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Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus each recently ranked SS Wilmer Flores as the Mets second-best prospect, behind Fernando Martinez.
In a post to his blog for the Daily News, Adam Rubin, who authored the Baseball America report, essentially answers, ‘Who is Flores,’ by providing all sorts of information about the 17–year-old shortstop, who Minor League Ball actually ranked ahead of Martinez.
In 280 minor-league at bats this season, Flores hit .307 with a .347 OBP, 25 extra base hits and 42 RBI in 68 games.
Speaking of prospects…
ESPN.com’s Keith Law e-mailed me to say Mets LHP Nathan Vineyard has not retired, according to a person he talked to inside the Mets organization.
However, he added, “I wouldn’t be shocked if Vineyard did eventually retire, it’s just that I confirmed that he hasn’t done so.”
For more on Vineyard, and talk of him ‘quitting,’ click here.
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Slow day, huh?
I do believe that FMart will be a good MLB player, but Flores is the deal. When he arrives at Bingo, I’m making the trip from Albany to see him play. With Murphy and Church in the corners for 2009, moving FMart for a good young starting pitcher is worth considering.
Considering a trade of Martinez for a good young pitcher (like the Young for Garza trade) might be a good idea… but definitely not because you are pinning your hopes on a 17-year-old to be the next coming.
If Martinez is ultimately traded (and I don’t think it will happen — for god sakes, they wouldn’t trade him for johan), it will have nothing at all to do with Flores.
Trade him.
I sincerely hope that is sarcasm.
Not at all. What do they need him for? They have Reyes. Trade him and Murphy/Evans for a 2 or 3 starter.
That way they wont have to sign an old man like Lowe to a 4 year deal or sign a broken down pitcher like Sheets.
Flores isnt going to stay at ss and he’s like 3-4 years away anyway so who knows what could happen between now and then. Plus at his age you’ll never get any real value for him he’s too far away for team to take the chance.
Exactly.
Wow, didnt know there were actually scouts out here.
Shopping a 17yo prospect is just dumb.
Nick Evans is nothing more than a borderline MLB player. You want to trade one of the best young prospects in baseball for a SP b/c Evans is here.
come on don’t be ridiculous
I dont understand what that is supposed to mean.
What do they need him for?
I’m not opposed to trading him if it is for the long-term good of the team. But in 3-5 years when he might potentially be in the majors, the Mets needs might be very different. And he may not even be a SS by then.
You always need depth. Reyes can break his neck. He can leave after his current deal (which might only be a a year or two after Flores actually arrives) or perhaps some day the Mets consider trading Reyes.
It’s way too early to think of Flores as anything of value to the big league team, whether as a trade chip or a player.
WE ARE NOT THE YANKEES
Maybe Omar can swoop in and trade Nathan Vineyard for Brandon Webb.
And yet…NO ONE has said WHY Vineyard might quit.
It’s all very mysterious. Per metsminorleague blog, a Scout.com message board administrator said about Vineyard:
“I’ll have to leave it at this, but all I can say is Vineyard’s departure from the organization was not because the kid couldn’t pitch.”
I would hold onto F mart. This could be a big year, if he finally stays on the field. based on his winter ball results, he will hopefully have the break out season everyone has been waiting for (hoping for?)
Still, if a deal like the Rays pulled off presents itself (Upton for Garza), the mets would have to consider jumping on it, as-suming the P was considered to be the real deal.
I agree with you. I’m tired of hearing about Fmart and him getting hurt each year. mets need a corner OFer and he is just a possible in the discussion. Again, he needs to stay on the field the full year-otherwise any projections of him are pure conjecture.
An announcement is coming today about the future of Mark Texieria. Strong indications are that the Red Sox will be the victor.
Translation: Mark it down, Derek Lowe is on the Mets.
Let’s hope so, Phil!
Hope you’re right as I don’t see the Mets doing anything beyond that. $$$ issues I’m sure the team will not be going higher in payroll reagrdless of what is said re; team finances. Mets are not going to become the Yanks in terms of spending ever-and i really don’t want them to be.
Still don’t think the team has enough but they are going to have to hope what they have can produce.
Start groomin flores for 2b or catcher now
2B, if he can continue to hit and field well, a young up the middle of flores and reyes will be great. yes flores has some time to go yet, but its always cool knowing that the mets could potentially have that combination in the making.
