Steve Sica - The Complex Met History of Carlos Beltran

This past Sunday, Carlos Beltran became just the third player in their 64-year-history to go into the Hall of Fame as a Met.

Unlike the previous two players, Tom Seaver and Mike Piazza, who were universally loved by fans and still looked on as Met legends, Carlos Beltran's Met legacy is a little more cloudy.

Beltran came to the Mets in free agency before the 2005 season, after carrying the Astros to the NLCS on the heels of an historic postseason performance. He would join the Mets as they were coming into a new era. A new GM in Omar Minaya, a new Manager with Willie Randolph, and a fellow marquee free agent, Pedro Martinez. This prompted Beltran, during his introductory press conference, to dub them "The New Mets."

Beltran's first year as a Met was pedestrian, at least by his standards. He hit just 16 home runs, 78 RBIs, and had an OPS of .744. It wasn't just his performance on the field that struggled; it was also the start of Beltran's complicated relationship with Met fans. Fans would boo him relentlessly in 2005, as the team did improve from 2004's 71-91 record to 83-79 and played meaningful games in September, but fans felt as if the big free agent signing wasn't living up to the hype.

At the start of the 2006 season, Carlos Delgado and Paul Lo Duca joined Beltran, and with David Wright and Jose Reyes coming into their own, the Met lineup looked poised to take down the 14-time defending NL East Champion Braves. Beltran would have a career year with the Mets, mashing a career-high 41 home runs, 116 RBIs, and putting up an OPS of .982. Good enough to earn an All-Star appearance, a Silver Slugger, and a Golden Glove award, and he would finish fourth in NL MVP voting.

Early on in that season, Beltran's tumultuous relationship with the fans showed up early. After hitting his second home run of the night in an early April win against the Nationals, the fans remained standing and cheering, wanting Beltran to take a curtain call. Still burned by the previous year, Beltran remained seated in the dugout. Julio Franco, a veteran presence on that team, encouraged him to take the curtain call. He did, albeit a half-reluctant one. 

That would be the first in many big moments that he would craft at the plate. He turned boos in 2005, into cheers in 2006. Beltran would be behind several iconic Met moments from that magical 2006 season. A 16th inning walk off home run against the Phillies in May, and his dramatic walk-off home run against the Cardinals in August of that year, when the Mets were down 6-0 at one point in the game.

Unfortunately, two months later, in a much bigger moment against St. Louis, Beltran would strike out looking to end the 2006 NLCS. Many fans remember Carlos Beltran for that moment only. I would argue that was the most devastating playoff loss in Met history. Here was a team that seemed to have the tag of destiny all season long, playing an 83-win Cardinal team at home, and after Endy Chavez's remarkable catch, seemed a lock to reach the World Series and win it on the 20th anniversary of that 1986 championship season.

Blaming Beltran for that loss is not only unfair but an incredibly lazy argument. The man who threw that nasty curveball was Adam Wainwright, who would go on to be one of the best pitchers of the 2010s and will one day join Beltran in Cooperstown. If not for Beltran's performance in that LCS, he put up an OPS of 1.054, the highest on the team, the Mets might've lost to the Cardinals in five games. There are many fingers to point blame at from that playoff series, or maybe the Cardinals, having come off back-to-back LCS appearances of their own, finally cashed in their ticket to a World Championship after two near misses.

Baseball, like life, isn't perfect. In some wonderful alternate universe, Beltran turns around on that Wainwright curveball and sends it over the right field wall at Shea like he did two months prior. Shea Stadium erupts in cheers, and the Mets go on to beat the Tigers and win the World Series. Beltran and those late 2000's teams would've been viewed much differently, and who knows how much changed in that alternate timeline.

Carlos Beltran is still the greatest outfielder in Met history, and Met fans should view him as such. I don't think he'll ever be as beloved as a Mike Piazza or a David Wright, but I hope with this induction into the Hall of Fame and his number 15 forever retired at Citi Field, that fans remember the good times and good moments from a player who loved being here and in his seven years on the team, put up some of the greatest numbers in the Met 64-year history.

