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Buffalo Bisons (26-17, 1/2 GB)

-Buffalo had a very hot week winning six of seven games to put them only 1/2 game back in the division. The Bisons won their final two games in Charlotte before coming home and dropping the first of their four-game set from Gwinnett, which they took the rest of. The team is currently in the midst of a four-game set with Indianapolis and took the first game yesterday by the score of 11-6. If the Indians continue to put the team they had on the field yesterday, Buffalo should have no problem sweeping since their best hitter is hitting .284 and their leadoff hitter is at .091.

-Vinny Rottino had a big game yesterday with five RBI which puts him second on the team with 25 driven in, behind only Val Pascucci who has 32 RBI. In terms of batting average, that title is now held by Fred Lewis (yes the same one who was Barry Bonds’ replacement in SF) after the departure of Bobby Scales for Japan, Lewis is hitting .324 in 74 at bats. Meanwhile in terms of pitching, Jeremy Hefner who was recently called up had a 2.72 ERA before heading to Toronto, while prospects Matt Harvey (4-1, 4.31 ERA) and Jeurys Familia (4-1, 4.35 ERA) are still adjusting to AAA Baseball.

Binghamton Mets (20-20, 4 1/2 GB)

-The B-Mets got back to .500 with a 4-2 week which includes taking two of three from the Trenton Thunder or as the B-Mets publicize them as…the AA-Yankees. The Mets continue their roadtrip with one last game in Portland today before traveling to New Britain for four games and a return home next weekend to take on New Hampshire.

-In yesterday’s 6-5 win over Portland all nine starters had at least one hit including the 4-7 hitters who each had a pair of knocks. The biggest story took place on the mound as Jenrry Mejia threw three innings allowing one run on six hits, then Darin Gorski came on in relief and struggled allowing three runs in 4 1/3 innings to bump his ERA up to 4.28. Former starter turned reliever Brad Holt picked up the win allowing a run over 1 2/3 innings as he tries to resurrect his career after being moved to the bullpen midway through last season.

St. Lucie Mets (34-8, 12 1/2 GA)

-This team is perfect, I don’t know what to say about them the next closest team in their division has 12 more loses than they do. The big test this week comes in the form of a four-game set with the Daytona Cubs, the team that knocked the Mets out of the Championship Series last season. The Cubs aren’t the same team they were last season as they are 16-24 entering Sunday and are 10 games back in the North Division of the FSL.

-Darrell Ceciliani is still leading the team in hitting at a .346 clip with only six RBI, next on the list in Wilmer Flores who’s hitting .318 entering today with six homers and 24 RBI, both of which lead the team. Some of the other big name players on St. Lucie are as followed; Wilfredo Tovar (.294, 14 RBI), Cesar Puello (.282, 10 RBI), Robbie Sheilds (.257, 14 RBI), Blake Forsythe (.239, 18 RBI). On the mound Erik Goeddel is back and pitching to a 1.57 ERA through six starts, meanwhile Chase Huchingson has a 2.68 ERA through 40 1/3 innings this season.

-Then there was Danny Muno, earlier this week he was suspended 50 games for the use of performance enhancing drugs. I will admit I was very high on him as I have been following him since being drafted from Fresno State last season, he had a fantastic rookie season with a .355 average last season and was hitting .283 this season with five homers and 23 RBI. Will the Mets allow him to come back after this? Probably but he’ll definitely have some competion since his return will come a month after this year’s draft.

Savannah Sand Gnats (25-16, 3 GB)

-The Gnats had a .500 week this week going 3-3 after Sunday’s game was cancelled because of rain. The team finishes up their seven-game homestand on Wednesday before heading on the road for seven straight as we push towards the end of the month of May. Yesterday Savannah snapped a three-game skid with a 7-4 win over Augusta as first baseman Brian Harrison had a big day with four RBI.

-Bronx, N.Y. native T.J. Rivera is leading the team in hitting right now with a .338 average with five homeruns and 17 RBI as well. Meanwhile 2011 draftee Travis Taijeron continues to impress hitting for both power and average at .281 with eight homruns. Taijeron is tied for the team lead in RBI as well with 27, tied with 3rd baseman Aderlin Rodriguez. Tyler Pill leads the pitching staff with a 2.29 ERA in 39 1/3 innings during his first full season in the Mets minor league system, Alex Panteliodis (3-2, 2.94), Rafael Montero (2-2, 3.05 ERA),  Michael Fulmer (2-2, 3.94 ERA) and Domingo Tapia (3-2, 4.25 ERA) round out the very impressive starting rotation for Savannah.

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Back for year number two of Down on the Farm and the Mets made my job a little easier this year with all their budget cutting which saw the organization ridding themselves of the Kingsport Mets of the Appalachian League and the Gulf Coast League Mets of the GCL. Those clubs didn’t usually start their seasons until after the draft but at least we’re back this year with the Buffalo Bisons of the International League, the Binghamton Mets of the Eastern League, the St. Lucie Mets of the Florida State League, the Savannah Sand Gnats of the South Atlantic League, and in a few months the Brooklyn Cyclones of the New York-Penn League.

