Good Morning –
A lot of things changed
when Steve
Cohen plucked down a couple of billion for the Mets. And I’m
not talking players.
It took a while for General
Manager/Manager things to get back in working order and the quality of the coaching
staff is still in question, but internally, a lot has improved on this team
since Fred and Ethen ruled the roost.
Increased scouts and
cross-checkers… a huge increase in analytical personnel… improvements at the
affiliates and facilities… the famous “lab” at the St. Lucie complex…
One area that has always
bothered me was the almost total disrespect that the Wilpon organization had for Latin development. Sure, they would give out a seven-figure bonus to an Amed Rosario ($1,75mil)
or Francisco
Alvarez ($2,700,000), but most turned out to be the quality of Alex Ramirez ($2.05mil),
Fernando
Martinez ($1,400,000) or Juan Urbina ($1.2mil).
More importantly, these dollar figures were far lower than teams like the Dodgers, Astros, Padres, and the Yankees would dish out to the top kids that year. While the Mets were paying out around a mil for the 30th top prospect, teams like those were paying twice and three times that for the cream of the crop.
Remember… this doesn’t
work like the domestic draft. Here, the prize goes to the team that writes
the top check.
The Wilpons were a domestic
draft organization and turned a blind eye to the majority of top talent that
came out of other countries, especially Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.
And then came Steve Cohen.
It took him awhile to catch on here. People around him started to point out to him how simply stupid the Mets have been in this area. I’m sure his Latino wife had a word or two on this subject. Whatever the turning point was is unspoken, but it came before the 2023 signing period. It was then that Mets realized the sting of losing slots in the domestic draft could be immediately offset with signing the cream of the Latin market that year. Plus, you get the prospect 3-4 years under your belt before someone going to a domestic college.
You own em’… you develop them at your pace… no aggressive college manager who throws the pitch count away at playoff time… and a bitchin’ lab in Florida to play with.
And with that… poof… out
goes the archaic Wilpon system and in comes one that determines the value of a
prospect by their talent, rather than their nationality.
And…
What do you wind up?
2023 – C Daiverson Gutierrez –
($1.9mil)
2025 - A+:
327-AB, 53-BB, .242/,362/.309/.671
2024 – C Yovanny Rodriguez –
($2.85mil)
2025 – DSL: 136-AB, .331/.446/.493/.939
OF Edward Lantiqua –
($950mil)
2025 – FCL: 153-AB, 33-BB, .288/.433/.399/.832
SS Yensi Rivas - ($500K)
2025 - DSL: 138-AB, 23-SB, .261/.378/.312/.690
2025 – SS Elian Pena –
($5mil)
2025 – DSL: 178-AB, 9-HR, 36-BB, .292/.421/.528
2026 – SS Wandy Asigen –
($3.9mil)
OF Cleiner Ramirez – ($1.3725mil)
Six real good baseball
players to add to your already good crop of domestic prospects.
I expect this will be
the norm in the future.
9 comments:
Very true. And let’s not forget this guy, who was always hurt and never did squat:
a $1.5 million signing bonus with D.R. shortstop Gregory Guerrero.
He hit .227 in less than 800 ABs over 5 seasons. Only 49 of his ABs were as high as St Lucie. 37 errors, too. Complete bust.
word is there are two more studs that are coming aboard for 2027
That is good news for 2027 duo
I wonder why it’s always position player to get so much money. Don’t they ever find the stud pitching prospect at young ages?
Pitching is difficult to project when you are analyzing 14-15 year olds
It seems to me that the plan going forward is to pick off the top pile from now on.
Better odds you snag a couple of good ones
Zozo, it seems like a total crap shoot on most international Latino pitchers. ERAs in the DSL are so inflated. Against lousy hitters. Some DSL AND ASL pitchers go on to become major leaguers, but it seems to me like a crap shoot mostly.
Can I be the a-hole that asks how paying over a mil is being cheap? How much did the Brewers pay Made, or Chourio? How much did the Rays pay Camminaro, or or the kid that married the 14 year old (forgot his name)? My point is that evaluation was more a culprit than the payout.
The eval always is
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