Espn Rankings

Espn.com ranks the top 100 prospects in baseball. There was only one mets prospect on that list and suprisingly it was Fernando Martinez at #10.

"It's been fashionable this offseason for some writers to bash the Mets' top prospects, mostly vis-à-vis the Johan Santana trade talks, but this criticism has been way overblown. Martinez's 2007 performance doesn't impress on a quick look, but consider these facts: He played the entire season at age 18 in AA; and he was hitting .309/.372/.409 as late as May 25 before the effects of a contusion on his left hand ruined what remained of his season. He was shut down on June 23 and missed the rest of the year. Martinez shows huge raw power in BP that will make its way into his game performances, and he has a solid approach with good pitch recognition for someone so young. He has good range in center and a plus arm if he outgrows center field and has to move to right. To put his development in more perspective, if he'd played a full year at AA and hit .290/.360/.410 or so, he would have been on pace to debut in the big leagues at 19 or 20 and be a big league regular before he turned 21. He's going to be a star, but everyone has to bear in mind how young he is to keep his performance in perspective."

Mets Get Santana... Finally

The Mets have un-officially traded for Johann Santana for Carlos Gomez, Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey. All that needs to be done is for the Mets to sign Santana to a long term deal within the next 72 hours.

This deal is an absolute steal. First off the Mets traded for one of the best pitchers in baseball without giving up any major league talent. They kept their current team the same and just added a star pitcher. Secondly, the Mets did not trade Fernando Martinez who is now the only big outfield prospect in the Mets system after the departures of Milledge and Gomez. Thirdly, the Mets gave up only 4 prospects when there were previous talks of 6 or 7.

Analysis of Prospects:
The Mets gave up two good prospects, Gomez/Guerra and two bad ones in Humber and Mulvey. Everyone knows Gomez is wicked fast and can play defense but his bat is the biggest question. He has trouble with the breaking balls and does not have much power. He will need to rely on his speed for a lot of his hits because of his inept bat.

Guerra was my favorite prospect. He is extremely young and has almost the same potential as F-Mart except Guerra is a pitcher. Guerra’s fastball was up to 94-95 mph in last year’s minor league camp, which is an increase of four-to-five miles an hour from where he was last season. He also worked hard on his curveball during the offseason, which lagged behind his fastball and changeup. I believe he is the best prospect in the deal, potential wise.

If you have read this blog before you know I strongly dislike Kevin Mulvey. He is regarded as a 4 pitch pitcher who is not afraid to throw any pitch in any given situation, but so can every other pitcher in the majors... His 4 pitches are extremely flat and when he misses up he gets rocked. He is projected to be a 3 or 4 starter but I could see him as a long reliever.

Humber had a lot of potential coming out of college but has been injury plagued his entire career. He has pitched ok in the minors but at age 25 he has just started 1 game in his major league career. I never see him living up to his potential and I believe he will continue to have injuries throughout the rest of his career. He has already had Tommy John surgery early in his career which is never a good sign.

Free agent

The Mets have signed free-agent LHP Ricardo Rincon to a minor-league deal and invited him to spring training.

In 134 appearances during 2004 and 2005, Rincon was 2–2 with a 3.95 ERA while striking out 67 batters and walking 44 through 82 innings pitched.

Look for Bostick

The Mets acquired left-hander Adam Bostick along with lefty Jason Vargas in November of 2006 in exchange for right-handed relievers Henry Owens and Matt Lindstrom. Last season Bostick pitched for AAA New Orleans. He had a pretty bad year going 6-7 with a 5.66 era, 91 strikeouts, and 45 walks in 21 games (20 starts, 97 innings).

Even though he did not fair too well last season in AAA he pitched very well in the Arizona Fall League (2-0, 2.74 era in 6 starts) and is pitching well in the Dominican Winter League (0-1, 2.77 era in 3 starts). This is the best Bostick has ever pitched since being drafted sixth round of the 2001 First-Year Player Draft out of Salem High School (PA). I would keep an eye out for him because if someone gets hurt he could sneak up and start for the Mets if Humber and Mulvey struggle.

Minor League Signings

The Mets have Mets signed INF Anderson Machado, RHP Juan Padilla, RHP Joselo Diaz, RHP Andy Cavazos, LHP Ryan Cullen, 3B Fernando Tatis, C Robinson Cancel and C Salomon Manriquez to minor league contracts and invited them to spring training.

Minor League Trade

The Mets completed a minor deal on Saturday when they reacquired outfielder Angel Pagan from the Cubs in exchange for two Minor League players. The trade imports a versatile, 26-year-old switch-hitting outfielder familiar to the organization who provides depth, big league experience and still has Minor League options.

