Mets Minor League Blog Report 9-23-08
Toby Hyde
Yeah, that Mets game was no fun at all Monday night. In case you were wondering, Jason Marquis hit a hanging curveball, Jon Niese’s best pitch, with the swing that turned into his grand slam.
In this issue:
- Bisons Press Conference Quotes
- No Hawaii for Havens
- Minor League Park Multipliers
1. Bisons Press Conference Quotes
The only real news out of the Bisons/Mets press conference this morning was that the two sides have signed a two-year Player Development Contract. PDCs can be signed in two or four year increments. The two-year version is much more common, especially at the beginning of a relationship.
The following are quotes from the press conference. As always, italics are mine.
Bisons Owner/President Robert E. Rich:
It is our pleasure to announce to you today that the Buffalo Bisons and New York Mets have signed a player development contract.
Rich told a story about the days after his father’s passing, saying that the “First sympathy note from anyone in baseball came from the Wilpon family.” He pointed out that the Mets and Bisons “are both family-run companies” with “shared values.”
There was a photo op where Jeff Wilpon and Omar Minaya held up Bisons jerseys with 09 on them.
COO Jeff Wilpon spoke next:
“We are extremely proud to be in Buffalo, back in our home state”
Wilpon mentioned getting phone calls from Governor David Patterson and Senator Chuck Schumer about a year ago encouraging the Mets to move their AAA affiliate back to NYC.
GM Omar Minaya
On the Buffalo Bisons: “great reputation…. in this game of baseball”
Where’s the best place to develop our players?
For me, it’s not only about the international league, but about being in New York. I checked in a little bit with my friend, Indians GM Mark Shapiro and he said wonderful things about the ways the players are treated here…
NY Governor David Patterson
“It’s great to be here…. I grew up a Mets fan too.
Jeff knew I was a Mets fan …when, I told him the Mets original farm team was here in Buffalo.
I can’t stay, because I need to head back to Shea Stadium and warm up. The Mets bullpen is gonna kill me. It’s not the Fed, it’s not AIG, …it’s the Mets bullpen.”
So there you have it. The Mets bullpen will require a Federal Bailout and $700 billion to fix.
Erie County Executive Chris Collins
As a former pitcher - I pitched for Rudy’s Pumproom – in slow pitch softball followed by wings and beer…
This is where we bring our families …I have camped on the field with Cub Scouts….
The ceremony ended when Jeff Wilpon presented the Superintendent of the Buffalo Public Schools with a check for $25,000 to demonstrate the Mets’ commitment to community service. There were a bunch of kids in their high school baseball jerseys and hats on the dais for the check presentation. I didn’t see a lot of smiles, but you know someone was excited to get out of school for the morning.
2. No Hawaii for Havens
The Mets made first round pick SS Reese Havens, who struggled with injuries in 2008 with Brooklyn, a late scratch from Hawaii Winter Baseball, which opens play Saturday. Mets Director of Minor League Operations Adam Wogan told MiLB.com’s Kevin T. Czerwinski:
"We feel that it's a better environment for him to spend a month in Florida. We think it makes the best use of his time. He had some smaller injuries and we're just trying to be cautious.
"He missed some games so this gives him the opportunity to get in some games and build up his overall strength rather than just go out and compete. Guys like him like to go out and compete, so it's better to be in this environment."
I thought sending a fully healthy Havens to Hawaii made sense. I think holding Havens back in instructs when the Mets are clearly worried about his condition makes even more sense.
3. Minor League Park Factors
At the Baseball Think Factory, Dan Szymborski crunched the numbers and releases his minor league park multipliers for all minor full-season minor leagues and the NYP and NWL. In this case, a number value of 1.00, like the walk rate in Savannah at Grayson Stadium would indicate that a park is perfectly league average in the category. On the other hand, runs score in New Orleans’ Zephyrs Field at only 87% of the rate of the rest of the PCL Parks. These are LEAGUE adjusted only, and do not account for league to league variations in run scoring. For comparison, the PCL averages something like an extra .75 runs per game than the IL.
2006-08
R H 2B HR BB K
New Orleans 0.87 0.92 0.92 0.92 0.97 1.04
Buffalo 1.03 1.00 1.04 0.97 1.03 0.96
Binghamton 1.05 1.05 1.04 1.05 1.03 1.04
St. Lucie 1.02 1.00 1.02 1.02 0.98 0.97
Savannah 0.97 0.97 0.95 0.98 1.00 1.02
Brooklyn 0.99 0.99 1.05 0.99 0.95 1.02
In AAA, the Mets are moving from an extreme pitchers’ park in an extreme hitter’s league for a basically fair park that gives up a few extra doubles in an International League whose run scoring environment looks much more similar to that at the MLB level.
In AA, Binghamton plays as a moderate hitters’ park across the board in pitchers’ league. The 2008 Eastern League scored the fewest runs of any of the AA circuits.
St. Lucie gives up a few more (2%) HR and doubles than the average FSL park, yet pitchers are in the strike zone, as evidence by the below average BB and K rates. I’m not sure that means all that much, although I’m open to other interpretations of the data.
Savannah depresses run scoring by 3% by cutting down on all hit types, singles, doubles and homers. Makes sense to me having seen games in Grayson Stadium.
Brooklyn is average overall, friendliest to
doubles. Note that unlike in Savannah
(down) or Binghamton (up) Brooklyn is
more like Buffalo
where the doubles
rate is above average to go along with a slightly below average HR rate. In Brooklyn,
I’d suggest that this is due to location.
With heavy sea air, and the wind blowing in from the water just
past the
wall in right, drives from lefties that might otherwise be homers end
up being
doubles. Anyone have any coherent
explanations for Buffalo?
Toby Hyde
has written about the
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