Last night on the farm Zack Wheeler was great, Matt Den Dekker was hitless, and the Lucies snapped their 3-game skid. Let’s take a look:
Binghamton 8, New Britain 1
Zack Wheeler continues to look like a guy who’s almost ready for a promotion to AAA (that’s not to suggest such a promotion will happen in the near future). Wheeler threw 97 pitches, 63 for strikes in 8 innings of work, giving up just 1 run on 2 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 6. Adrian Rosario followed with a perfect 9th inning, striking out 1. Despite walking twice Matt Den Dekker was hitless, ending his hit streak at 17 games. He’s currently hitting .303/.369/.511. Reese Havens was 0 for 1 with 3 walks. Raul Reyes led the way going 3 for 5 with a 3-run homer.
St. Lucie 8, Dayton 7
Chase Huchingson’s struggles in the month of May continued, letting up 5 runs in 5 innings while walking 5 and striking out 4. Kyle Allen gave up 2 more but ended up with the win. Pedro Beato pitched a scoreless inning, as did Adam Kolarek, who earned his 5th save of the year. Cory Vaughn had his first multi-hit game in a long time, going 3 for 5 with a homerun, his FSL leading 9th of the year. He and Francisco Pena hit back-to-back homers in the 4th. Pena also doubled and drove in 2 runs, as he is finally starting to swing the bat a little bit.
Savannah 6, Charleston 3
Domingo Tapia struggled early but eventually settled down and had a nice outing going 6 innings and giving up 3 runs on 7 hits with 2 walks and 6 strikeouts. Carlos Vazquez and Jared West combined for 3 shutout innings out of the bullpen. Aderlin Rodriguez doubled twice and drove in 2 runs. Gilbert Gomez, batting from the leadoff spot, was 3 for 4 with 2 RBI’s. The Gnats totaled 12 hits, with everyone but T.J. Rivera and Travis Taijeron getting credit for at least 1.
22 comments
Stick
5/24/2012-9:10am at 9:10 am (UTC -4)
wins top to bottom. nice to see.
at this pace, gotta figure by the mid season MiL breaks when a bunchy of moves need to happen that Wheeler will be moving up to the AAA rotation. Does not seem to have much left to prove in AA. Maybe when Young gets promoted (if that really happens in the next few weeks?)
He just might be making this team next season.
TRS86
5/24/2012-9:26am at 9:26 am (UTC -4)
That’s why I have said all along that Wheeler is closer to the majors than many would like to admit.
Bryan
5/24/2012-10:00am at 10:00 am (UTC -4)
It is starting to look like a move to AAA this year is likely. His walk rate is better than 4 per 9 innings right now. It’s below 3.5 per 9 innings in the month of May, but that’s still a bit too high, and something he’ll have to lower before moving to AAA. But, I think you could argue that instead of September 2013 being a target for his ML debut that it’s closer to the all-star break in 2013.
TRS86
5/24/2012-10:03am at 10:03 am (UTC -4)
Here’s the question. Do the Mets try and go out and get a veteran starter to replace Pelfrey after the season or do they open up that spot to a competition among the kids?
Bryan
5/24/2012-10:38am at 10:38 am (UTC -4)
Assuming they’re not as constricted financially as last offseason, it’d be hard to believe only allowing the kids to compete without one or two veterans being brought in to challenge them. But it really depends on how the rest of the season plays out. Will Harvey make it to the bigs and how well does he do? Will they still view Familia as a possible starter? Do Gorski and McHugh get to AAA and how do they do there? So, plenty of variables.
Prismo
5/24/2012-10:59am at 10:59 am (UTC -4)
Santana-Dickey-Niese-Harvey-Wheeler
Book it!
Stick
5/24/2012-10:59am at 10:59 am (UTC -4)
my WAG is they do get a veteran type, but probably not on a LT deal, and have 1 spot kept open for a winner take all steel cage match in ST.
assuming the current guys stay healthy, and no shocking trades, that would mean;
santana
dickey
neise
New vet guy to replace Pelf
ST winner, with losers in pen or AAA depth.
Now, I am including Gee in the ST group, though if he really settled in he could replace the new vet guy.
a wild card is if they find someone that is more of a upper rotation or LT guy. Doesn’t really change anything I guess, other than into the future!
so 1 experienced guy, quality still TBD, and 1 spot they sort out in the spring, with no announcement of a favorite or incumbent. at least that is how I would do it!
Prismo
5/24/2012-11:14am at 11:14 am (UTC -4)
Honestly, if Harvey and Wheeler are ready – I think you let them start. Getting a veteran to compete (and probably win the job, b/c the Wilpons will be paying him at least $2MM) is just silly shenanigans.
