Wrighting a Wrong: a second chance for the 2010 (and beyond) New York Mets
 

So, I've decided to give this another try. I made an abortive attempt at a 1992 Mets dynasty some months ago, gave up (for reasons that I'll mention later on), and this spring, shelled out $20 to upgrade myself to OOTP11. I then played a year and a half of Mets baseball, only to have the game crash and wipe out my last few months' worth of action, teaching me that daily saves are not enough, you have to be religious about backing up, too. (Lesson learned. Sigh.)

Why did I abandon my first dynasty attempt? Two reasons, really. One is that I like to use images, and the grind of downloading screenshots, uploading them to an ImageShack account, and then inserting them in the posts seemed to slow me down too much. However, I've since discovered some clever things one can do with attached images that enable me to eliminate the cumbersome task of putting the images on a site such as ImageShack, so that will speed things up, I hope.

First chance at the red font (not what I expected).
 

So, I'd decided that I'd use red italics whenever I needed to break from the actual narrative, but I didn't expect to have to use it until later on. Unfortunately, my housing situation has just collapsed (I have to be out of here in 8 days, and the place I was moving into just changed their mind…sheesh), so it turns out that this is a really inopportune time to start this thread. I'll try and keep going, but this next week is going to be really hectic, and I could be homeless the week after that, so…

The other reason I abandoned my first Dynasty attempt was that I'm a real bear for having as much of a historical basis as possible (I'll make my trades and roster moves and change history that way, but I want the template to be as close to our timeline as possible), and in a historical league, the lack of minor leaguers (both the empty rosters and the "made the show"-only draft pool) just wore on me. What I love about OOTP is the realism in controlling an entire organization, the depth of the talent pool…in a historical game, that just isn't there. I decided that I could live with fictional draftees in a game that would (eventually) take me into the future, but the majors-only talent pool of the historical games just felt fake, to an annoying degree.

If I could have only one thing about the game changed, I would have Markus and co. code and enter the historic minor leaguers (yes, a lot of work, but do it once and it's done; it's not like tweaking the game engine, where you might have to revise it again and again) and that way you'd let me [and others with my tastes] have that "full OOTP feeling", no matter which year I start in. Or at least make it so that a "historical" league set during the years in which OOTP has been in existence takes advantage of the work that has been done — it is frankly ridiculous that I can start a "2007" game in OOTP11 and get stuck dealing with fictional minor league teams and incomplete minor league rosters when I know that complete 2007 minors were available in OOTP8. What should happen is that the 2007 game should utilize all of the OOTP8 data, and the draft pool should be composed of the new minor leaguers who were added for OOTP9, and the 2008 draft pool would come from the OOTP10 data and so on. That would be the most realistic experience possible.[/soapbox]

And that's how I came to try a contemporary (well, starting in '10) Mets dynasty, and now this do-over attempt. To be continued…

Cleaning up a few minor points.
 

One thing I hated during my previous attempt at a contemporary game was the proliferation of fictional managers and coaches at the lower level of the minors and also in the "available personnel" pool. So before starting this game, I got rid of all of them, and with (annoying time-consuming amounts of) research, was able to get all the proper personnel in place in Bluefield and Kingsport and Greenville and Greeneville and all the other corners of the minors. At first, I just assigned random values to the new guys, but then I devised a mathematical formula, based on a coach's experience, that let me calculate the ratings. For those coaches who were not former MLB players, I just cloned someone with a similar name and body type, turned the clone into the coach I wanted, and then deleted the clone.

As far as the pool of available personnel goes, some of the people who were in the wrong place were actual coaches and managers, who had worked in 2009, but were now roving instructors or whatnot; they went into the "available" box. And then I went through the coaching staffs of the MLB teams over the last decade, and anyone who wasn't currently occupied got put in the "available" pile as well. Granted that some of these people are retired in real life, but given the right offer, they might go back into coaching, so IMO they're still "available" personnel.

