22
2010
The Mets Have A Major…Minor League Problem
An article by 
It’s so easy for us to say the Mets are a dysfunctional franchise. We’ve certainly bared witness to it the last few years.
One particular area of criticism that’s often pointed out is the Mets farm system, or lack there-of. The farm system is cultivated mostly by signing amateur free agents and the draft.
The draft is basically like the tax code, the better off your team plays the lower the draft pick you receive. Conversely, the worse you play the higher draft pick you receive the next year. Wouldn’t it be interesting to see teams who succeed get the top draft pick. Talk about a motivational tool.
As interesting as it may sound I really don’t put too much credence into having the top draft pick. But keep your collective powder dry my friends, the Wilpons and Omar aren’t out of the woods with me just yet.
The Mets have had the luxury, if you take pride in having the worst record a luxury, of having the first overall pick in the draft 5 times since 1965. Putting them in order from 1965 to present you have Steve Chilcott, Tim Foli, Darryl Strawberry, Shawn Abner and Paul Wilson.
Out of that list other than Strawberry, nobody really ever made a huge mark. Now I totally understand getting on Omar for his share of mistakes over his tenure. However, when it comes to the draft, to me it’s akin to playing the slots in Atlantic City.
You go to your favorite casino and sit at the fancy machine with the brand new computerized layout with your drink in hand and bloodshot eyes. You put the fresh twenty in and viola, you usually get the same result if you handed the twenty to a bum on the boardwalk. Squat.
I can’t get upset that Omar hasn’t brought his Miss Cleo crystal ball to draft day during his tenure. You can have the very best scouts going and still not hit the jackpot with the draft.
Take the 2006 draft. That year the Royals drafted Luke Hochevar number one. Evan Longoria was taken 3rd and get this, Tim Lincecum was taken 10th. I’m sure there are a few teams in there who would like a do-over in that draft.
Going back in Mets history , Keith Hernandez was taken in the 42nd round by the Cardinals in 1971. Mike Piazza was taken in the 62nd round of the 1988 draft by the Dodgers. Sounds unreal doesn’t it? Drafting isn’t an exact science to say the least. You get the best advice you can and you go with your gut.
Now there is a second and in my opinion the most important component used to bring in talent and that is through the signing of amateur free agents. This is where you can begin to light your fuses.
On November 20th 2009 in an article in the NY Times by Ben Shpigel he stated that the Mets spent less money than ANY other team on the 2009 draft, citing Baseball America as his source.
Allow me to repeat, less than any team. Less than the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates who ironically spent the most of any team. Go figure. In a quote,
The Mets divvied $3,134,300 among their 35 signed picks, more than 50 percent less than their 2008 outlay, when they had two first-round selections and a first-round supplemental pick. By contrast, the average for all 30 teams was a shade more than $6 million. Without a pick until the second round, No. 72 over all, the Mets’ spending was destined to decrease. But their 2009 strategy resembled that of a small-market club that sometimes bypasses talented players in earlier rounds because it does not want to spend more on them than players available deeper in the draft.
Shpigel went on to quote Jim Callis, the executive director of Baseball America and an expert on player development.
”Hardly any team has spent less than the Mets the last two years. On the other hand, the team that has spent the most money is the Pittsburgh Pirates, who hardly have the revenue stream that the Mets do. They recognize that they can’t compete for free agents, but they can compete for amateurs.”
Well, there you have it in a nutshell. The Mets are in the largest market on this planet. Their revenue stream is wider then the Hudson. They have a new ballpark and television rights that are the envy of the league other than the Yankees. What is the excuse? Omar? Fred? Anyone? This is to me the core of the problem with the Mets and as much as we want to beat Omar around for it, it’s ultimately the Wilpons’ fault. They’re the ones who should be ashamed of this, yet I’m sure there isn’t a drop of remorse in them.
About the Author: Joe Spector
I'm just your regular Joe. Staff writer @ Metsmerizedonline.com. Happily married and a father to a baby girl. I attended my first Met game at the ripe old age of 3 where my father scored a foul ball and had it signed by Lee Mazzilli, Joe Torre and Joe Pignataro. It was my Holy Grail - 'till I buried it in the backyard.
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How about “Spending the money wisely”?
If you can lowball a prospect, then that’s what you do. I don’t see anyone saying that the quality of the Mets prospects are decidedly worse than other teams. Paying twice as much for the same people would have been poor management.
I think the proof of that wise spending is pretty evident in the product we have in the minors. Not one expert would say the Mets have a quality minor league system.
Well in Omar and the Met’s Defense, they did draft Ike Davis and Brad Holt in the 2008 draft, and they are projected to be very good.
Thus, if Omar can get great projected talents like Ike Davis and Brad Holt, and pay them next to nothing; then I think kudos is owed to Omar.
Spending $$$$$ Unwisely does not = Success
Being Crafty with your money can lead to success
I agree spending wisely is the key…wisely not MISERLY. In fact I don’t come down on Omar for his draft picks at all. It’s the fact that he’s been hamstrung by the Wilpons financially. I’m not referring to giving bloated contracts to draft picks, but having money to sign amateur free agents. The same way they acquired players like Jose Reyes and Jenrry Mejia. The Wilpons are tigtening the belt in the worst area.
You may have an argument regarding free agents, but I disagree with your thoughts regarding the draft and the correlation between who is drafted and what the Mets pay out.
If the Mets draft picks were not signing because the Mets were low-balling them, then you would have a point, but that isn’t what is going on.
Amateur Free Agents may be a different story. I think a lot of these transactions take place behind the curtains and we find out about them after the fact. I think the Global draft will ultimately resolve this.
I think a lot of the Amatuer Free Agents (Chapman, Matsusaka, etc.) have a lot of If’s and a big price tag. I can’t blame the Mets for shying away from laying out tons of money on unproven talent.
Joe, I haven’t seen much ink supporting your steatement they’re also financialy strangling their int’l amateur hunt. Their past successes with Mejia, Go-go Gomez, F-Mart certainly have shorn up their lackluster drafts.
If they have altered course as u declare, that’s certainly foolhardy & directly opposed to Omar’s plan from the very beginning to offset lost picks through int’l signngs.
While it’s been established that the Wilpons had actually profited in the monies they placed with Maidoff, there doesn’t seem to be any evidence that this profit would be subject to clawback, as I recall from the 60 MINUTE segment, evidence of knowledge of impropriety was the earmark of monies eligible for clawing & it mostly pertained to those profits garnered by financial funds mngrs whose backgrounds suggested all was not right & they should get out while they could. Profits earned through good faith actions combined with lucky timing by amateur investors were not in question. All this leads me to believe the Maidoff incident DEFINITLY SHOOK UP THE WILPONS’ SENSE OF FINANCIAL SECURITY much more than it effected actual operations thus rducing their tolerance for potential loss.