Tom Brennan - My Top 10 Mets Minor League Hitters; St Lucie Sightings

 Mets Prospect Corey Collins  

Pictured in His Georgia Days

I don’t frankly care who the heck the Mets’ top 30 prospects are.

I care about who is ACTUALLY GETTING IT DONE.

In that light, here are my top 10 offensive Mets prospects currently:

1) Trey Snyder

Sizzling bat after return from injury.

The Mets signed 5th-round Super Snyder for $1,322,500, $846,300 over slot. That means the slot was $476,200. That means he was signed at 177% over slot. That means he was extremely coveted.

AJ Ewing was signed at only $200,000 over slot. 

Snyder’s over-slot being so much higher means TAKE HIM VERY SERIOUSLY!

2) Elian Peña - quietly very impressive at age 18 in St Lucie.

3) Nick Morabito - solid but not spectacular in AAA, turned 23 in May.

4) Mitch Voit: love the guy. If he played in Greensboro, his #’s would WOW.

  - but he is in Brooklyn, where hits are stolen more than wallets are.

5) Nick Lorusso - not a great, but a decent, AA season, with 16 HR pop.

6) Randy Guzman - 21 y/o missed time with injury; he needs a promotion.

 - In 2025, & thru July 25, 2026, in 140 G, 33 2B, 4 3B, 22 HR, 100 RBI.

 - DANG! TIME TO PROMOTE RANDY!

7) Yovanny Rodriguez - catcher hitting well in the FCL, which is, well, swell.

8) Vladi Gomez - speedy FCL dude. .321 in 54 games, 33 SBs.

9) Corey Collins - awful in May, but OBP over .425 since! Now in AA.

   - Collins might be better than Clifford soon. If not already. Impressive.

   - His Ks? Just 1 per game, hitting .300 from 6/1 thru 7/26. 6th rounder.

10) Aidan Miller - just drafted, no ABs, but I’m making an exception here:

     - He should be a great future Mets hitter. He was ranked 29th overall.

Anyone not on this Top 10 list needs to do better. And/or get healthy.

Remember, they (Mets’ leaders) make the call up and promotion decisions. 

Not yours truly. I merely observe and opine.

But if you’re not in my Top 10 here, you’re probably not in theirs, either.

So…pick up the pace, you non-Top 10 fellas.

And there are FAR TOO MANY FELLAS that need to pick up the pace.

P.S. Reimer is rehabbing, and Asigen is not tearing up DSL pitching yet, so I left both out of this Top 10 PRODUCERS LIST.

P.P.S. I left all strikeout swing kings of the Clifford kind off of this list. 

FREDDY PERALTA AND RICK SUTCLIFFE

Peralta has frankly sucked. 

So did Rick Sutcliffe with the Indians in 1984 before being traded to the Cubs in June 1984.

With the 1984 Indians, he was just 4-5, 5.15 ERA.

With the Cubs the last 3 1/2 months of 1984, he went a stunning 16-1.

Won the Cy Friggin’ Young. Kept the Mets out of the playoffs. 

Moral of story? Don’t just give Peralta away because he has sucked. 

He just might be Rick Sutcliffe II.

THREE ST LUCIE SIGHTINGS, AND MORE

New high draftee Aiden Robbins went 2 for 6 for St Lucie in his pro debut, with 2 RBIs, and Cole Mathis finally played, too, going 0 for 3 with a sac fly.

Clay Holmes threw 4 shutout innings on 59 pitches.  He may be deemed ready to return? Or traded?

In Syracuse, Nick Morabito (.270) had two hits, including his 10th homer, while scoring 3 runs, giving him 61 runs scored, and the hot Ronny Mauricio cracked his 12th homer, knocking in 3. Nate Lavender threw 2 great “I’m ready for the big time” innings, fanning 3.

Lastly, my guy Randy Guzman drove in 2 runs in his Brooklyn debut.

Binghamton and the NY Mets were canceled due to water falling in droplets from the sky.

