Jeurys Familia

Asked if he was concerned about the situation, Familia shrugged. ”I’ll be OK in a couple of days. I want to play,” he said.

Manager Terry Collins said he was aware of Familia’s condition before the game.

No word if the Mets will have Familia get a precautionary MRI or if he was examined by team doctors. It’s also uncertain how long Familia will be sidelined and unavailable.

Familia said the soreness began on Wednesday, when he pitched one inning against the White Sox and allowed a run.

The Mets used their first-round pick last year on shortstop Gavin Cecchini.

Last month, I had the chance to conduct an email interview with John Sickels of the well-known minor league blog, Minor League Ball. Sickels worked for ESPN many years ago, where he had his own column about minor league baseball. Here is some of what we talked about:

Q: Were the Mets too conservative with the Gavin Cecchini selection?

A: I thought Cecchini was a slight overdraft but I didn’t really think that about Nimmo. By slight, I think he was more of a late first round guy rather than 12 th overall, but that’s my opinion and obviously the Mets disagreed. Their thinking is that a premium defensive shortstop with excellent makeup and a chance to be at least a decent hitter is not easy to find. As with Nimmo, Cecchini is very young of course, just a college freshman age-wise, so it is way too soon to know who is right.

Q: What do you think of the prospects the Mets got for R.A. Dickey?

A: I thought they did well. D’Arnaud has the offensive and defensive ability to be an All-Star catcher, and at least a solid long-term regular. He just needs to stay healthy. I love Syndergaard, who has made a lot of progress with his secondary pitches. He could be a top of the rotation pitcher. They are both elite prospects.

Q: Jenrry Mejia and Jeurys Familia — bullpen or rotation?

A: Bullpen in both cases. I used to think that Familia might make it as a starter, but at this point I think his command and mechanical problems make him a better fit in the pen.

Q: Vicente Lupo wowed in the Dominican Summer League with a .343/.500/.608 slash line and ten home runs over just 65 games. He is a bit of a mystery to many Mets fans. What do you know about him?

A: Well Lupo was a big-bonus guy out of Venezuela who was supposed to hit for power and average. He was terrible in 2011, but supposedly he was sick most of the summer and not at full strength. As you know, he was outstanding last year, more in keeping with the original reports. However, Dominican Summer League performance is not very predictive, so at this point I think we just have to wait and see.

Q: Will changing Triple-A affiliates from Buffalo to Las Vegas have any impact on player development?

A: Las Vegas is an extreme hitters park in a pro-offense league. In one sense, it can be a useful trial-by-fire thing for for pitchers: if you can survive in Vegas, you are better-prepared mentally and emotionally for the major leagues. On the other hand, it does introduce complications in player development for players on both sides of the ball. Breaking pitches don’t act the same. Hitters can get into bad habits that don’t harm them statistically in Vegas, but can come back to haunt them in the majors.

Read more of Sickels’ work at Minor League Ball.

This game had a definite carnival atmosphere feel to it as the Atlanta Braves beat the Mets by the score of 9-4 to split the rain-shortened two-game series at Turner Field.

What a comedy of errors for the Mets even though the box score would suggest a clean game. I hate sad stories and bad endings so this will be short and sweet bitter.

What was up with Duda on that fly ball? Dude, check out the brunette in Row 3.

Jon Niese struggled from the word go and while it looks like he took a real pounding, it was more like a spanking as the Atlanta Official Scorer was handing out free base-hits today instead of some well deserved errors. In the end, Niese lasted just 4.0 innings and was charged with seven earned runs on seven hits and an appalling six walks! Get that kid outta there…

The Mets southpaw was betrayed by some of the most horrendous defense I’ve ever seen. The most egregious miscue came in the third inning when Lucas Duda misjudged a routine fly ball off the bat of Freddie Freeman that sailed over his head and allowed two Braves runs to score to put them up 3-0. That would open the floodgates as Niese then uncorked a wild pitch with Dan Uggla at the plate to send Freeman scampering home with another run. That pitch could have easily been blocked by the stocky John Buck. With the Braves now up 4-0, Reed Johnson drives home Uggla with an RBI single and suddenly the Braves are up 5-0 lead after three innings.

David Wright tried to get the Mets back in the game in the top of the fourth inning when he rocketed his fifth homer of the season – a two-run shot that got the Mets on the board.

Jeurys Familia replaced Niese in the bottom of the fifth, after Niese loaded the bases with a single by Gattis and back to back walks to Uggla and B.J. Upton. Familia was warmly greeted by a two-run single by Reed Johnson and suddenly the Braves were up by five runs again. Freddie Freeman tagged Familia with a solo home run and left the game with the Braves up 8-2.

The Mets scored another pair of runs in the eighth on an RBI-single by Duda and then Justin Turner drove in a run when he walked with the bases loaded. But the Braves responded with one more to make the score 9-4 and earn the split.

The Mets are off on Monday, as Robin Ventura and his White Sox head to Citi Field for short two-game series beginning on Tuesday. Matt Harvey will take the hill for the Mets.

Keep it up, kid. You’ll see AA soon…

Last Night’s Quick Scores

• Las Vegas was shut down by Sacramento, 3-0. 
• Binghamton got beat by Harrisburg, 3-1. 
• St. Lucie was also shut out in their loss to Fort Myers, 6-0. 
• Savannah had their game suspended till 5/30, and trailed 1-0 after three innings before the postponement. 

Prospect Pipeline

• Well, it was a relatively quiet night last night in Mets Minors as all three teams that managed to finish their games lost. Each team did receive good starts from their starters – Chris Schwinden, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard, respectively. Syndergaard, as I’m sure you all know by now, was the Mets #3 prospect and our #4. His start last night, which spanned six innings and resulted in only one earned run, helped string together a little mini-streak for him. He has not gone less than six innings in his last three starts, while walking no more than two and allowing no more than one earned run. That is a pretty nice sign for a player who had a career high of six innings pitched coming into the season, as he looks to develop a little consistency and move his way to Binghamton.
• In Jacob deGrom‘s case, he had issues out of the gate last night, where he allowed four straight hits to begin the game. The latter hit was a two-run double, which capped off a three run inning against him in the first. The good news, however, was that he immediately settled in and did not allow any more runs for the rest of the game, allowing him the luxury of departing with a quality start. There is a lot to like about deGrom as he progresses through our system and most of it circles around his dominant fastball. I’m interested to see if he and Syndergaard can build on whatever momentum they have built up with a dominating start each in the near future.
• Cesar Puello has been tearing it up since returning from his injury, and he has a ten-game hitting streak to his name to prove it. His .333/.368/.583 slash over the streak has been accompanied with seven RBI and three steals. He went deep last night for Binghamton’s only run.
• Defensive wizard Wilfredo Tovar had his second multi-hit game in as many starts for Binghamton last night, and he has hit safely in eight of his last ten ball games with a .286 average. He still needs to show me more at the plate before I start jumping on that bandwagon.
• The Sand Gnats’ game may have been postponed, but Steven Matz did get the start for the three innings that were played. He allowed one earned run over that span, off two hits and one walk. He struck out four and was actually looking rather impressive. Rainy Lara will start tomorrow, and he leads the entire Mets organization in ERA for qualifying players with a sparkling 1.88 figure in that category.
• Kevin Plawecki failed to get a hit in his one at-bat, which broke his hitting streak, but his .402 average continues to be ridiculous in every possible way. Plawecki got a mention for his insanely hot week, .455 with five doubles, in Jim Shonerd’s BA chat for the week although he said that K-Plaw needed to do a little more to end up on the hot sheet from Low-A ball. Shonerd also mentioned Gabriel Ynoa, where he said “Slightly above-average fastball with control. Secondary stuff has further to go but he’s only 19 (turns 20 later this month) and has pitched well against older competition both last year in the New York-Penn League and so far this year in Savannah.”
• Hat tip to the Leather Rocket, Jack Leathersich, who struck out the side in his inning last night in dominating fashion.
• I’ve kept track of Jeurys Familia for many years, and I was very glad to see him pick up his first MLB save last night. His fastball was always electric, but if his breaking pitches fall into place…can you say closer quality stuff?

