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The Future of MiLB All-Stars Flores and Dykstra

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The only questions about Flores are when and where.
The only questions about Flores are when and where.

Infielder Wilmer Flores and first baseman Allan Dykstra are headed to their respective league’s all-star games this year – Flores in Triple-A and Dykstra in Double-A. Each player took a different path to get to where they are now, and may still take a different path to the majors. Let’s take a look where these two might end up in the Mets plans.

Wilmer Flores

Flores has steadily grown more comfortable at the Triple-A level, and he’s starting to make it look easy. On Tuesday, he went 5-6 with 2 doubles. He’s hitting .320/.357/.520 this year with 27 doubles, 4 triples, 10 home runs, and 64 RBIs. Sandy Alderson considers him a propsect, and that’s not going out on a limb.

The 6’3″, 190 lb Flores was signed out of Venezuela at the ripe old age of 16. It feels like he’s been in the Mets farm system forever, but even after 6 seasons in the minor leagues, he’s still only 21 (turning 22 on August 6th).

He projected to fill out into a Miguel Cabrera-type frame, and that still may be a possibility. He doesn’t have Cabrera’s power as of now, but there’s no question he can hit. And his 41 extra base hits this year shows that he’s no slap hitter.

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28 Games Later: The State of the 2013 Mets

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28 games are in the books in 2013 – 28 embarrassing, encouraging, disastrous, delightful, hopeless and hopeful games.  One night, a fan could go from swearing off his beloved Mets for good, while another game brings about a glimmer of hope.  But the Mets have given us no reason to believe that 2013 edition of this team will deliver anything more than a glimmer.

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The Contract Offer: Wright or Wrong?

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Can the Mets afford Wright AND the rest of the team?

I’ve been avoiding the subject of contract extensions for David Wright and R.A. Dickey because A) I don’t feel like speculating about if every single day, especially when I know next to nothing about what’s going on behind closed doors – like everyone else, and B) Everyone else has already chimed in on it.  But now, because an offer has been REPORTEDLY made, and I’m feeling narcissistic today, I will chime in.

According to various sources, the Mets made an offer to David Wright that consists of 7 years at about $20 million per.  My immediate reaction?  If they can afford Wright at that price while still keeping money in the coffers to fill other positions of need, then let’s do it.  If they’re breaking the bank for one player, and we have to have another year of Josh Thole behind the plate, an outfield of Lucas Duda/Kirk Nieuwenhuis/Mike Baxter, and Frank Francisco closing games, then don’t.

However, since I’m writing stream-of-consciousness…

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28 Days Later: The State of the Mets

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David Wright is off to a great start.

28 games into the season, the Mets are 15-13, sitting in third place in the NL East.  And if it weren’t early May, I’d say something like, “if the season were to end today, the Mets would be the second Wildcard team.”  But it is only early May.  With that said, let’s take a look at the current state of the team.

Positives

First, the good news.  The Mets are exceeding expectations.  Yes, the expectations were low, but expectations are being exceeded nonetheless.

They went 13-10 in April, which isn’t bad in and of itself.  However, according to the May 7th issue of Sports Illustrated, they faced the 4th toughest schedule by winning percentage (.535) in the major leagues.  Meanwhile, the Dodgers and Nationals, teams that got off to screaming hot starts,  faced the 30th and 29th toughest schedules, respectively.

Individually, several players are off to great starts in 2012.  David Wright is off to one of the best starts of his career, hitting .375/.481/.545 with a team-leading 14 RBI.  Daniel Murphy is hitting .315/.358/.378.  The Mets need more extra base hits out of Murphy, but it’s hard to be dissatisfied with his average and OBP.  In addition, he’s played a surprisingly competent second base.  He hasn’t been without errors, but like his team, he has exceeded expectations.  Similarly, Josh Thole (.282/.356/.372) has performed well at the plate, while showing improvement behind it.

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