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Binghamton’s talented roster is starting to garner some major attention. In addition to all the hype and hoopla surrounding Teenage Hitting Machine Fernando Martinez, the B-Mets’ mashing middle of the order trio and the team’s closer are making waves, and each were featured today in stories in the New York media.
First, in his blog at the Daily News, Adam Rubin talks about 1B Nick Evans, 3B Dan Murphy and 1B/DH Mike Carp, who are bashing their way through the Eastern League. Focusing especially on Evans, Rubin talked to Mets’ assistant GM Tony Bernazard about the young slugger:
“He’s a very good athlete, very good potential as a player,” Mets VP Tony Bernazard said about Evans, a fifth-round pick by the Mets in 2004 out of high school in Phoenix. “The ball jumps off his bat. He has a lot of power potential. He can hit the ball in the gaps. He’s very smart, a leader-type player. A quiet leader.”
On the season, Carp leads the team with a .435 average and five homers, and is second with five doubles and 16 RBI. Murphy sits at .426 with 13 RBI, and is tied for the team lead in doubles with six. Evans is hitting a mere .355, leading the team with six doubles, two triples and 18 RBI.
At the NY Post, Tim Bontemps profiles RHP Eddie Kunz, the 2007 supplemental first round pick whom the organization has projected as its potential closer of the future. Bernazard, being the go-to-guy for any and all minor league stories, tells Bontemps that the team would not be afraid to call Kunz up straight from Double A this year.
Bontemps also spoke to an AL scout, who gave his take on Kunz’s stuff:
“[Kunz] gets good leverage and velocity behind it, and it really explodes at the plate… A hard sinker in the low 90s like that is a pretty devastating pitch.”
The scout also liked Kunz’s slider, which hits 83-84 on the radar gun. “At times, when he would throw it right, it would just disappear. If we’re just talking stuff, Eddie’s going to be an All-Star. You only have to watch him throw a couple pitches to see there’s some pretty special pitches coming out of that arm.”
Kunz is 1-0 with three saves and a 4.26 ERA on the season, thanks to one spotty outing; he hasn’t been scored upon in four out of his five appearances. He has allowed three hits and four walks while striking out four in 6.1 innings.
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the 2008 hype season has begun
All for it, given that as of two weeks ago, we had supposedly stripped our system bare and had all of one hitting prospect and Kunz.
Truth was, we had a lot of talent at the lower levels. You just never know what happens when you elevate them to a tougher league. So far, returns are fine.
Good to know there is a potential first baseman waiting in the wings in case the Mets can’t outbid (they won’t) the Yankees for Tiexiera this off-season.
The Yankees have Shelley Duncan. They don’t need Tiexiera.
You’re kidding, right?
Yes, because Willie is all about giving rookies a shot at being everyday players.
Can anyone tell me why Ron Darling is on TBS?
bizarre.
tbs does national games now. darling got picked to do them.
I’ll take Ron over Chip Carey. I’d take Charles Manson over Chip Carey.
I’d take Marlee Matlin over Chip Carey
I’ll take Pol Pot over Chip Caray.
It’s good to see Ronny going national. He deserves it.
I’ll take Chris Berman with Gilbert Godfrey as a color analyst over Chip Carey.
Surprised SNY allows him to do this.
Boy, Delgado can’t get out of New York quick enough. I can’t wait to see what that trio can do in the majors.
all three won’t be here.
danny murphy would have to change positions because we know he’s not playing third. the ourfield will be full so either carp or evans play first and at least one of the three gets traded.
we all should hope they continue mashing because these are our trading chips for the deadline for either that right-handed bat or roy oswalt/cc sabathia.
Murphy has been playing some left-field, and I wouldn’t mind seeing him out there next year if F-Mart needs another year (the guy isn’t even 20 yet).
As for the other two, if they keep hitting like they are, I wouldn’t mind seeing them platoon at first next year. Obviously getting all three on the roster is tough, but it’s very doable, and if they stay on fire the entire year, I don’t see any reason not to give them a shot.
Sabathia and Oswalt are going to require a lot more than these three though. Especially since both those teams are essentially set at 1st Base.