Stat Line of the Day

Noah Syndergaard: 6.0 IP, 8 H, 2 BB, 1 ER, 5 K

Transactions/Injuries

• As you may have already heard, Collin Cowgill was demoted to Las Vegas yesterday, and Andrew Brown was called up in his place.
• Brandon Nimmo was not in the lineup for Savannah before their game was suspended. He is still nursing his left hand injury and is not even taking batting practice.
• Marcos Camarena is on the 7-day DL for St. Lucie.

Video of the Day

Check out Kirk Nieuwenhuis performing a catch that may actually be illegal in a few states, where he robs a home run by extending over the barricade…

Photo of the Day

Things weren’t so hot on the farm last night, but we can fix that…

When you live on the West Coast, sometimes you have to listen to the other team’s broadcast. It can be excruciating. When your team starts winning, especially in clutch fashion, there’s nothing better.

That’s what happened to me while listening to the Braves announcers last night. When the Braves made a move, the Mets had an answer. Clutch offense was the theme of the game.

Evan Gattis hit a home run off Brandon Lyon and Mets fans released a digital sigh throughout the Twittersphere. They had read this ending before.

Then David Wright summoned his inner Walt Whitman and had fans singing, “O Captain! My Captain!” Wright hit a clutch 464-foot home run off Craig Kimbrel that tied the game at five in the 9th. Bobby Parnell bailed out Lyon after Lyon gave up a leadoff double in the bottom half of the frame and the Mets went into extras unscathed. The Mets have played seven innings of extra-inning baseball in the last four games.

Lucas Duda and Marlon Byrd went down consecutively and the top of the 10th looked all but over. Then El Dramático stepped to the plate…

Jordany Valdespin worked a walk to get on with two outs in the 10th. Then he stole second and furiously clapped his hands before calling for time. The spark was created. He had attempted to steal third, which had some viewers scratching their heads. Michael Baron wasn’t too impressed with Valdespin’s enthusiasm over Twitter.

It’s a good thing JV1 wasn’t thrown out at third for the last out in the 10th inning before Tejada got a chance to swing the bat, btw #Mets

— Michael Baron (@michaelgbaron) May 4, 2013

I had assured him that El Dramático had the base stolen, but Mr. Baron still wasn’t having it.

@pacific_theme Look, its a bad play. And, if he gets a bad jump and gets nailed, you’re singing a different tune.

— Michael Baron (@michaelgbaron) May 4, 2013

You’re right, but he did get a good jump and that’s why he went for it. Leave my tune singing out of it!

While fielding more questions, Baron at least tried to be positive. So, whatever, I guess.

@sonufrock he backs it up with his play. So, whatever, I guess.

— Michael Baron (@michaelgbaron) May 4, 2013

The flair was in full effect.

Mike Baxter and Ruben Tejada followed up with a walk and a base hit to drive home Valdespin for a 6-5 lead. Valdespin, who leads the league in style points in the early part of the season, slid into home plate head first. I don’t know why. It was brought to my attention that on-deck hitter Daniel Murphy instructed him to, but it was fantastic nonetheless. Murphy followed things up with a much-needed insurance run and Jeurys Familia shut the door for his first career save.

It was a good game for the Mets and it sent a message that they haven’t given up yet even if the media and fans have. John Buck hit another home run and his stock is skyrocketing. He now has 10 home runs and 29 RBIs. Duda and Byrd also went yard and the Mets tallied four long balls in the 7-5 victory. I even have to give it up to Terry Collins for a couple savvy managerial decisions in this one. Even if it only happens twice a day, you still have to point out when I dead clock is right. As for the ubiquitous why-isn’t-Valdespin-starting-every-day question? I don’t know. We could be watching El Dramático start rallies like that in the 1st inning three or four times a week, but for whatever reason, we’re not. I’ve given up on coming up with a legitimate explanation because there really isn’t one anymore.

All I know is Jonathon Niese and Matt Harvey are back on the mound, which gives the Mets a good shot at taking the series on the road.

What are your thoughts on last night’s game?

Wow, this was a great game for the Mets who just beat the Atlanta Braves 7-5 in extra-innings at Turner Field tonight. I hope you caught all the action because it was one of the best games and biggest wins of the season for the Mets. Jordany Valdespin once again sparked the big inning and continues to make Terry Collins look like a fool whenever he’s out of the lineup. More on him later.

Shaun Marcum made his second start for the Mets and had a very uneven performance, lasting just 4.1  innings and allowing three runs on six hits and three walks. His ERA is now 7.20 for the season and he needs to start stepping up his performance real quick. LaTroy Hawkins relieved Marcum and aside from letting one inherited runner to score, he gave the Mets 1 2/3 effective innings of relief. At this point the score was knotted at three after five.

The Mets got two of their first three runs on another John Buck homer – a two run shot in the first inning and his tenth big fly of the year. In the second inning, Lucas Duda belted his sixth homer of the season and he seems to be heating up again.

Things got dicey for the Mets in the seventh when Scott Atchison allowed two walks and a run to give the Braves the lead. Then after the Mets tied the game again in the eighth, Brandon Lyon gave the lead right back again after coughing up a solo home run to Braves catcher Evan Gattis in the bottom of the inning to put the Braves up 5-4.

Enter the captain David Wright who hit an absolute bomb off one of the best closers in the game, Craig Kimbrel, in the ninth inning to tie the game at 5-5. It was Wright’s fourth homer of the season and this one was as clutch as you can get.

The Braves tried to mount a walk-off win in the ninth after a leadoff double, but in came closer Bobby Parnell who slammed the door with some major league heat and kept Atlanta from scoring to send the game into extra innings.

In the the top of the tenth inning, El Dramatico – Jordany Valdespin  - ignited the a two-run rally with a clutch pinch-hit walk. Spin then takes off for second base and gets in safely to get himself into scoring position. Ruben Tejada follows up with line-drive RBI single to plate Valdespin with the lead run and put the Mets up 6-5. Daniel Murphy would follow that up with an RBI single to give the Mets an insurance run.

Jeurys Familia came in to close it out and notched his first big league save after mowing down the heart of the Braves lineup with a scoreless 1-2-3 tenth inning.

