Not Enough On The Farm

By Jack Flynn
Posted Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Sometimes it’s OK to rob Peter to pay Paul.

The New York Mets had a glaring hole in their rotation in the early months of the 2007 off-season. Once Tom Glavine left for Atlanta (giving up another three runs to the Marlins as he got on the plane at LaGuardia), GM Omar Minaya needed to add a durable starter to the mix to provide quality innings for a staff that was otherwise relying on the return of Pedro Martinez to 2005 levels.

The perpetually tight-fisted Minnesota Twins, perhaps sensing the weakness of the market and the eagerness of big market clubs to make a splash, made their young ace Johan Santana available for a multi-player package of high-ceiling prospects. Minaya used patience and persistence to wear the Twins out, acquiring Santana for four players (Carlos Gomez, Philip Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra) that didn’t figure in the Mets’ 2008 plans.

With gain comes loss, however. The four prospects shipped to Minnesota were generally considered among the ten best under New York’s control. The Mets’ farm system, which was no great shakes to begin with, now consisted of Fernando Martinez and a bunch of guys with little to no hope of making a steady big-league paycheck. Most minor league experts tab the Mets’ farm system as among the five worst in baseball today.

Paul was paid, but Peter was officially robbed.

For a team with championship aspirations in 2008, this was not the worst thing in the world. By the time the Santana trade was made there were few available jobs on the 25-man roster for a hot-shot rookie to grab anyway. Every spot in the starting rotation was spoken for, as well as the entire everyday lineup and at least five spots in the bullpen.

There was still a problem, though. It was an old and brittle Mets team that came to camp in mid-February, one relying on too many players to recapture past glory in the face of age, injury or both. Minaya had one more job to do.

The farm system was bereft of young impact players that could spell injured or ineffective veterans, that much was true. But Omar Minaya presides over the richest club in the National League and had the resources to paper over those mistakes. His mission was clear – sign a bunch of veterans looking to hook on with the big club to minor-league deals, tempting them with the promise of extended playing time if and when the Mets were forced to make injury replacements.

Take one look at the roster of the AAA New Orleans Zephyrs, and it’s clear to see that Minaya failed to complete the task.

Of course the job of rebuilding the farm system in earnest begins in June, when Minaya will have two first-round picks in the amateur draft. (The word is that the Mets will be ignoring slot recommendations, welcome news for a franchise with far too much money invested in winning to be worrying about dirty looks from Bud Selig’s underlings.) But the Mets had a chance to patch together some solutions for 2008 and failed to do so, leaving them with a AAA roster completely unequipped to handle injuries or ineffectiveness on the big club.

Sure, there are a few recognizable names on the team. Fernando Tatis should’ve broken camp with the Mets instead of Brady Clark; he hit 34 home runs in 1999 and fell off the map afterwards. Tony Armas, Jr. was once traded for Pedro Martinez and has been in the big leagues for almost 10 years.

But if you’re looking for anyone else who can be of any use of the big club in 2008, you’re out of luck. There are 13 players on the 24-man roster with any big league experience going into the season. Most of them had only the quickest cups of coffee; only Tatis, Armas, Jr. and Shawn Wooten have exhibited anything regarding competence at the big league level at any point in their career.

Perhaps Anderson Hernandez could be a backup middle infielder if Damion Easley falters. Maybe Carlos Muniz is good enough to be the seventh man in the bullpen at some point during the season. Otherwise, the other “veterans” on the New Orleans roster aren’t even good enough to be called Quad-A players. They’re just a bunch of Crash Davis-type baseball lifers who cannot contribute to a pennant-winning caliber club.

The other 11 players currently toiling for New Orleans – the so-called “prospects” without any MLB experience to date – are almost uniformly useless. Six of those players (Michel Abreu, Jesus Feliciano, Victor Mendez, Robert Paulk, Ivan Maldonado and Tim McNab) are all over the age of 27 and have never sniffed a big-league job. Is the jury really still out on the potential usefulness of these guys? Should a team that needs all the depth it can get dedicate 25 percent of its AAA roster to players well past the age of prospect status and have shown no ability to play at the highest professional level?

The Mets have no replacement at first base if Delgado’s struggles continue. Meanwhile, Robert Fick signed a minor league deal with San Diego and was released before the end of Spring Training. He’s still looking for work. Doug Mientkiewicz also signed a minor-league deal with the Pirates and is currently backing up at first and third base.

The Mets lost Ruben Gotay to the Braves because they couldn’t find space for him on the 25-man roster – a decision that still amazes me. Gotay wouldn’t have made it through waivers, but wouldn’t have been forced to do so if the Mets had simply released Clark (the very definition of AAA insurance) or hadn’t committed major-league deals to Easley and Marlon Anderson. Instead, Argenis Reyes is starting at second base for the Zephyrs this season. The Rockies released Marcus Giles in Spring Training and he’s still a free agent – who would be more likely to help the Mets if Castillo got injured?

Bartolo Colon (Boston) and Jeff Weaver (Milwaukee) both signed minor-league deals with organizations that have greater depth at the starter position than the Mets do. Are the Mets gaining anything by having New Orleans run Brian Stokes out as a starter instead of offering minor-league deals to guys like Colon and Weaver? If Pedro or El Duque continue to miss extended periods of time, wouldn’t it be nice to have more insurance than a still-raw Mike Pelfrey or a Cinderella story like Nelson Figueroa?

There are other examples to choose from. Would Kenny Lofton be amenable to a minor-league deal? Jeff Cirillo? Rodrigo Lopez? None of these players would be blocking a prospect at New Orleans and each of them have a better chance of catching lightning in a bottle than the current cast of characters do. Pennants can be won and lost based on the fortunes of one player’s slump, one player’s injury – sometimes even just one game. Veteran teams like the Mets are even more susceptible to such misfortune.

So why isn’t Omar Minaya doing more to protect the Mets from falling victim to ill fates?

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