The Farm and Amateur Acquisition Under Omar Minaya

Good article by Toby Hyde

over 1 year ago Russ 6 comments 1 recs |

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great read thanks Russ

sigh

"Fantasy, reality, science Fiction. Which is which? Who can tell?"

by feslenraster on Oct 5, 2010 5:56 PM EDT reply actions

This is an interesting take by someone who obviously follows this closely...

I had forgotten the general belief that Pedro and Beltran were supposed to be Latin American prospect magnets. While I would not be surprised if their presence created more fans for the team in the Caribbean, in retrospect the idea that fandom would translate to signings seems to be very strange. With the way the draft works, the presence of lots of teams in the Caribbean, and players understandably signing with the team that offers to pay them the most, I’m trying to figure out what the rationale would be for this? I’m stumped.

by MookieTheCat on Oct 5, 2010 9:43 PM EDT reply actions

the only thing I can think of

is that prospects would see certain teams as being friendlier places to play. If you’re a hispanic kid who doesn’t speak any English, you might say “hmm…the Mets have a bunch of latin players, I could fit in there” whereas a team with no latin players might be less appealing.

It makes a little bit of sense – the Dodgers had a much easier time signing black players in the early days of integration than some other teams, both b/c they actively went looking for them (unlike, say, the Red Sox or Yankees), but also b/c black players wanted to play for a team that had a lot of black players already on the roster.

On the flipside, there was active hostility towards black players back then, whereas latin players are pretty widespread across the majors today, so it’s probably nowhere near as big a deal as it was. Also, Negro League stars were more or less ready to step right into the majors, whereas 16 year old hispanic kids are gonna be in the minors for years, and by the time they get up, the Pedro’s and Beltran’s (and Omar’s who brought them there) will possibly be gone.

2009 Did Not Happen

by cjmulrain on Oct 5, 2010 10:59 PM EDT up reply actions

This is the biggest disapointment of the Minaya error

With the amount of money spent during the last 6 years and Omar’s background you would have at least thought our minor leagues would be brimming over by now. Instead of at the very least providing quantity his policies have actually been detrimental as well as idiotic. What little talent we have acquired has been moved too quickly and put in unfamiliar positions to boot all because the 25 is so top heavy in salary. Everything I have ever read about Flores projects him playing anywhere but SS. Now that he is in the FSL why isn’t he learning a position he does project to play up here. Do the Mets still see him as a SS? That would mean once again everyone else is wrong, or Is the plan to have him break into the Majors AND learn a new position at the same time? Looking at the player stats in the Dominican Summer League really makes me sick. Sitting 1 and 2 are two Yankee outfield prospects and not a Met in sight. Of all things that you would reasonably have thought we would be doing well in under Omar would be the kids in the DR. But as bad as that is in Venezuela it’s even worse. The Reds, Rays, Mariners, Cards and pirates can field teams in both the DR and Venezuela, we have no presence there at all. I’m sure there were people beside Omar that liked his plan too, unfortunately they all work for the Phillies, Braves, Marlins, Nationals, Yankees ect.

by t agee on Oct 9, 2010 12:34 PM EDT reply actions

In regards to Wilmer,

he’s still a few years away so why not let him play/learn SS? If his hitting & defense continues to progress, his trade value would increase should they decide to move him. If they don’t, they have a good young SS on their hands.

The sun is up & Kim Ng should be Mets GM.

by Brian. on Oct 10, 2010 2:17 AM EDT up reply actions

It's a moderately tricky business.

If Flores really belongs in, say, the OF, then it’s never to soon to move a guy out there to start getting the first of the hundreds upon hundreds of in game reps he’ll need out there, to work on jumps, routes, positioning, and so on. It’s also the case that if he’s probably going to move off SS, that it’s a damned good idea to find out IF he can, in fact, play the outfield. It may take a season (or more) to figure that out.

If there’s a chance he can stick at SS, with his bat he should be given every chance there, but if there really isn’t, the Mets should find out as soon as reasonably possible what, exactly, his possibilities are.

by Jack Str on Oct 11, 2010 12:03 AM EDT up reply actions