AFL Action

[metirish]

="Frayed Knot"]Meanwhile, the Daily News was calling it a hamstring problem

Update from Lennon

] Update on Murphy It appears that what the Mets intially believed was a knee issue for Murphy is actually a hamstring strain. Good thing they got him to an MRI machine. Here's the full update from the team below: The Mets Daniel Murphy underwent an MRI this morning at New York�s Hospital for Special Surgery and the test revealed that he has a Grade 2 Strain of the right hamstring. Murphy felt discomfort in the leg in pre-game batting practice of his November 11th Arizona Fall League game. He will skip winter league ball in Puerto Rico so that he can be ready for the opening of Spring Training this February in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

[smg58]

Murph doesn't need to prove anything in winter ball at this point anyway. If you're going to have an injury that sidelines you for a month, November is a good time to have it.

[soupcan]

Paging Mackey Shilstone...

[Guest Edgy DC]

I never posted the final numbers. Eddie Kunz never did right his ship --- at all --- but there were a lot of positives to walk away with, even as Bowman and Thole regressed toward the mean. If Thole ever gets some sextra base power, he'll be a prospect.

You couldn't have reasonably asked for more out of Bobby Parnell. In fact, considering his college profile and his draft slot, you've already gotten more out of Bobby Parnell than you ever deserved. Congratulations to the Mets on that inspired pick.

League leaders: Moirphy was thoid in the league in OBP, fifth in average, twelfth in slugging, good for the tenth-best OPS before he checked out.

Parnell was third in wins, sixth in ERA, ninth in WHIP. Vargas was fourth in ERA, fourth in WHIP. He also led the league in holds with five. Stoner was tenth in WHIP.

Kunz was tied for first in games, and fifth in games finished, and probably tied for first in games fucked up. But he was also tied for fourth in saves with two.

Let's just hope Dropkick is healthy in spring.

Player�	POS�	G�	AB�	R�	H�	2B�	3B�	HR�	RBI�	TB�	BB�	SO�	SB�	CS�	OBP�	SLG�	AVG�	OPS�	E�
Daniel Murphy	2B	15	63	22	25	8	0	2	18	39	13	6	1	0	.487	.619	.397	1.106	4
Josh Thole	C	19	69	15	22	1	0	2	17	29	10	6	1	0	.400	.420	.319	.820	2	Shawn Bowman	3B	9	37	6	11	3	0	2	7	20	2	5	0	0	.333	.541	.297	.874	0	Totals	--	43	169	43	58	12	0	6	42	88	25	17	2	0	.428	.521	.343	.949	6

Player�	W�	L�	ERA�	G�	GS�	CG�	SHO�	SV�	IP�	H�	R�	ER�	HR�	HB�	BB�	SO�	WHIP�	HLD�	GF�
Jason Vargas	1	0	2.10	9	1	0	0	0	25.7	20	7	6	1	0	5	13	0.97	5	0
Bobby Parnell	3	1	2.25	7	7	0	0	0	20.0	15	5	5	0	1	9	20	1.20	0	0
Tobi Stoner	2	0	3.66	11	0	0	0	0	19.7	17	8	8	0	0	7	15	1.22	0	2
Eddie Kunz	2	2	10.93	14	0	0	0	2	14.0	24	17	17	3	2	10	14	2.43	0	9
Totals	8	3	4.08	41	8	0	0	2	79.3	76	37	36	4	3	31	62	1.35	5	11

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Nice article telling like it probably is here:

