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The Cardinals have hired Gary LaRocque as senior special 
assistant to the General Manager.
…by the way, that’s assistant to the general manager, dwight…
LaRocque spent the last 10 years in senior management levels for the New York Mets, where he was responsible for signing David Wright and Scott Kazmir.
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Is this bad news for us? Looks like he has an eye for talent..
I don’t know. If I remember correctly, everyone loved Kazmir’s ability – he probably should have gone third or fourth in the draft but fell due to some fear – I forget if it was personality, signability …
I don’t think he deserves that much credit for his “eye” on that one.
But, alas, while I’m certainly ignorant of his track record, a guy that he signed / drafted in the fifteenth or twentieth round would convince me more.
obviously this guy is a moron bc he thought a young hard throwing lefty was valuable. thank god we were able to get something good in return for that kazmir guy while his stock was high.
What the hell is your problem, man? All I said was that I don’t think Kazmir is a guy that was hard to find. If you want to give credit to this guy for drafting him, do whatever the hell you want.
Don’t you think the guy that drafted Tom Brady in round 6 deserves more credit than the guy who drafted Peyton Manning #1 overall?
Settle down, and learn how to read.
That’s actually a surprisingly difficult question to answer…
It all depends on expectations, doesn’t it? What did the guy who drafted Brady in Round 6 think he was getting? Did he have any inkling of how good Brady might be, or was he just drafting a backup and got amazingly lucky?
I’m not sure if we – on the outside – can really judge how good a scout is. You’d have to have access to his reports so you could judge his perception vs. reality.
Nails, I think the ‘moron’ that HTWZ was referring to was Gary LaRacque in a completely sarcastic manner. I’m pretty sure it was a jab not at you, but at Mets management in ‘04.
Wally … a fair point; I guess I wonder why he would reply to my comment, then?
Perhaps I need to learn to read more effectively, as well.
Regardless, we’ve probably already wasted too much time discussing a guy whose talent or eye will never be able to be accurately assessed, as yagottabelieve makes a good point about a scout’s intent v. dumb luck.
credit for this guy shouldnt just be handed out
we can’t even give an opinion on him: any problem with the farm system starts and ends with the wilpons:
“Compounding the issue, Mets insiders said, is that the organization became tight with its pursestrings. One prime example: The Mets drafted pitcher Kyle McCulloch, a University of Texas signee, in the 18th round two years ago, knowing he would command big money to sign but figuring it was worthwhile because of the lack of early picks. After the draft, LaRocque was denied the money by superiors. McCulloch may go in the first round next June after his junior season at Texas and went 4-0, 1.44 for Team USA this summer.”
baseballamerica.com/today/news/050903mets.html
i just threw up a little in my mouth.
At least he is 1-2 with a 6.41ERA in AA now..
that was after being promoted from high a ball where he had a 3.64era in 22 starts
They did the same thing with Pedro Beato.
The Mets might have a payroll that’s at least comparable to the Red Sox, but the Red Sox have a much better organization because of the money they spend on young talent, and in scouting and player development, far, far more than what the Mets spend.
I don’t know about these two prospects specifically, but here, here man! bravo! Scouting and Player Development! How simple is that to get? Without it the Mets organization is just pretending to try. They have to go full tilt building that foundation before building the next level of the organization. A system is only as strong as its weakest link. A building is only as strong a the weakest floor closest to the ground.
Build from within and don’t go cheap!
A team with a high payroll like the Mets, Yankees, Red sox, etc. should have no excuse not too have deep, great farm systems. They have the money to spend on prospects that fall in the draft because of money. That is a great example by zen. Our system would be so much better if we drafted guys and paid them their money.
with a track record like that, the man clearly has no place in this organization. good riddance.
Nails,
You’re right: Kazmir was widely recognized as a high-end prospect, but he was represented by Boras so the smaller market teams in front of the Mets in that draft were afraid they wouldn’t be able to sign him and they’s waste a pick.
Another reason why the draft slot compensation excuse that’s out there is totally bogus.
we had better not be cutting costs at the player development level. Talk about a bass-ackwards strategy. . .
It doesn’t even make sense financially. It’s a lot cheaper to develop elite, or even just half way decent players, than it is to sign them in free agency. You get 6 years of them before they’re arbitration eligible right.
Well, yea, but that’s assuming you want six years of them after they have developed.
LaRocque’s influence in the convoluted world of the Mets inner circle is certainly up for debate. He had various scouting titles over a decade and served under 3 official GMs with all the new faces a regime change brought, plus all the superscouts and even a computer geek they brought in to bring a Moneyball slant on grading talent. LaRocque may be a smart guy. He may also have had less say in the organization’s signings than Al Leiter, John Franco and Jeff Wilpon.
Is that a reference to the American “The Office?”
Yes
so depressing that there aren’t any new office episodes. give the writers the money you stingy rich pricks.