|
The Mets outrighted C Robinson Cancel, SS Wilson Valdez, SS Argenis Reyes and RHP Carlos Muniz to Triple-A yesterday, meaning they have been removed from the 40-man.
…from what i can tell, the Mets now have five spots open on the 40–man roster…
Cancel had just one at bat with the Mets in 2009; Valdez hit .256 in 41 games; and Reyes had two hits in 17 at bats.
…oh, valdez… that move signaled so much about what has been wrong with the Mets minor-league system… think about it, the farm system was so thin, it offered so few people to fill in for Alex Cora, Omar Minaya had to trade cash to get valdez, a 31–year-old, career .222 hitter…
In September, Joe Janish of Mets Today took at look at minor trades made by Minaya, and where the departing prospects ended up, including players like Jeff Keppinger, Brian Bannister, Heath Bell, Matt Lindstrom, Drew Butera, Mike Carp, Ezequiel Carrera, and Mike Jacobs, among others.
That said, Minaya also traded for Xavier Nady, John Maine, Oliver Perez, Duaner Sanchez, Paul LoDuca, Carlos Delgado, Luis Castillo, J.J. Putz, and Ryan Church, who was traded later for Jeff Francoeur.
…it’s difficult to go back and judge deals, because, you cannot remove context, past valuations, team needs at that time, etc., it’s easy to look back and say, ‘Why did he trade so-and-so,’ but, maybe he had no choice, who knows… however, the important point is, the Mets need to take better care of how they manage the 40–man roster, and from which end of the pool they are making deals, because, it’s a crime to see so many decent, serviceable, young names on that list, and know the Mets had to essentially buy valdez from the Indians, because they had no better, short-term option in the lower levels…
By the way, Carrera, 22, who was traded in the Putz deal, hit .337 with a .441 OBP and 27 stolen bases in 91 games for the M’s in Double-A.
I would add losing Jesus Flores for bupkis to that list. Last time I checked, Bupkis didn’t contribute very much to the major league roster.
Actually, Bupkis started at five different positions for the Mets this season.
You mean Bupkis was all of those shortstops?
~:c)
Janish makes some good points but part of his way of evaluating trades is a bit stupid IMO.
In many cases in his explanation he only seems concerned with what the player we traded for ends up netting in return for us, but ignores the players production. Like Delgado, he says:
“Mike Jacobs, Yusmeiro Petit, and Grant Psomas for Carlos Delgado
Delgado will likely leave this winter as a free-agent — leaving the Mets nothing.”
This is true but what about the 3+ years of monster production we got from Delgado? What was the value of the trade, not what we get when he leaves. Same with Santana, he seems more concerned with what we eventually get back for Santana in some future trade. We didnt get Santana (and pay him $130M) to flip him, we got him to be our ace for 6 years. But these in his mind are “dead end deals”.
I would agree by that theory all trades are bad and pointless as eventually the player is going to leave for another team or retire leaving the team with nothing. In Delgado’s case the Mets got good production and almost to the WS in 2006 in exchange for 2 guys who have done nothing since and a guy in Jacobs who is nothing great. if anything he used Jacobs and cut bait at the right time. He had that big month and Omar turned it into a deal for Delgado. Omar and the Mets are criticized for holding onto guys too long but in that case they sold high.
At any rate, it’s good to see the Mets are prepping the 40 man roster for an overhaul.
The tiniest of silver linings…
I think until now Omar never really put too much stock into the depth of the 40 man roster and really just focused on the 25 guys in the majors which is what led to trading guys like bell and lidstrom who seemed like they had no permanent spot in the majors for pieces he thought would be on the 25 man roster. I sincerely hope he has learned his lesson and knows the importance of depth not just from 1-25 but from 26-40.
I will give you Bell but Lindstrom is nothing more than an average at best middle reliever. His ERA, walks and BA against have increased each of the last 3 years while his strikeouts have declined. He had nearly a 6 ERA this year. If anything I would say Omar sold high on Lindstrom coming off his year in AA where he played well and was getting positive press for his 100 MPH fastball. Yeah he did not get much for him but what do you want for a AA reliever.
Church for Francouer is a good reminder that some trades really do work. Is there anyone out there today who would trade Francouer for Lastings Milledge?
Sorry, hit submit before adding that I can’t figure out how Janisch says that the Mets may non-tender Francouer.
Still on the 40-man roster:
Andy Green, Jack Egbert (who?), and Arturo Lopez (who too?).
In addition to Schneider, Sheffield, Delgado, Tatis, Redding, Dessens, etc, all guys who will be FAs. I´m not sure, but Ramon Martinez might even still be on the roster. So we´re actually at or below 30 guys on the 40man. Not sure what minor leaguers we´ll have to add to protect this offseason.