Wheeler up based upon his progress later in the summer. By that time, TDA might have an idea of some of the league since he will have caught games against them and could actually help Wheeler instead of both being wide eyed newbies.

Agreed.