Correction to what I wrote (it is early and the brain isn’t completely awake yet).
I think this post is associating not spending a lot of money on signing draft picks with the ability to sign quality draft picks, which have nothing to do with each other.
In 2009, the Mets first pick was the 72nd pick of the draft. In 2008 the Mets had 2 first round picks and a sandwich pick, so in essence 3 first round picks.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that 3 first rounders will significantly add to the draft signings, thus the significant difference between 2008 vs. 2009.
I would say your argument would have a leg to stand on if we had drafted 1st rounders who the Mets were unable to sign because they would not fork over the cash, which is not the case.
If the Mets were willing to pay more for draft picks, would that move them up higher in the draft order, or buy them 1st round picks when they did not have any that year, NO.
This is a ridiculous article and just another Fire Wilpon rant. Just another “We don’t care how you spend it, Just spend more money” theory.
Being derogatory isn’t going to change the fact they have been near the bottom of the league in terms of total money spent on amateur free agents the last 2 years. Check this page out, it refer’s to Rudy Terrasas, the Mets scouting director. http://mlbbonusbaby.com/2010/02/12/2010-draft-preview-new-york-mets/
Correction. It’s been the past 4 years.
Joe in light of this, it’s even more amazing to me that after reading this is the simple fact that at the current pace of developing suspects, there’s a distinct possibility the near future lineips will significantly increase the number of himegerowns esp considering what the Mets have lost to trades(Santana & Putz deals), tragedy(death of #1 CF prospect, Coles in traffic accident) and Rule 5(Flores suprisingly taken out of low-A by Gnats & kept on MLB roster that full season. We may not be too far from the following openning positions:
C:THOLE
1B:DAVIS
2B:TEJADA/.HAVENS
3B:WRIGHT
SS:REYES
LF:BAY
CF:F-MART
RF:FRANCOEUR
Making a possibility that 6 of 8 position regulars could be homies within the next 2 yrs. I understand, that though both Havens & Tejada have been SS to date in their MILB careers, both are internally projected as potential 2B with Havens also mentioned as a corner outfield possibility due to his size & def abilities. You never know with these suspects, which truly is what they are until they get at least a half-season under their MLB belts to be judged as prospects, not suspects.
It certainly appears much brighter than we’d been led to believe, though organization statements of depth of quality had previously been at A-ball & below now seems to be coming of age.
It’s certainly logical to me for Pittspuke(as we once referred to them as in 80s & 90s) should invest in amateurs they’re hoping to eventually develop & parlay into MLB talent.
Id love to know in detail how much the Wilpons’s acquiescing to Selig’s draft slortting guidelines is cause for this perceived frugality. Since Reyes, Gomez,F-Mart, Mejia were all acquired as amateur free agents shouldn’t that expenditure also be considered. Any relativity current drasfting schemes may have had to past activities certainly were destroyed by the Drew effect(JD Drew) if u don’t know what that is u need a remedial site before MMO.
The Mets failed to sign two of their top draft picks (from the 5th & 6th rounds). That is not good, especially since both were young power arms that wanted over slot money to skip college and start their baseball career. One was a high schooler the other from a junior college. Pitching prospects have a low success rate so you need alot of good ones in the Minor League organization to start with in order to get a few that actually make it to the Major League team. Passing on these two to save a half million dollars or less but then throwing money at replacement level or injured players is short sighted and just another reason why Omar should be removed. The Mets would have two more 90+ mph pitchers in the minors now if the organization was not so short sighted. These guys would be depth and if we have a surplus we could make a trade for a #2 SP without feeling like the cupboards will be empty if we do.
You are comparing the fact that the Mets unwillingness to give a 5th and 6th round pitcher more money than the slot allotted with the Mets willingness to put money into creditable backups for the MLB club. Well that is just dumb, plain and simple. If the 5th and 6th round pick ever amount to something, let me know. They are unproven, and most likely 3-5 years away from contributing, if at all.
They will have to enter the draft again when they finish school, and if they are still everything you claim they are, then the Mets can draft them again. The 500k to a million extra those two wanted went towards paying for 5-10 players at the league minimum, further down in the draft.
From the 2008 draft class 22 of 25 pitchers that were drafted, were signed. Perhaps in 2009, they felt the 22 pitchers they signed the year before were enough to overcome not signing/overpaying for the 5th and 6th round picks.
A 5th or 6th round pick is better than a 42nd and a 62nd round pick that Hernandez and Piazza were taken. I’m not saying those pics will emulate those players but again, why are the Mets being OVERLY frugal in this department yet they are more than welcome to sign an aging player like Alex Cora because of his “clubouse presence”. Come on now.
Look, I think it is pointless to argue why or why not the Mets chose not to pay more for 2009′s 5th and 6th round. I think it is safe to say that if they truly believed they were the 2nd coming of (you know who), they would have paid out.
On the other hand, I don’t see the Cora signing having anything to do with the Mets being frugal in draft signings. Could the Mets have spent less and signed Felipe Lopez to the club instead of Cora, maybe, but at the time they signed Lopez, he wasn’t asking for the $1 mil he ended up signing for. Plus, the Mets know Alex Cora and what kind of player he is and how he interacts with this ball club. Bringing in Felipe Lopez or someone else who would be knew, would just be another “if” in the Team Chemistry question.
Alex showed his toughness and willingness when he played with two damaged thumbs last season. Most players would have went on the DL with the first torn ligament in their thumb (thinking only about their future earning potential). Alex put the Mets needs above his own, and quite frankly, I think a lot of Mets fans forget about that. Yes, he is not a starting SS, I know this, you know this, even Alex knows this. When he was resigned, everyone and their mother knew Reyes was going to be back. Things have temporarily changed, and now Alex will have to start for us till Reyes returns.
But the way I see it, I am thankful that Omar resigned him, even at $2 million; because I know Alex will give us 110% everyday, and when Reyes is back, he will gladly step aside with no bad feelings.
In my opinion, $2 million is a steal for a Gamer, who is dependable, never takes a day off, and can be counted on to suit up regardless of their wellness to give the Mets a chance to win.
Just remember, Cora isn’t the answer to the Mets starting Shortstop, he is just the reliable, dependable, backup who is being called upon earlier than anticipated. That extra million spent on Cora is more than worth shelling out to 2 highschool pitchers who may never make it out of single A.