It was an amazing game with lots of excitement from start to finish. The Mets refused to lose and they got some clutch performances at the plate and out of the bullpen which was great to see. Valdespin is the most exciting player on the team and is always making things happen!

Valdespin Races Home To Score The Winning Run In The 10th Inning!

When you glance at this morning’s Mets pitching leaders, you see two names that belong in Matt Harvey and Bobby Parnell. Each of them have been nothing short of phenomenal in their roles of closer and staff ace. But just below them is a name nobody expected much from this season – that is unless you read my preseason feature on Scott Rice – the 31-year old rookie who has become a cult figure here on MMO.

The left-handed reliever has performed at a level unseen by a southpaw since Perpetual Pedro was in his prime during the Omar Minaya legacy.

Rice has been a Godsend in the bullpen both for his effectiveness and reliability, but more than that he’s been the bullpen’s most durable reliever, leading the team with 16 appearances and 14.2 innings pitched. For a Mets bullpen that is ranked 29th in the majors with a 5.09 ERA, Rice along with Parnell have given the team their all and have been the most steadfast performers in an otherwise ill-performing bullpen.

Gone already are Greg Burke, Josh Edgin and Aaron Laffey. Brandon Lyon and Robert Carson may soon be the next to go. Jeurys Familia who I felt earned a job out of Spring Training, is finally here and so far the early results have been encouraging.

But getting back to Rice, Mike Kerwick of The Record had a great profile of him this morning on NJ.com. He goes back to his formative years and gives some more backstory to what has already been one of the better storylines to this Mets season.

“He’s been terrific,” said Mets manager Terry Collins. “Extremely durable. When you talk to him, this is what he’s been waiting for his whole life, this opportunity.”

Kerwick shares a fascinating story about Rice that only furthers my respect for this unique player who toiled in the minors for 14 years before finally making his major league debut this season with the Mets. Most players would have quit and hung up their spikes after eight or nine years, but Rice remained determined and set on making it to the majors against all odds.

Rice bounced around – five major league organizations, 18 minor league teams – before he finally caught on with the Mets last month. He threw his first major league pitch on April 1, almost 14 years after he was drafted.

In the darkest moments of those 14 years, Rice would place calls to his father. Dennis knew a thing or two about watching a baseball dream implode. Rice’s father blew out his shoulder years ago, back when he was a middle infielder for the University of Southern California.

“He’s the main reason why I kept playing,” Rice said. “At times I hated it. But he kept pushing me, telling me, ‘Hey, you’ve got to get out there, you’ve got to keep doing this, you’ve got to keep doing that. You’ve got to make these phone calls to teams.’

Rice was very instrumental in the 7-6 win against the Marlins that put an end to the team’s six-game losing streak, the longest such streak in two seasons.

With the Mets barely holding on to their one-run lead, Collins turned to Rice to get a critical out with the tying run on third in the eighth inning. Rice came in and induced an inning-ending grounder from the pesky leadoff hitter, Juan Pierre. Once again, Rice rose to the occasion without breaking a sweat.

“He’s been very, very good,” Collins said. “He realizes when he keeps the ball down and throws strikes, he gets ground balls. So far we’ve caught them.”

There haven’t been too many great bright spots to the Mets’ season thus far, but Scott Rice is certainly one of them, and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

A robot would probably have put in Juan Lagares instead of Collin Cowgill in the late innings last night … That’s because robots are nothing if not logical. Robots don’t go on intuition or hunches, they don’t make bullpen decisions based on their gut … Their guts are wires and blinking lights and oil cans and stuff. Robots don’t have “favorites,” ever.

A robot would not have told Jeurys Familia to walk Solano on a 1 – 2 count. To a robot that would not compute, you’d probably start seeing smoke coming out of the robot’s ears and it’s head would start spinning around if it made a move like that.

A robot manager could also squirt Gatorade directly into players’ mouths and blast them  with super-cold frozen carbon dioxide vapor when it’s real hot out.

Another good thing about Robots is that they wouldn’t get snippy during the postgame press conference for being second guessed neither. A robot also wouldn’t snap at the guy from the New York Post for asking about the weird double switch. See sometimes you get the sense that Terry Collins pulls the double switch because he likes how it looks on a scorecard and makes people think he’s doing his job.

“Yeah, had to pull three double switches tonight, honey… Boy am I bushed.”

A robot would use the double switch only when there was a logical reason for one … like taking out Lucas Duda. A robot would never forget to take Lucas Duda out in the late innings, Lucas Duda’s defensive metrics would be hard wired into the robot’s circuitry, “no hard feelings Lucas … bmeep bmeep bmoop bmoop.” Also, a Robot wouldn’t refuse to play Valdespin because Valdespin is irritating and obnoxious. Robots don’t have feelings, a robot wouldn’t care if Valdespin beats his chest after a triple.

A robot manager could also wax the floor of the dugout during a game.

You could also train a gorilla to be manager. They’ve taught some gorillas to use hand signals you know, how hard could it be? You’d have to get him into a uniform of course … I’m sure a few of Dave Kingman’s old jerseys are still around somewhere. The gorilla could just signal for a bunt with David Wright up and no one on base … He wouldn’t even have to follow the game, you could teach the gorilla six or seven signs and have him randomly use them during the game. So he might call for a triple steal or pull his starter after only one inning. A gorilla also wouldn’t care if Valdespin beats his chest after a triple, he’d probably beat his chest in response. Not only would it be a big improvement over Terry Collins, it would be hugely entertaining, win-win! You might want to equip Hudgens with a deluxe pooper-scooper to take care of any “accidents,” if you go the gorilla route.

Or you could pay a fifth-grader to be the manager. They will often work for candy and gum, and they can be pretty smart, especially the ones who read books and stuff. If the kid yells at Tim McClelland because he fell asleep or maybe had a small stroke between pitches McClelland can’t eject him because the kid would be too young to go unsupervised. I know McClelland is slow to call balls and strikes but I swear there were times last night where he was waiting to see how the batter would react so he could call the opposite, just to screw with the hitters for being so unbelievably awful. I don’t blame him really.

A fifth-grader might even be able to get away with kicking the umpire in the shin. If a fifth grader were running things every baserunner would steal on every pitch. Hitters would swing at everything, the hit and run sign would always be on. Runners would steal home as soon as they got to third base, it would be pure chaos! (The awesome kind not the boring Ike Davis kind.) You could put Dan Warthen in charge of getting the kid cotton candy and hot dogs and bubble gum … the kid might need his own bullpen cart but it’s a small price really …

The New York Mets were shutout by the Philadelphia Phillies 4-0 tonight at Citi Field. Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick hurled a complete game gem, limiting the revamped Mets lineup to just three hits and a walk.

For the Mets, Dillon Gee was matching zeroes with Kendrick for five innings and actually did a nice job of keeping the Phillies off the board until the dreaded sixth inning when it all fell apart for him. Gee was torched for four runs with the big blast coming off the bat of Ryan Howard who rocketed a three-run homer into the night. Howard owns Gee who now falls to 1-4 on the season with a 5.96 ERA.

