Jordan Zakarin

Minors: Law’s Top 100 Prospects
By Jordan Zakarin - Jan 31, 2008 9:00 pm

Keith Law, of ESPN.com and Scouts Inc., unveiled his Top 100 Prospects List yesterday, which is available right now as a free preview at ESPN.com Insider.

After trading four of their top prospects to Minnesota for Johan Santana, the Mets were one of five teams to have just one prospect make the cut: OF Fernando Martinez, who checks in as the tenth-best prospect in Law’s rankings.

Law, waving off people unimpressed with Martinez’s injury-plagued numbers at Double A this past season, writes:

“Martinez shows huge raw power in BP that will make its way into his game performances, and he has a solid approach with good pitch recognition for someone so young. He has good range in center and a plus arm if he outgrows center field and has to move to right… He’s going to be a star, but everyone has to bear in mind how young he is to keep his performance in perspective.”

Of the players the Mets sent to the Twins, two made Law’s list: OF Carlos Gomez was ranked 35th, while Deolis Guerra, a 19-year old right hander, checked in at 80th.

…i still don’t know how the Mets managed to keep martinez, to be honest…for some perspective, the three Red Sox prospects mentioned in potential deals with Minnesota all made the list, while Yankees RHP Phil Hughes wasn’t eligible…

…all these prospects list make me wonder, why do we rank prospects so eagerly when the comparison is so subjective and unscientific given different ages and levels of experience and relies so much on scouts…aside from MVP voting, we rarely rank major leaguers?…it would seem to be a lot more scientific and easy to do, given that they’re all competing at the same level, spending time in the same ballparks…prospect ranking is more like setting gambling odds, in my eyes…

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32 Comments »

Comment by foghorn
2008-01-31 22:06:27

Show Santana the money or else we’ll get all those prospects back.

Comment by Arenoso_VVL
2008-01-31 22:08:39

amen

 
Comment by gem779
2008-01-31 22:12:59

amen x2

Comment by HelloBrooklyn
2008-01-31 22:15:26

Amen x3

Still not nervous.We got a great deal .Pay the man /I think he did his part a few days before the trade happened

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Comment by jvisc23
2008-02-01 18:07:51

lets get this done

 
 
Comment by mrosey
2008-01-31 22:15:05

Did anyone else do a double take when they saw that a guy named Evan Longoria was the top prospect. . . and hes supposed to be like David Wright.

Comment by HelloBrooklyn
2008-01-31 22:16:43

HAHAHA Evan Longoria I always see his named mentioned amonst the top prospects. Why aren’t there
thousands and thousands of jokes about this lol

Comment by Hit The Weights Zeile
2008-01-31 22:27:35

it is pretty funny. but in all honesty the kid is filthy and went to the same college as our buddy stevie trax so hes got that going for him

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Comment by Charlie
2008-01-31 22:15:11

no worries, it will happen.

just as omar was able to wait out billy smith, so will johan be able to wait out omar.

come 5pm tomorrow, he will be ours.

 
Comment by chicothekid
2008-01-31 22:15:18

We are allegedly offering 7/142 and he’s asking 7/170.

Comment by Charlie
2008-01-31 22:36:00

7 years starting with 2008 as year 1 or 7 years after 2008 for an 8 year deal?

Comment by bonatom
2008-01-31 22:56:48

I heard 7 years starting 2008

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Comment by breadclock
2008-01-31 22:17:04

Love the F-Mart hype, and I pray he fulfills all our prayers and wishes, but so far, hype is all it is. It’s a bit embarrassing that this guy has to back up his 10th pick with “huge raw power in BP.” It’s always easy to hype a kid based on age (the younger the better) and actual minor league stats (the less concrete stats, the easier to raise the ceiling). I’m sure this guy was also on the Toe Nash bandwagon based on his “huge raw power in the Louisiana sugar cane field beer league.”

Okay, don’t smack me, guys, until I put my plastic Mets helmet on.

Comment by chicothekid
2008-01-31 22:18:49

Hey, as long as he’s the next Strawman minus the cocaine addiction, everyone will be fine, what’s the big problem?

Comment by bonatom
2008-01-31 22:55:55

Straw - Blow = No Fun

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Comment by squad
2008-01-31 22:57:10

Actually I am pretty sure he relied on this: “He played the entire season at age 18 in AA; and he was hitting .309/.372/.409 as late as May 25 before the effects of a contusion on his left hand ruined what remained of his season.”

and this: “To put his development in more perspective, if he’d played a full year at AA and hit .290/.360/.410 or so, he would have been on pace to debut in the big leagues at 19 or 20 and be a big league regular before he turned 21.”

 
 
Comment by DannyPla
2008-01-31 22:18:01

7/170 wwwwwooooouuuuu that’s to much !!! the best is 6/21.5 a year.

the thing is we can let it go!!! 5PM Friday a long Shot.