(All except for Vern Ruhle, that is. He may have been a pitching coach a few years ago, but having died in 2007 is proof enough against being conscripted back into service, I'd agree.)

I didn't do this with all of the teams (Baseball-Reference, my source on this, only had complete staffs on about 9 clubs, and then I did my Mets by manually going through the individual-year team pages at the Baseball Cube), and I ran into a problem with some people who had been recently employed, such as Mike Hargrove and Lee Mazzilli: although they were not listed as coaches in the database, their retired-player records could not be converted into coaches by the editor. Apparently, they HAD been converted to coaches in a previous version, but those coaches were trimmed from the db when they lost their jobs. Now, what I could do is find a similar player (such as Bruce Bochte for Hargrove, for example) by using similarity scores, clone that guy, make the clone a coach, give that coach all of Hargrove/whomever's biological data, and then delete the clone…but I haven't done that yet, just as I haven't yet combed through all of the team pages to find coaches I may have missed. I have enough available personnel (at least 20 in each category) to start the game, and frankly this groundwork was taking too long, so I just wanted to get started; maybe I'll take a break and get around to doing the rest of this work later. But, rest assured, you won't be seeing "Padres fire Bud Black, hire Hang-Fu Acret" or any nonsense like that in my reports; all coaches/managers/GMs will be actual baseball people.

Which you might not care about, but (obviously) I do. So there. :)

Looking forward to reading this. It appears I have met a kindred spirit in putting way too much detail into their game, as you seem to really go in-depth. I like it. Looking forward to seeing what you do with the Metropolitans, even if they are bunch of bloody chokers:)

Who am "I", anyway?
 

Unlike my previous dynasty attempt, I'm not going to write a fictionalized account as if I were really the GM; this is a straight gameplay report. That said, I did choose "Gary Cohen" as the name of my player-character, for two reasons:
Attachment 227064
One, why shouldn't the Voice of the Mets be the Face of the Mets as well? Gary is a true-blue Met fan; grew up going to Shea regularly (including post-season games in 1969 as an 11-year-old kid), and has been broadcasting for the team since 1989. He makes a fine avatar. And, just as importantly…

Two, this means I get the pleasure of firing Omar Minaya! :D Yes, nothing warms my cold, dead heart like seeing Omar in the "available personnel" pool. I hope he signs on as a scout for the Pirates :laugh: Although I certainly hope I can turn this team around, one of the consolations I can take, if 2010 turns out to be a rebuilding year, is that I'll get to can Jerry Manuel, too. :D

I guess I should take a moment here to recap what happened during my aborted first attempt at a 2010 Mets simulation. Although the Mets struggled to keep near to .500 all season, they were able to right themselves in September, and stayed in the race because the Braves and Phillies were also struggling. Going into the last series of the season, the Mets were only 80-79, but led the Braves by one game and the Phillies and Nationals by two. On Friday night, the Mets beat (and eliminated) Washington while Philadelphia won in Atlanta, reducing the Metsies' magic number to 1. At which point they lost the last two home games of the season to an eliminated Nationals squad, while the Braves took two from the Phils to force a one-game playoff, and in game #163 of the season, despite scoring four early runs off of ex-Met John Maine (Maine had struggled, been sent to the minors, and dealt off to convince the Braves to take what was a salary dump; I'd been able to unload Oliver Perez on the O's [suckers!] but had to take back some contracts I wanted to unload, hence I dangled Maine to get the Braves to bite), Johan Santana and the bullpen failed, and the Mets lost 7-5 and blew their season. But it was good enough to keep Jerry over the winter; however when the next season started at 20-26, I gave Jerry his well-deserved walking papers.