Pagan started 69 games and appeared in 50 others with the Cubs in the two seasons, playing all three outfield positions. He batted .255 with 29 extra-base hits -- nine home runs -- and 39 RBIs in 318 at-bats. He stole eight bases in 11 attempts. He had played in the Mets' Minor League system from 2000 through 2005.

Neither of the players the Mets traded figured prominently in their immediate future. Corey Coles is a nearly 26-year-old left-handed-hitting outfielder who led the Florida State League in batting with .341 average in 2006 and batted .286 with one home run and 31 RBIs in 388 composite at-bats in Class A, Double- and Triple-A last year.

Ryan Meyers is a 22-year-old right-handed reliever who produced a 1-4 record and 2.7 ERA in 41 games and 51 2/3 innings with two Class A teams in 2007.

DWL Update:

I’m sure many of you have noticed my lack of coverage of the Dominican Winter League. The main reason behind this is players who perform very well there do not play as well in the majors or minors. For example Anderson Hernandez always dominates the DWL offensively batting in the upper .300 last year but can never hit well at the major league level. Former Mets such as Jose Lima are 3-2 in 10 starts with a 2.84 ERA. Alay Soler stunk it up for the Pirates AA team last season going 1-1 with an era of 6 in 39 innings but in 9 games (22 innings) he is 0-1 with an ERA of 1.99 while hitters are batting .183. Here are some of the more important players and how they are doing.

Estrellas de Oriente:
Third Baseman Fernando Tatis is batting .229 with 1 home run, 11 RBI, 5 stolen bases. Catcher Jose A Reyes is batting .217 with 6 RBI. Pitcher Adam Bostick has followed up his strong pitching in the Arizona Fall League (2-0, 2.74 era, 23 strikeouts in 6 games) by going 0-1 with a 2.77 era in 3 games. Outfielder Miguel Negron is batting .221 with 8 RBI, 2 stolen bases, and 10 runs.

Gigantes del Cibao
Outfielder Victor Mendez is batting .257 with 3 home runs, 10 RBI, 2 stolen bases, and 18 runs.

Leones del Escogido:
Outfielder Carlos Gomez is batting .262 with 1 homerun, 6 RBI, 17 runs, and is 10/16 in stolen bases.

Tigres del Licey:
Infielder Anderson Hernandez is actually struggling in winter ball! He is batting just .170 with 11 RBI, 8 runs, and 4 stolen bases. Jorge Sosa is 0-0 with an era of 0 after 5 games (5 innings) and 5 strikeouts.

Don't Rush

As 2008 begins the start of the spring training is in less than 2 months. The Mets have yet to make a trade to acquire a big name pitcher or any pitcher nevertheless. The Mets have not signed a free agent pitcher like Livian Hernandez. So the season is rapidly approaching, and I keep hearing that Mike Pelfrey, Phillip Humber, or even Kevin Mulvey should be the number 4 of 5 starter.

I have no problem with Pelfrey starting out the season in the rotation. Pelfrey will be 24 when the season begins and started 13 games last season and came out of the bullpen twice. He has matured a lot and I strongly believe he is ready to pitch for the Mets the entire season.

Humber will not start the year on the Mets due to Pelfrey being in the rotation along with the fact Humber needs a little more work in the minors. He has been plagued with injuries so even though he is older than Pelfrey he is not as ready to pitch on the major league level. He has made just 1 career start in the majors and in 2008 he will get some starts but will not be a mainstay in the rotation.

The idea to bring Kevin Mulvey up for 2008 and to pitch for the Mets for the majority of the season is ludicrous. Mulvey stayed in AA last season for all but 1 start. Sure he has a lot of potential and is one of our best pitching prospects and the closest one to the majors but the kid has just made 1 start in AAA and the jump to the majors is just too big for someone that struggled at the beginning of the season in AA.

In recent years the Mets have been known for brining there prospects up to early. This was the case in Mike Pelfrey, Lastings Milledge, and Carlos Gomez. Gomez played well when he was called up but often struggled on breaking balls. He had success but most of it was due to his speed. Most people believe he would have been better off staying in AAA. Both Milledge and Pelfrey struggled immensely when they were called up. Pelfrey had trouble executing his pitches and Milledge could not hit a breaking ball.

Because the Mets called Milledge and Pelfrey up too early it severely hurt their value on the trade market. At times Milledge could have been used to trade for players like Barry Zito and Manny Ramirez but do to his struggles he ended up being traded for two mediocre players in Brian Schneider and Ryan Church. What I am trying to say is the Mets can not bring Kevin Mulvey up in 2008. He needs to spend a full season in AAA in order to become the best pitcher he can be.