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In a Winter League Chat today at Baseball America, Chris Kline was asked about Wilmer Flores, a 16-year old shortstop that the Mets signed out of Venezuela this summer.
Kline wrote:
“The tools are for real. Sounded like some scouts questioned the bat a little bit, but profiles to be a plus defender that will hit for some power down the road… Flores is a guy who could move quickly–I wouldn’t drop the ‘project’ tag on him, though he is obviously raw in terms of learning the game in the States and facing advanced pitching.
…it’ll be interesting to see if the Mets put him on the fast track… they have done so recently with some of their latin big buys, to mixed results… while Fernando Martinez and Deolis Guerra have held their own, Francisco Pena struggled immensely as a 17-year old in low a savannah this year, and Jose Coronado has yet to impress, hitting .212 as a 21-year old in binghamton…
…the Mets made 14 international amateur free-agent signings this summer, which was most in the league…it seems that, along with a decent group of imports making their debuts this year, we are starting to see the fruit of omar’s labor, trying to put more and more emphasis on caribbean scouting and development…
…while flores is venezuela, 10 of the 14 players the Mets signed come from the dominican, where they have an academy and omar has deep roots… meanwhile, they went truly international in signing Marinus Vernooij, a third baseman out of the netherlands…
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I think the extensive activity in the Interntional Market really makes the amateur draft and the forfeiting of draft picks for FA signings less of an issue for the Mets. While I would still like to see the Mets flex their muscles more in the amateur draft and pick guys who have fallen due to signability issues, I’m not overly concerned by the current strategy of drafting “safe” college guys who are only a year or two away from contributing in a complimentary role on the major league, while collecting most of their “blue chips” in the International Market. I guess the real test of this strategy will be in another year or two when Fernando Martinez and Guerra should start getting consideration in the big club. Certainly the precedent of developing your young, 17/18 y/o international signings over 4-5 years is there with Carmona and Jiminez.
I can visualize Fred and Ethel Wilpon instructing Selig on how to best utilize his “slots” and pursue talent that tumbles to their draft position due to signability issues but for some reason they continue to be Selig’s lap dog. While there is more risk of considerable financial loss if the player fails it is still the best way to procure a player with enormous talent. When it comes to signing young talent I don’t think any stone should be left unturned and all avenues addressed. I would think that there is a bounty of extremely talented athletes in Brazil and Argentina that predominately play soccer. Setting up baseball academies in those countries might not be a bad idea.
I wish Mets were a little more patient with these prospects.
I agree with the patience aspect. Not every prospect is major league ready by 24, much less 21. It wasnt long ago when most players breaking into the majors were considered young at 26 or 27.
all these signings should help keep the prospect pump primed, especially after a few years when eralier crops develop.
It would be even easier if there was a domican league for them to play in until they mature a bit and come to the states.
The Mets also need to rush them because they start out so young (16?) The reason Flores was lost to the Nats was he already qualified as a rule 5 guy at what, 21? So they almost have to have these guys in the majors by 22 (or at least on the 40 man) even if they are still talent wise, suited for AA.
Although probably better to have a bunch of these prospects on the 40 man instead of Park, Lawrence, Alomar, etc!
I dub thee, Wilmer Flores, “Fez.”
Just another reason to trade Reyes.
(I’ll point the obvious sarcasm out for the 2-3 people out there who actually think trading Reyes is a good idea.)
“The reason Flores was lost to the Nats was he already qualified as a rule 5 guy at what, 21″.
WRONG. flores was lost lost because genious minaya protected stiffs like jason standridge instead. THATS WHY.
there was ABSOLUTELY NO need to lose flores.
standridge is out of baseball and flores is getting ready to be an everyday catcher. PRICELESS
.240 hitter for a last place team, when exactly was Flores going to crack the Mets lineup?
I am, by no means a fan of the final outcome of the Flores situation — I was actually the first person to even post about it around here after it happened last year, in which Benny Blanco, a poster I respect a lot around here, pointed this out to me: Minaya took a gamble that 21 y/o catcher who hadn’t played above AA ball wouldn’t be kept on a ML roster and instead opted to protect major league ready pitching (not necessarily good pitching). As it stands, the team that was projected to be the worst team in the league in terms of roster talent, took Flores to be their backup catcher. So you win some, you lose some. It’s not like Flores projects to be some kind of bluechip here either. He’s a solid backup on a good team, starter on a bad team type catcher who would have been a nice option for us to consider giving the age and weakness of this year’s FA catching crop. In terms of things for the Mets to complain about regarding Minaya’s winter ‘07, I would rank Flores very, very low.
but that explanation just isnt any fun, now is it Constnza? Too much perspective and sanity for most around here…it’s really only gotten worse around here, but glad to see you’re still fightingn the good fight. As for Flores, anyone who thinks he’s be the “answer” to our catching situation next year is kidding themselves. Would he be servicable? Maybe, but he’d also be a lot bigger of a risk than Lo Duca, and he certainly won’t be any bettter.
Using Flores’ projected usefulness to the big club in 2008 in evaluating Omar’s miscalculation is somewhat short sighted. He is extremely young and could still develop into a solid major league catcher. We won’t know for at least a few more years whether or not losing Flores will hurt the Mets. Even if the Mets kept Flores I see him having no or little impact on the 2008 catching situation and very much a minor league prospect developing his skills.
Matt;
When do we get another crack at the Confidence Rating Poll?
I wonder how many are still bitter and how many are again feeling positive…
Me? Still bitter…..
You’re right. Omar thought no one would keep Flores on the roster the whole year. Nationals as you said, were projected to be so bad they said why not?
Flores at worst would be the backup on the 2008 Mets.. but oh well.
16?!?!?! You have to be kidding me!!! Next the Mets will be signing Kids out of the Little League World Series (12yrs old, not the far fetched)
I think it is despicable. How about a little high school? The Met logic is the convenient logic of: if we don’t sign him someone will. Well, how about the league laying down some kind of rule that says a kid has to finish high school to sign? Or, failing that, reach the age of eighteen. I know we will be dealing with fake birth certificates then, but the league should take some responsibility for determining how old a kid is. Sixteen? Come one. That is pathetic..
There’s nothing wrong with signing kids young as long as you have some kind of youth development system (aka a lot of low minor league options, winterball, etc.). It only makes the player better, thus the team better.
p.s. I expect news of omar signing an 11 year old some day soon.
[...] an interesting post today on Minors: Chris Kline on Wilmer FloresHere’s a quick [...]
Okay, lets be fair, its barely been more than a year since Perez. El Duque for Julio still isn’t even two years old yet, and even if Duque hasn’t produced down the stretches, you can’t say that’s not a brilliant trade. Technically, Benson deal isn’t even two years old yet, so throw Maine in there too.
Omar had a bad year, I won’t deny that, but 2006 was awesome for him. 2005 was sort of so-so. He got Pedro who got hurt but attracted lots of outside interest and he got Beltran who didn’t produce at all until 2006, but since has been pretty damn good.
My feeling is that the jury is now out again on Omar, whereas we all got pretty comfortable with him in 2006. He’s taken a step back, but not nearly enough to completely change the tune on him. If he can manage to swing a trade for a solid starting pitcher and score a solid right handed reliever and maybe even add a reliable bat, I bet we find him right back in our good graces.