Well Scott we’re going to have to agree to disagree then. You said, “I think it is safe to say that if they truly believed they were the 2nd coming of (you know who), they would have paid out.” I wasn’t accusing Omar or Terrasas of making bad picks. I accuse the owneership for not giving them more financial freedom. Have you ever heard of the saying “penny wise, dollar foolish”?
Granted we’re talking about millions here but the concept is still the same. The point I was referring to about Cora was regarding that. To put a 2 million dollar price on a gamer, when being a gamer shouldn’t be a quality that you have to pay for, it should be a given, but that’s another argument for another day.
I give Cora credit for toughing it out, it definetly shows character but trust me, Cora isn’t going to be the deciding factor for the 2010 Mets. If you think he is then I don’t know what to say. Perhaps the money that was spent on Cora could’ve bolstered the budget for signing amatuer players and the draft. It’s STILL ranked 27th. I’m sorry but that is rediculous. We have the 2nd highest revenue stream Scott. I hate to say this but if the Yankees did this it would make it on SportsCenter.
I’m not in favor of throwing money to a kid but even if the 2 million that was spent on Cora was diverted to the draft budget, it would have only bumped the Mets to the middle of the league. Again I do see what you’re saying about tossing money at unproven players. It annoy’s me just as much as I’m sure it annoy’s you when you see a team overpay for a draft pick especially if he isn’t a first rounder. But the more the Mets keep this uber frugal mentality when it comes to the minors, they will never retool the system for the long haul.
Joe, let me remind u that failing to sign a particular draft pick due to inability to arrive at a compromise is not new to baseball, nor is it worthy of all this consternation esp when talking 5th round & later. It wasn’t that long ago, that Phl failed on JD Drew & that was a first rounder. Didn’t Gnats swing & miss on their ’08 first rounder? & that was an EARLY FIRST ROUNDER! Can we please have a little perspective here? The Commissioner published trecommended drat bonus ranges vis a vis pick level AKA SLOTTING. Our ownership(Fred) gave his word that his team, though not bound to, would participate in adhering to said guidelines. A fact that we know from early interviews, Omar doesn’t concur with as it was a decision arrived at prior to Omar’s hiring. While I ferverntly disagree with that decision, I accept it for what it is & admire Fred for his Values for keeping his word.
Scott -If you have a pot of money and overpay for players and sign high risks injury players to million dollar plus contracts then you have less to spend on young players with potential. In your own life, if you blow alot of money in one area then you probably have less to spend in other areas. This is simple math. I am surprised you would find such a simple concept dumb. The Mets asset allocation sucks. The Mets choose to throw money at has beens for their bench players (a bench that has been poor in recent years). They refuse to give guys like Evans (likely Carter this spring) an opportunity and then miss out on building organizational depth with quality prospects. You don’t see the other large market teams acting with such disregard for their farm system. The point is, every dollar you overpay or spend on one player impacts the amount available for other players. Draft picks that have power arms are prime targets and the Mets wasted 2 picks this past draft.
NC, unfortunatly we have an owner who actually has princilples, he committed to adhereing to the Commissioner’s recommendations regarding draft bonuses(a decision I PERSONALLY DISAGREE with; but I can still ADMIRE FRED’S HONORABILITY)
NC, also by “big market teams” I’m guessing u mean the ONLY COMPARABLE ONE, the Dodgers, since NYY,BOS & LAA all have DH opportunities to keep young benchers sharp. BTW, u may note, in our league very few teams keep prospects on the bench in order not to impede their development by rusting on pine in Majors! The only reason, in my opinion, for keeping an up & coming young player over an accomplished vet on a NL bench is when they are caddying for a regular not expected to actually play more than 100-120 games, ie Chipper Jones. or as a cost cutting device for sm-mid mkt teams. This, I believe is a basic tenet of professional baseball and can be found documented on page 9,958 of “THE BOOK”, located in the paragraph covering pinch-hitting,the most difficult assignment for a hitter in the Chapter labeled “THE ART OF SECOND GUESSING” LMAO!!!!
ncmetfan has it exactly correct. The June amateur draft is such a crap shoot that along with experienced scouting and good development people, QUANTITY is required. Other wise you are always held hostage by whoever happens to be available in the free agent market in a particular year. Usually players are about 30 years old when they hit the free agent market and now that PED’s are finally being tested for not only will you pay a hell of a lot more but you’ll also get a hell of a lot less. I’f you want to compete for a world series championship you must develop some/most of your own players. Develop them carefully and bring them up when they are ready. Of course to do this you have to go over slot on occasion and actually sign the players you draft. Come on Jeff. Show some maturity and long term planning instead of opting for the big back page signing to jump start the ticket sales. Get enough of these young guys in the system and the ticket sales will take care of themselves.
agee, here’s a shocker for u, the 2X defending NL champs & the NYM this season are close regarding how many homegrown talents are in their typical starting lineups with 4 & 3 respectively. While I’m not overly familiar with Phl’s plans & contracts status situations, it certainly appears that by this time next yr we may well be posittioned to pass them if, as I imagine we might surplant Castillo with Tejada or Havens & esp if that’s combined with Thole’s promotion to #1C. As of this moment, Phl opens with homegrowns, HOWARD,UTLEY,ROLLINS,RUIZ I’m not counting Rule 5er Victorino. We counter with MURPHY,REYES,WRIGHT; but you might certainly note Pagan wasw fully developed in our system before being sold to CHC by Phillips out of AAA. That consideration probably equals out as Pagan & Ruiz likely cancel each other out productivity wise.(tongue firmly planted in cheek)
Age, any way u slice it, there’s certainly progress in the arena of incorporating MORE OF OUR OWN PRODUCTION IN OUR FINAL PRODUCT. It’s very possible that within a few yrs the majority of our lineup may be, as it was in the 80s, heavily home developed. This is not what most perceive as the direction & is especially remarkable considering what was lost to trade(Santana & Putz deals),tragedy(Coles) & Rule 5(Flores)
Not to mention high draft choices we could have had that might have panned out for us big time starting next year (Alou) the following year (letting Castillo go, signing Wagner) 2013 from not signing Frankie and not trading Wagner (unless that no arb clause was in his contract.) That’s 5 first round and 2 supplemental picks from rounds that have a high success ratio. Of the 7 say only 3-4 become starters, not only is that a significant percentage of the 25 man roster, it is also cost and team controlled meaning we can extend Reyes, Wright, Beltran? AND add a real difference maker like Cliff Lee or Brandon Webb and add them to a real core of guys who will be here for a long time. I know the argument about winning now but when you look back giving up future picks for Alou and not getting them when we resigned Castillo hurts us in subsequent years. Losing high draft choices AND allotting a large percentage of the payroll to a closer is never a good idea. Wagner wasn’t even on the mound in the 9th inning of game 7 2006 NLCS and had an era over 10.00 during the post season and was then often unavailable in Aug and Sept of 2007 and out for good in Aug of 2008. Walks are trending up and K’s are trending down for K-Rod (BB-Rod?) Were his best years used up before he got here? I think we could say that about all of them including Pedro who did breath new life into the franchise and that cannot be properly valued. The only exception was Beltran. Going strickley on baseball value He has been the only free agent signing that has paid off for us. If it was only a money issue I wouldn’t care but it’s not. If your paying someone 10% of your payroll you have to make it up somewhere else. The only way to do that is by getting low cost production elsewhere or scrimp on other expenditures (like the draft or Int’l FA’s) both of which cost you down the road. In fact the best free agent transaction this team has ever made was by “losing” Mike Hampton. Not only did he help get us to the World Series and pitch great in the post season but by going to Colorado we wound up with a successful, for a time, 8th inning man (Aaron Heilman) and an All Star and MVP candidate in David Wright and we got the best years out of them both while paying way less than market value.