]Murphy and Co. get hacks in Arizona Plenty of players see autumnal time out west By Michael Salfino / SNY.tv Assessing a team's Arizona Fall League roster gives a good sense of the pizazz of their prospects. Last year, scouts couldn't be blamed for looking past the roster the Mets fielded and toward those soothing desert landscapes. But this year's group has improved along with the Mets Minor League fortunes, highlighted by second baseman in training Daniel Murphy. Here are some observations of Murphy and the rest of the best of the Mets 2008 AFL roster courtesy of a National League scout and our friends at Baseball America, editor John Manuel and AFL reporter Kary Booher. We already knew Murphy can hit. He finished at .397/.487/.619 in an AFL campaign cut short by a hamstring injury that should fully heal by Spring Training. That line is a fair translation of his big league numbers considering the level of competition in the AFL is about Double A-plus. I asked our experts what they thought about Keith Hernandez's anointing Murphy in September as the Mets future No. 3 hitter. "That's getting a little carried away," our National League scout says. "Murphy has good bat speed, is short to the ball and judges the strike zone, which should allow him to hit for average. But I'm not convinced he is much more than a 15-20 homer hitter. I don't think his bat is solid enough to play left field." Baseball America's Manuel agrees. "To me he's more Ryan Church, a corner outfielder who will hit but perhaps not for power and average as a three-hole hitter should. I see him as .300 with 15 homers one year, .270 with 20-25 homers the next." That's sweet for a second baseman, assuming the reviews of his AFL trial are good enough. "He is below average at second base with fringe-average range and stiff hands," says our NL scout. "Third base is his best position." Baseball America's Booher adds, "He showed some signs that he might be able to pull it off, but even his fall league manager said he was pretty raw over there. He just may not have enough range and agility." Scouts generally like Murphy and gave off the impression they were pulling for him to succeed at second. But the skills were lacking. Says Manuel, "The scouts and Minor League managers I've talked to A, believe he'll hit, B, love his grinder mentality and C, doubt his ability to play second effectively in the Majors." On to the rest of the Mets' AFL notables, led by left-handed hitting catcher Josh Thole, who turned 22 last month. Thole finished at .319/.400/.420 after hitting .300/.382/.427 at High A St. Lucie. Our NL scout thinks he has a relatively modest big-league future. "Thole is an extreme contact hitter whose bat plane isn't conducive to power. Defensively, he's average: solid receiving skills and average arm strength. I see him more as a platoon catcher given his left-handed bat." Manuel thinks that defensive assessment is a minority opinion, but agrees with the offensive assessment. "He's got a decent swing with a good approach but is just not a guy scouts think will drive the ball consistently for power. Defensively, he's a backup at best, fringe-average or below-average in most aspects." Jason Vargas was a surprising addition to the AFL roster, given his big-league experience. Says our scout, "In the outing I saw in the AFL, he was pretty solid in mixing his pitches and disrupting timing. I give him an excellent chance to resume his role as a backend starter." Bobby Parnell, who we saw in September as the Mets bullpen imploded, looked good, as well. But he not viewed as having a future in the rotation. He finished the AFL season allowing no homers in 20 innings with 20 Ks and 9 walks (2.25 ERA). "I like Parnell better as a reliever, where he could dominate with his fastball and slider; both of which have outstanding movement," says our scout. "He throws with a bit of effort and doesn't change speeds real well, so the move [to the pen] would probably boost his peripheral numbers." Adds Manuel, "Parnell reached 97 mph with his fastball in the past; one of his problems as a starter is the inconsistency of his velocity, from start to start and even within games, I've had scouts say he'd be 88-92 early and up to 95-96 late." Our scout clocked the 24-year-old righty's fastball this fall from 87 to 95 mph. Tobi Stoner is another righty who will turn 24 next week who had similar peripherals to Parnell: 0 homers in 19-plus innings with 7 walks and 15 Ks (3.66 ERA). "I would rate the fastball/cutter/curveball as average pitches, with the slider being slightly below," our scout says. "Stoner is athletic and has good arm action, but tends to rush through his delivery. He profiles as a long reliever for me." Manuel thinks Stoner has "back-of-the-rotation stuff at best, but has a chance." Eddie Kunz really struggled (three homers, 24 hits and 10 walks in 14-plus innings). "I've never been that high on Kunz," says our scout, who has specialized in rating amateur draft talent. "His velocity is solid and has a solid ground ball/fly ball ratio. But doesn't pitch aggressively and can be predictable late in the count." Manuel agrees, "He's always going to be a volatile guy in terms of his performance because he's not particularly athletic, loses his slot and gets hittable." Manuel spent a lot of time focusing on the Hawaii Winter League, so I asked him about Scott Shaw, a 22-year-old righty with size (6-foot-5, 230) and solid numbers last summer and in Hawaii (32-plus innings, 12 hits, 9 walks, 35 Ks). "Shaw pitches backward a lot -- 87-88 mph fastball, touching 90 with lots of changeups and curves. He had a huge year since signing, including throwing more than 100 innings pitched. I wouldn't read too much into the stats but he had a great debut and will more than likely be fast-tracked next year, probably to St. Lucie, maybe higher because he's shown a 160-inning workload is something he can now handle." Michael Salfino is a nationally syndicated columnist and a regular contributor to SNY.tv.

