Signs of Hope for the 2009 IBC Mets

Padres · Post by **Padres** » Tue Jul 08, 2008 5:15 am

With the 2008 IBC Mets early season flirtation with contention in the NLE far in the rear view mirror (on May 4 the IBC Mets were 19 - 11 but they have, as of this writing, gone 13 - 43 since) it is time to begin to focus again on the 2009 IBC Mets. In this thread I intend to include some indications of reasons for optimistism; some good solid signs of hope:

Ricky Nolasco held the Padres to one run over eight innings Monday to pick up his 10th victory.

Nolasco struck out seven, walked none and Chase Headley's solo homer accounted for all the damage he allowed. Kevin Gregg finished up the win with a perfect ninth inning for his 16th save after blowing back-to-back leads last week. Nolasco is now 10-4 with a 3.79 ERA overall, including 9-1 with a 2.82 ERA and 67/18 K/BB ratio in 79 2/3 innings spread over his last dozen starts.

http://rotoworld.com/content/playerpage ... MLB&id=178

Barring injury, Ricky will certainly project and pitch better for the 2009 IBC Mets. As Aaron Gleeman stated, "Nolasco works with a first-rate fastball-curveball combination and he's still young enough to develop further, but the key will be remaining healthy down the stretch given that he's never thrown more than 162 innings in a pro season."

Padres · Post by **Padres** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 5:57 am

More indications that 2009 may be a better year for the IBC Mets are found in the Baseball America midseason top 25 prospect list. The Mets have the folowing three players:

Rk. Player, Pos., Age, Team Stats (Level) In Brief

1. Clayton Kershaw, lhp, 20, Dodgers 2.37/9.3/3.1 (AA) A bit wild in big leagues, but still has two elite pitches and ideal build.

18. Jarrod Parker, rhp, 19, D'backs 3.25/8.2/2.5 (LoA) One of top prep arms from '07 draft has been solid if unspectacular.

Just missing the cut: ... Alcides Escobar, ss, Brewers [would be #28]

Padres · Post by **Padres** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 8:59 pm

Ubaldo Jimenez, SP, Rockies

He's baaaaaack. After a rough April and May, the 24-year-old right-hander is 5-3 with a 2.28 ERA in his past nine starts.

Padres · Post by **Padres** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:53 am

Jerry Blevins has pitched well out of the bullpen since being called up in early July. Blevins had a brief (and unsuccessful) stint with the A's last season, but the 24-year-old lefthander posted solid numbers at Triple-A (2.78 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 36 Ks in 32.1 innings), and so far with the big club, he has given up just five hits, three walks and no runs in 8.2 innings (with eight Ks for good measure). Also take note: southpaw Blevins had 10 saves at Triple-A this year.

Padres · Post by **Padres** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 10:32 am

Oklahoma right fielder Nelson Cruz was hitting .339/.440/.671 on July 13, before taking the next day off with what was reported as left elbow soreness. The whole league rested the day after that as the AAA All-Star Break got underway. Cruz singled in three at-bats in the July 16 All-Star Game (playing center field), was off on the 17th with everyone else, and rejoined the RedHawks as they resumed their schedule on July 18.

If he'd tailed off at all at that point, if he'd even had a little cold
streak at the plate coming off of an elbow issue and the lack of a real
Break, it would have been OK. As of July 13, he'd amassed 26 home runs and 74 RBI in 84 games.

But he jumped right back in on July 18 and has played every day since.
There's been no cold streak.

In the 10 games since the Break, Cruz has 11 home runs.

That's a lot.

He's 18 for 44. That's a .409 batting average.

Which is also good.

(Interestingly, those 18 hits included no doubles or triples.)

Eleven home runs in 10 games -- one for every four at-bats -- with 19 RBI. Good grief.

And then there's this:

On Friday, Cruz made his second start of the season in center field, his
first since May (if you discount the All-Star Game appearance).

