Reese Kaplan -- Is Playing "Steinbrenner" the Only Approach to Take?

We’re moving another day closer to the projected start of a regularly timed spring training workout session beginning next month.  The Mets still have unsettled business which must be resolved, but they have made strides towards improving defense with the acquisitions of Francisco Lindor and James McCann.  They have filled one of the pitching rotation vacancies with Carlos Carrasco and one of the bullpen gaps with Trevor May.  Yes, at this point they’re still a bit short in the pitching department, nothing has been done about center field and nothing has been declared a permanent solution at third base, but lots of pots are in the fire and fans are excited, anxious and debating furiously about what the powers that be should do to get ready.

Today let’s not look at the amount of money being spent (or not being spent, depending upon who you believe).  Some fans right here are confident that billionaire owner Steve Cohen would crash right through that payroll limit if he felt the right deal was worth the penalty tax.  Others conditioned to too many years of Wilponia believe the stories in the media about not doing that.  The truth may be somewhere in between.  The plan could be to stay under the spending threshold but you never say never if the right opportunity comes along. 

What concerns me is that the Mets acknowledged that their minor league system is not exactly chock full of hot prospects, but some of their actions already have included dealing away a pair of the more highly regarded youngsters in order to improve the team.  No one is saying that the deal made for Francisco Lindor was a bad one.  No, no one is saying that.  However, what are the Mets going to do in the near future when they had hoped some of the lower minor leaguers would ascend up the ladder to help the big club?

Right now the AA and AAA teams are somewhat barren of players that are in the top of the prospect draft lists.  The Mets’ better teenagers are further down the growth path and dealing them away could make that problem worse instead of better.   

Obviously, improving the draft and expanding scouting to include international options from beyond Central and South America will help in that regard.  The Wilpon dynasty seemed disinterested in considering that baseball existed outside of these contiguous prospect development zones.  There are new sheriffs in town now, but Sandy Alderson existed under the geographically and financially constrained former powers.  To me he’s in a position where he needs to prove it to the fans and the media that he can flex his creative thinking muscles beyond where they were previously dormant.

Another option for the Mets to make would be later in the year trading away expiring contracts or players about to hit free agency to fill the minor league coffers with more highly regarded wannabe major leaguers.  That avenue is often frowned upon when you give away Player A and all you got back were “a bunch of unproven minor leaguers!”  Isn’t that what the other clubs are doing to the Mets when they obtain the Queens would-be major leaguers as parts of the trades they made under the Wilpons and now under the Cohen regime?

I’m not a strong advocate of buying a pennant.  I prefer building for one.  This approach is not only about paying for the top free agents or extending high-dollar contracts to players that other clubs can no longer afford to pay.  It’s also about reinforcing the quality of future players in the minors.  Watch what happens in Atlanta, in Los Angeles, in Houston, in Washington, in Pittsburgh and other places where they seem to find multiple viable options from their own minor league systems instead of simply playing Steinbrenner.