Reese Kaplan -- A Mix of In-House With Quality Players

One of the main criticisms during Brodie Van Wagenen's tenure as the Mets GM is his propensity to trade away pieces from the minor league system in order to sure up the major league roster.  With the exception of the deal for J.D. Davis (think 2019, not 2020), these machinations have not worked very well.  To hear Mets fans talk about it, they are alarmed at the bankrupting of the development system to obtain, in most part, mediocre players.

 

If you look down the roster of players currently on the Mets, there's an interesting trend that few point out.  Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Dom Smith, Brandon Nimmo, Michael Conforto, Amed Rosario, Andres Gimenez and Luis Guillorme are all from the Mets' supposedly barren minor league hierarchy.  Throw in some of the pitchers, too, like Jacob deGrom, Seth Lugo, Jeurys Familia and even the seemingly lost Steven Matz.  There has been fulfillment on that side of the roster, too.  

 

So going forward, many were in disagreement with me that developing and enhancing the minor league system was a good idea.  After all, isn't it easier simply to spend your way to the top?  How well did that work out for the Yankees?  For every acquisition that does well such as free agent Pedro Martinez or traded Johan Santana, there are countless other examples of the Jason Bay, Bobby Bonilla, Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo, Rick Porcello or Joe Foy types who didn't exactly spell success upon donning the blue and orange.  

 

The point was raised that a successful team must have both a mix of homegrown, low-cost talent and name ballplayers of the All Star caliber who, unfortunately for the profit margin, come at a much higher cost.  There is some truth to that sentiment, but there are also teams who seem to cultivate player after player from within and enjoy five plus years of low cost productivity.  Look at teams like the Tampa Bay Rays, Houston Astros, San Diego Padres and Minnesota Twins.  Now some of these ballclubs trade them away when they threaten to become too costly, while others embrace them long term.  Both approaches can work, but instead of shopping at the scratched and dented section of the inventory, good teams know that you need to spend to get the best of the best.

 

Towards that end the Mets most certainly have spent for the likes of in-house solution Jacob deGrom and they're facing the same challenge with final-year-of-team-control Michael Conforto.  Many of the other listed players are still in that accountant's heaven period of controlled cost.  

 

Where the Mets have gone wrong during the Wilpon years is always going after the second tier type players who are costly but not quite as expensive as the better options out there, but still hamstring your budget for the annual cost you've associated with the second (or third) tier talent.  Curtis Granderson was a player many people came to love but he had a very rough year one and still cost the Mets a significant $16 million per year average salary.  Would the club have been better off spending a little more per season for fewer years to hit the same $64 million cost had they gone after a better caliber player?  

 

Look at BVW's acquisitions the past few years in trades and free agency.  Rick Porcello, Michael Wacha, Keon Broxton, Wilmer Font, DFA'd has-beens from other teams...and the trades have generally not been stellar either.  This season Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz performed as they had hoped, but at first this trade seemed like a total bust with no upside whatsoever.  

 

So going forward what will be the Steve Cohen/Sandy Alderson approach to building the club from perennial loser into regular competitor?  Is it the manager with the lineup pencil?  Is it the poor performances from key players?  Is it trying to turn rough trade into diamonds in the rough?  Obviously things have to be done differently.  The question no one knows for sure is how.