You thinking what I'm thinking?

(Jamey Newberg)

Yankees · Post by **Yankees** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 11:55 am

You thinking what I'm thinking?

That's it's obscene that this guy is still in the minors?

I haven't seen those types of numbers since I was playing Baseball Stars on Nintendo...

Dodgers · Post by **Dodgers** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 12:51 pm

Royals wrote:
You thinking what I'm thinking?
That's it's obscene that this guy is still in the minors?

I haven't seen those types of numbers since I was playing Baseball Stars on Nintendo...

Cruz has gotten chances in the majors, he's a career 231/282/384 hitter in 440 abs. I'm thinking AAAA+ player.

Yankees · Post by **Yankees** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 12:54 pm

I know who Nelson Cruz is - I'm just of the opinion that when you're hitting .348 with 37 homers and an ops of 1.174 there's really not much more you have to prove at AAA in that particular season. Either call him up or trade him...

Astros · Post by **Astros** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 1:41 pm

I still play Baseball Stars. The American Dreams are hands down the greatest team of all time. Anyone want to dispute that with me?

Padres · Post by **Padres** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 8:48 am

Mets wrote:Ubaldo Jimenez, SP, Rockies

He's baaaaaack. After a rough April and May, the 24-year-old right-hander is 5-3 with a 2.28 ERA in his past nine starts.

Ubaldo Jimenez was 1-6 with a 5.43 ERA through 13 starts, but the Rockies stuck with the 24-year-old right-hander and he's turned things around in a big way. Jimenez shut out the Reds for six innings Sunday and is 6-3 with a 2.07 ERA and 45-to-28 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 65.1 innings spread over his last 10 starts. He's still not getting tons of strikeouts despite the league's fastest fastball, but does rank fifth in the NL by inducing a grounder on 56 percent of his balls in play.

(Rotoworld)

Padres · Post by **Padres** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 7:09 am

Perhaps Kansas City has stumbled upon its first baseman of the future. Triple-A Omaha 1B Kila Ka'aihue (Royals) batted .478/.520/.1.433 (11-for-23) this week with three home runs, a double, 13 RBIs and eight runs scored as he made the jump from Double-A Northwest Arkansas. His size may not be ideal (6-foot-3, 233 pounds), but his power and patience seem to be very nearly so. The 24-year-old Ka'aihue has batted an aggregate .316/.465/.639 in 291 at-bats on the season, with about twice as many walks (81) as strikeouts (42) . . .

Low Class A South Bend RHP Jarrod Parker (Diamondbacks) has had a solid season in his first taste of pro ball at age 19. He's won his last three starts and in his two outings this week, Parker allowed only four earned runs on six hits in 12 innings while striking out 11 and walking five to improve to 10-5, 3.87 for the year . . .

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/pr ... 66615.html

Padres · Post by **Padres** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 8:11 pm

SS Mike Aviles is now hitting .340 with seven homers and 31 RBI in 52 big league games. He can't be expected to continue performing at this pace, but Aviles has a quality line drive stroke and is good enough to continue batting .300 with doubles power.

Giants · Post by **Giants** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 2:20 pm

Mets wrote:Perhaps Kansas City has stumbled upon its first baseman of the future. Triple-A Omaha 1B Kila Ka'aihue (Royals) batted .478/.520/.1.433 (11-for-23) this week with three home runs, a double, 13 RBIs and eight runs scored as he made the jump from Double-A Northwest Arkansas. His size may not be ideal (6-foot-3, 233 pounds), but his power and patience seem to be very nearly so. The 24-year-old Ka'aihue has batted an aggregate .316/.465/.639 in 291 at-bats on the season, with about twice as many walks (81) as strikeouts (42) . . .

Low Class A South Bend RHP Jarrod Parker (Diamondbacks) has had a solid season in his first taste of pro ball at age 19. He's won his last three starts and in his two outings this week, Parker allowed only four earned runs on six hits in 12 innings while striking out 11 and walking five to improve to 10-5, 3.87 for the year . . .

