Interview: Prospects Heading to Minnesota
In a column for 
, Sunil Joshi takes a closer look Carlos Gomez, Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra - the four prospects who were traded to the Twins for Johan Santana.
…added to by Jordan Zakarin…
…i spoke to Baseball Prospectus prospect guru Kevin Goldstein, who was just a week away from releasing his Mets Top 11 
Prospects List, to learn more about the players who will be leaving the Mets for Minnesota…
Kevin Goldstein: They’re giving up, like you say, four guys who were all among their top prospects. Then again, this is the Mets system we’re talking about, so their top prospects aren’t equal to other teams top prospects. There’s nobody on that list of four who is some kind of guaranteed stud — it’s a crazy great deal for New York.
Jordan Zakarin: Who will they miss the most of that lot?
Kevin Goldstein: I don’t think any of them had any sort of immediate impact potential with the Mets, as Gomez was blocked. After that, guys like Humber and Mulvey had fill-in chances, but they just added a starter to their mix — a pretty good one at that.
Jordan Zakarin: Given that you have to do a new top 11, and will be looking at some of the lower level guys, what are the chances the mets can replenish this prospect depth in-house, from recent draftees or international signings?
Kevin Goldstein: It was a bad system before, and it’s obviously a much worse, borderline horrible system now. But that’s okay.
A minor league system serves two purposes: One, create talent for the big league team. Two, create talent to get other players for the big league team.
The system just filled purpose No. 2 quite well.
Jordan Zakarin: I think the darkhorse here was Deolis Guerra, in terms of potential, and fans not knowing so much about him. He probably has the highest ceiling of the pitchers traded. But, the Mets have recently been bragging about a strong low minor league, recently drafted corps of pitchers. Do you see any potential top prospects there, that could replenish the farm and make up for these losses?
Kevin Goldstein: Not really. Every system has high upside guys at the lower levels who COULD become top prospects, but few do, and I was argue that the Mets actually have far fewer of that type of player than most teams. I like Guerra plenty, but he was no sure thing, either.
Jordan Zakarin: How lucky are the Mets to have kept Fernando Martinez? It’s seemingly a dumb question, but basically I’m asking how good of a prospect is he, and are you surprised they got Santana without him?
Kevin Goldstein: I don’t like ‘lucky’, it’s just a good trade. I’m not surprise Martinez isn’t in the deal — I’m downright shocked. To me here’s clearly the Mets’ best prospect, and I have no idea how the Twins can make that trade without getting him.
Jordan Zakarin: I’ll let your scouting report coming out soon speak for itself, but do you think there’s a clear gulf between Martinez and Gomez, and do you think Minnesota may have chosen Gomez because he can play center field?
Kevin Goldstein: I think Gomez’s CF ability definitely plays into that. The have a wide open hole there right now that needs to be filled, so Gomez will compete with Jason Pridie and Denard Span.
Jordan Zakarin: Does Mike Pelfrey not being in the deal reflect more on the Mets still liking him, or baseball people elsewhere being down on him?
Kevin Goldstein: We don’t know that, unfortunately. We don’t know if he was offered, and we don’t know how the Twins feel about him. In general, from talking to other people in the industry, Pelfrey’s stock was pretty down after 2007.
Jordan Zakarin: Do people see him more as a reliever now, and do you think he can still crack the Mets rotation?
Kevin Goldstein: People are mixed on that question. He’ll be given a shot in spring training, but he’ll have to earn it.
Jordan Zakarin: Finally, how do you think this offer compares to the Red Sox offer, and do you have any idea how the Mets were able to pull this off?
Kevin Goldstein: I think what we’ve learned here is that we probably never really knew what the Red Sox offer was. Because what was rumored is a far greater package than this. Same goes for the Yankees.
…big thanks to kevin, who did this interview at the spur of the moment…i forward to your new Mets Top 11 Prospects List at Baseball Prospectus, which should be interesting…though this trade probably make your life a lot harder…
