Mike's Mets - Prospecting for Gold

 

By Mike Steffanos

The Mets' top prospects are having a productive spring training. The toughest challenges still lie ahead.

God help me. Did the Post's Joel Sherman really grab for the clickbait gusto, dipping his ladle into the tired waters of the Jarred Kelenic well yet again? Tragically, yes. Although Kelenic's struggles — and the terrific season Edwin Díaz enjoyed in 2023 — have combined to dim the usefulness of this story recently, Sherman assures us that the deal can still turn out to be a big winner for Seattle. After all, back in 2020, Sherman actually compared Brodie Van Wagenen's folly with the Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi deal, as if young Kelenic was Cooperstown-bound before he even took a major league AB. Joel's most recent piece didn't go quite that far, but I can't believe he's still trying to get some mileage from this stale saga.

I elected not to link to the piece from Monday's Post, as I am unwilling to contribute to the clicks for which it is so obviously trolling. I'm just done playing this game with the local pundits. Joel Sherman is one of the finest baseball writers in the country, but he can feel free to just suck citrus when he serves up something like this. Better yet, just go back to writing about the Yankees. Seriously, this sh*t is getting so freaking old. With everything going on with the Mets this spring, Joel Sherman chooses to write about a deal made under previous ownership by a GM who has already had two successors?

Here's a memo for any writer who feels the need to chase clicks with this tired old saga: I am among the majority of Mets fans who are happy with Edwin Díaz. To his credit, the Mets' closer has won the fans over. Edwin is an integral part of the fabric of this ball club. Jarred is a Seattle Mariner. This damn trade is ancient history. It happened more than five years ago. Whatever swing change Kelenic has made that might help him fulfill his promise does not merit my attention as I do not desire to relentlessly live in the past, nor am I a Mariners fan. Move on, folks. Nothing to see here.

Back in the bad old days — the Fred and Jeff era — writing about a talented ballplayer that got away was an effective way to troll Mets fans, myself included. Our team's roster usually just wasn't good enough to genuinely compete for the playoffs. Letting a talented future Major Leaguer go was an irredeemable tragedy. Apparently, the local pundits failed to get the memo that things have changed since November 2020. No matter how it turns out for Jarred Kelenic, the Mets will be just fine without him. I feel comfortable knowing that Steve Cohen's club will do what is necessary to field a competitive roster. Obsessively looking backward at (perhaps) a mistake made seems so much part of the old way of being a Mets fan.

Beyond my momentary annoyance with the piece, it made me appreciate how things have changed around the Mets these last few seasons since Steve Cohen took over. Whoever you happen to think "won" the trade that brought Díaz and Robinson Canó to Queens, it undoubtedly didn't reflect a good process on the part of the Mets.

I've gone into this before. I'm not against trading prospects. It's something that winning clubs have to do. But a successful club really needs to understand the actual value of their own prospects — not only which to keep and which to deal, but also when to trade them. Holding on to Jarred Kelenic one more year would have seriously increased his value to the Mets as a trade chip. The same thing happened with Pete Crow-Armstrong during Zack Scott's brief run calling the shots. Pete would have been worth much more in a deal if they held onto him for one more year rather than shipping him out for Javier Báez.

Particularly in the last couple of years, the Mets have made massive organizational changes in player development. Beyond the obvious importance of transforming some of these raw, talented kids into future Mets, having the right people evaluating these kids will ensure the best possible judgments in the value of who the Mets deal away. We'll be much less likely to see a talent like Crow-Armstrong, currently ranked 28th in MLB.com's Top 100, traded out for a 2-month rental. Another in the Top 100, Endy Rodriguez (55), was part of the 3-team trade for Joey Lucchesi — before the Mets really knew what they had. Having regrets about a player traded away will always be part of the game, of course, but a better internal evaluation process will help limit these mistakes in the future.

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