Reese Kaplan -- The Last Big Selloff Was a Stearns Disaster

I only know of one loyal Mets fan who seems perfectly accepting of all that has been done and not done by the Mets front office while disregarding the outcome of those very poor decisions.  The vast majority of people are reacting like they would in any business environment.  When something doesn’t work a plan evolves to address the issues at hand.  

While all of us somewhere deep inside feel that David Stearns is a solid baseball professional who knows what he’s doing, the fact remains that his decisions have imploded spectacularly and not a damned thing has been done to change the ownership of the cellar despite the season being more than half gone already. 

A great many of us want to go to the other extreme — blowing up the vast majority of the roster and repopulating the team with current and newly obtained minor leaguers who could at least show us people who might evolve into steady performers.  The Mets have allegedly named Nolan McLean, Christian Scott, Zac Thornton, Juan Soto, Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing as untouchable with everyone else available for the right price.  The question now to consider is what return offer would be fair enough to have current Mets changing uniforms.

Think back now to the 2023 sell off and realize that it was not exactly what everyone envisioned when it happened.  The Mets wound up paying $88 million of the remaining contracts for Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.  That’s a lot of coin to expunge players from your current roster unless the returns gotten are significant.

Hmmn....

Well, for Scherzer the Mets got the Rangers to give up Ronald Acuna’s younger brother who has since moved on to the south side of Chicago to bring back another unneeded and expensive player in Luis Robert, Jr.  That didn’t exactly work out spectacularly.

It must have been better for Verlander, right?  Well, in exchange for him the Mets got now former Met Drew Gilbert and slugging strikeout machine Ryan Clifford.  While Verlander has not exactly been the prime time star he once was, it’s pretty safe to say that for the money spent and the one prospect/suspect remaining that the Astros got the better end of that deal, too.

But they were not done.  The Mets also sent stellar reliever David Robertson to the Marlins for a pair of players, Ronald Hernandez and Marco Vargas.  The now 22 year old Hernandez is hitting .221 with 7 HRs and 33 RBIs, not exactly prospective All Star material.  The 21 year old Vargas is slightly north of the Mendoza line but the feedback is that he’s better than what the current numbers are showing.

But they still made more moves.  Tommy Pham went to bring back .228 hitting shortstop Jeremy Rodriguez.  Meh.

Then they sent outfielder Mark Canha off to the Brewers for pitcher Justin Jarvis who has since been released.

Finally they shipped Dominic Leone off to obtain infielder Jeremiah Jackson who is also no longer with the Mets.

So, to recap the Mets spent $88 million and have only Ryan Clifford, Ronald Hernandez, Marco Vargas and Jeremy Rodriguez to show for sending away two potential Hall of Famers in Scherzer and Verlander, plus Robertzon, Pham, Canha and Leone. 

Now fast forward to 2026 and consider what, if anything, should David Stearns do?  He obviously has not had a good track record in midyear selloffs nor did he create a winning roster after last year’s disappointment.  Still, there are a number of players who can and probably should be moved even if the returns are highly unpredictable.  

The only difference this time around is that they have publicly said they are not looking to pay down the current salaries. 

Here’s to wishful thinking.

Guest post: Could the Mets end up with MLB’s #1 Prospect at the Deadline?

< Editor's note: At Mack's Mets, we value the comments from our readers.  They supplement the posts by adding perspective and feedback.  Sometimes, comments are just not enough to tell the whole story.  Today we feature one of our favorite guest commenters THAT Adam Smith with his take on what the Mets can accomplish at the deadline.  Thanks Adam, we are pleased to share your thoughts! >

In this piece, I’m going to argue that instead of selling off their assets piecemeal at the deadline, adding maybe a dozen non-elite prospects to their system, David Stearns should package three of their prime assets plus a solid prospect of their own (think Jack Wenninger), to bring in a consensus elite MLB prospect - someone that doesn’t make you squint to see a future all-star - at a position of long-term need.

Someone who will be part of this core and an excellent bet to make the team appreciably - not marginally - better for years to come.  