If he outgrows SS, I’m guessing he may be a tad oversized for 2B too.
If he fills out that frame, 1B or LF seem like the natural place for him.
I’m intrigued by catcher. Apparently he had a really good arm, one of the best even in Brooklyn last season. He was almost a pitcher.
Do you really want to see a 6′3″ athlete behind the plate? Do you really want to see his offensive potential suffer from the beating a 6′3″ and likely 200lb man would take behind the plate?
craziness.
Sigh…I know. I just miss Mike Piazza, given what we’ve had since…
I don’t know how I feel about using him as a catcher. If Flores really does develop a + bat, the Mets will get much more mileage out of him as a 2b/COF, as he would avoid the normal wear and tear of catching. I’d much rather get a great defensiv guy behind the dish, kinda like we were s upposed to have now.
According to the Washington Times, “there will be an announcement today regarding the future of” Mark Teixeira and “there are strong indications that the Red Sox will announce that they have landed” him.
i’ve seen reports about flores in the past year that he was an OF and then recently he’s a ss or a ss/3b. what is this guy
played SS last year. No idea what he played back in the DR (at the “academy”) before he came to the US.
maybe the confusion is that there is a bunch of speculation about what position he ultimately will play (either due to outgrowing SS, or being blocked by Reyes)
well if he’s being blocked by reyes at short then he’ll be blocked by wright at third.
And if he’s outgrowing ss then 2b doesn’t seem sensible either. get him ready for the OF and lets get murphy ready for 1b
by the time Flores reaches the majors (if at all) Reyes might not even be on the team.
you kiss yer mudder wif dat mouf?
oleosmurf – best comment on the topic. couldnt be more right. remember when lastings milledge was gonna be the best player ever? people put him in their dream lineup scenarios all the time. remember Alex Ochoa? Alex Escobar? Its foolish to count on someone that is 3 or 4 years away.
Isn’t he from Venezuela?
Matt, Matt, Matt:
Care to highlight that Fox is reporting that the Yankees are offering ticket prices to their two exhibit opens against the Cubs at severe discounts, inlcluding 25 cent bleacher seats and NO COST TO SEASON TICKET HOLDERS.
Please highlight this to the Mets front office!
For Yankee season ticket holders, the money they’ll save from these Free exhibition games is chump change. As for those 25 cent bleacher seats, I’m sure most will end up being scalped at market price.
Flores is exciting. Of course prospects are always best hyped the further away they are from the majors, but the way the Mets are fast tracking everyone, he could be playing in Binghamton this summer at 17 years old. Rumors are he may even start the season at Bingo, but that’s needless rushing. As for FMart, time for him to step up and put in a productive, healthy season. Kid has all the talent, hype and injuries of Alex Escobar, without any of the minor league blue chip stats to back him up.
completely agree. i’m not interested in hearing about fmart until the kid actually puts up some numbers. potential gets old real quick in this game.
confusing article. it says he has plate patience, but expands the strike zone high and likes to swing early in the count. which is it?
also, he’s a shortstop, but isn’t that great at the position, so why would the mets continue to play him there knowing they have a big league shortstop? and, why move him to third, we have a pretty good third baseman, too. how about first base? he’s tall and seems poised to hit for power.
this organization seems clueless when it comes to preparing players for the bigs. delgado is gone next year, tex is not signing here, so who’s going to eventually fill the spot? why not groom your best prospect, who seems a good fit for the position, to play first?
As discussed in another topic, teams always develop their players at premium positions, if possible. It increases their value for both their own team and potential trade partners.
It is irrelevant that he may be blocked by current major leaguers because he is years away fom the big leagues. Once he is close, if it seems likely that he will be blocked or can’t handle the position, he will then be moved.
Who is to say that Reyes won’t leave or that Wright won’t move to 1B by the time Flores is ready in 3-4 years?
Plus, a team trading for a prospect will trade much more for a power hitting SS than a better than average hitting corner outfielder.
Anyway, no one said Flores can’t play SS, they’re just expecting him to grow and eventually be too big to play SS.
Remember, you’re making big league plans for a kind who isn’t even old enough to vote and would still be in high school if he had gone to school in the United States!!
Reyes, Wright, Pelfrey, Murphy. The chips to trade for Johan and Delgado and Putz. Who is it that seems clueless?