Btw, despite barely squeaking into the post-season, the Braves won their first round matchup against the NL West champion Dodgers, before falling to St. Louis, the best team in the league, in the NLCS. Similarly, Minnesota, which won the AL Central with a 79-83 mark (!) (seriously, for a while it looked as though no one in that division would even win 75 games), pulled a huge upset by knocking out Tampa Bay in the first round, before falling to the Yankees, who were the real story of the post-season, due to all the injuries they had to overcome. Not only was their entire outfield, including backups, out with injuries (Greg Golson hit leadoff and played CF during the World Series…GREG GOLSON, people), but they lost 4/5ths of their starting rotation (Cy Young winner Javy Vasquez, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte, Phil Hughes) and got through two rounds of playoffs on C.C. Sabathia, Joba Chamberlain (pulled from the bullpen and not showing great stamina) and whatever retreads (Zach McClellan, Sergio Mitre) they found hanging around in the minors. The Yanks fell to the Cardinals in six games of the World Series, but considering their injuries, it was an exceedingly valorous effort. Hats off to the "Billion Dollar Infield", much though I hate their team.

Of course, the problem with losing enough games to justify firing Jerry is that I might be fired, myself, by owner Fred Wilpon. (Who, contrary to what the game thinks, is a 73-year-old Brooklynite, not a 48-year-old South African…did I mention that all of the owners' biographical data is completely wrong?) So let's try to win sooner, rather than later.

And one last personnel note…how come 29 of the 30 teams have their actual scouting director listed, complete with photo, but the Mets don't have Rudy Terrasas listed, rather some made-up "Jesse Kush" character? Weird and annoying. So I had to fix that, too.

Okay, enough "behind-the-scenes" talk. A look at the actual team, coming next.

Thanks for the feedback!
 

All I ask is that every single detail down to Rookie ball be perfectly realistic…is that too much to ask? :rolleyes:
Well, if you read the recap of what happened in my first try with this, you'll know that I've already had my very own "Jerry Skids" experience. I mean, I didn't really expect much (I spent most of the season dumping contracts and cultivating the farm), but when the rest of the "National League Least" played down to our level and gave us a chance, I got somewhat excited. Premature, sadly. :(

Hope you enjoy it! Just some preseason posts, and then we'll be ready to roll!

I am looking forward to reading this as well. I see you spent a lot of time getting everything set up, coaches etc... which is the complete opposite of me, I load and fire (except for getting the logos, caps and jerseys right)

By the way, you seem to enjoy "canning" people far too much...:D

Meet the Mets! (Oh, come on. I had to.)
 

So, let's have a look at our boys in blue (and orange), your 2010 New York Mets! :woohoo: :thumbup1:
Attachment 227086

Johan Santana may not quite have lived up to his two-Cy-Young-Award Minnesota form so far in New York, but despite his making a hefty chunk of $$ ($118 million over the next 5 years), he is not a candidate for the title of The Worst Contract in Mets History. He's a good #1 starter (29-16 so far as a Met) and tends to get better as the season goes on (which probably isn't reflected in the OOTP game engine, but will give me an excuse to stand by Johan if he gets off to a poor start).

John Maine and Mike Pelfrey each have had good years (Maine 15-10 in 2007, Pelfrey 13-11 in '08) and bad (a combined 17-18 last year); I need one of them to mature into a dependable #2 starter, at least. Maine needs to watch his walks while Pelfrey needs to turn his firepower into strikeouts.

Oliver Perez…Ollie, oh, Ollie. :ohmy: After having a great post-season in 2006 (after a terrible regular season that caused the Pirates to first demote him to Indianapolis and then dump him on us as part of the Xavier Nady-Roberto Hernandez trade), Ollie had a fine 2007, winning 15, and a solid 2008. This prompted Omar to give him what was possibly The Worst Contract in Mets History, 3 years at $12 million/yr. Ollie responded to this generosity by having an awful 2009 (3-4, 6.82, 1.92 WHIP). If he doesn't rebound, I'm going to dump him by any means possible.

Jonathon "Born Met" Niese (he was born on the day that the Mets won Game 7 of the 1986 World Series) struggled a bit in his September 2008 call-up (7.07 ERA in 3 starts), but looked good in limited action at the big league level last September (4.24 in 5 starts), and may be ready to stick permanently. Rudy Terrasas thinks he has the best array of talent of any of our starters, except for Johan.