The bullpen delivered three scoreless innings, two from Jeurys Familia and a surprisingly clean 1-2-3- ninth from Josh Edgin which was very good to see.

Offensively for the Mets? There was none. Ironically, Terry Collins juggled the lineup before the game and batted David Wright clean-up believing it would lead to more runs. (Hey Terry, your team is already ranked number one in the NL in runs per game.)

But there was no beating Kendrick on this night. The Mets flailed at his pitches and were completely powerless against him.

The Mets (10-11) now fall one game under .500 for the first time this season. Tomorrow, Shaun Marcum will be activated from the DL and make his Mets debut.

Have at it…

Mike Newman of ROTOscouting posted an article on FanGraphs regarding some of the Mets’ exciting Dominican arms who he says ranks among the top-15 prospects in the organization.

I mentioned one of them in our Minor League report today, Gabriel Ynoa, about whom he writes:

Against Savannah, Ynoa sat 91-92 with his fastball, touching 93 mph. With sink and a sling shot delivery, Ynoa is deceptive and his length gives the impression of the ball exploding on an opposing hitter. Plus, he’s not a max effort pitcher which speaks to durability and future health.

In Brooklyn, J.D. Sussman had Ynoa up to 95 mph, so expect even more from the young right-hander as the weather warms. Plus, his body lacks muscular development. As Ynoa fills out, the potential is there for him to add even more velocity… Ynoa is the gem of the Savannah pitching staff. Look for the 19-year old to vault up Mets mid-season prospect lists and into the top eight overall by season’s end.

Earlier today, and before Mike linked me this article, I wrote that while last season many of the scouts were already labeling Ynoa as a future reliever, I thought there was a lot more to him than that and called him a future ace in the making. Check out our always insightful Minor League Report from today for more on Ynoa.

While Jeurys Familia, Rafael Montero, Luis Mateo and Domingo Tapia get much of the ink, and deservedly so in their own rights, Gabe Ynoa and also Rainy Lara are two more names not to be ignored.

Newman says that by mid-season, Ynoa could crack the Mets Top 10.

Mike has a tremendous eye for scouting and check out his new site that I linked to above. He’s been kind enough to let us share many of his scouting videos on MMO.

Jon Niese gets credit for a quality start according to those stats…

As for the others?

Well this, my friends, is where our story begins…

Behold the Mets’ poison pen and embrace the horror…

• Josh Edgin has a 9.75 ERA and his fastball is slowing down in velocity by the day. The situation with him is nearing a panic level.
• Scott Atchison couldn’t get an out and allowed three earned runs to cross the plate. Simply put, he’s not getting it done.
• Jeurys Familia had a rude awakening in his first action since arriving from Sin City. I had high expectations for him today and I’m hoping this was just a blip on the radar. Perhaps a case of jet lag? Perhaps the physical shock of coming from a hot desert into an arctic tundra in the space of 12 hours?
• Jeremy Hefner can now boast that he’s flopped both as a starter and a reliever all in the space of a week. That’s not easy to do.

The toll on the New York Mets bullpen during this Colorado series was disastrous. All told, they pitched to the tune of a 13.09 ERA and during the three games they managed to squeeze in, the Mets bullpen allowed 18 runs (16 earned) on 22 hits and 8 walks in 11.0 innings.

Was it the frigid temperatures? Afterall, the first-pitch temperature was an crisp 28 degrees – the lowest temperature ever recorded in the 20-year history of the Rockies.

But then how do explain the Rockies impressive bullpen who posted an almost invisible 0.76 ERA? How does one explain away that?

Tsk, tsk, what is a poor Mets fan to do…

It was indeed a brutal scene to behold…

It was indeed a nauseating game to watch…

But remember, it’s only April, so let’s not hit the panic button just yet…

Instead, run down to the town square and fill your ice chests with some frosty brews…

Be sure to stop by the village market and stock up on your favorite snacks…

For tomorrow, the tragedy of this day will all be forgotten…

For tomorrow, ’tis Matt Harvey vs. Stephen Strasburg Day….

Wheeler & D’Arnaud: Is the Mets future tandem nearing their debuts?

Last Night’s Quick Scores

• Savannah (7-6) rocked the Greensboro Grasshoppers, 8-1
• St. Lucie (9-4) dropped to the Charlotte Stone Crabs, 5-2
• Binghamton (7-6) lost a close one to the Portland Sea Dogs, 1-0
• Las Vegas (7-6) topped the Sacramento River Cats, 3-2

Prospect Pipeline

• Brandon Nimmo had another two hits in yesterday’s game. He now has had a multi-hit game ten times this season.
• Travis d’Arnaud was pulled from last night’s game after being struck with a ball on the ankle while he was behind the plate. The ankle is probably one of the most painful spots to get hit with a ball, as the ankle bone is pretty much completely exposed. This sounded precautionary as there were no reports of d’Arnaud being sent for X-rays.
• Newly promoted Jacob deGrom got the nod for Binghamton last night. Like I said yesterday, many had him penciled into the Binghamton rotation at the start of 2013, so it was really only a matter of time before he got the call. He could not have pitched a better game. So good, in fact, that Binghamton head coach, Pedro Lopez, announced after the game that deGrom would be joining the B-Mets staff, and they would likely move to a six-man rotation once Cory Mazzoni is back from his injury.
• Sandy Alderson commented on what would determine when top prospect Zack Wheeler is called up to Flushing. He stated while the Super Two status is taken into consideration, Wheeler’s performance will ultimately determine when it’s his time. With the Mets backend of the rotation struggling the way it is, it won’t take many more solid starts before they go with Wheeler. I wouldn’t be surprised if Collin McHugh and Wheeler are both called up within the next month if the Mets rotation continues to falter. I would expect Rafael Montero to get called up to Las Vegas if, and when, Wheeler, McHugh, or both guys join the Mets during the next few weeks.
• Andy Martino, of the Daily News, commented on the Wheeler situation in his post this morning:

  Wheeler is 0-1 for Triple-A Las Vegas this season, with a 3.86 ERA. In 14 innings, he has allowed 17 hits and six walks while striking out 17.  You can throw out his first two starts, mediocre because of a since-popped blister on his pitching hand — but while Wheeler’s third game was much better, he still allowed three earned runs in 5.1 innings.

  The stuff was excellent, say people who were there, but his line didn’t scream “promote me now!” Plus, that was Wheeler’s first healthy game of the season. Little soon to be buzzing about the big leagues, don’t ya think?

  I agree that his first two starts may have been less than stellar due to the blister. However, I totally disagree with the fact that his stat line has to scream “promote me now!” If this was the determining factor, where would Matt Harvey be right now? Don’t get me wrong, stats do play a part when determining if a player is ready, but it goes way deeper than that. It’s not too soon to be buzzing about the big leagues. Two or three more solid starts, and Wheeler will join the Mets. There isn’t much more developing that is necessary. I would estimate that if Wheeler were called up right now he would be better than 80% of major league pitchers based on his stuff alone. With some added fine tuning at the major league level, he will be in the top 10% of pitchers in the league.

