Matthew Cerrone

Outfield: Mets not Prepared to trade F-Mart
By Matthew Cerrone - Dec 4, 2008 9:27 am

Yesterday, at Baseball Prospectus, John Perrotto suggested the Mets and White Sox could be discussing a deal that could send OF Jermaine Dye and RHP Bobby Jenks to the Mets for OF Fernando Martinez and others, according to ‘whispers.’

However, today in Newsday, according to ‘a person familiar with the situation,’ David Lennon writes, ‘There is nothing there,’ with regards to the Dye-Jenks-Mets-Martinez rumor.

In a post to hie blog for the New York Post, Joel Sherman describes the rumor as ‘nonesense,’ after having talked with a few of the team’s executives.

…as i said yesterday, a deal between the Mets and Sox involving dye and jenks may have been true once before…however, from what i can gather, the Mets are more focused on Huston Street, since they match up better with the Rockies…plus, i believe he will not cost martinezmore like Nick Evans, if a prospect is needed

Yesterday, MiLB.com ranked Martinez No. 32 on its annual Top 50 Prospects list.  In 2007, he was ranked No. 17.

According to Lennon, ‘The Mets are not prepared to deal Martinez,’ whose name will likely be mentioned a lot during next week’s Winter Meetings in Las Vegas.

…from what i can gather, other teams are leery about martinez, because he is being scouted in essentially the exact-same way he was three years ago, i.e., he’s got tons of potential, great swing, etc., but he has yet to prove his talent…plus, he’s been hurt a lot

…in the end, it feels like other teams are tired of hearing about his ‘potential,’ despite his young age, and are eager to see him hit, stay healthy and actually produce and dominate, before they once again buy in to the hype…

…this may be why he dropped 15 spots on MiLB.com’s list

101 Responses to “Outfield: Mets not Prepared to trade F-Mart”

  1. alex242 says:

    THANK YOU!!!!!!

  2. mikey_FF says:

    “Mets not Prepared to trade F-Mart”

    Good.

  3. alex242 says:

    I’m glad our GM is starting to get a hang of the job..

  4. jamie says:

    oh THM, when shall we see thee?

  5. zen says:

    the mets made the mistake of promoting f-mart since he was 17.

    they are doing the same eith wilmer flores who is 16.

    by the time flores is 18 mets fans will already be tired of him and complaining that he’s a dud. the other day someone said he was the venezualan alex rodriguez. what? not babe ruth? oh, ruth didn’t play ss.

    it’s doubtful that either player will be a good mlb player until 22 years old.

    • starz31 says:

      you’re very pessimistic. Realistically, it takes time to become a balanced “good” mlb player. It took Reyes a few seasons.

      I don’t think they rushing him though. Both of them have not been overwhelmed at each stage. Flores played in the same league Wright did out of high school, yet Flores was there 2 years younger and performed better at that age than Wright did.

      Now Flores finished the season at single A-Brooklyn. That’s pretty good for a 17 year old.

      Fmart actually played well during a few streaks in AA, but he could never keep those streaks going b/c of injuries. I like how they have challenged these players, and they will be better for it.

      • gowrightgo says:

        there is good and bad to the strategy. It may make the player a bit more “ready” to succeed/fail at higher levels if they had some success and failure when adapting to better pitching along the way with their early promotions. The downside is when they do not mash and destroy the level. From a trade perspective…if they are not killing the level they are at, regardless of age appropriateness for that level, their stock drops and they do not carry as much value.

        If you identify a player that you want to keep, the strategy seems sound in that they will be more prepared than most to succeed since they have grown accustomed to making changes to adapt to better pitching.

        Downside is they never get supremely confident if they are constantly having to “catch up” to a level

        • starz31 says:

          Interesting point. Makes sense that if you want to increase his value, you let him destroy lower levels and get great stats, but by testing them you take a chance that at worst they can hold their own at a league average and in that case, the value should be higher b/c he’s doing so at a younger age than that league.

          Obviously you risk him failing and their weaknesses becoming really apparent. But I guess you trust and hope that this young kid can learn from his older teammates and from the increased level of opposition to improve those weaknesses so when the time comes to play in the ML, they are more balanced and ready to perform more consistently.

          You’d rather have the kid learn from his weaknesses in a minor league level than at the ML level (failing early at the ML could really setback one’s confidence)

        • zen says:

          pessemistic about what?

          there are only 2 position players in mlb that were successful at 21 years old last year: jay bruce and justin upton.

          and they were actually impressive in the minors.