If your high caliber prospects are ready, THEY START.
We’ll have some depth in Gee being the 6th starter, although admittedly I’d feel kind of bad for him.
Anyway this is all moot, as we need to see how these guys develop, and how our current starters look at the end of the season.
Stick
5/24/2012-11:28am at 11:28 am (UTC -4)
that’s fine Prismo, but unless they come up during this season and show enough to be pencilled in, you still have to treat them as non-guaranteed options. Kind of like I thought of Johan going into this season.
so, hope for the best, but plan for something else?
I see the point though of not wanting to block them, but if that happens either someone gets hurt, put in the pen, or traded. Any of which will open up another spot.
Prismo
5/24/2012-11:35am at 11:35 am (UTC -4)
Eh either way is fine. I don’t feel like this is worthy conversation at this point in time.
srt
5/24/2012-9:11am at 9:11 am (UTC -4)
Go Zack Wheeler.
Maybe I missed it but I haven’t seen anything on Harvey in the past week or so. Hopefully that doesn’t mean he had to miss a start.
Adrian Rosario…..that was the ‘player to be named later’ in the KRod trade? Either way, looks like he could be a nice piece in the BP.
Domingo Tapia….From what I’m reading, this kid could be another arm we can hopefully look forward to in a few years.
Bryan
5/24/2012-9:30am at 9:30 am (UTC -4)
Harvey didn’t miss a start, he pitched last Friday and is starting again tonight.
Rosario was one of the two players acquired in the K-Rod trade. He’s having a great season and could be rushed forward if he has a good couple months in AA,
srt
5/24/2012-9:44am at 9:44 am (UTC -4)
Thanks. I probably missed the recap on Harvey’s last start.
I thought Rosario was one of those 2 who came over for KRod. I remember the few Met fans who didn’t like that trade – even though it made perfect sense – saying not only did we give up a ‘great’ closer, we got nothing for it.
Well jeeze…..prospects are just that until they establish themselves. Any Met fan that though we were getting a Wheeler type prospect for KRod were just crazy. If Rosario works out well, I’d say that was one pretty good trade!
srt
5/24/2012-9:22am at 9:22 am (UTC -4)
OT: what’s this I’m reading about the Yankees for sale?
Those have to be just rumors, right? Man, George must be rolling over in his grave.
Stick
5/24/2012-10:03am at 10:03 am (UTC -4)
could happen. If the boys don’t have a buring desire to run a BB team, and would rather have a boatload of cash in their bank acocunts, why not?
TRS86
5/24/2012-10:10am at 10:10 am (UTC -4)
Guessing 3Billion +….
srt
5/24/2012-10:27am at 10:27 am (UTC -4)
Man, who has that kind of money? I would think only a group put together could come up with that.
Saw this though on ESPN:
In response to today’s New York Daily News story that said there are “rumors flying” that the Steinbrenner family might sell the team, Hal Steinbrenner has released a statement:
“I just learned of the Daily News story,” Steinbrenner said. “It is pure fiction. The Yankees are not for sale. I expect that the Yankees will be in my family for many years to come.”
gategem
5/24/2012-11:00am at 11:00 am (UTC -4)
That’s equivalent to an owner announcing the Managers job is safe only to fire him a short time later.
Stick
5/24/2012-11:02am at 11:02 am (UTC -4)
and that response means nothing, other than if it was a real action that got leaked, they don’t want to admit it.
though that seems to me it must be in the early exploration phase, because once it officially hits the market, no way of keeping that quiet!
in real person terms, it’s like they a realtor in to look at the house to get an idea of what it should sell for, and what the market is like, but the sign hasn’t gone up on the front yard yet!
Stick
5/24/2012-11:04am at 11:04 am (UTC -4)
Real, I wonder how much the boys would actually net? The family was not the sole owner (pretty sure they were minority owners all along), and who knows what kind of debt they have.
and the real WC is YES, and how the ownership of that works.
but in any case, they will be stinking rich born on 3rd base silver spoon guys!
gategem
5/24/2012-11:46am at 11:46 am (UTC -4)
But unlike Jeff Wilpon and Jim Dolan the Steinbrenner sons are intelligent.
Mr North Jersey
5/24/2012-2:03pm at 2:03 pm (UTC -4)
Wheeler has been impressive of late. I did a side by side of Harvey, Familia and Wheeler’s AA #’s. As many already can guess Wheeler’s walk totals seems to be the only thing that has needed work.
Compared to what Harvey and Familia did last year in AA Wheeler has been very impressive.
http://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0ApxE2V-jZhJHdFU4bk5WWlEtbU9wX095eTVWTWpEWHc&single=true&gid=0&output=html