• Wilmer Flores is quietly having a solid year with Las Vegas. He is batting .288 with five doubles and only struck out three times in fourteen games. He has also played the majority of games at second base this season and has done a solid job defensively.
• After a quick chat with B-Mets beat writer Lynn Worthy, I learned that the reason DeGrom did not start season in Double-A as I initially projected, was because he showed up to spring training with a fractured finger that took time to fully heal. As Lynn told me, “Jake broke it while working for a friend’s cattle company. Apparently he had a bad day when he got kicked in the hand by a calf. True story. (Joe D.)
  
• I am looking forward to seeing Jeurys Familia work out of the Mets bullpen, after a small taste of the majors last year, I think he now knows what he’s up against and I expect great results. The fact he now knows that his ticket to the big time will depend on embracing his role as a reliever, and his solid work out of the bullpen for Las Vegas will prove instrumental toward achieving success. (Joe D.)
• While players like Josh Satin, Kevin Plawecki and Brandon Nimmo are getting most of the ink these days, the one player who leads the Mets Minors in RBI is T..J. Rivera who has driven in 13 for St. Lucie. Jack Leathersich had this to say about Rivera in an interview I did with him. “He’s the real deal. I’ve never been around a kid who prepares as well as he does. He just really loves the game and it seems like everytime I see him he’s out on the field working on something. Rivera plays hard and is completely balls to the wall – he’ll do anything to make sure we win.” (Joe D.)

Stat Line of the Night

Jacob deGrom: 8.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 8 K

The statistics are even more impressive when you break them down. Take a look at this from MMO contributor John B. who charted the game from behind homeplate:

• Total Pitches: 102, Strikes: 71 – 69% Balls 31
• Full Windup: Pitches: 90, Strikes: 62 – 70% Balls: 28
• Fastballs: Pitches: 66 Strikes: 46 – 70% Balls 20
• Off-Speed Pitches: 24 Strikes: 16 – 67% Balls 8
• Stretch: Pitches: 12 Strikes: 9 – 75% Balls 3
• Fastballs: Pitches: 7 Strikes: 4 -57% Balls 4
• Off-Speed Pitches 5 Strikes 5 – 100%

Tweet of the Day

Transactions

• Jeurys Familia was called up to the Mets and Greg Burke was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas.
• RHP Cory Mazzoni who missed his scheduled start Monday with inflammation in his right elbow and landed on the disabled list, will be heading to New York today to be examined by Mets doctors. Also joining him will be RHP Luis Mateo, who left Monday’s game because of discomfort in his right forearm/elbow area. Both prospects will get an MRI today, so keep your fingers crossed.
• Wednesday night at Tradition Field, Pedro Feliciano and Frank Francisco each threw a scoreless inning of relief for Single-A St. Lucie. Feliciano allowed no hits and recorded two strikeouts, while Francisco pitched a perfect inning. Both pitchers have shown increased velocity from the beginning of spring training and could be very close to being ready.

Prospect Audio/Video

Mike Newman of ROTOscouting.com headed to Historic Grayson Stadium, home of the Savannah Sand Gnats, and provides some fresh scouting on hot-hitting Brandon Nimmo including this video footage:

He says that as Nimmo continues to learn how to identify pitches to drive, his power should uptick as well. Early in the season, his strikeout and walk percentages have both decreased. While one might dismiss this as small sample size, Nimmo’s controlled aggression is a sign of growth from a scouting standpoint.

If this holds true, then Nimmo is bound to put baseballs in play at a higher rate than last season, resulting in the accumulation of extra base hits…By the end of the 2013 season, don’t be surprised if Nimmo has overtaken Wilmer Flores as the best position prospect in the organization, assuming Travis D’Arnaud loses eligibility later in the season.

Holly Madison tosses out the first pitch for Vegas 51s. Wally Backman said she had great form. I agree. (Joe D.)

Updated by Joe D. at 3:50 PM

It’s official. The Mets just announced that they have recalled RHP Jeurys Familia from Las Vegas (AAA) and optioned RHP Greg Burke to Las Vegas.

Hat tip to Mr. North Jersey….

Original Post 2:40 PM

The Mets’ bullpen allowed 14 hits, 10 runs, eight earned over 9.0 innings during yesterday’s doubleheader and appear to be showing some leaks. Entering the Colorado series, the bullpen had posted a 2.08 ERA in their previous six games.

Overall, the Mets relievers are 2-1 with a 4.21 ERA (20 earned runs/43.2 innings) and they rank seventh in the NL in ERA.

The backend of the Mets rotation is certainly not helping matters and only adding to their woes.

With that in mind, the Mets have opted to call-up righthanded reliever Jeurys Familia, who is on his way to Denver to join the Mets, according to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York.

This looks like a Taxi Squad move and it’s not immediately clear whether Familia would be activated upon his arrival or if he would be activated at all, writes Rubin.

Familia has allowed five hits in five innings with one save in four relief appearances with Triple-A Las Vegas and has yet to allow a run. In his last appearance, Familia pitched a hitless ninth two strikeouts.

The young fireballer ranked No. 7 in our 2013 Met Top Prospects Rankings where we wrote:

There is so much to like about Jeurys Familia. I am going to go out on a limb and say that Familia could be a successful reliever in the MLB right this second because of his electric stuff.

I saw a lot of this kid down the home stretch at Citi Field in 2012 and his fastball is everything scouts say and more. Electric and explosive.

Josh Edgin (7.50 ERA), Greg Burke (7.35 ERA) and LaTroy Hawkins (6,75 ERA ) have all struggled, and if I had to guess I’d say the 31-year old Burke will be the first to go if the team does activate Familia from the Taxi Squad..

Las Vegas 14, Fresno 3

The 51s bats were in full force, putting the game out of reach by the first inning with a five-spot.

—

Collin McHugh had a great outing today, going seven innings and allowing four hits while being charged with two unearned runs. He walked nobody and struck out five. McHugh had the offense behind him for the duration of the game so it was just a matter of not imploding and he did more than that. Jeurys Familia pitched the eighth inning and gave up two hits while striking out one. Robert Carson pitched the ninth and allowed one run on one hit and a walk.

Offensively, the 51s were firing on all cylinders. There were crooked numbers across the board as the first three innings yielded five, four, and three runs respectively. Vegas put across two more in the sixth, but after the first inning explosion, all of the rest was just insurance. Only one player (Omar Quintanilla) did not manage a hit. You could blame it on the PCL, but only two home runs were actually hit today. Some shoddy defense did, however, aid Vegas Thursday night.

Key Stats:

Juan Lagares – 3-for-6, HR, RBI, 2 R
Travis d’Arnaud – 2-for-5, 2 RBI, 3 R, K
Zach Lutz – 2-for-5, HR, R, 5 RBI (Grand Slam)
Collin McHugh – 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R (0 ER), 6 K, 0 BB

According to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, Shaun Marcum is expected to throw two innings of a simulated game before the weekend as he attempts to get ready to comeback from a neck injury and bicep tendinitis.

If all goes well without any setbacks, Marcum could appear in a rehab game with Single-A St. Lucie one day next week. Depending on how that goes, Marcum could then be activated from the disabled list and make his Mets debut in the rotation.