’62, It’s not actually a shocker to me it’s more of the point I’m trying to make. Successful teams are successful because they have young cost controlled talent flowing into the 25 man roster. This is what allows them to make other moves that cost significantly more money. The Phillies are a great example. They have some tremendous home grown talent and have supplemented it with both trades and FA signings and have done so in a way that maximizes their home field advantages. ie Ibanez a power hitter in a small park and Halladay a strike out/ground ball pitcher. They also have Hamels and Happ in the rotation and used Kyle Drabeck (drafted w/our pick for Wagner) to get Halladay. It is this kind of payroll flexibility that allowed them to do so. Will they be able to continue it when it’s time to re-up their homegrown stars? I seriously doubt it. I think their in for a big crash but if they have young talent to keep bringing up their success can be sustained. With the revenue that the Mets have there is no reason we should ever have to go after a free agent unless he is the absolute cream of the crop player at a position of need. It’s really simple you spend a little more now to get a hell of a lot more later or you spend a hell of a lot more later to get less than what the players prior team got out of him and you spend the savings on surrounding those homegrown players with good/great complementary pieces. If the Mets had continued to build from within as they did under Frank Cashen New York would have remained a National League Town and the revenues would have been absolutely off the charts. All the kids born in the late 80′s watched the Yankees go to all those World Series in the 90′s and now their back again. What is the cost to the franchise in this regard? It’s a hell of a lot steeper than going over slot 3 times a year.
Age, extremely well put; but you have to consider the atmospheric ptressure being applied by the Powers of MLB to discourage consistant overachievement & promote competitive parity AKA CPMPETITIVE PARODY. Exceeding slot as u r proposing is totally against THE SELIG GUIDELINES FOR DRAFTING. Unfortunately we are paying for the muluiple bad choices that wre made before Omar was hired that caused our sytem’s anemic condition, esp once Reyes & Wright were promoted. As I see it, the 2 MOST damaging causes/decisions were simply:
#1. PHILLIPS DISREGARD FOR POSITIONAL PROSPECTS
#2. JEFF’S REFUSAL TO OFFER CONTRACT RELIEF ON VETS DISMANTLED BY DUQUETTE IN ’04.(ALOMAR,BENITEZ,BURNITZ,VENTURA,ZEILLE)
Both of these contributors get veryu little attention. Assuming normal progressions through various rooki-AAA levels of MILB, 3-5 yrs is certainly not overly lengthy esp with few First rounders who u’d anticipate in a 2-4Y ROI position.(Davis beinf the most prominant)
’62, I think the argument against paying over slot is as much a long range business plan for the Wilpons as it is a “gentlemen’s agreement” with Selig and the other owners. Like it or not Fred and Jeff probably aren’t going anywhere for years to come so they have a vested interest in paying as little as they can get away with for acquiring talent not ready to step in and produce in the majors right now. No other business in the U.S. can artificially hold down employee salaries while mandating that these employees can only negotiate with 1 of their potential employers. (I know, Anti-trust exemption/collective barg) But the fact is it does benefit the Wilpon’s and other owners to hold the line and then they use this “gentlemen’s agreement to hide behind. Who are the team’s that don’t adhere to this agreement? What happens to them? Are they punished in some way? Shunned by other owners? Forced to sit in jr. high school type desks at owner’s meetings? I think it’s pretty self serving and down right cheap of the Wilpon’s to avoid employing a competative advantage they hold over other teams. Sure, their the first one’s to open the vault for a free agent but just think about the advertising value provided them by the Media for free every time they do, and the resulting ticket sales/ad revenue/concessions/parking/ect. it brings. It’s the spending money behind the scenes to improve the product for the paying customer where they cheap out. All business has expenses behind the scenes. A factory owner has a sizeable portion of his budget that goes toward upkeep, maintenance and upgrading equipment to continuously provide a consistent desirable commodity or he risks going out of business and THAT cost never goes down. Here the risk is not AS great but falling out of contention year after year is the same thing and I realize that your only the messenger in this issue but really with 2 World Championships in 50 years the parity argument seems pretty lame to me. I believe it is a self serving business practice the Wilpon’s are glad to cooperate with. As for not getting true talent back from trading the last group of over the hill irregulars. This is more than just incompetence. This is embezzlement pure and simple. To actually go out of your way to get back inferior talent simply to save money shows one of two things. Either money is the reason your in this business or perhaps your hat is bigger than your herd. Either way if your going to continue to give away 1st round draft choices you had better start going over and if you won’t go over then stop spending draft choices and huge money on guys who are well past their prime.
Age, I believe that u make some excellent points in some instances while getting lost in hyperbole in others. I have a close older(4Y) cousin, a contrarian, whom I grew up next door to who was the sole NYY fan in a toroughly Bklyn Dodger Blue 2-Family house. I’ve dealt with his pounding on Fred regularly ever since Al Gore invented the Net(lol) and I believe I did a good job summing up the Met ownership issue prety well & rather than reinvent that wheel, I’m going to beg everyone’s indulgence while i paste it here in my reply:
ANOTHER HUGE FACTOR, IN MY OPINION, FOR OMAR’S SECURITY IS THE INABILITY TO LURE A BIG BASEBALL EXPERT OR ACCOMPLISHED EXEC INTO JEFF’S CIRCUS MAXIMNUS. IT’S UNFORTUNATE, SUCH AN INCOMPETANT WEASEL LIKE SNIVLING JEFF WILPON HAS SO MUCH POWER WITHIN THE ORGANIZATION. IN MY OPINION THE REALISTIC REAL SOLUTION WOULD BE FOR FRED TO REALIGN THE FRONTOFFICE RESPONSIBILITIES WITH THE C.O.O. RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL STADIUM RELATED DECISIONS & THE TEAM PRESIDENT RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL TEAM/FIELD RELATED DECISIONS INCL THE GM POSITION UNDER HIS AUSPICE. PRESENTLY BOTH JEFF WILPON, C.O.O. & SOL KATZ, PRESIDENT ARE PARTNERS IN STERLING EQUITIES(CORP OWNERS OF NYM) IT’S MY UNDERATANDING THAT STERLING EQUITIES WAS FOUNDED BY THE JOINT PARTNERSHIP OF FRED WILPON & SOL KATZ. SINCE ’02 BOTH OF FRED’S SONS AS WELL AS KATZ’ SON HAVE BOUGHT INTO STERLING AS JR PARTNERS.
