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In an interesting report for the Daily News yesterday, Adam Rubin talked with Mets VP Tony Bernazard, who oversees the team’s minor leagues, which he is very high on.
...there’s still some close to major-league ready talent there, with the bevy of college relievers and a number of Double-A starters, but the real excitement should be at the low levels this year…we’ll see this year whether that 
excitement is justified…but either way, what do you expect him to say, his young guys are scrubs…
On Monday, the Mets held their third-annual STEP Program, which was started to give extra baseball attention and life lessons to the team’s top prospects, such as Fernando Martinez and Francisco Pena.
The program teaches not only how to adjust to a full-season schedule, but also how to deal with media, cook for themselves and manage their finances, among other issues.
During the event, reporters had the opportunity to talk with the youngsters, who in turn had an opportunity to meet the reporters.
…i’ve read it in multiple places before that minaya and his staff have made it a priority to teach life lessons, not just baseball lessons, to the team’s minor leaguers, which is really admirable…
…this is beneficial in two ways: for those that make the majors, especially in new york, it will help them cope with the great demands and pressures being a met inherently carries…
…and second, for those who don’t make it, it helps ensure they will be able to function on super low salaries for years in the minors and make a life for themselves once they retire…having worked in the minor leagues for a number of years, i realized that ballplayers at that level have to do the same things we do and have the same worries, i.e. money, family, etc…
In a post to his blog for the Daily News, Rubin talks with prospect LHP Nathan Vineyard, who was a supplemental first-round pick for the Mets in 2007.
Vineyard went 0-3 with a 5.27 ERA in the Gulf Coast League, though he gave up just four earned runs in his final 18 innings
According to a report from Kevin Kernan in yesterday’s New York Post, Willie Randolph cares about the development of his young players.
Randolph, as quoted by Kernan…
“As a coach, we feel our work is really about trying to teach the game on and off the field, and hopefully the players will grasp what it means to play the game with respect and to play the game right so to become a winner the right way. That’s what it’s all about…Players don’t always like to hear what you’ve got to say, but you hope they absorb it. But, you still get excited about the prospects of what you give them and if they are open and receptive to them, you pass the game along to the next generation.”
Fernando Martinez, the Mets’ top prospect, was ranked 20th in Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospects list, released online Tuesday.
BA projects that Martinez will make the big leagues in 2010, though he could arrive much earlier than that.
…afterall, he is a teenage hitting machine, right?…
Martinez has played in the Mets’ first two spring games, going 1-3 in the intrasquad game Monday and getting a base hit in yesterday’s exhibition against the University of Michigan.
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THM! i love it!
I kinda cringe every time I hear it.
Serious dead horse.
It’s quotes like that where i wonder where this “Willie Randolph doesn’t care about young players” comes from….i find it very very odd
From day 1 where David Wright had to earn his “chops” and bat 7th, after Doug Mientkiewicz.
His not veyr nice comments about Jeff Keppinger during spring training.
“Keppinger really wasn’t in the mix. Keppinger was kind of a long shot, and he’s still kind of a long shot, but he’s there.”
What does that accomplish?
His really dumb and inconsistant handeling of young guys. Last season for example. Phil Humber having 15 days between pitching and then having to start HUGE game. His previous appearence was in relief.
Lastings Milledge inconsistant play after having Shawn Green playing pretty bad. Sure Green redeemed himself later but at the time Milledge should have been starting.
That’s all I could think of from the top of my head.
AND how did it work out for David? Maybe the PROFESSIONAL knew what he was doing, no?
As far as Keppinger….really? Managers are asked about these kinds of players ALL THE TIME! What did he say that was so wrong? Did he call him a bad player???? For the mets needs at the time, Keppinger was not a fit
What about Reyes? Carlos Gomez? Joe Smith? Playing all of these guys regularly and giving them a shot to be a part of the 25 man roster.
Ruben Gotay? Giving him a lot of playing time for a guy who many see as a bench player!
There’s no bias here…..only from some people’s OUTSIDE point of view.
