On Deck

New York Mets Organizational Report

With all of the recent activity in Major League Baseball I thought it would be appropriate to take an indepth look into the New York Mets Minor League system via an artice by Kevin Czerwinski on MinorLeagueBaseball.com.

Trading Block

Thome to the White Sox for Rowand

The world champion Chicago White Sox agreed to acquire first baseman Jim Thome and $22 millon for center fielder Aaron Rowand and two pitching prospects. The deal is pending both players passing physicals as well as Major League Baseball approving the deal as more than $1M is changing hands.

Rowand, 28, is exactly the center fielder that that Phillies have been searching for over the last several years. Rowand set career highs in 2004 by hitting .310 with 24 hrs and 69 RBI. He will now become the everyday center fielder with promising young slugger Ryan Howard becoming the full time first baseman.

Thome, 35, has been hampered by injuries over the past three seasons, but is the left handed power that the White Sox lacked during their title run. Thome also serves as an insurance policy in case free agent Paul Konerko departs. The void in center field will be filled by speedster Scott Podsednik moving from left to center with rookie Brian Anderson a chance in left field.

Box Seats

Are the Mets mortgaging the future to win now?

As a long time Mets fan, I have to be honest that Omar Minaya's spending habits scare me. I am concerned that the Mets second year GM has adopted the "Win Now" strategy made famous by big market, big bank account teams like the Yankees, Red Sox & Dodgers. While I understand all of the dynamics about fielding a championship caliber team that must constantly compete for the headlines, merchandise and demographics as the Yankees I can't help but think that Mets are destined to repeat mistakes of the past.

Please let me explain. I'm a proponent of developing talent within your organization via international scouting, the amateur draft and trades, not by puchasing your entire team on the free agent market like an ebay free-for-all.

The Carlos Delgado for Jacobs & Petit trade addresses an obvious void at firstbase for the Mets, surely a postive. The negative here is that the Mets have once again skimmed off the top layer of talent pool from their organization in prospects Yusmeiro Petit, 21, and Mike Jacobs, 25, to acquire the 33 year old Delgado. While Jacobs & Petit may never be the second coming of Babe Ruth or Cy Young, they are young talented players who are low on the salary scale. These types of players are essential building blocks when constructing a championship team. The Mets have big name players are almost every spot on the field and in the rotation, but how many role players do they have? Not enough. Is Delgado the final key to a World Series appearance or merely another piece to the playoff run? I sure hope for the Mets sake its the former and not the latter......

Locker Room

Mets acquire Carlos Delgado for two prospects

In the grand scheme of things, I guess its choosing the lesser of two evils. It would have been nice to have Manny, but even with all of the negatives in areas such as his health and attitude Delgado is the big lefty bat that the Mets have lacked since Strawberry started smoking crack.

I am lukewarm on the prospect exchange. From my perspective, right now Jacobs is nothing more than a role player who could be exciting in the future. The Mets could not wait to see what could be with Jacobs so he off to Florida to platoon with 950 year old Jeff Conine at firstbase.

There are varying options on Yusmieiro Petit as many scouts have given him the "Can't Miss Prospect" label. However, from my perspective, Petit, 21, is a strong #3 or solid #2 starter as best. If minor league stats are any indicator, then I maybe right. He was 9-3 with a decent 2.91ERA at Class-AA Binghamton which made GM's across baseball drool. However, in three starts at Class-AAA Norfolk, he went 0-3 with 9.30ERA.

Maybe its not a fair to evaluate Petit over three starts or Jacobs on his role play during 2005. The bottom line is that Petit and Jacobs are young, low salaried talent that every team needs to fill the invaluable "role player" position.

Moving forward the Mets need to address their void at closer and sign the playoff experienced Billy Wagner or, the next-Wagner BJ Ryan. I hope they opt for the real Wagner. Also, the second base void needs to be addressed with a top of the lineup guy like Furcal. Catcher, in my opinion, is less of a need because Ramon Castro is serviceable. However, if the Mets are have no spending limit they would be wise to pursue Benji Molina due to his ability to call a good game and handle a pitching staff.

Finally, the Mets need to learn from the successes of other organizations and bring up Lastings Milledge to play RF and let him just develop. Bat Milledge in the 8th spot and bring him along slowly similar to David Wright two years ago......