If Murphy can be a Ty Wiggington type player who wont be a detriment moving around the field then he will have a place on the Mets. Damion Easley may still look 25, but he cant play forever…
they won’t all be coming up, At least not all here. Plus, i wouldn’t want Roy Oswalt. The guy is no longer an elite starter and is definitely in a downturn. (That being said he is still pretty good, but his value is more based off his name than his talent) And C.C. scares me. Theres just way to many similaritieswith bartolo colon
I suspect they’ll pick up Delgado’s option for 09, unless he really reeks for the rest of this year. But how about a platoon with Nick Evans (the only right-handed hitter of the three, though–weirdly–all three are right-handed fielders)? It would ease Evans into the majors, setting up either a new platoon in 2010 or one of the three taking over altogether.
uggghh, why? Use that extra money to get a good first baseman
Or call up one of these guys to take over the first base spot, or two of them to platoon, and spend the money on pitching. Or just don’t spend it.
can’t platoon evans and carp, they’re both lefties unless you’re including murphy? either way this means one of them is getting traded.
actually Evans is the righty of the three so a platoon of Carp/Evans would work. Murphy has got some time at first also and since he’s not going to be playing third for the mets I’m kind of considering him to be a 1st base prospect also. Between the 3 of them, if they keep raking in AA, we should be able to find someone to replace Delgado next year. Now if they all hit .250 the rest of the year….it looks like we are stuck with another year of delgado
evans bats righty.
Unless he has an MVP caliber season this year, it’s unlikely that he’ll have enough to turn the option from 12 million to 16 million. So lets just assume it’ll be 12 million.
Factoring in the 4 million buyout (Which we’d be paying either way), it’s essentially only an 8 million option. If he’s at least decent this year, I could see him getting that. I really don’t think the Mets want 2 rookies breaking into the Majors at the same time when they’re trying to win now. So if they do let him go, they’ll likely look into a Scott Hatteberg type Free Agent to stop-gap until the kids are truly ready.
This is where most people cant put the performance in perspective as it relates to the money.
But you do make sense, the Mets will be hard pressed to replace Delgado’s production with an 8 mil player. Fortunately the salary structure isnt position by position so they can make up for it elsewhere.
Hopefully the Mets can fill 1B or LF with a service time player next year (Pagan, FM, Evans) and spent the money saved on Delgado and Alou on one FA bat to play either position. Or best case they fill both positions and spend the $ on replacing Perez and Pedro.
It makes little sense to have Delgado back next year. Even if, buy some miracle, he boosts his highly dominate .311 slugging percentage to a respectable range and flirts with 100 RBIs this year, why bring him back in 2009? We are likely adding another lefthanded bat in the lineup next year with FMart replacing Alou, so it is imperative that Minaya gets a righthanded bat to play 1st base next year.
Texeira is the likely candidate. Hell…I’d take Nady at 1stbase over Delgado anyday.
Hah, it sounds like you’d be settling for Nady over Delgado, when Nady has 4 homers, 15 RBI’s, and is batting around .333. Who wouldn’t take Nady over Delgado any day?
I don’t know too many fans who can put up with Delgado for another season. I don’t know where 06 Delgado went, but he’s not coming back. I’d rather see Carp and Evans platooning, or one of them platooning with a stop-gap 1st baseman.
Also, Murphy has been getting time in left-field, so he’s an option out there in 09 if F-Mart needs another year.
didn’t want to appear as if i would ’settle’ for Nady over Delgado….it’s just that Nady is an outfielder and would be somewhat of a risk at 1st base. THough he is a good athlete and certainly cannot be anymore of a liability than Cerrano currently is at fielding the position.
Nady’s bat is clearly more preferred over Delgado’s. It’s not even a debate.
Haha, Cerrano.
they won’t pick up delgado’s option unless evans or carp really stink it up this year and they are completely out of the woods on teixeira. if delgado comes back, we won’t see it until late in the offseason.
There is almost a zero percent chance they pickup Dalgados option, even if he hits 30 homeruns and knocks in 110. It just wont happen. There are infinitely better options, and I will probably be killed, but Murphy, Evans and Carp just dont excite me much. The problem with these kind of stories is you get the average joe fans thinking these guys are going to be star players, let alone starters, let alone big leagers at all, and get overexcited and these guys get overhyped. I mean, sure they can all be good players, meybe even one becomes a star, would I count on it, no way. I remember last year a discussion that we had the next “Brooks Robinson” at 3rd base and he would move Wright to the outfield. We are already assuming these guys will play in the majors, and contribute, which is just not very logical. Lets hope for the best, but make no mistakes, this is still an awful, awful system.