        • starz31 says:

          pessemistic about Fmart and Wilmer…You say they are being rushed and that Wilmer will be a dud at age 18. Thats a different statement then saying they won’t be good until age 22.

          I agree that it may take until their 22 to become good MLB players and that will be a result of them being challenged in the minor leagues. If they weren’t challenged, it may take a few more years until they were ready to play in the ML. The idea is make these kids more balanced and more ML-ready when they finally get their cup of coffee. In the Mets eyes, they have the talent to be challenged. I’d say Wilmer has responded well to that, and Fmart has at times(is now in a small sample size in DWL) but Fmart has been delayed b/c of injuries.

        • zen says:

          you need to re-read what i wrote.

          i didn’t say wilmer would be a dud nor did i say either player wouldn’t be a good player.

  6. starz31 says:

    We held on to him for so long…I don’t see why we’d trade him away right now, when he’s even closer to performing for us. His hype today is similar to what it was 3 years ago and that has to be because he hasn’t been able to stay on the field to really have a chance at meeting or exceeding expectations.

    Reyes was the same way at a similar age, yes Reyes debuted in ML at 19, but that was more of a testament of how great a talent he was and how he was able to perform right away defensively while letting his offense catch up. Point is, Reyes underwent numerous injuries (wrist and hamstring) before really taking off.

    • C Dubb says:

      Beat me to it!!

      • Lidge=Mitch Williams says:

        Yes…he beat me to it, too. Reyes came up at a young age with tons of potential. And all of a sudden he was hammered with injuries.

        I am glad to see Omar giving F-Mart a chance.

    • Steviefan84 says:

      I wouldn’t trade prospects for a closer, just get K-Rod for whatever price and get this over with whether at or just after the winter meetings. All the trade possibilities are interesting to read about but it’s just silly trading for Dye and Jenks while the Mets probably got to give up F-Mart, Parnell, Kunz and other pieces to get them.

      Pay K-Rod, trade for Street and sign one or two lesser free agents. Dunn could be had for a reasonable price, way more reasonable than say Manny Rameriz would. I’d still keep an eye on the Rameriz situation and how that plays out but he would be more like a fallback option to the others.

  7. C Dubb says:

    I remember when we had a guy named Jose Reyes who was all potential but couldn’t stay healthy. I say be patient with this kid.

    • starz31 says:

      and that was at the ML level not AA!! patience Danielson.

    • Steviefan84 says:

      It’s just amazing how it seemed Jose Reyes couldn’t stay on the field for more than a week and then one day his body seemed to tell him “Ok, I’m done being injured now!” Not alot of guys bodies react that way, usually when you get injured often, the body usually breaks down here and there.

  8. therealsince86 says:

    The Mets are not prepared to trade him because his value is lower that what his potential is, period.

  9. DWrightUnclutch says:

    in the end, it feels like other teams are tired of hearing about his ‘potential,’ despite his young age, and are eager to see him hit, stay healthy and actually produce and dominate, before they once again buy in to the hype…

    Other teams? How about US FANS?

    Time for hype to translate to reality

    • therealsince86 says:

      Exactly. We have made so many of our decisions the last 2 years based on Fmart. He needs to have a good year this year.

      • mikey_FF says:

        He does … but not all the decisions were based solely on him. You have to remember, we had two other outfield prospects who were both traded last season. The decisions were based on the fact that we had 3 options … not just one. Things changed after those trades.

        • Danny says:

          Come on, it’s more fun to blame not trading Fernando as the reason why we don’t have every good player that was ever on the trading block.

          And then resent him as a prospect because of it.

        • therealsince86 says:

          Danny I don’t resent Fmart if you are refering to me, nor do I proclaim that for sure Fmart could have gotten us……
          I am just saying that IF his value does not increase then we MAY have been better off trading him. But that of course is hindsight. I trust that Omar knows what he is doing.

        • Danny says:

          I wasn’t singling you out. It’s a popular notion among a lot of Mets fans.

          I just think we need to give him ample time to grow. The expectations are out of whack. He’s a real talent with a chance to be a great player. It’s not hard to see when you watch him play.

      • starz31 says:

        He does need to take a step forward this year, no question. He has been hyped since he was 16, now is the time he really comes into his own, or at least shows that he can.