Mets Morning News Now Known as McHugh Morning News

Meet the Mets

The Metropolitans had yesterday off for the arduous journey to Philadelphia. That series begins tonight as Chris Young takes on Vance Worley and his stupid goggles. So unsurprisingly there's not a whole lot of news from the big club, but there is a plenty of news from the Mets Minors. Let's dive right in.

We start with Collin McHugh who was the subject of a rookie review by Minor League Ball's John Sickels. Sickels pats himself on the bat a bit for having McHugh higher than most other prospect sources, but hey since we're all going to be wrong about these guys 80% of the time, take a bow when you can. And over at Collin McHugh's own blog, A Day Older, A Day Wiser, the man himself talks about his trip up to the majors...and then immediately back down to the minors. I've often said that McHugh is one of the easiest prospects to root for in the Mets system, probably because if he wasn't a major league pitcher, I could totally see him posting Dickeyface Contest entries and commenting in game threads with the rest of us yahoos.

The oft-ignored Kingsport Mets get their stadium reviewed at stadiumjourney.com, and you can see how Hunter Wright Stadium stacks up against all the other Mets Minor League parks here. Can't disagree at all with #1, but I think Historic Grayson Stadium gets a little underrated here. Yes, it's 'quaint',' and I am sure the Mets would prefer a new, more modern facility for their A-ball team, but it is a simply lovely place to watch a game.

Over at Mets Minor League Blog, Toby Hyde ponders if Michael Fulmer's 2012 season is over, after the 19 year-old righty had his start skipped on Sunday. Fulmer's had quite the nice first full professional season down in Savannah, and should get some Top 100 list consideration.

Kevin Goldstein singled out Wilmer Flores as part of his weekly Monday Morning Ten Pack over at Baseball Prospectus. A BP sub is required to view the whole article (and I recommend getting one if you don't already have it), but I'll excerpt from the Flores entry.

"On the surface, at least on a statistical level, Flores has had an impressive rebound season. With seven hits and 12 total bases over the weekend, the 21-year-old Venezuelan is hitting .317/.368/.484 in his first 58 games at the upper levels of the Mets system, but his stock really hasn't risen that much as a result. Finally off of shortstop, Flores has split time between second base, where he just doesn't have the athleticism to play, and third base, where he's below average, but acceptable, yet just doesn't have the power to profile. He's certainly better, and certainly still very young, but he's turned into a bit of a square peg trying to fit into a round hole."

KG was down on Flores coming into the year, he had him ranked as the 16th best prospect in the organization, but I think Goldstein overestimates how much Flores will have to hit. Now, he'll have to hit more than your average third baseman, because he'll be worse defensively than your average third baseman, but I think he something like .280/.330/.430 with 15 home runs is a reasonable projection. That plays.

And of course with the Mets day off, the Buffalo Bisons were on SNY. You can get a report on that game in our Daily Farm System Report, which is right below this post. Conveinent!

There's some news from the big club as well. Daniel Murphy had an MRI on his injured shoulder and everything came back negative. He doesn't expect to miss any time.

It's also the 20th anniversary of the David Cone trade, so Chris Jaffe of The Hardball Times takes a look back.

Finally, it's the policy of Mets Morning News not to give Joel Sherman the time of day when he posts one of his LOLMets screeds, but we are certainly not above linking to takedowns of said screeds. So here's Ted Berg giving Mr. Sherman the whatfor. And as a bonus, here's Craig Calcaterra doing the same!

Around the NL East

Only one NL East team in action yesterday, your Atlanta Barves! The Barves were blanked by Casey Kelly in his professional debut. Barves gonna Barve, but it might be time to break up the Padres you guys!

The Nationals are hopefully using their day off to let cooler heads prevail, and the Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper of baseball stadiums gets a review at The Hardball Times

Around MLB

The Blue Jays won a wild one against the Yankees, but the Rays couldn't make up any ground in the East as they fell to the Rangers. Rays are now a half game behind the Orioles and A's for the wild card spots. Smell the ratings for that one game playoff. Especially since the Orioles can't even fill their own stadium in the midst of a playoff race. Also, they are winning games due to Nate McLouth. That doesn't feel like it is sustainable.

The cash-drunk Dodgers remain in the news, as it looks like they are in the market for another starting pitcher. Why isn't Dodgers ownership ever at my 2/4 NL Hold 'em table? (Yes, I plucked that joke right out of 2009). Meanwhile at FanGraphs, Dave Cameron thinks the Dodgers made the right move given the 2013 free agent class.

Also at FranGraphs, David Laurila interviews Trevor Bauer about pitching. Bauer has a lot to say of course.

Hawk Harrelson is still as obnoxious as you remember.

And finally, Mets Morning News would like to give you a friendly reminder that Tom Tango's Fans Scouting Report is up and running. Please stop by and give your defensive ratings for the Mets. More data points are always better,