If Delgado hits 30 HRs and knocks in 110, I’ll be you my first born that we resign him. I don’t know what makes you think we won’t.
As for Carp, Evans, and Murphy, they’re still in AA ball, I’ll give you that. But to just assume they won’t be anything is just as ridiculous as assuming they’ll all become superstars. Other people don’t know, but neither do you. And at least the people who think they’ll be contributors next year are basing their beliefs on factual things like statistics, as opposed to what has happened in years past.
Nobody is denying our system up to par, but awful? I wouldn’t go that far. Bad maybe, but we’re not barren.
I just don’t know what you’re basing all your statements on, other than unsubstantiated opinion.
its easy to assume that these types of players wont make it. its the nature of the business. most minor leaguers never make it, and even fewer ever make any measurable impact if they do get the call. every team has these hyped up prospects, even after only 1 month month of aa ball. the odds of these guys bein the next “ian the blade” are way higher that the odds of bein the next jacobs, who has only had moderate success to date.
I see what you’re saying, but to make a definitive decision either way is ridiculous. Right now they’re all batting over 400. Obviously that’s not going to keep up, but they’re certainly looking really good right now. Instead of saying they’ll never amount to anything, or they’ll be perennial all-stars, why don’t we take a wait-and-see approach while leaning towards optimism, based on their offensive outputs so far?
Also, call me crazy, but I’ve always been under the impression that so many minor leaguers don’t pan out because they’re not given the opportunity. There are only so many teams and so many spots, you can’t hope to reasonably evaluate every minor leaguer fairly, due to the fact that they’re usually blocked at a position. Take Keppinger, for example. We never gave the guy a shot, he bounced around for a bit, everybody wrote him off, and now he’s one of the top offensive contributors on the Reds. It’s not so much that these guys don’t have what it takes to be big leaguers, but that like most minor leaguers, they probably won’t get the opportunity to prove themselves.
dont get me wrong, i like prospects. but the reason most dont make it is because they just arent good enough, not because they arent given a shot. you keppinger example is just as good as an example as for this theory. he wasnt good enough to play everyday for pittsburgh so he was traded to the mets. he showed a decent bat, but was poor in the field, mainly no range. he ran out of options and was traded to kc because he couldnt crack the mets lineup. it could be said that he was as good as some of the mets players at that time, but they didnt want to eat a contract to keep a utility guy around. he then coulnt even crack the kc roster and wound up with the reds, and he became a good utility man. that is still all he is. hes only playin so much because gonzalez is hurt. he has also come back to earth after a hot start. keppinger like so many others(ahern), show flashes, but simply arent good enough to make the majors before their options run out, and then spend years goin from team to team catching on as utility guys. scutaro is the same story. if that is all carp, evans or murphy can become, then the mets minor league in in trouble. and to be honest, i dont think any of those guys has the versatility to become productive utility guys, meaning their value is probably even less than keppinger’s and scutaro’s at the same point of development.
“Lets hope for the best, but make no mistakes, this is still an awful, awful system.”
I don’t think that’s true. The media claimed last year our system was awful and now 2 of our former players, Gomez and Guerro, are ranked in baseball america’s top 50 prospects, Martinez is in their top 20, and I think Mulvey might have been ranked last year.
I think it’s more that our talent has been at lower levels and we’ve had crap in AAA, and for the most part AA until this year, so the media hasn’t paid as much attention. Baseball America has us at 17 overall in mlb and that’s after we traded away 4 of our top prospects.
the mets minor league system isn’t anything to write home about but the situation isn’t as dire as some ëxperts” want you to believe. the minors have changed these days anyway. double-a is where you end up finding the jewels of a system where triple-a is for the cast-offs and the depth guys.
thee’s no guarantee that any of the three will be anything special but at the same time. conventional wisdom would lead you to believe that at most one of them is playing at citifield anytime in 09.
first off:
left – fernando
center – beltran
right – chrurch
first – you know omar’s first choice is teixeira, if he succeeds, say goodbye to at least one of evans or carp. if not, expect a stopgap and both being in the minors if they’re not traded.
second – castillo
third – wright
short – reyes
the likeliest one imo would be murphy to replace easley. i’d be surprised if one of the three aren’t traded. this of course, is all contingent on them having really good years this year.
