The excuse about the lost first round picks is also lame. I’ve gone over that here before, but I’ll repeat it — Essentially Epstein has lost tons of first round picks due to signing free agents, but he gets them back by offering arbitration to his players. Omar can’t do that because he uses so many past-their-prime players like El Duque, Moises and Pedro who no one wants when they leave the Mets. So part of Theo’s strategy is to compensates for losing first round picks by NOT signing so many compromised players to begin with. That way when they leave, he can risk offering arb and getting picks back.

And what’s so great about Tim Melville? He’s in A ball with a poor ERA this year. Who have the Mets passed on due to slotting issues and has become a good player so far?

The other issue is ownership and drafting philosophy. The Mets need to go above-slot in the draft and be more aggressive in the international market.

Look $ doesn’t always translate to success, but it helps often. Mejia was signed for only $15,000, but that doens’t mean it’ll happen all the time. Why not go after a Chapman in a few months? Why not sign Sano right now? Why not draft and sign Tim Melviille last year?

If the Mets are going to continue to give up 1st round draft pick, then they need to draft 1st round talent that slips in later rounds and sign them by going about slot.

One hates to know that the media can force their favorite team to do things. But getting rid of Bernazard is worth it. Fred isn’t going to tear his shirt off anytime soon and realize grooming his son to take over needs to wait, or there won’t be a franchise worth handing down. And the Wilpons need to get very lucky with their next few hires or we’re headed to another early 90s.

Injuries are no excuse for an ownership group who has embarassed their fans at so many turns…from opening a $615MM stadium that barely has the team’s name on it, to insulting a team legend by scrubbing his stontaneous gesture off a wall, to getting bilked out of what could be close to a billion dollars in a ponzi scheme run by one of Fred’s cronies, to maintaining a naming rights deal with the biggest TARP recipeient this side of AIG because they can’t afford not to, to making their scoreboard look like the reader service listing page in the back of the Sporting News, to running a front office that still employs a Rasputen-like shadowy character like Bernazard who undermines the rest of the operation and far as I can tell does not have a single success story on his resume.

Meanwhile, the two best teams in baseball are the two teams who had shrines to their history opened this year. Sure the Yankees insulted their fans with their outrageous pricing, but they sure are not embarassing them on the field, and not when they get into the place and see an organization with pride in itself and not in George Steinbrenner’s fuzzy childhood memories of rooting for a loser franchise. And as for the Dodgers, I think all Mets fans should root for them whenever they come to Ebbetts II – aren;t they the home team after all? Can you buy a Mets shirt at Dodger Stadium? Because you can buy a Dodgers shirt in Flushing.

In mid-October 2006 EVERYONE, including rational Yankees fans, knew the tide was turning in NY. The Yankees were bounced by the Tigers and a young, brash, exciting Mets team was rolling into the NLCS. What we have suffered through since then is staggering..and even more depressing when you factor in that the Yankees may well have spent their way back to the top, or close to it, and after a decade as the Braves lap dog we have squandered our chance to dominate the division in favor of the most losing franchise in history.

At any rate, development is a minor part of the problems with the farm system. It’s mainly scouting and drafting, and some fans are confusing the two as evidenced by some of the comments here.

I think Bernazard should be fired for his unprofessional behavior. But so should Omar and the amateur scouts who are the primary culprits for the inferior state of the farm system.

1) F-Mart was playing AA at age 18. That was ridiculous, especially considering he hadn’t provided that he mastered single-A. His strike zone judgement at the time was not impressive and it’s something he is still fighting to learn.

2) Francisco Pena was rushed into the FSL and Sally. He has been overmatched for two years. He should have started in Rookie ball and allowed to work on this swing and more importantly his defense at a slower pace.

3) Jefry Marte has no business being on the Sand Gnats. While he showed nice numbers and talent last year, it was mostly due to talent and not knowledge of the game as some scouts have reported. If so, he was bound to be exposed by better pitching. That has been the case. So he’ll probably repeat the league.

Look, there are a few example liek Wilmer and Mejia that have responded, but there is a risk. If you push a prospect and he fails, then you chip away at his confidence and that is harder to rehab.

My point is that they should let the performance dictate how the player is prompoted and promote them only one step at a time.

The rushing part is Bernazard philosophy and it’s wrong and for that among other things he should go.

Unfortunately, I’m really starting to feel this way about the Mets too. I was in denial awhile every time I read about the poor way business was being done, but that stage of grief is over. It may be to a point where the FO needs an overhaul.

The big difference between this and the Rams, though, is in this case, the owner is part of the problem. And we’ve seen throughout baseball that that can spell long term trouble (look at Baltimore.) Of course I could be wrong about the state of matters. Obviously I don’t know for sure because I’m not up there in the FO, but I’m starting to get that feeling.

To be fair, I don’t think development is a problem with the organization. It’s scouting and drafting. As well as scouting on the pro level to fill out the roster spots on the bench. And Omar is the head of it all.

The only possible knock on Bernazard I can see in terms of development is if he is in charge of roster management at the AA and AAA levels. Because even if there is a dearth of blue chip talent there, I would think there are things he could have done to help build stronger teams.