A blog dedicated to the New York Mets with some other baseball thrown in.

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Maximizing Your Return

Ok, So lets review. The Mets trade Ian B., Scott Kazmir, Jose Diaz, Matt Peterson, and Justin Huber and get back Victor Zambrano, Doug M., Kris Benson, and Jeff Keppinger. We could argue all day about the philosophy of trading unproven talent for proven talent, but I just think the Mets are making a habit of getting rid of talented guys for less than exciting major leaguers. If you trade top tier talent, it would nice if you can get guys like Huff and Hudson back when they are on the trading block. I like Benson and Zambrano, but the Mets acted desperate when they gave up three of their top five prospects to get them last year. The reality is that Ian B. did not play above Cap City and is a long ways away from the majors. For a low a guy not named Latings Milledge, it would probably be hard to get top tier MLB talent straight up. That being said, he should be been held onto if Doug is all you can get back.

Doug seemed to have worn out his welcome with that ball debacle and he did not seem to have many interested parties being he makes $3.75 million. I guess the real issue would be, is Travis Lee healthy? He took only 19 at-bats in 2004, but if he was to be healthy he costs less in dollars and does not cost a top notch prospect who can flat out rake.

Doug Mientkiewicz
Year
G
AB
R
H
2b
HR
RBI
BB
SO
AVG
OBP
SLGr
2001
151
543
77
166
39
15
74
67
92
.306
.387
.464
2002
143
467
60
122
29
10
64
74
69
.261
.365
.392
2003
142
487
67
146
38
11
65
74
56
.300
.393
.350
2004
127
391
47
93
24
6
35
48
56
.238
.371
.350
4 yr. AVG
141
472
63
132
33
11
60
66
68
.279
.371
.419


Travis Lee
Year
G
AB
R
H
2b
HR
RBI
BB
SO
AVG
OBP
SLGr
2000
128
404
53
95
24
9
54
65
79
.235
.342
.366
2001
157
555
75
143
34
20
90
71
109
.258
.341
.434
2002
153
536
55
142
26
13
70
54
104
.265
.331
.394
2003
145
542
75
149
37
19
70
64
97
.275
.348
.459
4 yr. AVG
146
509
65
132
30
15
71
64
97
.260
.341
.417


Their four year splits are comparable. Nothing heavily favors Doug except for the health factor. If someone can clue me into the health status of Lee, please do. If there are huge question marks surrounding him, then I can possibly understand. However, I do not know that to be the case. One thing about this off season and adding Delgado that was interesting to me was that they would have gave up nothing and improved their team a whole lot. No minor league talent would have been lost and they would have managed to keep what they had left intact. Delgado cost nothing. Not even a draft pick. After giving up the 2nd and 3rd round picks while giving up your fourth rated prospect after giving up three of your top five prospects in 2004 worries me. You can tell me that it's only one lost prospect, but I'm still pissed.

Ian Bladergroen
Year
G
AB
R
H
2b
HR
RBI
BB
SO
AVG
OBP
SLGr
2003
74
274
33
78
12
6
36
21
51
.285
.354
.416
2004
72
269
39
92
23
13
74
25
55
.342
.376
.505
Career
146
543
72
170
35
19
110
46
106
.313
.376
.505


From BA:
Background: Bladergroen passed up a scholarship from Nebraska to sign with the Mets as a draft-and-follow prior to the 2003 draft. A two-time junior college all-American, he led national juco players with 32 homers in 2003. He had a breakout first full season in 2004, but it ended early when he tore a ligament in his left wrist in July.

Strengths: Bladergroen has plus power, and because his swing keeps the bat in the zone for a long time, he also can hit for average. He uses the whole field and works counts well. One of the best defensive first basemen in the system, he’s agile and has a big wingspan to nab high throws.

Weaknesses: Though Bladergoren has produced for average and power, his bat speed is not exceptional and could cause him problems at higher levels. His wrist injury is also a question mark, as he couldn’t swing the bat during instructional league.

The Future: The Mets are anxiously awaiting Bladergroen’s recovery. If he’s fully healthy when spring training begins, he could hit his way to high Class A. Wrist injuries often take a while to heal, so he could need time to regain his power stroke.


If you are going to trade him, is Doug M. really all you can get? Coming off a really bad year in which he was traded for Justin Jones, I just think something better could have been done. I may be over reacting about it and Ian may turn out to be nothing, but Doug M. just does not seem worth it right now. The Mets seemingly have turned to an organizational philosophy of dishing out top prospects for sub par major leaguers who may or may not have upside. By the all-star break I may be applauding this move, but we also may have a first baseman slugging .370 and the Red Sox may have a stud hitting .330/.420/.500 in the minors. Weren't the Mets thin in the first base department in the minors? How about moving someone from a position of strength like Shane Bowman instead?

This one is head scratcher right now. Not only did the Mets lose out on Delgado, which I can deal with, but they dished off the #4 prospect in a weakened farm system when Travis Lee is out there and cost nothing.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

What kind of defensive player is Travis Lee? If he's subpar, would this be enough of a factor for Omar to decide that he needs a very dependable defensive 1B to shore up the infield (especially with all of the kids at the other positions around the horn)?

3:33 PM

 
Blogger michael o. said...

Lee's a gold glove caliber guy. He may be injured, that is the x-factor.

6:16 PM

 

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