Gina, the people who grade systems really do an indepth player by player analysis and I wouldnt take thier evaluations lightly. Its based on a lack of players with tools, skills, and youth. And its fair to say the Mets have one of the worst systems in baseball. The one thing they could be overlooking or undervaluing is all of the latin talent that is more or less unknown until they put up some numbers stateside.
To me, the Mets do have a fair share of real prospects, then lack depth of prospects all over. If they key guys dont pan out then its very very thin behind them. Most organizations have the Mets beat in depth of potential players. The odds are better some of them pan out.
The people who grade the systems have us as the 17th best system in mlb. That’s almost right in the middle so I think it’s safe to say they think we’re average right now. And that’s after we traded 4 of our top 5 prospects.
I’m not talking about those analysts I’m talking about the media personalities who have been claiming our farm system is horrible.
Thats fair, all of the posts responding to my post are all fair. I dont mean to sleep on Evans or Murphy or Carp, just that we have to take this with a grain of salt, its early and minor league success doesnt always translate to ML success. I dont think it would be wise to assume that anybody in our minor league system will be ready for next year. There are 2 guys where this is not the case in Kunz and Nando, although there are still no gauruntees they will be ready by 09, but they should.
I agree that we did have some talent in the lower levels of our system that are getting chances now, and it isnt as bad as the experts think. Last year was different because while having a somewhat soft system, it was top heavy with guys like Guerra and Gomez, who were standout guys. People may have questions the final product they will become, but there is no doubt that both are loaded with talent.
I think our system is ok, and we need a big time draft this year. That could help things out a ton. But it is nothing to post on the refridgerator.
Onto a random topic, I am starting up a free fantasy baseball league on ESPN, and was wondering if anybody wanted in. I am going to mix things up a bit, allowing trading of draft picks which could be fun. I am looking for anybody who will follow it along the whole season, just have some fun and dont abandon your team. If anybody wants in let me know in a reply and leave your email address so I can send all the entry info. Later guys and girls.
And lets go Pelfrey
Hmm… Guerra was perhaps the most potentially exciting of the four to go to the Twins, but he was also by at least 2 more likely 3 years the furthest from the majors.
Given that, the label ‘top prospect’ doesn’t really fit all that well on him – yet.
a little off subject but its making me sick watching ronnie ontbs calling a braves game!
It is a little odd because its a Braves game, but its really just a national broadcast.
i’m actually surprised TBS brought Chip Carey back after the horrible job he did in broadcasting the NL playoffs last October.
Not to dismiss that the guy is a real jerk. They hated him here in Chicago and he was run out fo town. Which is saying alot considering how legendary his family name is here. Plus he’s just horrible at calling the ballgame.
I’m actually very pleasantly shocked that no one has said the Mets should sign Frank Thomas. I guess between the lack of fielding ability, and his cantacorious nature in the clubhouse, everyone realizes he would make no sense at all. Well done all!
Isn’t Frank Thomas just a right-handed Barry Bonds, with less talent?
Well he has more talent if you include football ability…
There have been no serious rumors about Thomas and PEDs, if that’s what you mean. He was the one guy who wanted to cooperate with the Mitchell people.
That said, this is a no-brainer. Pass. In no way, shape, or form can this guy contribute to a National League club apart from being a PH. He has utterly no value in the field. Negative value. What you saw yesterday from Howard would be a good day for Thomas. We’re talking Piazza bad at first. Even as a PH, you’d have to pinch run for him immediately. He’d be like a slower Julio Franco. If the Mets had wanted a guy like that, they would have kept Olmedo Saenz, who would be a better PH from the right side. In 1995 you live with Thomas’ defense, but certainly not at this stage in his career.
Thomas is a lefty. He helps the Mets no more than Delgado. He also is way too slow and he clogs up the base paths. He would be a liability to the Mets.
all true except he is a right hitter.
I can understand people not knowing Evan is a righty, but Thomas?
Frank Thomas is a right-hander? Since when?
Guess you are right. I could’ve sworn he was a lefty. My mistake.
uh, since little league…
sad thing is I actually looked up his bio to make sure I wasnt the one halucinating. heh.
mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=123245
wow, the guy’s only a future hof and been in the bigs since ‘90 and you don’t know he’s a righty?
Truth is, I watch very few AL games. Pretty much NL games only until the playoffs.
