Mets: Camden Maron , Juan Urbina , 1962, David Wright, Fred Wilpon

1-11-12 -  MMO  47.  Camden Maron (C) The Mets drafted Maron in the 34th round of the 2009 draft out of Hicksville High School (NY). Having grown up an avid Mets fan, he probably felt like he hit the lottery. After the way he played last season, the Mets are just as happy to have him on board. A promising catcher who has some defensive game to build upon, Maron is very good at blocking balls in the dirt, and has good footwork, a quick release, and a strong, accurate throwing arm. At 6’1″, Maron is a lefty hitter, who at times can be a bit of a hacker, but is very aggressive at the plate, and shows good power to all fields. Last year as the number one catcher on the Kingsport Mets, Maron got 201 AB’s, and had a slash line of .318/.434/.413, with 3 HR’s and 24 RBI’s. His OBP was so high because of his K/BB ratio, which was: 34/38. Definitely raw, and a work in progress, the organization loves this kid and has high hopes for him in the future. 2012 will be a very telling year for Maron, as he may very well have the inside track on the starting catcher job at Savannah next year.

http://seedlingstostars.com/2012/01/14/top-100-prospect-snubs-nl-east/#more-3170 - LHP Juan Urbina–Urbina pitched well in Rookie ball as an 18-year-old, and he gets good scouting reviews, but neither his stats nor his reports are strong enough to justify ranking such a raw, far-away pitcher in the top 100.

Buried deep in the epic futility, Casey Stengel’s riotous one-liners and the feel-good rebirth of National League baseball in New York in 1962, there are lessons for today’s Mets, or at least for Met fans. As the club and its faithful brace for rebuilding, it’s worth remembering that no matter how bad it gets this year, the 2012 Mets are unlikely to equal what happened on the field 50 years ago, when their first team was their worst team. “The great thing about baseball is that it’s a new game every day, which is a lot different than a lot of things in life,” says Jay Hook, the pitcher who got the first win in Met history. “I never thought we were as bad as we turned out to be. I thought every time we went out, we had a shot at winning.”  http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/today-mets-bad-remember-1962-mets-casey-stengal-richie-ashburn-marv-throneberry-article-1.1006140?localLinksEnabled=false

photo by Mack Ade

David Wright said Friday that he has not spoken with Fred Wilpon since the CEO called to apologize. He remains respectful toward his employers, who believe the impeding sale of several minority shares will help pay off a $40 million bridge loan from Bank of America and a $25 million loan from Major League Baseball. “Do I wish that Fred wouldn’t have said those things?” Wright said. “Of course. But I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. …That family has done a tremendous amount — I’m able to do things like this because of that family http://www.nj.com/mets/index.ssf/2012/01/mets_david_wright_surrounded_b.html

photo by Michael G. Baron

Johan Santana was the latest member of the Mets’ organization to step up and promise nothing for 2012, cautiously navigating a conference call Thursday that sounded a lot like the words spoken from the front office to the farthest reaches of the clubhouse. No promises. No expectations. But Thursday, one person spoke up with high hopes, perhaps the most unlikely member of the organization to declare a positive outlook. It was the principal owner, Fred Wilpon. http://www.northjersey.com/sports/pro_sports/baseball/137368688_Mets_principal_owner_keeping_the_faith.html