Of course, I'm planning on going with a 4-man rotation and a 10-man staff (Tradition! :friday: ), so Niesey may start the season in beautiful downtown Buffalo, anyways. But he's sure to be called up if any of the non-Johan starters falter.

In the bullpen, Manny Acosta was dumped by the Braves after seeing both his ERA (2.28, 3.57, 4.34) and WHIP (1.14, 1.40, 1.71) escalate over the last three seasons. I like his stuff, but he needs to work on his control, and since he has options that most of the rest of the 'pen doesn't, he's a likely candidate to start the year at Buffalo.

With J.J. Putz now a White Sox and Jeremy Reed trying to make the Blue Jays, Sean Green is now all we have to show for the seven players we sent to Seattle/Cleveland in that trade last spring. Oy. He was consistently mediocre last year, taking the hill 79 times and posting a 4.52 ERA and 1.44 WHIP. A proven commodity of sorts, I suppose. But nothing to write home about.

Brooklyn-born Nelson Figueroa remains a sentimental favorite. He did okay (3-8, 4.09, 1.48) in limited duty last year, getting most of his work as a September starter. (The entire Mets rotation was shut down by September in 2009, and the team went through that month with a rotation of Figueroa, Niese, Tim Redding, Pat Misch, and converted bullpenner Bobby Parnell.) I hope Nellie can continue to make the most of his opportunities. He gets only 42% of his outs on the ground, but New Shea Stadium (yeah, I know there's a bank name on it, but I ignore that) is just as cavernous as the original Big Shea was in the outfield, so that's not a problem here.

34-year-old Japanese import Hisanori Takahashi adds a lefty arm to the pen. Don't know what he'll bring, but it won't be tough for him to surpass Ken Takahashi's contributions and earn the title of Best Takahashi Ever, I wouldn't think.

Right-handed set-up duties will be handled by veteran Kiko "Yes, it's Pronounced 'Kick-o', Honestly" Calero, who dazzled in 67 appearances for the Marlins last year (1.95 ERA, 1.10 WHIP) after a 2008 injury ended his time in Oakland. Supposedly has trouble with his control, but if he can duplicate last year's 69/30 K/W ratio, I'll take it.

Lefty set-up goes to fan favorite "Perpetual Pedro" Feliciano, whose durable arm (252 appearances the past 3 seasons) has set franchise records. He'll be a free-agent after the season, so I might want to deal him, if need be.

(Just so you know, the first time through, the bullpen bombed out horribly. Feliciano threw like he had the dead arm he came up with in 2011 for the Yankees in OTL, and I wanted to "kick-o" Calero down the street and had him on waivers by mid-May)

And closing, we have the record-setting Francisco "K-Rod" Rodriguez, who in this timeline hasn't yet punched any relatives or gone through the horrible early 2011 stretch that had fans referring to him as "Krud", so we'll just think happy thoughts and not worry about the $40.5 million we owe him over the next three seasons. :mellow:

And that's the pitching staff. Next up, the offense. (And offensive it is! Sigh.)

Mmmm…more lovely feedback!
 

I admit some obsessive tendencies. (Ya think??) But I also think that having to restart gave me more of an impetus to clean up the things that had annoyed me the first time through. (And I've copied the set-up as a league simply called "2010", so I can run other games without having to go through all of that again.)
Lord knows I spent enough of the actual 2010 eagerly awaiting Omar and Jerry's dismissals. Getting to inflict them myself is wish-fulfillment, baby. :happy:

(And I'll have you know I was quite patient with interim manager Howard Johnson, whom I put on the hotseat after ditching Jerry in May, 2011. The team started 9-22 under Hojo, but turned it around and they were almost back to .500 when the game crashed.)

Batters…up! (Eep!)
 

At bat…
Attachment 227122
Not looking so great, but we do start the season with three starters on the DL. Daniel Murphy (wrist) and Jose Reyes (knee) are expected back after two weeks, but Carlos Beltran (knee) could be out as long as four weeks.