Marcum was acquired to replace R.A. Dickey’s 200 innings in the rotation, however he’s been plagued with assorted injuries and missed most of spring training and started the season on the DL.

Original Post 4/7

If Shaun Marcum’s eight-year Major League Baseball pitching career should end sooner than later, no worries, he could always get work playing Cavity Sam.

His medical record is morphing into the legendary patient profile of Hasbro’s Operation board game. With each passing season new ailments  – and new body parts — pile up and pile on Marcum’s resume. Google Marcum and you can also read about his arm, elbow, shoulder, bicep, calf and, as of last Tuesday, neck. His career has been interrupted by a series of pulls, strains, stiffness, tears, inflammations, impingements and tendinitis.

If you can find Marcum’s medical history via Google, his chronic health issues certainly came as no surprise to the New York Mets, but it is frustrating to a team in desperate need of healthy arms. Johan Santana is gone for the season, and probably forever as far as the Mets are concerned. Frank Francisco is on the disabled list; so is Jenrry Mejia. The Mets have $35.5 million in pitching payroll unable to perform. Jeremy Hefner started Friday against the Miami Marlins, despite suffering a bruised elbow on his pitching arm. Sunday afternoon the Mets will hand the ball to Santana’s replacement, Aaron Laffey, who was bound for Las Vegas just three weeks ago. To make room for him, prospect Jeurys Familia was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas.

Marcum missed the entire 2009 season after having Tommy John surgery. He spent the most of the May, June and July 2012 on the sideline too. Marcum has been DL’d for a variety of injuries during his career.  Milwaukee Brewers blogger Jim Breen fired a warning shot in May 2011 when he stated:

(1) Marcum utilizes stressful mechanics on the mound, which suggests arm/shoulder injuries are likely in the future.

(2) Marcum relies upon a repertoire that does not profile well for success as he reaches his mid-30s.

The Brewers are consciously limiting the pitch-counts for Marcum … because the organization understands the health risk and are attempting to protect their asset for the entire season. Am I about to offer a three-to-five year contract extension at market value to a pitcher that has all the warning signs of another major injury around the corner? Not a chance. That would be foolish.

Then, on the day the Mets signed Marcum, an MLB executive told the Bergen Record, “He’s a blue-collar gamer, but he’s hard to count on for any length of time.”

Not much has changed since Marcum signed with New York. He’s been fighting injuries since he arrived in Port St. Lucie for Spring Training six weeks ago. On March 20, Marcum flew from Florida to New York for an MRI on his shoulder. Doctors reported the Mets pitcher suffered an “impingement” and was given a cortisone shot for inflammation. The team, and Marcum, shrugged it off. On March 31, the Mets officially placed Marcum on the 15-day disabled list with “bicep tendinitis.” The team reported it was not a new injury. On April 2, Marcum cut short a bullpen session, complaining of neck pain. He returned to New York for another MRI which revealed “inflamed nerves” in his neck. The Mets medical team treated Marcum with “trigger-point injections,” but there is still concern whether or not the treatment will remedy what ails the Mets pitcher.

In hindsight, Marcum’s entire career has been a chronic pain in the neck.

The Mets signed Marcum to a one-year, $4 million deal, a modest payroll investment for a major league middle-of-the-rotation starting pitcher — unless your the New York Mets — whose payroll has been shrinking since Bernie Madoff. The Mets, under the direction of Sandy Alderson, have been cutting payroll, trading veterans and stockpiling young talent for more than three years now. The organization has been extremely conservative in the free agent market so why sign Marcum, a pitcher with chronic health problems? They had nearly four million reasons to not sign Marcum.

It’s not as if there was a shortage of free agent starting pitchers available. Kyle Lohse, Edwin Jackson, Anibal Sanchez, Joe Blanton, Jason Marquis were all available assuming, based on their choice, the Mets were looking for a right-handed, veteran starting pitcher not asking for Zack Grienke money. All are durable and innings eaters. Instead, Alderson waited until the end of January before finally committing to Marcum — and all the baggage that comes with him. It just doesn’t make sense.

Las Vegas 4, Fresno 3

Darin Gorski had a decent outing and the late hitting for the 51s sealed the win, 4-3.

—

Darin Gorski had a solid outing, going five innings allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits, walking four and striking out three. Gorski did not exhibit solid command, but managed to miss the bats enough to walk away with a respectable start. Gorski will always be a contact pitcher, and the development of his breaking ball will determine his final resting place. Greg Peavey went two innings, allowing two hits and striking out one. Justin Hampson got the win, giving up one hit in his inning of work. Jeurys Familia came out for his inning to grab the save, giving up two hits but striking out one batter. Pitching has been a huge part of the 51s success and will continue to be.

On the offensive side, Vegas continued its early scoring mentality netting a run on a Wilmer Flores RBI groundout and an Andrew Brown RBI triple. Josh Satin would push an RBI single in the sixth inning to tie the game. A Jamie Hoffman RBI single in the top of the ninth inning would seal the win for the 51s. Despite many offensive explosion type games, the 51s have shown some clutch hitting as well as some great situational hitting.

Zack Wheeler toes the rubber for the 51s tomorrow evening at 10:05 ET as Las Vegas (4-1) continues their series with the Fresno Grizzlies.

Key Stats

• Juan Lagares - 2 for 5, R
• Travis d’Arnaud – 1 for 3, R, BB
• Wilmer Flores – 0 for 3, R, RBI, BB, K
• Darin Gorski - 5 IP, 5H, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 3 K
• Jeurys Familia - 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, SV

Binghamton Mets 7, Erie SeaWolves 2

Erik Goeddel had a great outing and the offense made sure there was no doubt in the 7-2 victory

—

Erik Goeddel put together a strong outing, going six innings giving up two runs on eight hits, walking no one and striking out five. Goeddel relied on generating ground balls and leaning on his defense, which is always a positive plan when you have a great defense behind you. Jack Leathersich came out for two innings of work, and allowed one hit while striking out two batters. Leathersich may be the fastest mover in the Mets system based on his ability to be a crossover reliever and dominate lefties. Jeffrey Walters came out for the ninth inning and allowed two hits and walked one batter pitching the ninth. The premier pitching surplus is present in Binghamton and they are utilizing it well.

The B.Mets offense didn’t take the day off either, with five earned runs crossing the plate and a few runs scoring due to some shoddy defense from the SeaWolves. Cesar Puello hit an RBI double in the fifth and was thrown out in a run down play being aggressive. Alonzo Harris hit a solo home run in the sixth inning. Wilfredo Tovar had an RBI fielders choice in the seventh, scoring Cesar Puello. Darrell Ceciliani had a two-RBI double in the seventh, and Cory Vaughn struck out swinging but a wild pitch allowed Darrell Ceciliani to score from third. Rhyne Hughes netted an RBI on a force attempt in the ninth inning, scoring Alonzo Harris.

Rafael Montero looks to build on his strong opening day start against Erie tomorrow evening at 6:05 ET.