JEFF IS ALSO THE SOLE EXECUTIVE REPRESENTATIVE ON THE SNY BOARD. JEFF’S OLDER BROTHER LIVES IN TOKYO IN CHARGE POF STERLINGS OVERSEAS OPERATIONS GENERALLY CENTERED IN JAPAN.
NEPOTISM IS ALIVE & NOT WELL IN STERLING ENTERPRISES. THE PETER PRINCIPLE SEEMS THE ORDER OF THE DAY, ANY & EVERY DAY!
THERE’S CERTAINLY A MUCH DEEPER CHASM BETWEEN THE OWNERS OF MLB TEAMS IN NY THAN JUST PENORIUSNESS. WHILE GEORGE GOT INVOLVED TO SATISFY HIS OWN COMPETTITIVE DRIVE BORN OF HIS DISTINCT TYPE ‘A’ PERSONALITY, FRED’S REASONING WAS THE SENTAMENTAL JOURNEY DESIRED BY HIS OWN DEEPLY CEMENTED TYPE ‘B’ TRAITS. HE LONGED TO RECREATE HIS PERCEIVED BONDING WITH HIS OWN FATHER OVER BASEBALL WITH HIS 2 SONS WHO BOTH WERE YOUNG BACK IN 1980 WHEN HIS PARTICIPATION IN OWNERSHIP BEGAN AS A MODEST HOLDINGS MINORITY PARTNER WITH NELSON DOUBLEDAY’S TYPE A LEADERSHIP. TITLES ARE THE BLOOD OF LIFE IN GEORGE’S WORLD WHILE A NICE SIDE EFFECT IN FRED’S UNIVERSE. THE 19880s MET TEAMS WERE NELSON’S VISION & FRED’S ETERNAL EMBARASSMENT. WHILE GEORGE PORTRAYS THE ‘MONARCH’ OF NY,; FRED’S THE NEBBISH IN THE CITY.
’62, You have more knowledge about the Wilpons and the Met FO structure than I do but we can both see how it is affecting the real bottom line. Wins and losses. This constant scrambling to plug a different leak or 3 every year without taking a step back and looking at how the organization will look in 3-5 years or how we keep winding up with these leaks in the first place is the result of having too many people in charge. When Frank Cashen was hired all he insisted on was being left alone to build the roster up to Championship caliber and it took him 4 years before it started to show progress. He even had to subtract ML talent ie Mazzili and Bob Bailor in order to acquire future pieces ie. Terrell/Darling/Fernandez. This type of organizational vision cannot be accomplished when there are competing opinions among the decision makers. One person has to be in charge of the franchise’s future and ownership cannot let other priorities (Revenue/nepotism/sentementality/ect) get in the way. I’m sure your sick of hearing about the picks we threw away on the Wagner trade but I really believe that Jeff threw a shit fit over dwindling attendance and saw a way to save 6 million. 3 mil to Billy and 3 mil on the signing bonuses to the 2 draft choices. Now is that the way Frank Cashen would have seen it? It sure isn’t the way Theo Epstein saw it and those guys have won multiple World Series Championships. This is the way I see it. Say of the two guys one gets hurt and never comes up here (Nate Vinyard) and the other has a 12 year mostly avg to better than avg career. A couple of terrific years, even a couple of All Star appearances. Say like a Melvin Mora (I know he was an Int’l FA not a draft choice but as an example) That’s not an unlikely combined amount of production from 2 of the 37 best rated amateur prospects in a given year is it? Wouldn’t the ONE BASEBALL PERSON taking a long range view of the entire organization feel the 6 million plus say 200k in minor league salary over 4 years plus 6 years ML salaries of 400/500/750/1.25/2.5/5.0 and team control of one position player be worth it? And then have those 6 years to decide if you want to extend the player or offer arb and pick up 2 more draft choices? I mean in a world where Luis Castillo is giving you way less production then this Melvin Mora type and is getting 24 million over 4 years this other scenerio is costing about 16 million over 6 (counting Wagner’s 3 million.) From both a money and production view point how can the Met FO continue to do business the way they do? I was really mystifyed and angry about those picks and initially thought Omar was to blame, but I’ve long since changed my opinion (partly due to you.) Yeah, I think Omar initially had autonomy and handled it as well as you could have hoped. I also think he got a bit lucky with some moves but he was in a get competative now and rebuild too mode. Somewhere that changed and it probably changed when some of his decisions especially with the bull pen went bad. (Bell/Schowenweiss/Bradford/Mota/ect. Jeff started putting on the pressure and exerting influence and lets face it, when you work for someone you tend to do want you know they want. Now Jeff has re-solidified his decision making and is only focused on winning THIS YEAR. That’s why he has to step back and let Omar deal with the 40 man roster and get someone else in here to run the show below and leave him alone.
imo in order to really gauge what the situation is you have to look at the draft and see who was drafted after we picked and find out whether or not we passed up on better talent because we didn’t want to pay what that player was going to be asking for … if you just draft the best player possible than worry about signing him i would imagine you can’t complain about that … sometimes you just miss on a guy like the 9 teams who passed on tim lincecum … did those teams not like him or did they think they couldn’t sign him … who knows only the teams themselves and their gm’s know that answer
Chgris, very astute of you; but based on my many yrs of observation; I’d bet most passed on Lincicum due to fear of injury as is the most common concern with any amateur featuring a non-conventional delivery pkg. Th fear is mostly warranted once the added geueling workload of proball is applied to those deliveries. As with most general rules, there’s always the outlier/exception making an occasional gamble a JACKPOT!
Exactly right, it is a bit of a crapshoot if a pitcher deveklops into a solid ML pitcher or not. That is why it is important to sign alot of good young arms. Its not like the Mets don’t understand the concept. It is how they fill out the end of the off season almost every year. Thay sign alot of longshot type relievers and hope one or two rise up. As I remember that is how Feliciano got his shot. Same for the two Japanese guys signed this year. The same principle applies to the draft. My God I can’t wait for games to start.
