1. Insurance Policies – A baseball insurance policy is what Dillon Gee was last year. He’s a guy that doesn’t quite qualify for a starting role in Queens, but it’s nice to have him in the system in case the person that is blocking him, goes down.
The current Mets have a nice nucleus of young starters, especially in the infield. Ike Davis, Daniel Murphy, Justin Turner, Jose Reyes, and David Wright could be around in a Mets uniform for many more years, but the past have proven anybody can hit the DL at any time.
The Mets have quietly developed some good secondary prospects that are sitting in AAA awaiting an emergency phone call. 1B/3B/OF Nick Evans, 2B/3B/1B Josh Satin, SS/2B Ruben Tejada, and 3B Zach Lutz may never make it to Cooperstown, but they are quality fill-ins which is tantamount to the success of a baseball franchise.
In addition, former prospects 1B Allan Dykstra and OF Mike Baxter have been added to the system which, if nothing else, will bring in the fans in your minor league stadiums.
2. The Beltran Trade – This one is simple. The Mets traded a veteran star that was going to bolt at the end of the season for one of the top pitching prospects in the business. P Zack Wheeler immediately became the #2 Mets prospect, behind Matt Harvey, and made a projected 2013 rotation of Harvey, Wheeler, Jon Niese, Jefrry Mejia, and Jeurys Familia something to drool over.
3. Over-slot Draftees – Have you ever listened to the MLB draft? Of course, I do every year and the one thing I have gotten used to every year was hearing the announcer begin naming the player the Mets just picked by saying: “re-draft… number…”. This is the worst thing you can hear during a draft because it means your team just drafted someone that was drafted before, in an earlier draft, but didn’t sign. The majority of these guys aren’t the ones that make the headlines, though they are easier to sign.
Now, you never hear this you your team just picked a high school prospect that’s going to cost you over-slot money to sign. We Mets followers aren’t used to see this happening to much over the last decade.
Well, things have changed this year under Sandy Alderson. The Mets first two picks were OF Brandon Nimmo, and RHP Michael Fulmer, both of which were in most top 50 prospect lists. What makes this different for the Mets are the fact that these two are highly sort after high school kids that you just don’t draft unless you are going to pay them a bonus larger that the slotting system says this pick is worth.
Fulmer is signed and Nimmo will be and they both immediately become two of the top twenty Mets prospects in the system.
4. Pre-season DFA’d Guys - Everybody wants to find a Justin Turner before your season begins. And every team signs at least five guys that have been around the block and could prove out to be a gem move in the future.
Alderson added another gem when he picked RP Pedro Beato in the Rule V draft. Beato has become a mainstay in the Queens pen and is also a candidate for the 2012 closer.
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