Monday Morning Quarterback

Okay, so I've gotten several e-mails over the last few days about right-hander Casey Fien (pronounced Feen), a relief pitcher with the Erie SeaWolves. The California native was Detroit's 20^th-round pick in 2006 and has done a pretty good job coming out of the pen ever since.

Fien was 1-1 with a save and a 0.71 ERA through nine games (12 2/3 innings) as of Monday morning. He has held the opposition to a .239 batting average but has otherwise been nondescript, not walking many (three) or striking out many (five). It would appear that he simply gets the job done. Overall, he's 8-3 with a 2.49 ERA in 68 career appearances.

Detroit manager Jim Leyland noticed Fien during Spring Training and perhaps, as a result, when the Tigers need some help in the pen this summer, the Cal Poly product will get the call.

"He's not going to be on the team, right now," Leyland told The Detroit News last month. "But I want that memory of what I saw on my mind, so if he's doing well, and I don't care where he pitches, I can say, 'Send me that guy.' He could be a candidate at some point. That's how we found Randy Tomlin with the Pirates one year. Then he went 8-0 (actually 9-0 in his career) against the Mets."

So to all you Fien backers out there who keep sending me updates, here's his 15 minutes. Let's hope he has a whole lot more.

Let's stay in the Eastern League for just a moment. Anyone who knows me or has read any of my stuff over the last few seasons knows that I've killed the Mets over what I believe is a farm system they have let deteriorate to the point of being one of the worst in baseball. I'm not alone in that opinion, several front office, player development and scouting types have shared that sentiment with me.

But I will give them credit on Jon Niese, the high school hurler from Ohio they grabbed in the seventh round in 2005.The 21-year-old southpaw is making a slow and steady climb through New York's system and is currently off to a nice start at Binghamton, going 2-1 with a 0.71 ERA for Binghamton. He's struck out 22 in 25 1/3 innings for the B-Mets and shouldn't be there much longer if he keeps this up.

I have one close friend who is a Mets fan and hates the fact that I look at them objectively rather than with the passion he does. That's cool, it makes for some lively debates. The bottom line is that New York's farm system isn't very good but I will give them credit when they deserve it.

By the way, Binghamton's .400 club is coming back down to earth. Mike Carp, Nick Evans and Dan Murphy have all seen their averages settle back down. Carp is hitting .256 over his last 10 games and is now at .376 for the season. That's still spectacular but not nearly as eye-popping as being over .400. Murphy is hitting .244 over his last 10 games (.358 overall) while Evans is hitting .205 over that stretch (.326 overall).

One player up in Bingo that's beginning to heat up is Fernando Martinez. The player that many consider to be New York's only legit prospect is hitting .326 over his last 10 games and after a rough start has his average up to .269 but is looking more comfortable. Let's hope the Mets don't do anything dumb and call him up to New York to fill in for an injured Moises Alou. That would retard the kid's development and probably kill his confidence.

Out West, how can you not like what's going on in Salt Lake City. The Bees have won 13 in a row, are 21-1 and are clearly the class of the Minor Leagues. They lead the Pacific Coast League in hitting (.317) and team ERA (3.21). Nick Adenhart has been a terror on the mound, going 4-0 with a 0.87 ERA. He hasn't allowed a homer in 31 innings and has held the opposition to a .170 average and is emphatically proving that he has nothing left to prove in the Minor Leagues.

Third baseman Matthew Brown continues to remain unconscious at the plate. He's second in the league in hitting at .429 (Can you believe Terry Tiffee is hitting .483 for Vegas?) Brown is tied for second in the league with 21 RBIs, is second with 42 hits, is first with 25 runs scored and second with a .776 slugging percentage.

One last pitching note this morning. Lakeland's Rick Porcello has lost four consecutive starts and is 1-4 in the Florida State League. But, he has a 2.13 ERA and has held the opposition to a .181 average. Those numbers are clearly more important than his won-loss record and certainly more indicative of why this kid will at least be in Erie before the end of the year.