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/pr ... 66615.html

Kila is a great pickup, I've been monitoring him all year and only the emergence of Davis and a roster spot crunch kept me from signing him myself.

Cardinals · Post by **Cardinals** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 2:30 pm

As Z just told me
Mets Kila 0-Kaaihue 1B Create Jul 28, 10:19 pm

Shouldn't be valid because he's already on the Braves roster in the sim. For whatever reason the name is "Kala" not "Kila" in the sim, and the birth year is one year off. Unless there's just a player THAT similar and I'm mistaken?

Giants · Post by **Giants** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 2:31 pm

Kila has a brother named Kala who is a year younger and was more highly touted going into this season.

Cardinals · Post by **Cardinals** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 2:34 pm

Wow. Same birthday and all. nevermind!

Padres · Post by **Padres** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 10:45 am

Give a look, too, to southpaw RP Jerry Blevins , who has a 1.23 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, and a K/BB of 15/3 in 14.2 innings since being recalled from Triple-A, where he served as Sacramento's closer ... While in AAA he went 2 - 2 with 10 saves, 2.78 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and a K/BB of 36/6 ...

Giants · Post by **Giants** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 4:11 pm

I know him too. I sure wish I could extract him from you and get that awesome Blevins/Ziegler tandem the real life A's have going.

Padres · Post by **Padres** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 4:09 pm

Ben Franklin (Philly): Tell me something I have not heard about A Escobar? Everyone says his glove is great, is it? How great? Or is it just good?

Kevin Goldstein: It's great. Makes the easy plays consistently, and makes the spectacular plays others can't dream of making. One of the best defenders in the minors.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/chat/ ... 657923#new

Padres · Post by **Padres** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 7:23 am

Through the Twins' first 61 games [Delmon Young] hit .270/.321/.349 with zero homers in 249 plate appearances. In the team's 59 games since then he's hit .315/.355/.477 with seven homers in 212 plate appearances. His overall numbers (.290/.336/.407) remain mediocre, but Young's turnaround has been dramatic:

PA AVG OBP SLG OPS IsoP SO% BB%
First 61 249 .270 .321 .349 .669 .079 15.6 6.4
Next 59 212 .315 .355 .477 .832 .162 15.6 2.3

Young has upped his batting average by 45 points while doubling his power and improving his overall production by 25 percent. Interestingly, his strikeout rate has stayed identical during the improvement while his walk rate has fallen through the floor. When he was struggling overall Young showed vastly improved plate discipline compared to his hacktastic rookie season in Tampa Bay, but he's drawn a grand total of five non-intentional walks in 212 plate appearances while thriving.

It's been a tale of two seasons for Young and certainly it'd be nice to think that what he's shown over the past 10 weeks is more indicative of what the Twins will get in the future than what he showed during the first 10 weeks. However, 59 good games is still a very small sample of playing time in the grand scheme of things...

There's plenty of reason to get excited about Young's recent play and certainly as a 22-year-old who many people feel has significant long-term upside it's easy to view what he's done over the past 59 games as sustainable improvement. On the other hand, at the end of the day a season is 162 games full of ups and downs, and Young's overall production this year hasn't really been meaningfully different than his overall production last year. Either way, it's very nice to see him hitting and hitting for power.

http://www.aarongleeman.com/2008_08_10_ ... 1556567787

Padres · Post by **Padres** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 5:56 am

[Clayton] Kershaw missed out on his third win, but now has a 3.59 ERA and 64/36 K/BB ratio in 72 2/3 innings overall, including a 1.45 mark and 29/9 K/BB ratio in his last five starts.

http://rotoworld.com/content/playerpage ... LB&id=4517

Padres · Post by **Padres** » Sun Aug 24, 2008 8:35 pm

Last night in the IBC, Ricky Nolasco fell to 3 - 12 ... meanwhile today in real life:

Ricky Nolasco picked up his thirteenth win Sunday, holding the Diamondbacks to two runs on three hits while striking out 10 over 7 1/3 innings in a 5-2 Marlins victory.