Key Stats

• Alonzo Harris - 3 for 5, HR, 2 R, RBI
• Cory Vaughn – 0 for 5, 3 K
• Cesar Puello – 1 for 3, R, RBI, BB, K
• Erik Goeddel - 6 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K
• Jack Leathersich - 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER. 0 BB, 1 K

Travis d’Arnaud, along with Zack Wheeler headline the Las Vegas 51s roster.

The Mets changed Triple-A affiliates this offseason, going from Buffalo to Las Vegas and from the International League to the Pacific Coast League. The biggest storyline for this team will be how the move affects development. The Pacific Coast League, especially Las Vegas, is notorious for inflated power numbers. It may be harder to judge how well a player is developing because hitters will have more home runs and pitchers will see their ERA shoot up as well. It will be interesting to see how the prospects react as well, with the top two prospects in the system set to play at least the first month with Las Vegas.

The Big Names

• Zack Wheeler (RHP)- It’s only a matter of time before the top Mets prospect gets called up to the majors. Wheeler should only be with the 51s for a few months, coming up in July at the latest. 
• Travis d’Arnaud (C)- d’Arnaud was the centerpiece of the R.A. Dickey trade last December, and for good reason. d’Arnaud looks like the complete package, both at the plate and with the glove. His power has developed over the past two years into one of his best tools. Last year, he hit 16 homers in 67 games in Triple-A before a torn PCL ended his season.
• Wilmer Flores (INF)- After struggling in the lower minors for a few years (as a result of being rushed), Flores had a resurgent season last year for Advanced-A St. Lucie and Double-A Binghamton. The long-awaited power numbers finally came, as Flores slugged .479 with 18 home runs in 130 total minor league games. In his third year in St. Lucie, he hit .289/.336/.463 with ten home runs in 64 games, earning himself an FSL All-Star Game selection. He was then promoted to Binghamton, hwere he hit even better, batting .311/.363/.494 with eight home runs in 66 games. He is still young for the league, currently the seventh-youngest player in Triple-A and the fourth youngest in the Pacific Coast League. If Flores can keep it up, all that’s left is finding a position.
• Jeurys Familia (RHP) Note: Familia was sent down on Saturday and will be with the 51s for the foreseeable future- Familia had a down season last year with the Buffalo Bisons, struggling as a starting pitcher. He made 28 starts and had a 4.73 ERA, along with a very concerning 4.8 walks per nine rate. His poor performance finally convinced the Mets that he belongs in the bullpen, which is where he will be this season for Las Vegas.
• Matt den Dekker (CF)- Note: Broken wristThe former fifth-round pick den Dekker tore the cover off the ball in half a season with Binghamton, but struggled to hit .200 in the second half with the Bisons. He batted .340/.397/.563 with eight home runs in 56 Double-A games. After moving to Triple-A, he hit just .220/.256/.373 in 77 games. His stirkeout and walk rates were awful, as he struck out in 28.4% of his Plate appearances, while walking only 4.4%. Those numbers are among the worst in his minor league career. Den Dekker must cut down on the strikeouts if he will ever play regularly in the majors. His incredible defense isn’t going to carry him to success. Den Dekker has shown a trend throughout his short career of needing an adjustment period to each new level, which has some people very hopeful that he will start to hit again once he comes back from a broken wrist later this season.

The Sleepers

• Juan Lagares (OF)- The speedy and versatile Lagares hit .283/.334/.389 between St. Lucie and Binghamton last season. He can play all three outfield positions, making him a possibility for the Mets bench late this season if things go right.
• Andrew Brown (OF)- Brown was a longshot to make the team in spring training, and was cut before the season started. However, Brown still has a chance to make some noise with his power. He has put up consistent power numbers throughout his minor league career and could play a role on the Met bench as a power-hitting pinch hitter if someone gets hurt.

Other Names to Watch

• Reese Havens (2B)- The seemingly always hurt Reese Havens was finally cut from the 40-man roster in the week leading up to Opening Day. Havens, 26, has never played a full season without injury and in his six-year career, has only played in 308 games. If he can stay healthy and the power that scouts have been talking about since he was in college finally shows up, there is still a chance he has a role with the big league club.
• Collin McHugh (RHP)- McHugh profiles as a long man or back-of-the-rotation type of pitcher. He had a solid season in the minors last year, posting a 2.91 ERA in 25 starts with Binghamton and Buffalo, walking 2.8 batters per nine and striking out 8.2. He struggled in a short stint with the big league club, allowing 21 runs (18 earned) in 21.1 innings over eight appearances.
• Zach Lutz (3B)- Lutz has put up solid numbers for most of his minor league career, and almost made the team out of spring training. He hit .295/.404/.496 in 78 minor league games last season.

Scott Rice made his Mets and major league debut by pitching a perfect ninth inning in this afternoon’s 11-2 Opening Day win over the San Diego Padres. After the game, Rice told reporters he intends to relich the moment as long as he can and let it all sink in.

“Obviously I had a little jitters just running out there, but once the batters get in, it’s baseball. So I went out there and just tried to stay slow, stay relaxed.”

Rice gave the game ball to his dad afterward, who was on hand to see his son’s lifelong dream finally realized after 14 years in the minors.

“My dad has been the reason why I played baseball growing up. He basically taught me the fundamentals and everything I know about baseball,” Rice said. “He’s the guy I called when I had a bad outing. He’s the first call after every outing. It’s nice that he was able to be there. It’s just as rewarding for him as it is for me.”

Rice is a great story that just keeps getting better.

Original Post 3/29

A short while ago, the New York Mets announced which players have made the Opening Day Roster. Marlon Byrd, LaTroy Hawkins, Scott Atchison, Jeurys Familia, Scott Rice, Greg Burke and Anthony Recker all made the final cut.

But wait, let’s skip back past a few of those names to what I consider to be the biggest surprise on that list… Scott Rice.

At the ripe young age of 31, the lefthander will be making his Major League debut the moment the Mets make a call to the bullpen this season and say, “Bring in No. 56.”

After toiling for 14 years in the minors – only three of those at Triple-A – and for five different organizations, the Simi Valley native will get his first shot in the Bigs with the New York Mets.

Rice, the former 1999 first-round pick of the Baltimore Orioles, has somehow managed to find his place in a wholly revamped Mets bullpen and I bet even he didn’t see that coming. To pull it off, the Mets gambled and won, by sneaking a few names through the waiver wire and not losing any of them.

Last season, Rice made 27 appearances for Triple-A Albuquerque (Dodgers) where he posted a 4.40 ERA and 1.35 WHIP in 59 innings pitched.

Overall, he has a 4.52 ERA and 1.46 WHIP in 129 Triple-A appearances where he’s struck out 100 batters and walked 65 of them in 147 innings pitched.

There’s nothing here that jumps out at you, and he could be the first guy to go once Shaun Marcum is activated in ten days, but I always find stories like this somewhat fascinating.

The kid inside me loves to pull for a guy like Scott Rice. I love the backstory… Grinding it out for a decade and a half in the minor leagues is not easy, so right off the bat I see a fighter and someone who has no quit in him.

Maybe Rice was just waiting for his one chance – his one golden opportunity – his one moment to prove something to himself.

