Why Ricciardi Could Help

John Harper of the Daily News gives some compelling reasons why former Blue Jays GM, J.P. Ricciardi could be the right man to run Mets player development.

Ricciardi would be the guy that baseball people expect to dramatically change the way the Mets have scouted and drafted in recent years. One person inside the organization said there has been no mission statement, if you will, to guide the personnel people evaluating players and making decisions – only a fear factor that led to making safe rather than bold choices.

While yesterday’s piece by Joe focused on some of Ricciardi’s lowlights, Harper ignores those things and focuses on some of the highlights. It’s good to consider everything.and balance both, but that’s why I love baseball, and this is one site where both sides of a Mets issue can always have a voice. 

Harper also spoke to someone in the Mets organization that shed  some light on how bad things were on the Mets minor league side of things.

“The Mets haven’t drafted enough high-ceiling guys,” the source said. “They haven’t drafted enough power arms. There are no pitching prospects of any great value, other than maybe (Jenrry) Mejia, in the system. Scouting and drafting is about an organization having trust in a philosophy,” the Mets’ person said. “There was no philosophy and there was no trust in the people being asked to evaluate players. So you had the scouting director (Rudy Terrasas) scared for his job, afraid to make a mistake, and that affected the way players were drafted.”

“Eddie Kunz was a perfect example. Nobody in baseball had him projected as a first-round pick, but the Mets took him because he was a reliever with an out pitch in college (at Oregon State) that some people thought might be able to help the big club quickly. That’s the only reason a scouting director takes a kid like that with such a high pick, because he thinks the kid can advance quickly and make him look good. But when Kunz couldn’t dominate with his sinker against better competition, he didn’t develop. It wasn’t a surprise because he didn’t have an athletic body, and he didn’t project as a high-ceiling guy. That’s the stuff that has to change.”