I’m going to make the case that the Mets should target - and that the Brewers would seriously listen on - MLB’s pre-season #1, and BA’s current #3 prospect, 19 year-old 2B/SS Jesús Made, currently OPS’ing .788 in AA Biloxi. 

If your first reaction to this is “You’re insane. The Brewers would never do that!" Any package for a top-5 prospect in baseball would need to start with (Ewing! Benge! name your untouchable) feel free to skip down a few paragraphs where I explain why the Brewers in particular would think long and hard about making such a deal.

There are several other consensus elite prospects, possibly including in Milwaukee’s system - which is absolutely loaded - that could be targeted with a similar package. My main point is that Stearns could, and absolutely should, take a home run swing by packaging assets for a potential long-term all-star, rather than “improving the system” with a larger number of non-elite prospects out of a bunch of individual deals.

David Stearns doesn’t usually reveal much in his media availabilities, but this FO told us exactly who they are - or at least who they hope to be - when they leaked those five untouchable names. 

Ewing (21), Benge (23), McLean (turns 25 today as I write this), Scott (27) and Soto (27).  

Lindor will be here or not. The three no-longer-Baby Mets will be here or not. Any other prospect could conceivably be here or not. Each is more or less “touchable”, but none of them have cemented themselves as part of the future this FO envisions. 

Ewing, Benge, McLean, Scott, and Soto. We build around that.

Pretty good. And while it’s not enough to start dreaming about years-long playoff runs and multiple rings, it is the beginnings of a core that the organization clearly 100% believes in, and guys who the fans like and are buying into. 

So the outfield is set, at least until Soto gets off his feet. And while he’s the eldest of this group, and several years ahead of his OF-mates, he’s likely to transition to full-time DH as time goes on, so there’s every reason to believe that he’ll be here terrorizing opposing pitching for the next 8-10 years, long after the others will have re-signed (hopefully) or moved on.

They’ve got time to decide about Alvarez long-term behind the plate. But there are short-timers at 1B, 2B, and 3B. Lindor, if he’s here, is likely to move off SS in the next few years. And always, always, you need more pitching.  There will be offseason trade possibilities and a (weak in ‘27 hopefully better in ‘28) FA market to try and fill one or more of those needs long or short-term with proven big league talent. 

But in a strong seller’s market, with a multitude of assets, and prospects the coin of the realm at deadline time, Stearns’ #1 job should be to do whatever it takes to add at least one potential all-star caliber player to that core to coincide with Benge and Ewing’s timeline.

Enter Jesús Made (Mah-day) 

Jesús Made just turned 19 in May. He’s a 6’1, 220 lb. 5-tool switch-hitting infielder who hits equally well from both sides. Despite his build, evaluators believe he should stick at SS. Made is currently playing at AA Biloxi boasting a .788 OPS with 14 2B, 5 3B, 10 HR and 27 SB in 334 AB, while striking out just 14.5% of the time in a league where he’s nearly 5 years younger than the average player.  

He’s not there yet, he probably needs another year, and he hasn’t even entirely conquered the AA level. There’s still risk, as with any prospect - but there’s a reason evaluators think so highly of him, and he’s likely to blossom into an above-average to all-star caliber middle infielder for a long time.   

But here’s the funny thing about Made’s path to the bigs with Milwaukee.  With Cooper Pratt at SS and Bryce Turang at second, the Brewers’ middle infield is set for years. And at 3B? In addition to current starter Joey Ortiz, who the club obviously likes, the guy playing the hot corner next to Made in down in Biloxi is Andrew Fischer. Fischer, who is 22, was BA’s top 3B prospect heading into the season and is tearing up AA with 20 HR in 246 AB’s, a .443 OBP and a 1.064 OPS.

In other words, while most franchises would have multiple places to put this kid the minute he was ready, for the Brewers, Made may well be more valuable as a trade chip than in their system.

And the Brewers have a real shot at a World Series run this year for the first time since 1982, and presumably will next year as well. 

As of this writing, Milwaukee sits just a game and a half behind the Dodgers for the best record in baseball, three games better than anyone else. So while this is a franchise that depends on its farm system to keep costs low, that system is loaded (9 top 100 prospects and multiple others on the cusp) and it’s definitely “go” time for the big club in Milwaukee.