Based upon their previous actions, Carp seems to be the heir apparent to first base. He was hurt last year and has to re-establish himself this year and if he does, he will be moving up and may even play on the team a little this year.
The Mets are smart with the other two. They are increasing their value on the trade market as well as for the main club. Playing them at multiple positions can only help. They will have someone who is a Brady Clark or Wigginton type guy and the other will be a rated prospect.
If all three keep on as they are, they are going to be highly touted and the Mets are going to be in the market for someone possibly like a Roy Oswalt. They will be back in the market.
What is good about this is that the Mets farm system is showing some dividends so far this year.
With Alou on the way back, and Pagan clearyl worth keeping on the bench, I wonder who should be let go between Chavez or Clark. To be fair, neither of them is really necessary once Alou returns..
Um, Clark. Endy at least gives you defensive versatility.
…Endy cant play 1B.
Pagan can play CF, it might be an adventure, but it negates Endy’s versatility some.
Clark can’t play 1B either. OK he worked out there a couple of times at ST, but it’s a huge stretch from that to ‘able to play’, and a bigger stretch still to ‘major-league tested’.
He’s never logged a major-league inning in the infield, and only played 3B on two occasions in the minors (with, remarkably, one error on zero attempts, according to baseball-reference.com).
Endy on the other hand is a ++ defender at all three outfield positions – I pointed it out when the buzz was saying we might trade for Crisp, but Endy’s RZR at CF is amongst the best in the majors, better than Crisp’s. I don’t think the fact that Pagan can just about fill in at CF negates Endy’s usefulness.
Agreed 100%. The hypothetical first base capabilities of Clark don’t overcome the very real defensive prowess of Chavez. I’d rather have a backup CF I can trust than “adventures” at multiple positions.
Mets will push hard for Tex…but if we make it to the WS, I can see Omar pullin a deal next winter for a guy like Sexson, or Dunn….if not ohhh well…I trust Omar Im not worried bout 09…I am glad we are in 1st , and hope we keep producing…Ollie wont be back so I think Pitching is our biggest concern again in 09…hey Cerone wanna update our standing chart so we are in 1st pal?? thanks LETS GO METS!! SWEEP!!
Hmm, I like the idea of Sexson as a stop-gap to platoon with Carp or Evans. He’d probably come cheap, too.
i would’nt be so quick to show ollie the door but he really does need to step his game up when it comes to efficiency. he nearly killed the mets yesterday with his lack of ability to tighten up in the fifth and sixth.
Agreed, but for yesterday I tend to give him a pass. He is facing a world beating lineup, and was ruising through until that ball hit his throwing hand. And not for nothing, but Perez might have been able to squeeze out another out, maybe even an inning if Bruntlett doesnt get a 15 pitch at bat. Perez really should be back, if you look at the alternatives. I dont see CC as an option, I can possibly see Derek Lowe on a 2 or 3 year deal, and I dont think I can see the Mets paying what Burnett would want. As for Sheets, will take Oliver over him all things considered. Perez really needs to be retained IMO.
I was pleasantly surprised that he could give up a walk an inning and still come out unscathed.
I wasn’t, thats how you end up out of the game in the 6th while pitching a shutout. Its a faulty good performance because all it does it turn the game over to the pen with so much game left they are bound to (almost) blow it.
Its passable as a poor Perez start, not a good one.
Thing is though, OP’s good starts are already plenty good enough. He needs to improve his poor starts, not his good ones, and increase the ratio of good to bad.
So, if yesterday was a poor start, then I’ll definitely take it. If I recall his second start he was struggling but worked through it (only for the BP to blow it), which was also encouraging.
However, we did see the old bad Ollie against Milwaukee so there’s clearly still work to be done. And also, we’ve so far only seen the good Ollie against the Marlins.
Poor Perez start? 5 2/3, pitching a shutout, and not good enough for you? No, it wasn’t terrific, but he’s not always going to have his best stuff (or his stuff may be a little too good.) If he’s learning to make good pitches when he needs to, that’s a step forward.
And we will have to trust the pen at some point. This is 2008. Every team ends up needing a lot of innings out of its pen. You should be able to get 3 1/3 out of them from time to time. My point is that without control, Ollie could have been out of there two innings earlier.
it wasn’t poor but it wasn’t good.
he still gave up five walks in 5 2/3. for a guy in his walk year, he is not helping his case right now. granted, at least he’s nott cc but still.