 
Comment by Ryn5
2008-01-31 22:19:26

Wait, Jay Bruce wasn’t #1?

 
Comment by gem779
2008-01-31 22:22:37

this is on the front page article about Johan.

“In the meantime, there are signs that the Mets continue to express interest in free-agent pitcher Kyle Lohse. Lohse was viewed, essentially, as the Mets’ backup plan in case they weren’t able to trade for Santana. But when one baseball man who had spoken with Mets GM Omar Minaya was asked if the club could end up with both Santana and Lohse, the reply was: “Absolutely.”

wow…..that is crazy but hella expensive. Lohse is probably 3/30 or maybe a little less at this point.

 
Comment by ED B
2008-01-31 22:24:35

im 52 years old today and have been a met fan since 1962. i gotta tell ya Ive never been this anxiety ridden (including the collapse) in my life .this has got to get done already before i pull out what hair i have left!!!

Comment by bonatom
2008-01-31 22:53:46

You Rule ED B.. Rest assured… this will get done… don’t forget.. this is all about media play, and with the ny giants in the superbowl, the announcement is better made as close to 5 on friday as possible… so they can arrange a press conference on monday… after the giants lose (sorry) this will be a feel good story for NY to make them forget about football and look forward to NY Mets Baseball

 
 
Comment by HelloBrooklyn
2008-01-31 22:29:17

Ed B what bought ya to the mets?

7 170 is less then the 25 per I thought he’d get,
Sign it Seal it. See you the 2nd game of the season Johan

I pray FMart isnt Alex Escobar

 
Comment by DannyPla
2008-01-31 22:33:50

Get this done!!!! or the mets going to have many houses with a collapse……………i’m the first one!!! 1-Job Collapse.

Get the guy !!! or find me a job.

 
Comment by DannyPla
2008-01-31 22:38:24

Both sides stayed mum about details of the negotiation. Santana’s agent, Peter Greenberg, did not return an e-mail seeking comment. Asked if he had an update, Mets general manager Omar Minaya e-mailed a one-word reply: “No.”

 
Comment by bonatom
2008-01-31 22:50:09

“free preview at ESPN.com Insider.” I HATE ESPN!! They have Ball$! Charging $ for sports info…. ESPN is GREADY… With all there web ad’s.. makes me soo mad..

Comment by squad
2008-01-31 22:59:00

They’re not greedy, they’re smart businessmen. They can get people to pay for Insider, that’s why they charge.

If no one paid, they wouldn’t charge. Pretty simple.

 
Comment by metsomniac
2008-01-31 23:02:54

yea… i think it’s to try to get the magazine more attention. it’s wrong… that’s why i’m thankful for Metsblog and other places where you can get just as credible (if not more so)information for free.

Comment by squad
2008-01-31 23:10:19

Yeah, thank god for these blogs… it’s not like their sources are writers for espn or anyth…. wait… buster olney is one of matt’s contacts. whoops.

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Comment by squad
2008-01-31 23:13:04

And btw, the majority of the stuff ESPN.com puts on their paid portion of the site is op-ed, analysis stuff. All of the sports “news” is free. Buster Olney’s blog is simply an aggregator of articles from local papers. Anyone can visit those sites and read the articles.

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Comment by Rudibager
2008-01-31 22:54:13

To the song “The General” by Dispatch
I call it “The General Manager” by Rudibager

There was a celebrated general who had it made,
that likened him to the players he’d trade
of past deals, won and lost, and signings of old…
seasoned veterans not past their prime

On the FA market, he gained respectful fame
with negotations of genius and deals to his name
he made a contender as soon as he could
to smach those silly braves
and always urged his fans on

but on the eve of a collapse
with the ballclub in dream
the old general tossed in his sleep
SANTANA with its meaning
he awoke from the night
to tell what he had seen
and walked slowly out of his pad

all the prospects held tall with their
chests in the air, with courage in
their blood and a fire in their stare
it was a grey morning and they all
wondered how they would fare
till the old general gave them a new home

He said:

I have seen your value
And I hate to tell you
but your asses are not worth keeping
And I’ve seen Santana
throw one fast banana
and his changeup is still creeping

So pack your bags, bring your shoes
Cause I’ve got no time to lose
before your value has faded
Pack your bags, bring you shoes
Cause I’ve got no time to lose
before your value has faded…
Sorry you have been traded

 
Comment by thejuggernaut
2008-01-31 23:14:32

F-Mart Is better then Ellsbury. Thats all I care about. ”
S”uck the “F”ox
Go METS!

 
Comment by gomets6091
2008-02-01 08:26:56

Matt obviously doesn’t play fantasy baseball if he thinks we don’t rank ML players. Every year there’s about 30 di