Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
July 31, 2004
Mets Moves

The two Mets deals are getting a very negative reaction in the comments to this post. I can sum it up as, "Why are we trading away the future for pitching when we can't score any runs to support that pitching?"

This New York Times article is a good reference for the deal.


Impersonating the Yankees, who traditionally sacrifice minor-leaguers for veterans, the Mets promptly dealt their best pitching prospect, Class AA left-hander Scott Kazmir, to Tampa Bay along with Class AA relief pitcher Joselo Diaz. Besides Benson and Zambrano, the Mets got two minor leaguers in return - Class AAA relief pitcher Bartolome Fortunato from the Devil Rays and Class AA second baseman Jeff Keppinger from the Pirates.

Heading into this season, the Mets advertised their plan to build from within. Owner Fred Wilpon even called Kazmir "untouchable." But in one day, the Mets gave up their two best pitching prospects in Kazmir and Peterson, and their best catching prospect in Huber.


The Yankees used to be able to do that because they first grew a solid core of home grown talent before they traded others off to win (Williams, Pettitte, Jeter, Posada, Rivera). I don't know how good the talent is in the Mets farm system. I know Benson and Zambrano are decent but not great pitchers. Maybe with a great pitching coach and a better stadium you'll see a big improvement. But the Mets have a tough road ahead of them if they are going to win this year. And I have to agree, that unless they get some offense, it's going to be difficult even for the best pitchers to win.


Posted by David Pinto at 10:35 AM | Trades | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Shoot, I'm a Yankee fan and even *I* think this looks really bad for the Mets. I really feel bad for all the Mets fans out there. They can't score runs for their GOOD pitchers (Leiter, Glavine) how are they going to score runs for the mediocre pitchers?

Posted by: sabernar at July 31, 2004 02:07 PM

i don't understand giving up your 3 best minor leaguers for an OK pitcher and another OK pitcher who will be an overpriced free agent when you aen't gonna win anyway. shawn's right, everyone should've learned from what happened with LA last year.

Posted by: lisa gray at July 31, 2004 07:28 PM

The funny thing is, the Mets aren't even in the race. That is what makes this trade so horrible.

Posted by: Al at August 1, 2004 05:05 PM