1
2012
Thank Goodness September Is Here
An article by 
Jenrry Mejia returns this September
As much as we all hoped the Mets would contend this season, we all had to know in the back of our minds that it was a long shot. They took us on a fun ride through the first half, but showed what they really were around the all-star break. Now it’s time to turn our attention to the September call-ups and the playoff chases down the stretch.
In September the pennant races begin to heat up, and all across baseball you get to see a glimspe into the future. It’s a time to get a look at some of the potential young players who might be competing for a roster spot come Spring.
The second wild card will has added a whole new element to the races this fall, it’s just too bad we aren’t even close enough to be mentioned in the discussion. As a baseball fan I am intrigued to see if the Baltimore Orioles can overtake the Yankees, and if the Oakland A’s and Pittsburgh Pirates can make it to the playoffs. I’m not even going to bore you with the potential scenarios that we might get back in this thing. It’s over, done, and gone. We are now looking to next season and are in full evaluation mode.
Sandy has a ton of work to do as the off-season approaches, but for now let’s enjoy the month we have left of Mets baseball. Let’s enjoy watching Mejia make a few starts, and Harvey’s final 1-2 outings. Let’s enjoy Dickey’s chase for 20 wins. Let’s look at Valdespin, Duda, and Shoppach to see if they can leave a mark for potential spots in 2013. Let’s just enjoy the game over the next month, because the Mets season is almost over.
About the Author: Dan Valis
I am a staff writer for Mets Merized Online. I am a Mets team analyst with a focus on the minor league system, as well as the major league club. I am a lifelong New Yorker who was born and raised to be a Mets fan. The ups and downs of being a Mets fan is what makes following this team so much fun, but at times so frustrating. You can follow me on Twitter @BgAppleMetsTalk.
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What I’m concerned about is that the additions of Mejia and possibly Familia will only be auditions for other teams as Alderson looks to “improve” the team through trades this winter. Taking into account that Harvey and Wheeler are, and should be, untouchable, as well as possibly Nimmo, that leaves Mejia, Familia, and others such as Flores, Vaughn, or Puello as likely trade pieces for Alderson this winter. Now, I’m not against dealing them if the return is sufficient enough but I would rather not move a 22 year old, high ceiling arm such as Familia for a 30-something veteran who may or may not be an improvement over what we already have. I would love to know who exactly they may be targeting in potential trades. And who knows how highly other teams would value Familia, Flores, or Mejia?
The Mets are high on them, but most teams tend to overvalue their own prospects and the Mets are no exception. If any of these players would net the Mets a legitimate 25-30 HR, RH hitting OF or a legitimate everyday catcher with skills on both sides of the ball, then I’d be willing to listen. I just don’t want to see them traded for marginal talent just so this F/O can say they tried to improve the team for 2013.
I see what you are saying, but if you take Familia for example, he has struggled this season. I am all for trading him in a deal for a guy like Cuddyer, Whillingham and/or someone else like that.
When you really look at our minor league players. Harvey and Wheeler should be the only untouchables. Flores has look great at the plate this season, but his best pos. is probably 3rd base and if we lock up wright where will he play? According to Petey he seems rigid at second and Ike plays first.
I’m down with unloading many of the guys like Puello, Vaughn and Familia who have underwhelmed numbers wise this season.
If I had my pick to keep 5 guys it would be Nimmo, Wheeler, Flores, Fulmer and maybe Tapia or possibly Mejia.
Here’s my problem with this kind of trade this guy, trade that guy talk, Dan. Nobody ever looks at it from the point-of-view of the other team. Who wants to take another teams question marks, and potentially fatally flawed failures? Another, easier way of saying it is, “you shouldn’t ever trade a player when his value is at a low point.”
Like you pointed out above, Familia struggled quite a bit at triple-A this season. He has continued to struggle of late, so why seek to trade him now, get nothing in return for him, and then watch him blossom somewhere else next year?
Cesar Puello, had an injury riddled season, and has never done anything of note in his entire minor league career yet, you can’t trade him now. Vaughn struggled mightily with his consistency and ability to make contact for the second straight year in the Florida State League this season.
Den Dekker struggled, Taijeron fell off the map, so did Havens, Pill is hurt, Marte faded at the end of the year, Lagares was unspectacular. Most of the other pitchers in the system haven’t even made it to double-A yet, which is when they even begin to be tradeable commodities.
The only prospect other than the Wheeler’s and the Harvey’s that you could get anything significant in return for is Flores. But there are still plenty of skeptics regarding him, and it goes back to: who wants someone else’s question marks?
If I am going to trade away something of very good quality, I want to get a pretty sure thing back. Flores is an important insurance policy right now in case Wright does not return. And Flores’ value could be much higher a year from now, if he dominates in triple-A next year the way he did in double-A this year.
There are those who think all the kids are worthless merely because they don’t believe they will be Pujols, Tulowitsky or Cole Hamels
I blame BA for this because thats the fan source for scouting and only players who make the top 20 are given such high evaluations when the truth is thats all based on cieling and when you were drafted ,not actual results.