This was the second consecutive dominant outing for Nolasco, who is coming on strong here late in the year. With a 10-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio in the game, Nolasco has now fanned 43 batters while issuing just three walks in 37 August innings.

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/player ... MLB&id=178

Padres · Post by **Padres** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 7:40 am

CATCHER - Brayan Pena (26), Omaha: .303/.376/.462

Given the big league clubÃs [Royals] almost phobic aversion to taking a walk, getting on base will be a big factor in making our All-Star squad and that is something Pena did with regularity once the Royals picked him up on waivers. Pena drew 26 walks and struck out just 17 times in 60 games with Omaha, blasting 6 homers and 17 doubles in the process. Along the way Brayan also swiped seven of ten bases and played some third base and outfield when the roster thinned out towards the end of August. HeÃll get a good hard look next spring with Kansas City.

http://mvn.com/mlb-royals/2008/09/09/20 ... all-stars/

With the IBC Mets I suspect he will serve as the back-up Catcher to Max Ramirez. I know one doesn't get excited about a back-up Catcher but it nice to see Pena had a solid year at AAA. With Miguel Olivo leaving KC I would expect Pena to make the SIM and hopefully get a decent (certainly not spectacular) projection. Being a switch hitter and somewhat versatile will hopefully make him a good (still relatively young at 26) bench player providing the 2009 IBC Mets some depth.

Padres · Post by **Padres** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 7:25 pm

Dodgers wrote:Cruz has gotten chances in the majors, he's a career 231/282/384 hitter in 440 abs. I'm thinking AAAA+ player.

Maybe ... maybe not:

Nelson Cruz has been around for less than a month. HeÃs played in every one of the RangersÃ 22 games since arriving on August 25.

Other than Cruz, no player who has stepped up to the plate for Texas in 2008 has more walks than strikeouts. In fact, very fewer hitters in the league ever do that Ã± of the top 70 walk-drawers in the American League this year, only [Joe] Mauer walks more than he fans. Cruz Ã± who came into the season with 30 career walks and 121 career strikeouts Ã± has drawn 15 bases on balls for Texas this year, and struck out 13 times.

Yes, 76 at-bats raises a sample-size issue, but this is what Cruz has done with those 76 at-bats: .329/.446/.592

Cruz is not as young as Chris Davis or Taylor Teagarden Ã± in fact, at age 28 heÃs only two years younger than [Milton] Bradley Ã± but he plays a position at which Texas needs an answer, and heÃs unquestionably produced in a way that fits perfectly in this lineup, even when everyone under contract for 2009 is healthy.

And speaking of health, itÃs never been an issue for Cruz.

(Thanks to Jamey Newburg)

Padres · Post by **Padres** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 7:56 pm

Mets wrote:SS Mike Aviles is now hitting .340 with seven homers and 31 RBI in 52 big league games. He can't be expected to continue performing at this pace, but Aviles has a quality line drive stroke and is good enough to continue batting .300 with doubles power.

Aviles is batting .352/.401/.592 in 125 at-bats against lefties in his rookie season. Versus righties, he at a far more pedestrian .305/.327/.406 in 256 at-bats. It's pretty incredible that he's been able to maintain his .320 average all year long ...

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/player ... LB&id=4438

For the season Aviles is .320/.356/.460 with 8 HR and 45 RBI in 92 MLB games and he hit .336/.369/.691 in 214 AB at AAA prior to his call-up ... He has played and should project at SS, 2B and 3B.

Signs of Hope for the 2009 IBC Mets

Signs of Hope for the 2009 IBC Mets

Nelson Cruz - CF?

Ubaldo Jimenez