[...] market team in this area they can make a big difference with their farm system. Unfortunately as Joe Spector over at MetsMerizedOnline.com reports the Mets often spend far less then they should. In fact in [...]
i don’t think the Mets have done a good job with the Draft, or with collecting draft picks as several of you guys have noted. But, i do think we’ve been under-rated in the international signing department, and a bunch of those prospects, like Mejia, F-Mart, Tejada, Flores, Familia, Marte, Urbina, Puello, Pena are all promising/intriguing. And we also have a cluster of promising regularly-drafted prospects, you know the names (Ike, Thole, Nieuwenhuis, Havens, Holt, Niesen, Beaulac, Gee(?)), et cetera. i think we’ll be in the hunt over the next few years.
March 26, 2010 at 11:35 am
AGE, YOUR COMMENT I REF ABOVE IS VERY ASTUTE AS WELL AS LOGICAL. THE PROBLEM IS THE SECOND PART, LOGICAL, IT WOULD NECESSITATE A MAN WHO IS QUITE SECURE WITH HIS PLACE IN LIFE, I CERTAINLY BELIEVE JEFF SUFFERS FROM SECOND SONITUS & SINCE HIS OLDER BROTHER WAS GIVEN STERLING ENTERPRISE’S CROWN JEWEL(JAPAN) TO RUN & HE, JEFF, WAS JUST ASSIGHNED TO DADDY’DS HOBBY. JEFF’S JUST TRYING TO “PROVE”
HIS WORTH TO HIS FATHER, LETTING SOMEONE ELSE, LIKE OMAR OR ANY ASTUTE BASEBALLMAN WON’T CUT IT FOR HIM, HE’S TOO INSECURE, THUS HIS NEED TO MEDDLE LEAVE HIS FINGERPRINTS WHILE MUCKING UP ALL POSSIBILITY BAD CHOICES CAN BE TRACKED BACK TO HHIM DIRECTLY BUT TO A BERNAZARD OR A MINAYA. MOST LIKELY WHY HE DELIBERATLY & PUBLICLY SETYUP A LATERAL ORG CHART IN THE FRONTOFFICE WHEREBY EVERYONE HAD INPUT INTO EVERY NUANCE OF THE BUSINESS OSTENSIBLY IN ORDER TO HAVE ACCESS TO “THE VERY BEST” IDEAS, NOT JUST OF THOSE IN THAT REALM. THAT’S HOW A VP OF PLAYER DEVELOPMENT,BERNAZARD, GETS TO INPUT THE OPPOSITE FIELD HITTING DRILLS PRIOR TO CITI’S FIRST “PLAYBALL”! FOR WILPON OWNERSHIP TO EVER WORK, IN MY OPINION, TRAINED, EXPERIENCED BUSINESS EXECUTIVES LIKE FRED WILPON & SOL KATZ HAVE TO SHED THE COBWEBS AND RETAKE CONTROL OF THE REINS PREPARED TO RESET THE OPERATIONS THE WAY THEY SHOULD BE(INSTEAD OF RUNNING THEIR OWN TRUMPLIKE “APPRENTICE PROGRAM” WITH DELEGATIONS ONLY GOING TO EMPLOYEES WITH PROVEN OUTSTANDING CREDENTRIALS IN THE AREAS THEY’RE ASSIGNED. OMAR CEWRTAINLY HAD AUTONOMY, IN MY OPINION, UNTIL THE COLLAPSE OF ’07!” WHEREBY JEFF CRAWLED OUT OF THE WOODWORK IN FRONT OF THE CAMERAS, DECLARING “HEADS SHOULD ROLL”!(SEE INTERVIEWS ON SUBHJECT OF ’07 AFTER SEASON CONCLUDED)
’62, I think you may have nailed it right on the head. And your right, it was the collapse in ’07 that was the impetus for Jeff appointing himself co-GM. Now what?
Simple, now we’re screwed!
Mask, let’s not be so defeatist, these are the Mets, where HOPE should spring eternal. I’m convinced that our biggest anchor is Jeff’s incessant interference in baseball operations. The only recourse, I see in my limited handle on ALL contingencies, is that org chart shift of GM position Out from under COO branch. We can always PRAY fot FATE to intervene in an even-handed methodology letting the D/L spirit PASSOVER us on the way to visit PHL & ATL, where she hasn’t been in some time. Especially with the more aged significant contributors geing relied upon there, IBANEZ(38),JONES(38)MOYER(48)LOWE(37)HUDSON(35),KAWAKAMI(35)WAGNER(39)SAITO(41) whiLe suprisingly, our OLDEST REG. CONTRIBUTOR this season will be CASTILLO(35) and perhaps BULLPEN CONTRIBUTIONS from TAKAHASHI(35)
If you’re looking to the limitations of other teams to be the salvation for the Mets, I think you’ve got this backwards. Like backing into the playoffs. Whatever happened to excellence as a goal instead of trying to cheer for mediocrity? I am not defeatist. I root for the Mets and the players on this team even in the face of a the staff which is bereft of leadership and the ability to develop players. The greatest assets of this organization is the players and the fanbase. The anchor is the ownership, FO, the management and most of the coaching staff. I love the team, but I hate how it is treated and abused with organizational incompetence.
Mask, on multiple occasions u’ve accused me of being an apologist; I see it differently, while I see u cursing the darkness, I’m looking for a lightswitch or a match, even. Rather than dismiss everyone as INCOMPETANT or STUPID, I usually try to assume they had a plan and attempt to decipher where it may have gone wrong. u may disdain, backing into playoffs, while I’m happy they may get there by hook or crook. I wouldn’t care if every other contender got the injury plague as they didn’t feel ours last yr sullied their grandeur. Personally, if there are say 4M diehard Met fans out there, I guarantee there’s also a minimum of 4M solutions to whatever ails us. at least half of which are unrealistic as they contain items like exceeding Luxury Tax line, eating Castillo’s contract, Perez’ contract & Omar’s contract or trading every asset & rebuilding from scratch. I don’t deal in Fantasies, neither does MLB. The minute I hear a ceriticism start with the FO is incompetant, or Contracts should be devoured, I admit I dismiss them & try to fumble for a match to give that person. Every ST, I look for a .500 record going into the final week of exhibition games. If the final record is >.500, I’m positive, <.500 concerned. I'm waiting for 4 more tallies to ultimatly decide.