We may look at this move today and just shrug our shoulders. But I bet all of Scott’s friends and family smiled a big smile for him when they all learned the news.

I bet his iPhone was surging with activity as the congratulatory texts all rushed in.

There’s something very special and heart-warming about the thought of that…

So let me chime in, along with the rest of his family and friends, to say:

Congratulations, Scott… You’ve made it to the show…

Welcome to the New York Mets!

Their three remaining exhibition games will do little to answer questions for manager Terry Collins, who undoubtedly won’t be satisfied with what he sees Monday and will be mixing and matching for weeks.

The Mets think David Wright and Daniel Murphy will be ready, this after serious doubts just days ago. How things can change so quickly is puzzling.

Also, head scratching is the decision today to play Murphy at second against Washington in his first major league game of the spring. If something happens, it will be at least two weeks on the disabled list. If they play him in a minor league game, like they are with Wright, if he were re-injured they could backdate his time on the disabled list.

If this is about facing major league pitching, why against left-hander Gio Gonzalez?

This is asking for trouble.

The original plan was to replace Wright with Justin Turner, but he has a strained left calf – could it be residual from his sprained ankle? – and seems headed for the disabled list.

With their infield concerns, conventional thinking had Omar Quintanilla making the 25-man roster as a reserve, including backup to shortstop Ruben Tejada. This idea was heightened when Brandon Hicks was optioned.

The Mets also have concern with their defense in center field. Matt den Dekker is out with a broken wrist, so they are again considering Kirk Nieuwenhuis, who entered spring training penciled in as the leadoff hitter playing center field. However, he missed most of spring training with a bruised left knee. When Nieuwenhuis wasn’t taking treatment, he was mostly striking out (11 times) in his 26 at-bats (with only two hits). Those numbers will preclude Nieuwenhuis leading off should he make the team.

What is apparent is Jordany Valdespin, who leads the Mets with 21 hits, will make the team. But, where will he play if Nieuwenhuis and Murphy are both on the Opening Day roster? It should be center, but do they really want to put Nieuwenhuis on the bench for late-inning defense when he’s hit so poorly and should be getting at-bats on the minor league level?

The batting order is also unsettled.

Valdespin, by virtue of his hot spring, should bat leadoff, and if he’s ready, Murphy would likely hit second. With the way Tejada is hitting – .080 with just four hits – there’s no way he should be at the top of the order. Put him eighth.

If Wright is ready he will bat third, followed by Ike Davis, perhaps catcher John Buck or right fielder Marlon Byrd and then left fielder Lucas Duda, who has 16 strikeouts. Assuming Wright does not play, Byrd could bat third.

Collins wants to separate lefty strikeout machines Davis and Duda. Collins could sandwich both Byrd and Buck ahead of Duda, but that would leave him at the bottom of the order with Tejada and the pitcher.

Neither scenario is appealing.

The rotation would open with Jon Niese, Matt Harvey and Dillon Gee. Jeremy Hefner would get the fourth start and if Shaun Marcum’s neck injury isn’t better, they would bring back Niese. If Marcum goes on the disabled list as expected, it would enable Collins to carry an extra reliever, presumably Jeurys Familia.

The Mets will open with Johan Santana, Jenrry Mejia and Frank Francisco on the disabled list. Marcum could be another, and regardless of their optimism, Wright and Murphy remain possibilities.

Four days, but a lot more questions.

Thoughts from Joe D.

As to Justin Turner’s latest calf strain injury, the Mets infielder admitted this much: ”You know, I think it was a little tight from maybe compensating a little bit for my ankle. I don’t know 100 percent. I would bet that has a little bit to do with it.” That begs the question, why was he rushed back if he wasn’t 100% healthy?

Letting Wright and Murphy play in Grapefruit League games without any assurance that they are healthy and ready might be the most baffling question of all. If something happens, not only will they now lose each of them for a minimum of two weeks, but the risk for further injury is heightened. Why put the team and the players at such risk when you don’t have to?

If Kirk does make the team at the expense of playing time for one their hottest hitters in camp, Jordany Valdespin, they deserve the likely awful results that will come from such a bad judgement call.

This 40 man roster crunch had been a huge topic on MMO with every minor league deal they handed out this winter. To see them now scurrying around trying to attack it head-on at the last minute is almost amusing as it is pathetic.

They are searching for trade partners four days before Opening day because of their ill-preparedness and a strategy of bringing in two dozen journeymen, injury rehabs and Quad-A players to build the 2013 team with. Now they’ll pay the price.

All these initial bad decisions are just leading to a chain reaction of even more bad decisions. We have players being kept on the 40-man undeservingly so, other productive players who will lose playing time because of it, young players at risk of being lost to make room for mid-to-late thirty somethings whose best days are long behind them. It’s kind of a mess.

I guess we’ll just sit back, watch the dominoes fall, and hope for the best. But this feels far worse than punting, and more like getting sacked in the end zone. Poor Terry… He’ll pay the price for this too – with his job.

DARIN GORSKI: Is he officially a reliever now?

Adam Rubin of ESPN New York took to Twitter a short while ago and began posting his projections for the Mets Triple-A roster.

Included in his Las Vegas 51′s rotation he has: Zack Wheeler, Aaron Laffey, Collin McHugh, Chris Schwinden and Carlos Torres.

A month ago I projected the rotation as follows:

1. Zack Wheeler
2. Collin McHugh
3. Mark Cohoon
4. Darin Gorski
5. Aaron Laffey

That was what I had once I removed Mejia, who has been shutdown for at least a month, and Hefner who won a job in the Mets rotation. The biggest difference between what I project and Rubin is that he has Carlos Torres in the rotation and Darin Gorski is nowhere to be seen.

When I posted my projection back on February 21, I did speculate that both Familia and Gorski may not even make the cut and could be relegated to the bullpen because of a numbers crunch:

Jeurys Familia is looking more and more like a reliever now and even Darin Gorski is beginning to trend in that direction lately.

I’m not that surprised that Schwinden makes Rubin’s cut even though I personally saw him as a numbers casualty as well, but the Torres thing surprises me.

The Mets signed the 30-year old free agent back in November and I remember thinking at the time how confusing an addition it was – even as minor league fodder.

Last season, Torres made 31 appearances for the Colorado Rockies and posted a 5.25 ERA and 1.415 WHIP in 53 innings pitched. All of his appearances were in relief. He’s having an awful spring for the Mets, posting a 8.54 ERA in 5.1 innings with nine hits allowed and five runs. I don’t see the value in pushing aside a younger pitcher with higher upside just to give Torres a job. It makes little sense to me.

I would also think that Mark Cohoon was more deserving of a spot on the Vegas rotation, especially after his solid season in Binghamton where he posted a 3.62 ERA and 1.207 WHIP in 23 starts, 18 of them quality starts.

And while I did speculate Gorski would go to the pen, my thinking at the time was because he’d be squeezed out because of the numbers crunch and not because a determination would be made that he was finished as a starter.

If we can give Gorski another season in the rotation, I’d be all for it. I would most rather see that than to push him aside because of someone like Torres.

Update: Right after I posted this Adam Rubin DMed me and said that yes, Familia is now officially a reliever.