5 2/3 IP is never enough regardless of shutout.
6+ IP is minimum for a decent start. Then you can look at the rest of the stat line.
It would be nice if these guys could keep raking all year. could make for some interesting decisions, and a fun off season.
And please, get off the “built to win now” theme 9as a reason to never have a rookie on the team). Even the Yanks and Sox will have 1 or 2 a year (including this year). The team will never win if they don’t.
Besides, wouldn’t 2008 be the “win now” year? Next year, most likely every old guy (other than Wags) will be gone, and the key/core guys are locked up for years to come. So no way would they be a win or fade away team, so a perfect time to blend in more youth, cause if it works, you could have a sustained run at the top.
If Evans and Carp keep hitting like this, bring them both up next year. Platoon at 1B, with Evans also filling in as a 4th OF type, and a RH bat off the bench.
Murphy I don’t see up unless he moves to 2B (and they would need to start that now!).
So, just from lack of need, Murphy could be the one to get traded to fill another hole.
I was high on Carp before last year (based on 2006), but he just had a bad year due to injuries (but a great camp). So, if he is reaching his potential, use him.
And, I would be shocked totally if Delgado comes back (mostly because I would be shocked if he could put up the numbers to even start the discussion). And Omar would be cruxified for it.
Frankly, bring up Carp right now, and he just might outperform Delgado for the rest of this year!
I agree with you. I think next year will be a little bit of a rebuilding year (although not like a small market team’s rebuilding phase).
Nice point about Evans… big RH bat who plays 1B/OF. Isn’t that what ESPN thinks is preventing us from being better than a 3rd place team? :P Especially as I believe he’s also capable of filling in at 3B.
Eventually, for prospects to turn into major leaguers, they’ve gotta be rookies. If any or all of Evans, Murphy and Carp keeps their OPS near or above 1.000 (they’re all currently above), then they’ve done all they can do to prove they’re worth giving a chance.
Murphy does look a little blocked, sadly, but he sure isn’t hurting his trade value right now.
the greater likelihood is that none of these 3 will ever play longterm for the mets.
it seems like the front office’s strategy for “homegrown” players is to keep only those who they foresee as developing into superstars (or at least well above average players).
guys who fall into that average, slightly above average in some areas (see Jacobs, Mike) get traded away for more established and higher priced vets to teams looking to clear salary.
if any of them is going to stick, i’d guess it’s Carp. someone who was compared to Nick Johnson before his season was derailed last year w/ injuries.
it’s nice that both Murphy and Evans are producing, as it will make our ability to improve the club easier (via trade or depth in minors).
but Fmart is the only position player at AA who the front office has plans for as a future full-time starter.
given that we have no financial constraints as a big market team. this is the right way to approach minor league talent, in my opinion.
bingo.
“given that we have no financial constraints as a big market team. this is the right way to approach minor league talent, in my opinion”
Really? The Yankees were doing it for most of this decade, and got nothing for it. The Red Sox have basically the opposite approach, and they’re winning. The two best teams in the NL last year, record wise and the two teams in the NLCS, did it mostly with homegrown talent. How can you think that’s the best way.
let’s slow down on the sox.
ortiz – fa
okajima – international fa
manny – fa
lowell – trade
beckett – trade
drew – fa
crisp – trade
lugo – fa
varitek – trade
timlin – fa
dice-k – international fa
wakefield – fa
schilling – fa
homegrown
pedroia
ellsbury
buchholz
lester
youkilis
papelbon
delcarmen
the red sox have spent their money better than the yanks but to say it’s with mostly homegrown talent isn’t quite correct.
I should have worded it better. I don’t have a problem with signing free agents, it’s trading young players for other teams older expensive players, who are usually on the downside of their career. Which the Yankees have been doing and the Red Sox haven’t.
The rockies and the diamonds back were the two teams I was talking about that did it mostly with home grown talent.
the diamondbacks just traded a ton of their top prospects for Dan Haren.
as for the rockies…yes, they were a nice story last year. but i don’t think they’re as good a team as the results from last year indicate.
i don’t think aspiring to be the rockies should be our goal.
i agree with you somewhat except neither team has won a ws yet. a better example could possibly be the 2003 marlins.