We can go back to the first year ‘Post Doubleday’, Fred began to run the Mets like a mom n’ pop retail business, not expanding, not going for top FA’s, going the trade route often and getting screwed in the process, i. e., the Bordick, Hampton, disastrous Kazmir trade, not signing Guerrero for his ‘bad’ back, et cetera. What good ‘major’ trade did we execute in past 10 years, except the one for Santana? What good ‘major’ FA signing have we done in the past 10 years? Pedro. Who else? Alou was a disappointment. Glavine a mistake; i wanted Moyers at the time more than Glavine.
The Bordick trade really hurt but with Ordonez out and as usual no depth what choice was there? The Hampton trade got us to the World Series and then got us Aaron Heilman and David Wright when we lost him to Colorado. This was the best free agent signing/not signing we ever made. The Kazmir trade was just so incredibly stupid and made in my opinion by people eager to show how much smarter and bolder than other FO executives they are/were. This one trade alone haunted us for a decade. The most valuable asset an organization can have is a young talented cost controlled starting pitcher and I fear we are about to make another mistake in this area. Guerrero would have been a huge difference maker for us and considering some of the people we have thrown money at just hard to believe we didn’t go all in at such a reduced price. Carlos Beltran has been the best free agent signing we have ever made. We were in such a hurry to sign ancient Alou we didn’t even wait to see if he would be offered arb by the Giants thereby forfeiting our #1 draft choice which who knows, could have been a young player who made our roster this spring. Glavine? some good/some bad. The best part of signing him? Ike Davis and Bradley Holt for “losing” him. In fact you really can’t argue that we have done better by losing free agents than by signing them. Too bad we gave Boston 2 high draft choices in this June’s draft all to save 3 million on Wagners contract and get Chris Carter a player with no position. No GM/FO makes all the right moves but this piecemeal approach to building a contender has robbed us of all the young cost controlled talent that by year 5 of this regime should have started flowing in and I’m not talking about rushing guys like Parnell or Mejia whom have only 1 pitch or playing guys in unfamiliar positions and expecting them to be successful.
Age, I guess it depends upon what you see as Parnell & Mejia’s careerpath. SP or RP? As a 1 IP reliever, 1 dominant pitch could be sufficient, 2 ideal. The best part of it all is as a 1IP choice, esp Mehia, it takes multiple ABs to determine whether movement will take it out of zone or not. @ 95+ the decision timeframe is splitsecond. in that position it’s quite possible for hitters to get less than 3 ABs/season against him, not enough for familiarity to provide comfort in waiting. Parnell’s a diofferent matter as his movement is barely perceptible & catching yp is a matter of time for most topnotch MLB sluggers. Unfortunately many fans’ perceptions havn’t caught up with the altered nuances of today’s game. Bullpens in today’s games are nearly as valuable as rotations esp in the NL where offensive requirements tyupically limit SP to 7IP due to PHer needs. CG are the DODO bird of NL baseball. In my opinion, developing a shutdown,dominant late relief corps is essential since established types are suddenly near impossible to pickup easily & efficiently. Mejia will be far more valuable an asset in the pen, now, then we ever could have counted on in the rotation 2-3 yrs from now. Out of the pen he has the ability to preserve 3-4 Ws/week instead of accounting for 1/week rotationally. a bad solution, Heilman, can be crippling; an excellent one, Duanner Sanchez, never appreciated until a bad one replaces him.
’62, I can understand giving Parnell the 7th inning last year. Obviously it would hurt his development but prospects ultimately are there to help your MLB team win. His one pitch could have been enough to fill that need but clearly he would be a better pitcher this year if he had spent ’09 in AAA. Mejia on the other hand could/might be/dare I say will be a dominant starting pitcher. To have one terrific and 4 inconsistent starters yields the exact same result as having 5 inconsistent starters. No post season. No pennant race. No chance. Once a generation you get a chance to have a Cy Young type on your staff. Let’s not blow a gift from the God’s on 3 outs every other day. There is no chance he will develop furthur from where he is now once he is asked to get Major League hitters out. Parnell’s upside was not nearly as high as Jenrry’s. Lets give him the same chance we gave Gooden who came up here with TWO dominant pitches and a whole season of dominance (190 IP in A ball.) Nobody can complain that Doc wasn’t ready in 1984 but few remember Tim Leary who was allowed (as a starter) to face 40 batters in October in a meaningless complete game victory after which he was no longer the same pitcher. I fear if Mejia is successful he will A) not be able to experiment and develop his other stuff. B) Be over used. C)will eventually be figured out and hitters will no longer go fishing against him and D)He will be labeled not ready, be sent down to refine his craft anyway but this time under the cloud of negative results as opposed to positive promising results. I don’t want any negativity in Jenrry’s head. No thinking “I wonder if I am good enough.” I just want him to go down there in a positive frame of mind, go to work and dominate AA for a half season and show something in AAA and then win a starters job next year. I’m not willing to trade a years development and positive reinforcement for 3 outs every other day, possible misuse and delayed development especially in light of the fact that this bullpen is already going to be severely taxed as it is and more than likely his contribution toward our making the post season will be as realistic as Tim Leary’s was in 1983.
Age, I have seen absolutely no cause for comparison between Doc & Mejia other than age. Gooden, prior to making roster had totally dominated every level singleA,AA by K’ing more than 1/IP with a K:BB of nearly 3:1. reverse all those numbers, U’ve Jenrry who, as a SP, to me resembles Ollie more than Dwight. If even low milb hitters face him enough as to determine which pitches aren’t strikes; how long do u think it’ll take the Utleys & Ramirezes? If u’ve seen him as often as I have, like many impressive movment pitchers, the predominance of his swings/misses are on pitches out of the zone(mostly low) won’t take too many abs before vet hitters realize if it appears at a certain levl DO NOT SWING! as has happened to soooo many before him, I can’t name many since they’re all so forgetable.
That’s why you send him upstate. When he’s a major league pitcher you bring him up. One pitch is not enough. Give the kid a chance to be successful.
Age, BTW, have u missed the reports where this kid’s 1 pitch has been described as moving multi-directional. a pitch like that, so unpredictable, can be conted on as multipitches. certainly not an arguement to keep him as a SP option; but a 1 IP, it’s perfect, from all descruiptions, the kid’s movement on that 1 pitch was hindering him as he was attempting to aim for different sides of the plate(normal transition of a pitcher-prospect) it was only when Jerry, alertly told the kid to concentrate on ONLY one side of the plate, did his BB merry-go-round stop. if he was throwing a dominant knuckleball 90% of the time, are u prepasred to stifle his growth, by insisisting he control another pitch you’re not wanting him to use in critical situations under the “never get beaten on your secondary pitch” concept(See Molina V. Heilman slider, 2006)
Age, I initially was on your side until I realized, “what am I hoping to develop him into?” to which I responded, a dominant 1 IP reliever, then realized…, DUMMY, HE’S ALREADY THERE! to mtyself. Unfortunately like Aguilera, Rivera, Orosco,McGraw, Franco before him, I don’t see this undersized kid(6′,160) becoming as dominant a SP as he is potentially a RP.