[Guest Edgy DC]

From experience, I assume "pitching backwards" means getting ahead with breaking pitches and then widening the target to get the batter to chase the fastball, rather than the more typical pattern of starting with the heat, but the first time on reading, without explanation, that Shaw "pitches backwards a lot," it can conjure some funny images.

[Frayed Knot]

"But I'm not convinced he is much more than a 15-20 homer hitter. I don't think his
bat is solid enough to play left field."

This is the danger with going overboard with Murphy, that he's going to be a bit of a
"tweener" -- not enough glove for 2nd base yet only a mediocre bat if he's in a
corner spot.

[smg58]

If Murphy can post an OBP in the .400 area, he doesn't need to hit more than 15-20 homers to be a plus leftfielder.

[Frayed Knot]

Sure, but that's a level maybe 10 guys reach in a given year (8 MLers at .400+ in '08)
Throwing him out there and expecting that is a pretty tall order - especially
off <150 ML ABs and a ~.350 minor league OBA

[Guest Edgy DC]

Yeah, there's nothing mediocre about that.

Tony Gwynn has carved a nice slot in the Hall of Fame for outfielders with less power than that. Tim Raines should be joining him.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I suspect that Davey Johnson wouldn't hesitate to pencil Murphy in at second base. He always valued the bat over the glove, and was pretty successful with that approach.

[seawolf17]

="Benjamin Grimm":11j7l0q0]I suspect that Davey Johnson wouldn't hesitate to pencil Murphy in at second base. He always valued the bat over the glove, and was pretty successful with that approach.[/quote:11j7l0q0] That would explain "Mitchell SS" appearing in the boxscore from time to time.

Edgy DC Dec 05 2008 09:48 AM

Mets land two guys on the Arizona Fall League�s 2008 Top Prospects Team Starting Pitchers Tommy Hanson (Braves --- maybe should have been the league MVP at 5-0, 0.63, 49 Ks and 7 BBs in 28.2 IP) Kevin Pucetas (Giants) Bobby Parnell (Mets) Relief Pitchers Bud Norris (Astros) Joh Bannister (Rangers) Catchers J.P Arencibia (Blue Jays) Matt Wieters (Orioles Firstbasemen Logan Morrison (Marlins) Rhyne Hughes (Rays) Secondbasemen Daniel Murphy (Mets) Kevin Frandsen (Giants) Thirdbasemen Wes Hodges (Indians) Brett Wallace (Cardinals) Shortstops Jason Donald (Phillies) Gordon Beckham (White Sox) Outfielders Eric Young, Jr. (Rockies) Sean Doolittle (Athletics) Chris Pettit (Angels) Austin Jackson (Yankees) Casper Wells (Tigers) Mike Baxter (Padres) Note the lack of Latin American-sounding names. I guess they tend put their offseason work in the Carribbean leagues.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Mets land two guys on the Arizona Fall League�s 2008 Top Prospects Team

Starting Pitchers
Tommy Hanson (Braves --- maybe should have been the league MVP at 5-0, 0.63, 49 Ks and 7 BBs in 28.2 IP)
Kevin Pucetas (Giants)
Bobby Parnell (Mets)

Relief Pitchers
Bud Norris (Astros)
Joh Bannister (Rangers)

Catchers
J.P Arencibia (Blue Jays)
Matt Wieters (Orioles

Firstbasemen
Logan Morrison (Marlins)
Rhyne Hughes (Rays)

Secondbasemen
Daniel Murphy (Mets)
Kevin Frandsen (Giants)

Thirdbasemen
Wes Hodges (Indians)
Brett Wallace (Cardinals)

Shortstops
Jason Donald (Phillies)
Gordon Beckham (White Sox)

Outfielders
Eric Young, Jr. (Rockies)
Sean Doolittle (Athletics)
Chris Pettit (Angels)
Austin Jackson (Yankees)
Casper Wells (Tigers)
Mike Baxter (Padres)

Note the lack of Latin American-sounding names. I guess they tend put their offseason work in the Carribbean leagues.