While the Mets – even with the addition of D´Arnaud – still are rather shallow in terms of advanced hitting prospects, their group of young pitching is arguably the deepest in the entire minors right now.Not many organization can boast two consensus top 50 overall P prospects like Wheeler & Syndergaard (not even counting Matt Harvey who is barely 9 IP over the Rookie limit and Jenry Mejia who also isn´t a Rookie anymore but sort of the forgotten man after being a top 50 overall prospect two years ago, barely 23 and flashing the same stuff late last season that he did as a top prospect) to go with arms like Fulmer, Familia, Tapia, Mateo and Montero who – depending on personal prefernce – are all borderline top 100 overall candidates with several other intriguing arms behind them.

This group of pitchers will ultimately decide about the Mets becoming a contender again. Whether it´s as early as in 2014 or as late as in 2016.
You develop the pitchers and buy / trade for the bats. That worked pretty well in the mid 1980s – and there´s a very good chance it´ll work again shortly.

And the key in this is that not only should the longterm rotation be pretty good – but with all those arms, the severe longtime bullpen issues finally figure to be solved eventually, especially counting all the 2nd tier arms like DeGrom, Mazzoni, Verret, McHugh or Gorski who may well end up playing up in bullpen roles in a year or two besides some of the higher end SP prospects who may have to switch.

I think the jump for Montero is a little premature, but then again, I was going to sing the praises of Fulmer, and he’s low in experience too.

I’m cool with the Mateo ranking, though Wilmer Flores needed some love here. Come on BA.

Kudos to Wheeler picking up the cover, btw…that must be pretty cool to him.

I don’t want Sandy to trade away key players, with another right handed OF bat this is a pretty good team on the field.

A little shallow in the bullpen, though. .

Niewenhuis’ wheels fell off and he just stopped hitting.

Cowgill sounds like a fourth outfielder.

We really have no outfield starters

Presently, I am happy starting the season with a CF platoon of Niewenhuis and Cowgill. If we re-sign Hairston, he can own LF. Perhaps we could package Duda and a non-elite arm or two for a decent ML-Ready right fielder. At least that would get us through the season.

One other outfielder with promise is Juan Lagares. In 2011, he tore apart PCL and Bingy, although he started last season very slow and ended strong. He’s a good candidate for a mid-season call-up. He’s a good hitter and a good fielder, but there’s nothing spectacular about any aspect of his game. He has good plate discipline and he’s still young, so his power numbers may improve. But he seems to be the kind of guy that would extend an inning, not a rally-killer. Serviceable, in a word.

Harvey, Wheeler, Syndergaard, Montero, Fulmer, Tapia, Familia, Mateo, Lara, Robles, and DeGrom are all power pitchers with high ceilings. All could definately be in Queens by then.

These guys are the future of this team. Plus, there’s secondary, but still very solid prospects like Mazzoni, Verret, Pill, and Gorski who could all be solid number 4/5 starters.

The dark horse and a guy that has perhaps the most powerful arm is Steve Matz. This lefty hits 100 mph, starts, but is regularly out with arm trouble. With the price of pitching in today’s market, the Mets will be at a huge advantage in having cheap young guns to fill their roster if just half these guys fulfill their promise.

Lot of trade chips here as well. Fingers crossed.

You gotta love the new arms coming up – but the lack of blue chip position players (albeit a bit better now with Travis) is a big worry.

Is there a sleeper bat on the horizon? (near horizon)

To think Morales once put up MVP numbers 3yrs ago and Varagas is super underwhelming…..I wouldve loved Kendry in our OF

Going to Barnes & Noble and pick up a copy.