Some news and notes to pass along before we get started. As you may have heard Jenrry Mejia will be moving into the Buffalo rotation. With his troubles adjusting to the bullpen, at least until recently, and the Mets recent slide I believe this move is about the long-term development of Mejia, as opposed to prepping him to help the ML bullpen since even Mejia at his best in the pen isn’t saving the Mets at this point. Also, lefty reliever Erik Turgeon was released, Robert Carson is moving to AAA, Adam Kolarek is moving to AA, Gonzalez Germen is moving back to AA after a spot start in AAA, and Logan Verrett is moving from Savannah to St. Lucie. Lastly, Zach Wheeler moving to Buffalo appears to be imminent and his Bisons debut is likely to happen next weekend so that he can make his AAA debut at home. Now to the games:
Louisville 3, Buffalo 1
Garrett Olson started and had 4 good innings, allowing just an unearned run. Dylan Owen gave up 2 runs in 2 innings and took the loss. Robert Carson, making his AAA debut (after his major league debut albeit) gave up 2 hits and struck out 2 in 2 scoreless innings. Mike Baxter, Zach Lutz, and Lucas Duda were all 1 for 4. Mike Nickeas and Matt Den Dekker were both hitless. Den Dekker was hitting leadoff, as Wally Backman continues to move him all over the lineup.
Binghamton 2, Portland 1 (Game 1, 7 innings)
Cory Mazzoni returned from the DL with a strong performance, letting up 1 run on 4 hits over 6 innings, striking out 5. Frank Francisco got the save with a scoreless 7th inning. He is expected to pitch again today and then be re-activated. All of the B-Mets heavy hitters got a hit, including a double by Jefry Marte and triple by Juan Lagares.
Binghamton 3, Portland 1 (Game 2, 7 innings)
Dan Gorski struck out 6 and walked none in 6 innings, allowing just 1 run on 3 hits. Ryan Fraser pitched a scoreless inning to get the save. Dustin Martin had 3 hits, including a 3-run homer. Juan Lagares was 2 for 2 with a double.
St. Lucie 6, Lakeland 5
Angel Cuan gave up 4 runs in 5.1 innings, but the bullpen was strong with Taylor Whitenton pitching 1.2 scoreless innings (getting his 7th win of the year) and Jack Leathersich giving up 1 run over 2 innings and picking up the save. T.J. Rivera had 3 hits and 3 RBI’s to lead the offense. Aderlin Rodriguez hit his 2nd homer since his promotion, giving him 18 for the season, which tops his total from all of last season with over a month to play.
Rome 13, Savannah 3
Jimmy Fuller got bombed for 11 runs in 3 innings; it’s the second straight time Fuller got hammered after allowing no runs in his previous start. Brian Harrison and Yucarybert De La Cruz both had 2 hits. Harrison and Dustin Lawley doubled.
Batavia 2, Brooklyn 0
Luis Cessa was a tough luck loser, giving up 1 run on 6 hits over 5 innings. Matt Bowman had 2 shutout innings in relief while Tyler Vanderheiden gave up his 1st run of the season in his 13th appearance. Just 3 hits for the Cyclones who struck out 12 times, including 2 for Brandon Nimmo, 3 for Phillip Evans, and 4 for Stefan Sabol.
Bristol 3, Kingsport 1
John Gant had a nice outing, allowing just 1 run over 5 innings. Gavin Cecchini was 2 for 4 with a triple and an RBI. The K-Mets had just 4 total hits.
13 comments
Stickguy
7/28/2012-8:37am at 8:37 am (UTC -4)
that Kolarek guy looks interesting. Might not be too long before we see him in the NY pen.
and please, produce a RH hitting OF someday? Desperate need in NY for one of those! And sadly, right now, Bay is so shot that Lagares could probably come up and outperform him
NJstuckinTX
7/28/2012-8:42am at 8:42 am (UTC -4)
The pitching prospects are looking very interesting, for sure. But agreed, there is nothing in he minors for a RH OF with some pop.
Bryan
7/28/2012-9:04am at 9:04 am (UTC -4)
Outside of Lagares there’s no RH outfielder above A-ball. Kolarek is definitely leading the pack among LOOGY’s coming up behind Edgin.
srt
7/28/2012-1:57pm at 1:57 pm (UTC -4)
Agree about the nice pitching prospects and lack of a RH OF bat.
It’s looking more and more like that has to be a priority in the off season. They can’t go into 2013 with an OF platoon of 5-6 guys.
Wonder who is expendable when FF and Baxter return?
One has to be Bay, IMO.
Bryan
7/28/2012-3:41pm at 3:41 pm (UTC -4)
The easy thing to do would be to option Elvin and Kirk in favor of FF and Baxter. I can imagine them releasing Bay during the offseason, but even with his struggles I have a hard time picturing them letting him go in-season.
srt
7/28/2012-4:39pm at 4:39 pm (UTC -4)
I’ll be surprised if they cut Bay during this season.
But I sure hope you’re wrong about next season. It’s a sunk cost, one way or the other. Therefore, to me there is no point in carrying him on the starting 25.
They need to move forward without Bay in their plans. Approaching the off season with Bay on the roster has to impact what they do to improve the OF for next season.
Mr North Jersey
7/28/2012-11:24am at 11:24 am (UTC -4)
Nice job by BMets starters yesterday. “Mazzoni & Gorski” sounds like it could be a foreign version of “Starsky & Hutch” but where’s the car?
Fuller had a bad night I see. Hang in there kid.
gategem
7/28/2012-4:39pm at 4:39 pm (UTC -4)
Andy McCullough@ tweets:
“The Mets would like to bring Hairston back for 2013, of course, but there’s some worry he may have priced himself out with play this year.”
If this is indeed true then it supports what Kong as been saying. I hope not but it appears that in the eyes of the Lords of Baseball and Emperor Selig the Mets are Fred Wilpon and it’s all about saving Fred Wilpon. The blue and orange be damned.
Mr North Jersey
7/28/2012-5:30pm at 5:30 pm (UTC -4)
Gategem may i ask you what would you think “priced himself out” might be monetarily or length of contract wise?
If Hairston is making something just over $1M this season would 2 years $10M in your opinion qualify as “priced himself out”?
It seems such a vague term alone other than partly meaning he won’t return in 2013 the monetary amount or length of contract can be different based on a per individual basis.
gategem
7/28/2012-7:06pm at 7:06 pm (UTC -4)
Suppose he asks for 2 years at 5 million would that be unreasonable?
Mr North Jersey
7/28/2012-7:15pm at 7:15 pm (UTC -4)
I don’t know. I’m just asking what would you consider to be “priced himself out”. Again seems like a term that the monetary amount or length of contract can be different based on a per individual basis so wondered what would you think “priced himself out” be.
gategem
7/28/2012-8:24pm at 8:24 pm (UTC -4)
IMO more than a two year length of contract or $5M total for two years would be pricing himself out. But I believe Andy McCullough was referring to what the Mets would be willing to spend rather than what Hairston’s true value would be.
Mr North Jersey
7/28/2012-8:34pm at 8:34 pm (UTC -4)
Agreed, the Mets may be unwilling to spend beyond whatever it is they deem falls beyond the “priced himself out” category,
It may or may not be that you and the Mets share the same thoughts on what that is.