Mejia, isn’t berift of alternate offerings as he does possess a ‘cute’ little soprise, show-me hook, I’ve certainly liked the look of.
’62, How you doing? One thing we can agree on is at least we have a talented young pitcher to look forward to. I missed his ST games and only have internet reports to go by as I was doing some spring clean up in NC and then cruised down to SC for a week. As you know I have been against the Mets constantly rushing their prospects. I prefer to see them come up when they are truly ready to contribute. What’s the rush. The weakest part of this team by far is starting pitching. That we have a young guy who could be a lights out starter with some polishing and refinement in the area of our greatest need is a godsend. Even if Mejia pitched 80 perfect innings this year, realistically, do you feel that we will be in the playoff’s? Obviously, there is no chance he will do that but If someone feels that he would be the difference between making the playoffs or not then you have to consider bringing him up. First and foremost at the very best Pelfrey, Maine, Ollie and Neise are going to implode 2 out of 4 starts anyway and we’re not going to win every game that they don’t blow either. Neither are we going to win every game Johan pitches. So, in a tough division, what are we looking at? I say .500 at best and then we go into the off season looking for what? Starting pitching. Well, we could have a 21 year old with a full season of starting at AAA and some younger guys who we could start filling in behind him like Thole, Davis, Martinez and Tejada. Hopefully Neise does well and Pelfrey improves and we add a confidant Mejia to a staff that includes Johan and maybe even pick up a Beckett or Webb. Now that’s a pitching staff we can believe in. Why throw away the chance of getting a possible 180 real good innings as a starter for a possible 80 real good innings now in a year where those 80 probably aren’t going to matter that much?
aGE, i HAve seen him & have read his reports; I don’t evaluate him as SP material not @ 6′ 160; today, that’s reliever sized. his milb stats don’t support a starter’s careerpath either. All this Gooden compaerison crap is just that. Doc was totally awesome & dominant @ wvery level, a prospect with truly incredible pitches, heater & curve, until his agent, at the time convinced him he;d enjoy a longer career by replacing Ks with droundouts & flyouts. Presently, I don’t remember the agent in question, ; but it predated Boras’ career. While, I rec oil at any Gooden comparison, I certainly don’t disclaim a Rivera paralell path for Jenrry. Mejia @ 6′ 160# is close enough to K-Rod’s 6′ 195 to warrant physical comparison; I’d gamble Frankie’s change+ other offerings were post-debut developments. Since, setup/closer goals are where I see Mejia cresting his career, further MILB time for polish may be gilding the lily as once was coloquialized.
’62 I agree that the pen might be where he will ultimately best be used but I am unwilling to give up on the very real possibility that he can be a terrific starting pitcher. A dominant starter is far more valuable than any relief pitcher anyway. To control 6-7 innings bare minimum every 5th day benefits his team way more than controlling 1 inning every other day which at 20 years of age is probably too much as it is. Pitchers have been getting progressively larger as you say but that doesn’t preclude a small or even, slight, pitcher from being a great starter. Just ask Pedro. I mean come on ’62. Jenrry hasn’t even thrown his “one pitch” in cold weather yet. All of his amateur and proffesional pitching has been in the DR, FL, GA, or Upstate in July and August. How is that pitch going to respond when the ball is slick? We don’t know but at least he’ll get to find out in Buffalo and make adjustments where necessary rather than trying to figure it out on his own in NY. Giving him every chance to make it as a starter doesn’t harm him in anyway from becoming a bonafide closer/set up man but turning him into a relief pitcher will at the very least delay, and possibly prelude, his ability to give us what we really need. A great starter. Give him the time to perfect his craft and be ALL he can be. If that’s as a starter great if it’s as a one pitch relief ace that’s great too but let’s at least find out now and not jerk him around and risk ruining his arm/phyche at 20 years of age. One start 80 pitches max and one bullpen 25 pitches max every 5-6 days will give him (and us) the best chance for a long and successful career.
Age, as u said, u haven’t actually seen him pitch. Unfortunately, I wish, I’d actually seen either for myself or from his milb record above low-A level, any evidence to provide me with even a glimmer of hope he was more Pedro than Rivera. I recall another young pitcher that’d been tracked as a SP with promise, Rick Aguilerra, who was mired as our weakest SP in #5 slot for yrs, until a smarter, less invested team acquired him & converted him to a dominating closer(Twins acquired in Viola deal) I’m sure the Yanks had similar internal discussions over Rivera. In today’s game the number of new undersized frontend SPs is extremely small. I’m sorry; but I’ve seen too many similar “disappointing MILB SPs, who needed to be salvaged by the pen, occasionally one of thse salvaged failed starters still are young enough to atually cxreate a dominant career as a remarkable end game reliever, Tug McGraw, John Franco, Jesse Orosco, Roger McDowell, Mariano Rivera and to a lesser degree from our stables, Matt Lindstrum & Heath Bell. If there’s a cautionary tale to be told, the most recent may well be across town in Joba Chamberlain, who some speculate may never regain that 1 IP dominant demeanor after being proven quite ordinary as a SP.
Jenrry has the opportunity to never taste MLB SP defeat as Joba has(somewhere deep in his psyche, he knows he’;s vulnerable. he’s developed FEAR) Fear tends to lead to uncertainty Riveras, Papelbons,Wagners,K-Rods need the arrogance of owning a batter they are facing with ALL THE MARBLES ion the table. Hidden uncertainty can undermine that. If we consider supply/demand there are more dominant starters on in the 2 East Divisions than there are Shutdown closers, dominant 8TH inning guys are rarer still. What’s the purpose of a starter who can pitch to a lead for 7 innings if there isn’;t anyone to gurantee that lead for the last 1 or 2? Chickens & Eggs. Let’s agree tio disagree.
Fair enough ’62. We both hope either way Jenrry becomes a huge part of our Team in one capacity or another, this year or next. One last thing on this topic that should be discussed before we put it to bed is that Omar and the Mets should be congratulated for identifying, signing and developing this young prospect. Players like Jenrry pump new life into an organization and give fans the feeling that the future will be bright and that the team is in good hands. I really hope that the work behind the scenes that doesn’t show up for a few years down the road will become the strong suit of this Organization.