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| photo by Mack Ade |
I was reading some of the Met sites' ranking of the Mets minor leaguers and it got me thinking: The Mets would be nuts to lose David Wright and his sweet inside-out power stroke, assuming of course that he would even consider re-upping with the Wilpons.
They simply cannot replace him: They can't replace him as a third baseman; they can't replace his potential offensive production, and they can't replace him in the hearts and minds of Met fans. The replacement just isn't there.
Of the consensus top ten Met prospects, four are pitchers: Harvey, Wheeler, Familia and Mejia (he of the recent elbow surgery). The rest are Havens (I believe he is the living embodiment of the term 'injury prone'), outfielders Nieuwenhuis, Nimmo, Puello and Legares and some newly drafted pitchers who have yet to prove themselves against pro hitters.
So, while there is much talk in the blogosphere of the newly improved minor league system, much of it just that: Talk. It's not to say that there isn't true improvement, but two things nag. First, an improvement over a system that has given the Mets virtually nothing since Wright/Reyes (with respect to Ike Davis) is akin to the one eyed man in the land of the blind. Second, it seems to me the vast majority of (Met?) prospects slip in the rankings once they've played in the minors. This bodes very poorly for, say, Brandon Nimmo (17 years old and has faced nobody). And by extension anyone the Mets might consider to replace David Wright, since that person is not in not presently in the Mets organization.
I assume the Mets aspire to field a good team one day soon. Well, it seems axiomatic to think that if you want to have a good team then you need good players. And there is quite a difference between a good player such as Wright and anyone the Mets can bring to bear to replace him.
Mr. Kohane,
ReplyDeleteYou make several excellent points, and articulated them well.
I wholeheartedly agree with you. Losing Wright's bat, glove and overall presence would set them back for years to come on the field and as for the fan-base, after losing Reyes in '12, losing Wright in '13 or before would re-open a wound that might not close for a generation.
It is exciting to have guys like Ike and Daniel Murphy on the rise, but these guys alone are not enough. Reyes and Wright are guys you build a team around. Reyes is gone. Lose them both and the team is a house of cards hoping a strong wind does not this way blow.