Buffalo Bisons (1-1)

-Buffalo got their season off to a 1-1 start with a series split with Pawtucket. The Bisons continue their season opening trip with four games at Rochester before returning home for their 25th home opener on Wednesday against the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees (who aren’t really in SWB this season, as they’ll be playing ‘home’ games in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Batavia, Allentown, Pa. and Pawtucket, R.I.).

-Buffalo will be an interesting team to watch this season especially with some of the Mets’ top pitching prospects at AAA with Matt Harvey, Jeurys Familia, eventually Jenrry Mejia will also be back after Tommy John Surgery. In terms of the offensive players look for the infielders such as Jordany Valdespin, Zach Lutz, Josh Satin and Michael Fischer to be players I mention a lot this season since the rest of the players are just career minor leaguers or members of AAAA baseball.

Binghamton Mets (0-2)

-Binghamton was the one of the worst teams in Minor League Baseball last season and this season looks a little bit brighter with a lot of members from last season’s St. Lucie team getting the bump up to AA. Another bright note (and this is more of a personal thing), no more Wally Backman in Binghamton as he was promoted to Buffalo this season before he takes over the Mets this August when the big league club hits a long losing skid.

-Some players to watch this season include my #1 Mets prospect Zach Wheeler who was acquired in the Carlos Beltran trade last season. A few of my other favorites from last season are also on the pitching staff as lefty Darin Gorski and righty Greg Peavey have made the jump to AA. An old friend has returned as Kevin Mulvey (yes the one from the Johan trade) is back in Bing as is former first round pick Brad Holt. The outfield will be the group to keep an eye on this season, Juan Lagares, Matt Den Dekker and Pedro Zapata…need I say more as the top three outfield prospects are all on the same team.

St. Lucie Mets (1-1)

-St. Lucie lost in last season’s championship series to Daytona mostly because their team was depleted with the like of Matt Harvey and Jeurys Familia moving up to AA in the middle of the season leaving the pitching staff depleted down the stretch and in the playoffs. This season they are off to a 1-1 start with a split on the road at Bradenton, today they finish up their series with their home opener againast the Marauders.

-This team also has a few pitchers that I liked last season, primarily from that pitching heavy Savannah team from a season ago including Gonzalez German who picked up the win in yesterday’s contest. Taylor Whitenton was also used yesterday as a reliever after making 22 starts in the South Atlantic League in 2011. Theres also a few field players who are at St. Lucie this season including top catching prospect Blake Forsythe, the infield has a few familiar faces including Wilmer Flores, Robbie Shields, Wilfredo Tovar and a 2011 draftee who played well at Brooklyn last year in Danny Muno. The outfield also looks to have a strong threesome with Darrell Ciciliani, Cesar Puello and Cory Vaughn.

Savannah Sand Gnats (1-1)

-Savannah is also 1-1 to start the season with Luis Rojas at the helm with new pitching coach in former Met Frank Viola. The opening two games featured matchups with the Augusta Green Jackets who are out of town for this weekend because some big event is going on in their hometown of Augusta, Georgia. Right now the Gnats are on par with the Jackets as both have score one-run wins against each other.

-Savannah seems to be a little bit of a melting pot this season as the Mets dismantled two other minor league affiliates, Savannah has a few players who spents time with Kingsport, Brooklyn and Savannah last year on their roster. Back for his second year on the team is Erik Goeddel, while Tyler Pill, T. J. Chism and Tyson Send all come from Brooklyn, another guy with high hopes from the big club is Domingo Tapia who skips the short season A ball level and comes to Savannah from Kingsport in 2011. The corner infield spots will be interesting this season with Sam Honeck at first and Aderlin Rodriguez at third. Four outfielders will vie for time as well, all of whom were drafted last season, Dustin Lawley, Greg Pron, Charley Thurber and Travis Taijeron.

See you next week when they’ll be more games and more numbers to talk about!

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What's in a Number?

A few days ago, former Mets clubhouse manager Charlie Samuels pleaded guilty to stealing $2.3 million worth of memorabilia from the Mets. As part of his plea bargain he was banned from Citi Field and attending Mets’ games ever again (who actually wins that one?). Samuels during his many years with the Mets organization was always given the responsability of issuing numbers to players prior to spring training, so it got me to thinking about all the new players who will be in spring training and what numbers were and weren’t issued and decided to put in my two cents into the conversation of whom should have what numbers and so on.