The Mets just keep their prospects at the highest-value positions for as long as possible, because they know people will be whining about how much you want Manny at every trading deadline. A team that always wheels and deals needs chips worth dealing.
Reyes and Wright weren’t really the current front offices doing and the trade chips for Delgado & Johan have been kind of sorry so far. Pelfrey is still a big question mark and could go either way, either a #2 or a #4 depending on how his secondary stuff progresses, which likely was a problem cause by the mets rushing him and not allowing him to work on those secondary pitches, Murphy has 150 major league at bats and currently no position. Then you have countless players who have been rushed and ended up destroying their value. I wouldn’t say they’re clueless but I would certainly say they’ve had problems developing players/rushing them too quickly.
It’s conjecture to say that rushing players likely has ruined them or their value.
Who is to say that rushing Reyes and Wright did not accelrate their growth?
Also, perhaps Pelfrey would not have developed his secondary stuff as effectively in the minors… in any event he might have accelerated his development in the majors by learning how to pitch (he turned the corner this season when he stopped shooting for radar gun readings).
It’s tough to say one way or the other.
I’d love to see who the other examples are that you’re referring to. Carlos Gomez has not suffered from being rushed.
Sometimes it’s best to learn under fire and take lumps. You have to fail before you can succeed sometimes. The decision to rush or to hold should be made on an individual basis and how that player might deal with failure.
Kids with the work ethic and enthusiasm of a Wright or Reyes can learn on the job. I wonder if the same is true for Lastings Milledge, who seemed to turn the corner in the second half of last season, as well.
“Carlos Gomez has not suffered from being rushed.”
How do you know? His OBP was putrid. How do you know he wouldn’t have been better had he stayed in the minors longer?
I think the jury is still out about whether this philosophy of rushing prospects is a good one or not.
Humber, Greg Volez, Gomez, although that was out necessity as we really had no one else. I definitely think Milledge was rushed, and Ruben Tejada was rushed a bit, but not as extremely as some people seem to think I think low A would have been fine for him. And I’m not saying we’re one of the worst I’m saying we’re probably in the middle of the pack too
Although I do agree with Tidewater about Gomez, I would definitely say his bat has suffered. But I don’t know if it’s from being rushed or if it’s a skill set he was never told to work on or what. He actually had pretty good walk totals in AAA in 07.
Every team has prospects that don’t pan out. It’s a roll of the dice, and if your expectations are too high, you’re always going to be disappointed. The Mets have developed some of the best young players in the league, and they have plenty of high ceiling guys waiting in the wings. They’re not the best at developing players in the league, but they’re nowhere near the worst.
the twins got fleeced, not exactly a good example. and, well, what gina said.
Would the twins have gotten fleeced is the Mets had moved Gomez to RF because Beltron was blocking him in CF?
F!Mart in SAL at age 17: .333/.389/.505
Flores at Appy League at age 16-17: .310/.351/.490
F!Mart is the same freak Flores is; his 1st year in the minors was about twice as freakishly impressive than Flores’ 1st year.
but so far, without the injury issues
Even with the injuries, compare FMart to Miguel Cabrera.
At age 19, FMart was repeating AA with a respectable .771 OPS and a .284 BA. Despite all the injuries.
At age 19, Cabrera was holding his own with a .754 OPS in A+. He didn’t even see AA until age 20, and that’s not dealing with any injuries at all.
FMart is still way ahead of the curve. And that Wilmer might be even better is freaking awesome.
All we hear is how the Mets go after old players, and yet I constantly read in here how the mets should trade this prospect or that one.
there is no reason to “dump” prospects- that’s just silliness.
If you can trade your prospect for a good pitching prospect- fine- but those deals don’t come around too often
wilmer flores is the next a-rod or ernie banks.
unless he doesn’t dominate by 19 years old then he’s alex escobar or alex ochoa.
Sorry to unthread; but the ticket prices at the Citi don’t look bad at all on StubHub.
Our group will head down in April as usual!
Any Upstaters want to tag along, just let me know!
The Yankees have appeared to step up their negotiations on Tex. Does this give the Mets an open lane on both Lowe and Manny?
It would seem so. But I don’t see anything that suggests the Mets are just downplaying the Manny possibility. I really believe the plan is to develop Murphy in LF.
Teixeira is a Yankee.
I should say the fact it’s a defensive premium positon and the offensive average for the position are incredibly low, so a plus plus bat at short stop will inflate his value.