I May Be Wrong, But… Flores at 1B, SP Beato, New Writers, Top Met Prospects, Lucy Cutbacks

I May Be Wrong, But…  Flores at 1B, SP Beato, New Writers, Top Met Prospects, Lucy Cutbacks

·        Ben Carsley of http://www.nesn.com/2012/01/red-sox-will-middlebrooks-angels-mike-trout-highlight-middle-of-the-road-minor-league-systems.html ranked the Mets as the 18^th top minor league system, saying:

18. New York Mets - Top Prospect: Zack Wheeler, starting pitcher

The Mets' robbing of the Giants in acquiring Wheeler for Carlos Beltran last season was downright criminal, and pairing him with Matt Harvey gives the Mets one of the best one-two starting pitcher punches in the minors. 

Righty Jeurys Familia has upside as well, but may end up in the bullpen. (The Mets would do well to avoid hampering his development the way they did with Jenrry Mejia.) Brandon Nimmo, a 2011 first-rounder, is an exciting prospect, but is at least three seasons away. Wilmer Flores and Reese Havens are the keys for this system –- it's not hard to envision either as All-Stars or out of baseball by 2015.

First of all, I am not familiar with Mr. Carsley, but I have never heard anyone describe a top prospect as being either an all-star or OOB in three years. That just about covered every option.

The Mets have to decide who is going to play first base in Binghamton. With Stefan Welsh gone to Pittsburgh, the door is wide open for either Flores or Jefry Marte.

Wilmer played some second base in winter ball, and the talk is he’s moving over the first this spring. Nobody in the organization confirms these kind of things because they simply are too early to determine. I will tell you that there is basically no more prospect chatter on Marte.  

·         Did talk to someone on Sunday about Toby Hyde’s speculation that Pedro Beato might return to Buffalo come April to begin a spot in the Bisons  rotation.

My guy said Toby is on to something there.

This is a very positive, progressive sign from a management team that continues to keep their blinders on regarding the financial woes of their bosses.

I’ll say it again… you can’t have enough great starters, and, if you wind up with more than you need, you can easily get what you need on other positions by trading your excess.

My guess as of tonight for the Bufallo rotation?

Familia, Schwinden, McHugh, Beato, and Owen. 

·        We got a couple of new writers here at Mack’s Mets:

o   New York Mets pitching prospect, Matthew Budgell, has joined us and is currently working on his first post. He was last year’s 10^th round pick out of Beverly, Mass. 

o   Christopher Soto returns after a short hiatus. 

o   Tim Kinnie  joins us also. He’s an avid Mets fan who dobles as a Traffic Coordinator for Nokia

·        It was interesting to see Kevin Goldstein’s top Mets prospects:

Five-Star Prospects -

1. Matt Harvey, RHP

 2. Zack Wheeler, RHP 

Four-Star Prospects

 3. Jeurys Familia, RHP 

Three-Star Prospects

4. Brandon Nimmo, OF

 5. Juan Lagares, OF

 6. Jordany Valdespin, 2B

 7. Jenrry Mejia, RHP

 8. Reese Havens, 2B

 9. Cesar Puello, OF

 10. Michael Fulmer, RHP

 11. Kirk Nieuwenhuis, OF

It’s scary when someone in this position can’t get a player’s position correct. Valdespin is a shortstop, whose 2011 errors mostly came at second when he was played there. He has since returned to shot where he should have remained.

·        The cutbacks continue in the Mets organization.

Adam Rubin reported that three more staff members were let go from the St. Lucie staff. Does anyone in Queens realize how hard these people work for the miserable amount of money they are paid? Please, go to your local minor league park around 9am on the same day as a night game, and do everything these people do in one day.

And they wonder why people write anonymous posts.