Is It Time For Sleep?

Right now the Mets have countless injuries to key players like Calros Beltran, Jose Reyes, J.J. Putz, Billy Wagner, John Maine, and Carlos Delgado. This is arguably the worst thing that can happen to any team. It has hampered the Mets so far, putting them below .500. Could this turn out to be blessing in disguise?

The good thing about all of this is that the Mets get to see some of there prospects in the majors. Guys like Fernando Martinez, Nick Evans, and Argenis Reyes would not be in the majors if not for the injuries. The question though is, is it good to see how they can do and to see if they are ready, or is this really just hurting there self-esteem? Sometimes young players excel when they first get called up, like Fernando Valenzuela and Mark Fydrich. Other times, the news can over-excite them and mess up there mechanics, which is what happens to players tabbed as "AAAA" players.

Towards August when guys start to come back from the DL, we will definitely see these replacements sent down. One by one, they will go back to the minors and either continue to learn and get better in preparation for a return to the bigs, or see there batting averages funnel down into nothing as their baseball career comes to an end. Now we start to wonder, whose fault is this?

Is it the player's fault for not being good enough, or is it the general manager, Omar Minaya's fault for expecting too much of his aspiring stars? Could he be jumping the gun too early?

Let's look at baseball's best left handed pitcher, Johan Santana. He was left off the Houston Astros 40 man roster in 1999 and was selected by the Marlins in the Rule 5 Draft. They later traded him to the Marlins, who would still have all the strings attached for that year. One of the rules was that Santana must be on the Major League roster for the entire 2000 season, or else he must be offered back to the Astros. Well that year he put up a 6.49 ERA, but the Twins realized he was a great pitcher, so they kept him up. The next year he had a 4.74 ERA. Getting better, but still not that great for someone who was a top prospect. In 2002 he was sent down to the minors for about two months. When he came back, he was terrific. That year Johan Santana posted a 2.99 ERA. And from 2003 onward, he had a WHIP of 1.15 or less. And in case you are unfamilar with that stat (Walks and Hits per Innings Pitched) let me say that having a WHIP under 1.00 is like having an ERA under 3.00. Very good. So it turns out that Johan Santana was put into the majors a little premature, but a nice lengthy trip to the minors was all that it took to put a top prospect over the top to become a Cy Young Winner.

 Now let's look at another pitcher, Mark Prior. He was the top talent in the 2001 First Year Player Draft, and was getting the same the same kind of hype Stephen Strasburg is getting. He made his major league debut in 2002, the very next year. Obviously, this is pretty early and another year or two in the minors couldn't hurt. But perhaps when he did come up, regardless of whether it was too early or not, the Cubs loved him, and they pretty much overworked him before his arm could develop enough to pitch in a 162 game season. Since his debut, he has had seven injuries involving his arm, elbow or shoulder (it was really eight but one was because he was hit by a line drive and that really cannot be prevented and was just a total coincidence). Now Mark Prior is pretty much out of baseball.

So what I am trying to say here is, instead of overworking our young prospects and essentially relying on them to carry the major league team until others come back from injuries, why don't we leave them in the minors and sign some washed up old veterans for the league minimum and called up some no-hope minor leaguers who would never make the Majors anyway? This way the players we care about can continue to develop and who knows, maybe we will find a diamond in the rough among all the new guys.

I don't think Omar Minaya should trade the farmsyetem for somebody like Adam Dunn or Aubrey Huff. I think it is time to realize that the Mets will not make the postseason this year, and they should not try to make it for at least two or three more years. They have to take the pressure off of top prospects to make it to the bigs, and I think perhaps a rebuild has to at least be an option. Trade Carlos Beltran for prospects, someone like Justin Smoak of the Texas Rangers would be a nice fit as the Mets do not really have a first baseman in line. Trade Jose Reyes, you could acquire three top prospects for him, one would definitely be of Alcides Escobar value. If you want to hold onto Johan Santana I can understand,  but I seriously think that you can bring in a boatload for him. He has about six years left on his contract I think, and he will definitely be among the top pitchers in baseball for years to come. He would bring in more than the normal yield. In fact you might be able to get six or seven prospects for him (I know that no team has six or seven TOP prospects but maybe you can get two or three along with four mid-level prospects). And in the mid-2010s when all these players have developed the New York Mets could become a dynasty similar to that of the 1990s Yankees.

Of course, none of this will happen because Omar Minaya even attempts this he would be fired in seconds.