Finally, A Post About Baseball!

Thanks to the opportunity to chat with scouts, coaches and player development types, I learned a lot about baseball during my time at Baseball America. Above all else, I discovered what seems to be the most important tenet in running an organization: know what you have.

It seems pretty basic, but it’s also something that can be overlooked. Before you can go scouting players in other organizations, it’s imperative to have a strong understanding of the value and potential of the players in your organization. When John Schuerholz and Walk Jocketty were GMs of the Braves and Cardinals, they were regularly lauded for knowing which prospects to trade when their value was at its highest, and which to hold on to. That’s because they knew what they had.

The reason I bring this up is because as a Mets fan, I worry that GM Omar Minaya is sorely lacking in this regard, particularly when it comes to pitching. As evidence, I’ll point to three trades he made last offseason that involved 10 players, nine of which were pitchers.

There was the trade in which the Mets sent Brian Bannister to the Royals in exchange for Ambiorix Burgos, and the deal that saw them send Henry Owens and Matt Lindstrom to the Marlins for Jason Vargas and Adam Bostick. And there was also the swap with the Padres in which the Mets dealt Heath Bell and Royce Ring for John Adkins and Ben Johnson (the lone non-pitcher).

Of the five players the Mets received, not one of them is currently on their 25-man roster. Conversely, Bannister looks to be emerging as a solid mid-rotation starter, Bell was one of the best relievers in baseball in 2007, and Lindstrom also came on strong to post a 3.09 ERA with 62 strikeouts in 67 innings last year.

These deals are forgotten to some degree because they don’t get you on the back page like the Johan Santana deal, but Omar appears to have gotten fleeced in all of them. That’s a strong indication that he and his player development staff do not have a strong feel for the talent of the players in their system. And it also means that their scouts are unable to discover diamonds in the rough in other organizations.

When you consider the problems with pitching depth the Mets are facing, that’s troubling.

I don’t discount the chance that Vargas and Bostick could still become solid back-end starters, but that’s looking pretty unlikely. Burgos, when healthy, still has upside, but he’s still erratic. If all goes well, he’ll have one season as good as Bell’s 2007 season.

Since he arrived, Omar has been building this team for the now, yet he keeps on trading away pitchers that are ready to fill in immediately at the big league level.