• #1 - Not in use, Should be Ruben Tejada for reasons explained at #11
• #2 - Justin Turner
• #3 - Josh Satin, I doubt we see him this year, have fun in Buffalo
• #4 - Mike Nickeas, moved from #13, I don’t mind the change
• #5 - David Wright, that one wasn’t going to change
• #6 - Omar Quintanilla, I don’t want to see him in Queens unless Murphy gets hurt
• #7 - Bob Geren, Usually after a player of high prominance like Reyes leaves they leave it vacant for a year or two
• #8 - Not in use, nor should it be ever again…but should NOT be retired now
• #9 - Not in use, still hoping Ronny Paulino comes back, oh wait Baltimore signed him
• #10 - Terry Collins
• #11 - Should be Tim Teufel, hence moving Ruben Tejada to #1
• #12 - Scott Hairston
• #13 - Ronny Cedeno, good number for a middle infielder (“Fonzie”)
• #14 - Retired
• #15 - Valentino Pascucci, I was against giving it out right after Beltran was traded and feel it should be out of circulation in 2012
• #16 - Rob Johnson, not making the team so it won’t matter, should be out of circulation if not retired for Doc
• #17 - Needs to be retired, but at least Charlie Samuels’ replacement doesn’t give it to bums like Satoru Komiyama, Jose Lima, Fernando Tatis, David Newhan, Dae-Sung Koo…should I continue?
• #18 - Tim Teufel, should be out of circulation but at least Straw’s former teammate has it
• #19 - Daniel Herrera, anyone but Roger Cedeno works for me
• #20 - Adam Loewen, could make the team if he beats out Mike Baxter which isn’t the hardest thing to do
• #21 - Lucas Duda
• #22 - Not in circulation out of respect for #WillieHarrisFace
• #23 - Mike Baxter, maybe he’s in Queens maybe he’s in Buffalo..time will tell
• #24 - Not in circulation because of Willie Mays
• #25 - Ricky Bones, not really a coaches number, but it was his playing number
• #26 - Tom Goodwin, if Ruben Tejada didn’t take #1, Not sure why Goodwin didn’t take it
• #27 - Pedro Beato, now that he’s not required to be on 25-man roster, may stay in Buffalo as future closer?
• #28 - Daniel Murphy
• #29 - Ike Davis, there was talk of him changing to #20, I would have been upset since I just bought his jersey last year
• #30 - Josh Thole
• #31 - Will be retired eventually, or will the Mets wait too long like other former Met hall-of-fame catchers?
• #32 - Jenrry Mejia
• #33 - Vinny Rotino…WHO?
• #34 - Mike Pelfrety
• #35 - Dillon Gee
• #36 - Chuck James, could be the second lefty out of the ‘pen if Herrera doesn’t work out
• #37 - Retired
• #38 - Garret Olson, longer stretch to be second lefty out of ‘pen if Herrera and James don’t work out
• #39 - Bobby Parnell
• #40 - Tim Byrdak
• #41 - Retired
• #42 - Retired
• #43 - Robert Allen Dickey
• #44 - Jason Bay
• #45 -
• #46 - Manny Acosta
• #47 - Miguel Batista
• #48 - Frank Francisco, “Armando Part II” needed a number close to Armando
• #49 - Jon Niese
• #50 - “The Fans” Cheesy promotion considering this is the Mets 51st season in reality
• #51 - Dave Hudgins, hitting coach moved down one spot from #52
• #52 - Ramon Ramirez, likely coming out of the bullpen this season
• #53 - Jeremy Hefner, comes over from Pittsburgh, likely be in Buffalo this year
• #54 -
• #55 -
• #56 - Andres Torres, some guys just like random high numbers (Scott Schoeneweis?)
• #57 - That doesn’t belong to anyone, right?
• #58 - Fernando Cabrera, I have a better shot of making the 25-man roster
• #59 - Dan Warthen
• #60 - Jon Rauch, big man needs big number
• #61 - Jordant Valdespin, if he impresses enough this spring I could see him making the roster with injuries to Turner, Murphy or Tejada
• #62 - Lucas May, fourth string catcher aka backup at Buffalo
• #63 - Chris Schwinden, September callup
• #64 - Josh Stinson, Triple-A this season, bullpen in 2013
• #65 - Zach Lutz, went to a Division III school and he played for his dad YOGI Lutz..ok the only reason I knew that was because the college I work for is playing them this season.
• #66 - Armando Rodriguez, the love child of two of the greatest closers in Mets’ history, he’s Buffalo/Binghamton bound
• #67 - Cesar Puello, on his way to Binghamton, or possibly Port St. Lucie this year
• #68 - Matt den Dekker, on his way back to Binghamton
• #69 - Not given out because of 1969 World Series
• #70 - Matt Harvey, back to Binghamton for you too
• #71 - Wilmer Flores, staying in Port St. Lucie, Binghamton later this season
• #72 - Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Buffalo or BUST!
• #73 - Robert Carson, maybe Bingo maybe B-lo
• #74 - Reese Havens, more seasoning in Binghamton before being bumper up to Buffalo…if healthy
• #75 - Jeurys Familia, quick stop in Binghamton, will be in Buffalo very quickly
• #76 - Juan Lagares, Buffalo and a September callup to Queens with a much lower number
• #77 - DJ Carrasco
• #78 -
• #79 - Dave Racaniello, changes to something new every year it seems
• #80+

Theres this seasons numbers, can’t wait for the start of spring training!

First game is in 9 days!!