If Omar ever decides to get aggressive and sign Jason Bay the way he did with certain other players, what happens with our “untouchable phenom” Fernando Martinez?  

On the last day of the winter meetings the Mets offered Jason Bay a deal that is believed to be around $65 million dollars for 4 years.

One of the reasons the Mets didn’t go after a left fielder last season, and opted to go with Daniel Murphy instead, was the feeling in the organization that F-Mart would be ready to takeover in 2010 and play left field everyday. Unfortunately for the Mets, they got to see a preview of F-Mart in 2009 due to an injury to Carlos Beltran, and the results were anything but phenomenal.

Omar’s boy F-Mart looked more like a bust than he did a future star during his short trial last season.  He played in 29 games and tallied 91 at bats in which he batted an embarrassing .176, with a .242 OBP and .275 slugging percentage. F-Mart didn’t feel the need to hustle out of the batters box on more than one occasion.  His work in the field was no better, more often than not he always got a late jump on balls hit into the outfield, and he even fell flat on his face in one game diving for a ball that was obviously out of reach.  The results clearly showed that Omar dreadfully miscalculated that F-Mart would be major league ready this upcoming season, and too many  considered F-Mart to be a flat out bust.  

Let’s not forget that Martinez is as injury prone as they come. Every season in the minors, Martinez has spent significant time on the disabled list, and he has already had several surgeries including season ending surgery last season. He has missed a half season worth of games or more in his last four seasons.

F-Mart has had some moderate success in the minors, but like so have many other players before him, upon getting to the majors they failed to display any of their success at the lower levels.

Even if Omar fails to sign Jason Bay, which could keep Martinez at bay for at least another four years, it is quite apparent that he is a long way away from being major league ready if he ever makes it back to the majors at all. His short stint last season, has seen his stock fall dramatically and he has been passed up by other Mets prospects who have bounced Martinez from “number one prospect” status to somewhere between 4th and 7th.

Fernando Martinez is on a career path that is remarkably similar to that of another notable Mets phenom turned bust, Alex Escobar.

Unless F-Mart can put together a solid season at Class-AAA Buffalo in 2010, he may no longer figure into the Mets plans for the foreseeable future. Hopefully, for a change, it will be an injury free year thus improving his trade value for 2011… a year that I’m hoping will feature a new Mets GM that will trade F-Mart for a more talented and serviceable player.

With Beltran and Francoeur seemingly entrenched in the outfield, and Jason Bay looming for the next 4-5 years, the Mets no longer seem to be keeping a spot warm for their one-time golden boy.

Happy holidays everyone, hope you have a fun and safe holiday.