If they looked at where guys like Pujols and Ryan Howard were at the same point in thier career they would see they were not picked to be HOFer or even All Stars at the time either, They had to grow into the players they became and you can’t even GUESS until they hit AAA and play lights out.
Teams don’t usually work that way they send thier own scouts to look at the players to make thier own determination and where he got drafted, and what other scouts think of him across the league don’t play into their evaluations. They will give some credit if the guy was someone originally on thier own draft board the year he was taken but in most cases if they passed on him they will just pass on him again unless something has changed thier mind.
Which in SOME cases leaves an opening where you can trade a guy who is down for something decent because they might feel they are better at developing than you are and can make that player do what you can not. Hard to find but there are a lot of GMs who think they are smarter and better than everyone else and can FIX bad players because of of thier superiority!
Unfortunatly I think our FO fits that description better than most other GMS do!
Most of these fans though, seeing no value in the Minors look for Good Players on the MLB squad to trade and go get kids they believe in. These are the types of people that are needed to accept UNKNOWNS for KNOWNS! (This is where trade Murphy or Wright suggestions come from most often)
Then there are those who look at the same BA listing and say hey this kid is on it so he must be worth a lot! Again only Fans rely on BA as their souce of scouting, Teams have thier own so being on BA’s list really doesn’t mean they are any better or mor valuable than any other guy on your squad! And the teams you want to trade with don’t care what BA has to say only what thier scout says about him so the Value is not what they think it is!
Hefner looks to most fans like he has no place in the MLB but put him on Colorado’s squad and he could be thier #2 or #3 starter! It’s really all about what they have at the time.
As I tried to get accross the last two days you have to value players based on thier worth to you and what they might be worth to someone else.
This is why you hear about teams that matchup well all the time in trade rumors.
They have someone pretty good they can’t use but you can and you have someone they need but you don’t! Perfect storm and the team that gives up the slightly better player gets another minor kid or PTBNL to make up the difference!
As for Flores’ worth I think very highly of the kid but I agree with you 3B is his best destiny right now…If Wright gets traded he has some value to us, If not then he has much less no matter what he hits!
And personally I’m not yet convinced Flores’ Bat is actually his bat and not just the product of where he is.
He wasn’t doing well in A Ball where the pitching there is mostly working on refining thier feel on pitches such as making a fastball go fast, a curveball curve a sinker sink and a slider slide.
The concern in A ball isn’t so focused on throwing strikes it is mechanics and Pitch technique.
He’s doing great in AA ball and why?
Because the pitching focus there is singular “THROW STRIKES!”
Who cares if they hit it just throw strikes and don’t walk people!
Well if you are any good at hitting your going to do well there!
Once he gets to AAA we will get a better picture. There it isn’t just throw strikes anymore it’s about getting guys out!
I really don’t want to count that Flores egg until he does what he is doing now in AAA!
That said he has some value now and it’s probably as high as it has ever been on him.
Still more unknown than known but he could at least be a key piece in a deal for something good in a position we don’t have an All Star already there.
Too bad I agree with what was said on the radio show that Sandy would rather move forward without Wright.
That changes the value of Flores to us.
All I want to see is if the many kids we have are not worth having as some suggest then the way to go is trade quantity for quality so we have some that are worth having.
They must get wiser. 40+ years aftrer the Jim Fregosi debacle, they still haven’t learned a lesson. We must not sign for 31 year old decent guys who have already played 10 years. It hasn’t worked. 27 or 28 years old might cost them more but what did Bay or Alomar et al do for us? One player would be a building block — but the Mets are more than one player away. So getting rid of 3 prospects for an Adrian Gonzalez level player wouldn’t do much good to ensure a good future.
Fannies in the seats is the goal. They will do their best to improve short term at the expense of long term. If they were smart they would sign and trade DW for a player like Wil Rosario. This time we won’t get Pomerantz. Rosario was the prospect now at 20 has over 20 hrs for a catcher in his rookie year.
I agree Fanies SHOULD be the goal….But I doubt they will be!
They won’t worry about that until the Payroll is down in the mid 60M area and they still find themselves losing money because Crickets don’t eat hotdogs or drink beer!
And they don’t pay to get in either!
I guess memories fade with time…
Item 1 – Ryan asked to be traded because he wasn’t comfortable playing in NY!
Item 2 – Fregosi was quite a talent before we got him and was considered in the MVP voting in the 3 or 4 year previous to us getting him!
It didnt’t work! Perhaps Fregosi was even less suited to playing in NY as Ryan thought he was.
Funny how we lament trades from 42 years ago but there were much worse trades made.
Some names you might remember (just not as well as Fregosi apparently)
Juan Samuel – McDowell and Dykstra
Roberto Alomar – A Bunch here….
Granted we didn’t give away a Hall of famer to get either of them but they were just as much a Great Player who busted here badly as Fregosi was!
Just hope and pray that Wheeler is the trade all the Giant Fans lament in 40+ years!