The Brewers head into the deadline looking for multiple pieces; starting pitching plus high-leverage left-handed AND right-handed bullpen help. Doing all of those deals separately would put a serious dent in the depth of a system that the Brewers depend on to keep churning out big leaguers.  

But Stearns, their former guy, can help.

Mets offer:

• Holmes or Peralta (not a tough choice, even for the Brewers)
• Raley or Minter
• Weaver or Brazoban plus Jack Wenninger

Brewers offer:

• Jesús Made, and perhaps an additional mid-level prospect.

This deal fills every Milwaukee need for a 2026 WS run. It transforms the back end of their bullpen with a top of the market righty AND lefty and plus one of the top 3 (and best rested) starters on the market. This trade could easily mean home field advantage, and it significantly improves the their chances at a ring.

It also strengthens their bullpen next season with Weaver’s additional year, and they buy themselves an advanced, high-floor pitching prospect with a realistic shot to be a controllable mid-rotation starter in Wenninger, who could easily pitch for them in ‘27.

All for a guy who is at least a year away, who hasn’t cracked AAA yet, and who they almost certainly won’t have a spot for when he’s ready. On top of which, the Brewers’ #2 prospect is 19 year-old Luis Peña, currently in A+,  who like Made is a toolsy 3-position infielder, (faster less power) who is already the #19 prospect in baseball, according BA.

               Did I mention that their system is stacked?

Given the immediate and substantial help this deal would provide at all three areas of need for Milwaukee, in a season in which they have their best opportunity to reach the World Series in 44 years, the fact that they have no immediate need (nor room) for the prospect, that they have the #19 prospect in baseball right behind him at the same positions, and the alternative of weakening the depth of their system by giving up multiple top 100 or close guys to fill those same needs - and likely not fill all of them as welI - in separate deals, I believe that the Brewers would have to think long and hard about making this trade.

As for the Mets, when you look at the names, it feels like an eye-popping price to pay for one AA prospect, no matter how good he is. But other than the rentals (really, the gaggle of almost certainly non-elite prospects they’d get by trading them individually) all they really sacrifice is one year of Luke Weaver and the rights to Wenninger - who may or may not fulfill his promise (probably his ceiling) as a mid-rotation arm.  

For a kid who according to the experts has as good a chance as anyone not yet in the majors of becoming a foundational piece at any one of three positions that the Mets need filled. That’s clearly a risk they should take. And it would still leave them with plenty of pieces - whoever remains of Rayley or Minter, Holmes or Peralta, Weaver or Brazoban (if they were interested in trading both) plus Luis Robert Jr. Those assets can either be dealt individually to broaden the Mets’ haul and augment the system, or as part of another package for another big swing.

And in return they’d get one of baseball’s very best prospects, with a nearly unlimited ceiling, who perhaps as soon as 2027 can play anywhere on their infield, might end up being a natural successor to Lindor at SS, and who fits the timeline of the exciting core of young talent that the FO envisions, and that Mets fans are beginning to allow themselves to dream on.

Tom Brennan- Top 30 Mets Prospects - Mid Year Reflections

Which Prospects Have Made, or Are Missing, the Leap?

NEWS FLASH: 

METS BEAT BRAVES 14-3, WITHOUT SOTO. 19 HITS.

THORNTON GOES TO 2-1.

TYRONE TAYLOR IS THE HOTTEST HITTER ON THE PLANET.

NUTS.

Back to my artcle: 

In February, Prospects1500.com came up with its Top 50 list for each organization.

A very big rating job, to do: 30 franchises X 50 players. Hence, the “1500”.

