Reese Kaplan -- Harvesting Homegrown Talent

With all of the stellar pitching complemented by rental players, the Mets find themselves atop the Eastern Division of the National League as they head into the September home stretch. The team is comprised of a blend of homegrown talent, trades and free agent/waiver-wire acquisitions. Reading Tom Brennan's minor league coverage got me to thinking about who were the best players to come up through the Mets farm system. Towards that end I present you the all homegrown Mets team:

1B

Your contenders here include John Milner, Ed Kranepool, Dave Magadan and incumbent Lucas Duda. While Kranepool has longevity, Duda's career .248 AVG is not much of a standout, though I'd still rather have him there than the .280 singles hitter Dave Magadan was.

2B

Here you have three very strong contenders (well, two and one sentimental favorite). Edgardo Alfonzo would be my choice for both offense and defense, as well as the power that developed later in his career. Daniel Murphy is a touch better with the batting average. Wally Backman was fun to watch but never provided more than singles and doubles.

SS

While Bud Harrelson may have the longevity, but there's no question that Jose Reyes is the best shortstop the system ever produced.

3B

The Captain stands alone here. David Wright will own nearly every Mets offensive record by the time he's done (not to mention Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers).

C

Again, you have a defense-only player with great longevity in Jerry Grote, the PED-fueld power of Todd Hundley and the “run-tbrough-a-wall” competitiveness of John Stearns. The Bad Dude is my choice. How many catchers can hit for power and steal a base, too?

LF

Gil Hodges may disagree with me, but Cleon Jones posted some nice batting averages during his Mets tenure (including his .340 campaign during the 1969 World Championship year.

C.

Here's a dogfight with some good contenders. For awhile both Lenny Dykstra and Mookie Wilson platooned with one another out there. Lee Mazzilli had some solid seasons playing CF as did Jay Payton. Still, I'd have to go with Mookie whose baserunning was the most electric the Mets had seen prior to the arrival of Jose Reyes. Then of course, there's that whole, “It gets by Buckner” moment, too.

RF

Another nearly unanimous vote here, the big man Darryl Strawberry brought respectability to the Mets for what he did on the playing field. He was the kind of player like Dave Kingman before him that would cause everyone to stop what they were doing when he came to the plate because the possibility of a long ball was always bubbling just under the surface.

SP

The Mets have done a spectacular job with starting pitchers throughout their club's history, starting with Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman, then Jon Matlack, Doc Gooden, even Craig Swan. Lately you have three years of Matt Harvey that is the same sentence as Seaver and Gooden plus with more time you would probably have to include Jacob de Grom as well.

RP

Now the Mets have had the habit of trading away some of their bullpen arms before they flourished. These names would include Jeff Reardon, Rick Aguilera, Neil Allen and Randy Myers. An injury-shortened career by future pitching coach Bob Apodaca merits consideration, as does another future pitching coach in Roger McDowell. While he was both a starter and reliever, Terry Leach did yeoman's work for the Mets during his career. One name that will get me pilloried for including it here is perhaps the most hated pitcher this side of Mel Rojas and Oliver Perez – Doug Sisk. Yes, he would be known to walk the ballpark, but you can't take away from him his rather gaudy numbers – 17-16 record, 33 saves and a 3.10 ERA over 6 years. Still, my nod goes to the ageless Jesse Orosco who finished his Mets career with 107 saves even though he was not always the closer.

Manager

Gil Hodges would be my choice, though cases could be made for Davey Johnson and Bobby Valentine as well.

What do you all think?