AAA: Ruben Tejada (.278/.333/.356/.689) was supposed to play this season at second, but he has returned to shortstop for some internal reason, leaving AAAA players Russ Adams (.271) and Alex Cintron (.213) to handle the duties so far this year.
AA: Three organizational players, Hector Pellot (.194), Jonathan Malo (.250), and Jose Coronado (.227) have split time here.
A+: A lot of excitement early here with Jordany Valdespin (.300/.327/.480/.807) but he went down with a broken thumb. Josh Satin (.296) continues to only play as the DH, because heavy-bonus money prospect Reese Havens (.308) is now back and also playing second
A: This is Alonzo Harris’ (.268) job to lose this year, with Luis Rivera (.115), and Rylan Sandoval (.115) behind him in utility roles.
Extended Camp: Kyle Suire, Ignacio Medrano, Marshall Davis, Yucary De La Cruz, and Ray VanGurp
Disabled List: Valdespin
2010 Outlook:. I wouldn’t look for any changes in Queens this season. The combination of Castillo and Cora is the plan.
2011 and Beyond Outlook: Castillo will be paid $6mil by the Mets for the 2011 season, but it’s a toss-up at this point if he’ll actually play in Queens next year. I would have said that Tejada had a very good chance to be the second baseman next year, but that would have been after a full year at AAA mastering the position. The good news here is the fact that Tejada is a defensive genius (currently leading the International League in fielding percentage) who, I’m sure, can make the conversion from short to second, but these things don’t happen over night.
Add to this the probability that Murphy might play most of the remaining AAA games at second, and this makes one wonder what the heck is the future for Tejada?
I’m trying to think like the Mets brass here and my guess is Tejada has more trade appeal than Murphy and the Mets may keep Castillo for his last year, and use Murphy as both the utility second and first baseman.
Assuming everone finishes the year as they have been playing so far, I look for Havens to elevate to AAA in 2010, while Valdespin goes to AA. The current long range plan seems to be to let Havens and Murphy battle it out for this job.
As in the past, the future of this position remains undetermined.
Overall, there's a lot of talent in the system involving this position, but no one has stepped up yet at an increased level that is needed to become a full time major league baseball player.
On The Bubble:
Satin, who has proven he can hit at all levels he has played so far, is odd man out. Look for him to continue playing DH.
Overall Organizational Rating:
C
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