Update: An astute reader pointed out to me that I didn’t include Dillon Gee. Why? Well that’s because I simply because his named managed to escape my mind while thinking of a 100 others. Although, it’s worth nothing that Gee had a year almost as dominating as Dylan Owen after compiling a 22.4% K rate and 3.6% BB Rate.

Given how dominating he was and the fact he was a collegiate pitcher, I have him heading to St. Lucie to start the year in place of Waechter. Waechter, did however, have a very successful year at Brooklyn, which makes it highly unlikely he repeats the level. Therefore, I have the 23 year old following a similar path of Tobi Stoner’s in 2008; staeting out at Savannah, and moving up to st. Lucie within a month or two. Vineyard, meanwhile, is the likely candidate to start in extended spring training and possible begin 2008 in Brooklyn.

Sorry for the huge gap between today’s post and my last one. i’ve been in school for about  a week now, and I’ve barely had any time to catch a ballgame, let alone keep the blog updated.

Since I happened to have some free time, I tried my best to conjecture what the 2008 opening day minor league rosters will look like. Here’s my first of many, many attemps I’ll probably make at this:

New Orleans

1B: Carp

2B: Hernandez

3B: Kiger

SS: Rivera

OF: Coles

OF: Hill

OF: Gomez

C: Arroyo

DH: Stewart

Rotation:

Humber

Mulvey

Bostick

Parnell

Vargas

Binghamton

1B: Evans

2B: Malo

3B. Murphy

SS: Coronado

OF: Martinez

OF: Wabick

OF: Holden

C: Nickeas

DH: Clark

Rotation:

Ruckle

Devaney

Niese

Stoner

Brown

St. Lucie:

1B: Thole

2B: Pellot

3B: Jimenez

SS: Garcia

OF: Maldanado

OF: R. Pena

OF: Kawal

C: McCraw

DH: Jacobs

Rotation:

Guerra

Owen

Durkin

Stinson

Gee

Savannah:

1B: Duda

2B: Veloz

3B: Lucas

SS: Lagares

OF: Carrera

OF: Reyes

OF: Zavala

C: F. Pena

DH: Zapata

Rotation:

Carr

Moviel

Dlouhy

Waechter

Polanco

A lot to digest. I didn’t bother taking a shot at the bullpen and bench of course, (although as you may’ve guessed, I strongly considered doing so) A lot of it is subjective, and of course, it’s my personal opinion.

 I’m prepared to handle any questions at: matthimelfarb@gmail.com

To replace the struggling Mike Nickeas (.216/.389/.311) at A+ St. Lucie, The Mets have promoted catcher Sean McCraw from Savannah.

This move should benefit McCraw in terms of playing time, since with all the hype surrounding Francisco Pena, McCraw played most of his time as a DH, and occasionally filling in in the outfield and behind the plate. McCraw hasn’t exactly been smashing the ball this year- his LD rate has been well below the league average and not for one month this year has his SLG% rose above .400- but he’s shown some keen plate discipline, rarely striking out and even compiling a higher BB rate than K rate in both June and July.

Francisco Pena has been awful both offensively and defensively this yea, (.220/.274/.294)  both consdering how fast the Mets push young prospects, and unless McCraw somehow he’ll be ready to start at AA next year, it’ll be interesting to see if McCraw and Pena find themselves in the same situation next year in St. Lucie. My best guess is that both McCraw and Pena get promoted, since the Mets have no one capable of starting at AA or AAA.

Tony Maccani  has taken over as the backup at Savannah. From Mack Mets Notes:

Tony Maccani C R R 6-3 191 9-24-84 Furman

Macanni signed with the Mets, on July 26th, as an undrafted free agent in 2007 and was first assigned to the AAA New Orleans franchise, where he did not have an at bat.