Michael Fulmer Finally Signs Contract

According to Jim Callis of Baseball America,

Supplemental first-rounder Michael Fulmer Tweeted (via @MFulmer12) on June 23 that he had reached an agreement with the Mets. Nearly a month later, he officially signed with the team for $937,500.

Fulmer signed for $160,800 above the slotted amount for his draft position. Unfortunately, Callis doesn't reveal the cause of the delay.

Now the Mets need to ink Nimmo and Verrett, and they'll have signed their top ten 2011 draft picks.

☛ Dimming Met fans day was the team's play against Florida. Bobby Parnell showed he has a ways to go before he can be counted on as a closer after giving up both the game-tying and game-winning hits in the same inning.

With regard to Logan Morrison's game-tying four-bagger, after the game Parnell said “I wanted to bounce it off the plate, and I just didn’t get it down there.” He added, “It was just the wrong pitch in the wrong situation.”

The pitch bounced alright, but off Morrison's bat and over the centerfield fence. The blast tied the game. Then, John Buck slammed another Parnell pitch for the game-winning double, giving the Mets their sixth loss in the last 10 games and dropping them below .500.

☛ Fortunately for Mets fans, Juan Lagares' play eased some of the pain from the New York Mets defeat. In his second game for Binghamton since his promotion from St. Lucie where he hit .339 with an .876 OPS, the 22-year-old outfielder went 5 for 5 with two doubles and a triple, increasing his total base count to 10.

Lagares has been in the Mets organization since 2006.

Quick Hits

☛ Lucas Duda: Remember the name. Yesterday he accomplished something only five other Buffalo Bisons have ever done.

☛ The Cyclones lost to the Yankees 2-1 in 10. Leftfielder Will Cherry might not be with the team much longer if he continues striking out so much. Yesterday, in five at bats, he struck out four times. In 40 at bats he's struck out a team-leading 15 times. He's hitting .200. In contrast, in 2009, Cherry's final season playing for the Florida Southern Moccasins, he hit .370. In 154 at bats he struck out only 33 times. There, his slugging percentage of .727 plus his on-base percentage of .465 gave him an OPS of 1.192, more than double his current OPS with the Cyclones of .588. Is playing in the NY-Penn League that much harder than playing in the Sunshine State Conference?

☛ The Mets pulled out a victory yesterday thanks to Ruben Tejada's smarts. Closer Francisco Rodriguez was struggling to end the game. Luckily, with two outs and a runner on second, shortstop Tejada signaled for a pickoff play. The play worked. Game over. Mets won.

2010 Topps Baseball Card # 416 Ruben Tejada RC - TBD ( RC - Rookie Card ) MLB Trading Card in Protective Screwdown Case!

☛ The Kingsport Mets accumulated 22 hits, shellacking Pulaski 13-1. Outfielder ZeErika McQueen led the hit parade, going 5 for 5. He's now hitting .400 with an OPS of .914. The Mets drafted McQueen in the 29th round in 2009's June draft.

Minor League Baseball Cap - Kingsport Mets Home Cap by New Era (6 7/8)

☛ Bobby Parnell's comeback continues. In yesterday's Nats game, he had another successful outing, pitching another hitless inning. Since his promotion from the minors, he has pitched in seven games, allowing only one earned run while striking out nine.

Parnell fizzles again

The Mets bullpen is melting down faster than an iceberg that drifted into Florida waters. Yesterday, Bobby Parnell's inability to get batters out caused the Mets to carve another notch in the loss column. And as bad as the loss was, the comments that Jerry Manuel made to MLB.com writer Marty Noble were even stranger:

"Manuel explained his call for Parnell oddly, saying he didn't want Parnell in the 'pen fretting about his recent shortfalls, and, "I was looking forward to getting Parnell back on the mound," Manuel said. "I was probably overanxious in that. I could have gone the other way."

Is Parnell another Mets pitcher with a fragile ego?

Of the last 28 batters Parnell has faced, he's retired only 12. Yet Manuel is eager to get Parnell "back on the mound"? What he should be eager about doing is returning Parnell to the minor leagues. When Ollie wasn't getting the job done, he was sent down. Why is Parnell still on the Mets roster?

In Buffalo, the Bisons, who lost another game today, have a reliever with a 2.56 ERA. Sure, he flubbed his first shot with the Mets last season, but so did Fernando Martinez this season. That shouldn't prevent him from getting a second chance. The pitcher: Eddie Kunz.

Finally, the Cyclones did yesterday what the Mets haven't been able to do lately on a consistent basis: Win a series. But that's not surprising given that their roster contains players who are not in their first professional season. In fact, at least one is in his third minor league season. It used to be that short-season ball was for new signees, but the Mets changed that rule. Whoever is running the Mets minor league organization (Tony Bernazard?) seems confused.

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There was good news in baseball today: Donald Fehr is retiring.

Two Met pitchers pitch well

The Mets bats went limp yesterday. Against the Braves, they were only able to push one run across the plate in a 5-1 loss. However, though their batters couldn't perform, their first two pitchers did.

Starter Jonathan Niese, vying for the fifth starter spot, pitched four innings of two-hit ball. He did give up two runs; however, both scored on one pitch, which Josh Anderson hit for a home run. The Mets second pitcher, Bobby Parnell, pitched no-hit, no-run ball. Too bad it was just for one inning. But then, the Mets appear to be considering him for the bullpen, though I've read some rumors that he's being considered for the fifth starter role.

Some of the media were making a big deal out of Ryan Church's first homer. To me, that was as significant as my cat dropping a mouthful of food on the kitchen floor.