I dont know what kind of backwards world some live in, but in nearly EVERY facet of the world/business, the young ones have to “earn their stripes” and pay their dues…that is unless they are REALLY special (see: Reyes, Jose).
Your distaste for Willie kinda shapes your opinion on this matter, no?
Actually his actions shape my distaste for Willie.
Reyes was in inherreted player.
How did it work out for David? Well David was already CLEARLY a good hitter even though he was young.
Carlos Gomez was playing be default homie. Endy, Milledge, Alou, even Ben Johnson was injured!
I mean he was battling Ricky Leedee for playing time.
In major league baseball when someone is clearly better in producing there is no need to “earn stripes”. Ask Lou Pineilla or Bobby Cox what they think about that.
Kelly Johnson is not even close to the type of talent David Wright is was batting 3rd for Atlanta in 2005.
His reason? He was very productive in the minors, if he’s a .300 hitter there, he’s a .300 here.
Batting 3rd ahead of Chipper and Andruw, the same year he had 51 dingers.
Ryan Braun was batting 3rd since day 1. If Willie were managing the Brewers like he interviewed for a couple of years ago, I can, at the very least gaurantee Braun wouldn’t have won the rookie of the year.
I guess i see your point, although i still very much disagree
One point though, since you bring up Pinella and Cox…how many world series rings have they won in the past 15 or so years?
1?
So?
They’re good managers! What has Willie won?
Bobby Cox has won the division for many years in a row!
The point is that the recipe for success you are touting Bobby Cox and Pinella for doesn’t always equal the desired end-result.
If you go back to my post, i said the really SPECIAL players are the exception, which Braun appears to be. YOU are pining over Philip Humber, Lastings Milledge and Jeff Keppinger…..not a special one in the group. Anyone arguing otherwise is basing that on hype and potential.
The way i see it, willie manages the game to win and to develop winners (regardless of what you or anyone else would like to believe).
That being said, he has one year to net those results…if he doesn’t…your wish comes true…willie’s gone.
Well I can only hope his intentions are to win and develop winners.
My wishes aren’t for Willie to be fired. I don’t like Willie and felt you shoulnd’t have been hired in the first place but if he gets fired that means the Mets lost and messed up somewhere in the season.
Well Wright was one of those special players and he was batting 7th. Milledge was special and he couldn’t demonstrate his skill to the fullest.
Humber was special but he was set up to fail.
WHo cares whatever, those guys are all gone.
roach you have to be kidding with that last statement. pinella and cox especially are head and shoulders above willie randolph when it comes to managing. 1 WS ring yea thats not alot but pinella for all but 1 year of his career was dealing with the 90s yanks and then was in tampa bay where God himself couldnt manage those teams to 500. bobby cox won 14 division in a row enough said, just think about winning 7 division titles in a row w willie, then double it, yea pretty damn impressive.
HTWZ,
I dont mean to imply Willie is anywhere NEAR as good of a manager as those guys, all i’m saying is that there is no absolute right answer to managing a team….i like willie (no surprise), i like his attitude and i like the general direction he tries to take this team. Has it worked completely for him? Definitely not, but i believe he’s going to shine and believe he has done a good job dealing with players (young and old).
I recognize that this position is debatable for some, but not for me.
That being said, Cox did have some weak competition those 14 years (just saying :-)
Benny, yes…wright was special, but willie’s “poor handling” didn’t hurt him at all, did it??? Could you say that it helped him (based on his numbers the past 2 years)??
Humber and Milledge special? I think you are DEAD WRONG here, but i guess we’ll have to see
It certainly hurt the team!
I mean eventually he moved up the lineup due to injuries or certain players being ineffective but you could have added an extra 40-50 at bats to Wright’s total and that could have helped the team and the wins could have looked a little different.
Well I’m wrong, the Mets were wrong, as were 30 major league farm directors who had those guys as top, 1st round, elite talent in the draft.
It’s too bad the “STEP Program” wasn’t around when guys like Strawberry and Gooden were coming up…
what might have been…
two more HOF’ ers
two more retired numbers.
Most important, two more whole men who inspired young people in a positive way….
Grant Roberts had nasty stuff and every time he pitched for the mets he got rocked