How they rank players:

Prospects1500 Tiers:
Tier 1: Players with high expectations of both making the majors and playing at an All-Star level for a number of years

Tier 2: Players with an above-average expectation of making the majors and being a solid contributor

Tier 3: Players with an average expectation of making the majors and being a solid contributor

Tier 4: Players who have the potential to make the majors; possible sleeper candidates for sustained MLB success

Tier 5: Players of interest, worth keeping an eye on, who may make (or have made) the majors but provide minimal impact

That being said…

For the Prospect 1500’s fifty Mets, I attach their Feb. list of their top 30 guys, with their 2025 organizational levels, along with my own current thoughts:

Tier 1

1. Carson Benge, OF, 23, Triple-A - BULLSEYE!

2. Nolan McLean, RHP, 23, MLB - BULLSEYE!

Tier 2

3. Jonah Tong, RHP, 22, MLB - WAY SHORT OF EXPECTATIONS IN 2026 SO FAR
  - 9 Ks in 4.1 IP in last AAA start is encouraging.

4. A.J. Ewing, OF, 21, AA - UNDERRATED; HE IS CLEARLY A TIER 1

5. Jacob Reimer, 3B, 22, AA - LOUSY SEASON START, THEN YET ANOTHER INJURY

Tier 3

6. Ryan Clifford, 1B/OF, 22, Triple-A - WAY BELOW EXPECTATIONS DUE TO K’S

7. Mitch Voit, 2B, 21, Single-A - RIGHT ON TRACK; see you in Queens 2nd half 2027

8. Elian Peña, SS, 18, Rookie (DSL) - RIGHT ON TRACK. Strong year in A ball.

9. Jonathan Santucci, LHP, 23, AA - SLIGHTLY DISAPPOINTING; I REMAIN A FAN

10. Jack Wenninger, RHP, 23, Double-A - DITTO In AAA in 2026.

Tier 4

11. Nick Morabito, OF, 22, Double-A - PROCEEDING REASONABLY WELL IN AAA

12. Chris Suero, C/OF, 22, AA - DISAPPOINTING ON AVERAGE AND K’S IN AA

13. Will Watson, RHP, 23, Double-A - BAD; HE WENT 0-5, 8,55…THEN INJURED

14. Eli Serrano III, OF, 22, High-A - LOUSY IN AA (.193), THEN INJURED.

15. Boston Baro, SS/3B, 21, High-A - ONLY 5 AB’S THIS YEAR (.800); INJURED

16. Zach Thornton, LHP, 24, AA - BELONGED IN THE TOP 5 - WAY UNDERRATED

17. Marco Vargas, 2B/SS, 20, High-A - DISPPOINTING; INJURIES

18. R.J. Gordon, RHP, 24, Double-A - DISAPPOINTING (1-8, 7.36)

19. Daiverson Gutierrez, C, 20, HIGH A; HITTING MUCH BETTER AFTER BAD START

20. Dylan Ross, RHP, 25, AAA - WILD THING!

21. Ryan Lambert, RHP, 23, AA - SHAKE IT, SHAKE IT, SHAKE IT, WILD THING!

Tier 5

22. Antonio Jimenez, SS, 21, VERY ROUGH START IN HIGH A.

   - SHOWING SOME SOLID IMPROVEMENT IN FULL A AFTER 2026 DEMOTION

23. Yovanny Rodriguez, C, 19, Rookie (DSL) - SOLID DSL HITTING

24. Randy Guzman, 1B/OF, 20, High A - INJURIES, BUT FINE WHEN HEALTHY

25. Jeremy Rodriguez, IF, 19, High A - BAD RESULTS, signs of life very recently.

26. Trey Snyder, 2B/3B, 20, Single-A - EXPLODING UP AFTER INJURY. TIER 2?

27. Peter Kussow, RHP, 19, High school - OUT ALL YEAR 

28. Christian Scott, RHP, 26, Injured (MLB in 2024) - WAY EXCEEDED TIER 5!

29. Edward Lantigua, OF, 19, Rookie - CORE INJURY, ONLY 30 AT BATS IN 2026

30. Colin Houck, 3B/SS, 21, High-A - BAD; K’S AT VERY EXTREME 40% RATE

Overall?

Not the raters’ fault they overrated, as I think they ranked reasonably well.

But could not anticipate many injuries and/or unexpected under-performances.

Thankfully, several of the 30 have been greatly successful this year.