Castillo Deal Has Trickle-Down Effect on Mets' Minors

By John Mackin Ade
Posted Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Forget who the Mets got in this deal. The important thing to us minor league junkies is how this affects the current rosters of the minor league teams.

Nothing in this trade directly affects the AAA New Orleans team, though it seems to insure that the demotion the other day of Anderson Hernandez to New Orleans will be a permanent one.

Loss of C Drew Butera:

First of all, as of Monday night, here are the players listed on the current rosters:

New Orleans: Robinson Cancel Shawn Wooten

B-Mets: Rafael Arroyo Jose A. Reyes (IR)

St. Lucie: Teddy Dziuba Mike Nickeas Sean McCraw

Savannah: Francesco Pena Tony Maccani

2 of these just were reassigned yesterday as an after effect of the Butera trade. Sean McCraw was promoted to St. Lucie last night and Savannah received the reassigned Tony Maccani, who was on the New Orleans roster. Expect either Dziuba or Nickeas to be sent to the B-Mets before the end of the week. Hell, before the end of the day!

The important thing is to realize just how thin the Mets are for potential catching prospects and talent.

The only true ‘prospect’ at this point is 17 year old Francesco Pena, who, in my opinion, needs another good year of A ball to mature in. Next to him, McCraw is the closest thing the Mets have to a 2nd prospect and, since both are in A ball this year, there obviously is no future Mers catcher coming out of the system until possibly 2011. That’s long past when Paul LoDuca goes away.

Conclusion: The loss of Drew Butera only makes it more evident that the Mets must find the replacement for Paul Lo Duca through either a trade or free agency. It is far too early to predict the success of either Pena or McCraw, Joe Hietpas is now a pitcher, Nickeas has been a huge disappointment, Dziuba has never gotten any sizable at bats to determine his value, Reyes has a nice name, and Arroyo is an organizational player.

Loss of OF Dustin Martin

New Orleans: Chip Ambres Corey Coles Jesus Feliciano Ben Johnson Ricky Ledee

B-Mets: Jamar Hill Fernando Martinez Miquel Negron Caleb Stewart

St. Lucie: Ender Chavez Amb Concepcion Sean Henry Ignacio Medrano

Savannah Elvis Cruz Joe Holden Brahiam Maldonado
Jonathan Sanchez D.J. Wabick

This is obviously not accurate and will be updated in the next 24 hours.

The important thing to remember is that the top 3 Mets regular day prospects are all outfielders. Two (Lastings Milledge and Carlos Gomez) have made it to Shea this year, and Fernando Martinez will be closely behind them latest 2009. Add to that Carlos Beltran’s contract, and the Mets do not need another outfielder out of the system until approximately 2012, if not later.

Past those 3, the closest thing the Mets had to an OF prospect was Martin, but he never stood a chance to start every day at Shea. Right now, in my opinion, the closest thing the Mets have to another OF prospect would be Savannah’s Brahiam Maldonado, who is having a wonderful year at 21 years old.

Conclusion: Dustin Martin, like Corey Coles, Caleb Stewart, and Maldonado, are just trade bait waiting to be packages in a deal for a position player needed in Queens. The Mets do not need future outfielders for a long time, so anyone for one of these guys is a good deal.