Trading for a young pitcher, which is what Haren is, is a different situation. And the Diamonbacks could afford to do it because most of those players were going to be blocked anyway and they have a deep farm system.
agreed, the haren trade isn’t a good example
agreed.
but that’s also what we just did. traded a bunch of prospects for Santana. the best pitcher in baseball who is in the prime of his career. presumably you have no qualms with this move.
and of the Carp, Evans, Murphy trio to which my original post was in reference to. there’s no room for all of them on the roster because they are also blocked.
Carp and Evans are projected 1B and Murphy is a 3B/1B with poor defense. they are also getting some play in OF.
well, we’re pretty set at 3B, unless you’re in the move DWright to 1B camp (which i am not). but even then the only one who can really fill it is Murphy and his defense is far worse than Wright’s.
our OF is seemingly pretty set with FMart, Beltran, and Church as a logical starting 3 for next year.
so maybe there is room for one of those guys. either as the starting 1B (which Carp and possibly Evans has the best chance to be — considering we’ll need to balance the lineup with a RH bat) if we don’t sign/trade for someone proven like Tex. Or perhaps as a platoon to Delgado if they pick up his 8mil option — which would mean Evans as he’s the only RH.
which led to my claim. unless they’re gonna be great players w/ potential to be all stars you trade them for players who can improve the team.
If at some point this season we have a need for improving the team or could bring back a guy like Nady by trading Murphy, or Carp or Evans or 2 of them to Pittsburgh…I’d do it.
taking a closer look at the Red Sox roster as beltran the warrior just did, proves my point. same goes for the current yankees roster/strategy.
I’m in no way advocating giving up all the young talent for overpriced over the hill vets.
what i am saying is that trading average to slightly above average minor leaguers for proven veterans is sound strategy.
you can’t honestly tell me that you’d rather have had Mike Jacobs playing first base for the last 3 seasons then Delgado.
Yes, Delgado is now on the decline. But I highly doubt we make it to the NLCS in 06 with Mike Jacobs batting clean-up.
we have plenty of homegrown talent on the roster.
Reyes
Wright
Heilman
Pelfrey
Smith
with Kunz, Neise and FMart all likely to join at some point either this season or next (which if all 3 start next year on the big league club — a definite possibility — would mean that 1/3 of the roster is homegrown).
the point is, as a team who can and should spend money we shouldn’t be plugging in average players into the lineup.
homegrown players are nice and cheaper. but the only one’s we should be concerned with keeping are the ones who are going to be very good – great.
I think we’re on pretty much the same page I just misunderstood you originally. It just seems to me that we’re too eager to ship out young players for high priced before even giving them a chance to be average.
that’s the game with the minors though. it happens all over mlb. some guys you keep and others are chips. you keep the studs or the immediately useful and you ship out the others for need or if possible, the immediately impactful.
speaking of minor leaguers, i know everyone is as sick of Castillo as i am, what do you think Boston would ask for Jed Lowrie. He is basically Dustin Pedroia 2.0 and i would love to put him at second and eat the mistake that is Luis Castillo’s contract by turning him into a utility infelder after this year.
Thoughts?
Castillo is far too slow and fragile to be playing anywhere other than 2B. If his contract is a mistake they’ll have to bite the bullet and release him. He is useless as anything other than a starting 2B.
no shot. boston might put him at third and find a way to deal with lowell. boston’s prospects aren’t getting moved. they didn’t move for johan, they are certainly not moving for anything the mets have.
Don’t know if anybody mentioned it but the Phils put Jimmy Rollins on the DL for the first time in his career. Good news.
I want to beat them WITH Rollins.
I guess they can’t make it retroactive either with him having pinch-hit.
Guy’s obviously trying too hard to beat us (having hurt himself trying a boneheaded ‘I’ll be on third if the pickoff misses’ slide at Shea, and apparently aggravating the injury pushing off his bad ankle so he could bat lefty against Heilman).
I guess he knows last year was a fluke :P
Anyone else slightly concerned that Pelfrey is due for a bad outting?
no. RIDE THE BIG PELF
well he’s not going to have a 1.50 era all season, and yes, he’ll have some bad starts, like a lot of pitchers do. What sucks is Schneider isn’t playing tonight and I thought he was really helping Pelfrey be aggressive. But for what it’s worth, winning the series is the most important thing, so if we lose tonight, its certainly not a total loss.