At catcher, we signed two free agents as a holding action, waiting for Josh "Victory Parade" Thole (he was born the day after Niese in '86) to prove he's ready for a full-time call-up. Thole hit a nice .321/.356/.396 in 53 ABs last September, but I'll let him start the year at Buffalo. Meantime, Henry Blanco (.235/.320/.382 in a reserve role with the Padres last year) will get the nod over Rod Barajas (whose 19 HR for the Blue Jays last year still only added up to a .661 OPS), because "Hank White" is better defensively and he can tell a ball from a strike at the plate. But we need help here, definitely.

While Murphy (who's probably over-valued by my scout, but should still be a good player) heals, first base will be covered by Mike Jacobs, who lit up Shea for one glorious September in 2005 before being shipped off in the Carlos Delgado deal. Nowadays, he seems to have little other than power to offer, but his power is still noteworthy. He'll platoon with Fernando Tatis, who's IMO living off that Comeback Player of the Year season he had in '08 (.297/.369/.484). He wasn't bad last year (.282/.339/.438), I just feel that he's not above average in any part of his game, he's on the decline, and he's sucking up PT (340 ABs last year) that could go to someone with either more impact or more of a future. With all the 1B/OF prospects down in the minors, Tatis feels like a needless holding action. I'll look to move him.

Second base is the province of Luis Castillo, another candidate for the title of The Worst Contract in Mets History. I suppose it's not that bad (2 years remaining, $6 million/yr), but Luis has almost no power (.302/.387/.346 last year, which is a good year for him) and his defensive ratings are heading down, down (54 range still, but only 26 arm and 44 DP skills). Hopefully he can fill in at the top of the order until Reyes is back, but he's not a long-term piece of the puzzle.

Our temporary shortstop is Russ Adams, who was injured last year in Toronto and has never lived up to the promise of his September 2004 cup of coffee (.882 OPS) with the Jays. Still, he's only 29, he's a lefthanded bat, and he rates as average across the board, including on defense. I like him better than our third keystone-combo guy, Alex Cora, who's subpar in OBP, lacks any power, and while he's the best of the trio defensively, he's nothing that special with the glove, either. (60 Range, 54 Arm, 60 DP.) He posted a .251/.320/.310 line in 271 ABs last year…ugh! People say that because Cora is a leader that he's like having another coach on the club. I say that I don't want to pay my coaches $2 million/yr, thank you very much. (And the contract has another year to run after this one, too. Sigh.)

Hey, have you noticed that Omar really liked old Latino players? Yeah, me too.

Third base is of course the province of Mr. David Wright, who even with his power largely confuzzled by the new ballpark last season, still put up a respectable .307/.390/.447 statline. I expect him back over .900 this year. Rudy says his range at third base is a little lacking, but I'm not planning to move him to 1B anytime soon.

Left field belongs to Jason Bay, the latest contender for The Worst Contract in Mets History. Seriously, $71.5 million over 5 years for an outfielder in his 30s who had a big year in Fenway Park? (No, I'm not second-guessing with the benefit of hindsight here; I didn't like this signing when it was made. Honestly.) That's a lot of change for someone who, the last time we had him, we traded away as part of a package for Jason Middlebrook and Steve Reed. (Of course, we had acquired Bay for Lou Collier, originally, so bad trade or not, the whole sequence was pretty much a wash.) Well, our scout says his power is truly impressive and he has good contact and a nice eye…we'll see, I guess. At least the first year of his deal is "only" $6.5 million, so if we need to unload him we won't have spent too much upfront.

Center field will be patrolled by Angel Pagan, who will move to RF when Beltran returns. The switch-hitter had a breakout season last year (.306/.350/.487) and if his power and eye are still slightly south of average, his contact skills, speed and defense certainly aren't. Might blossom with a full-time job.

In RF, for the moment, is Jeff Francoeur, who's pretty pricey ($5 million) for a guy who can't tell a ball from a strike even after the umpire has made the call. He did get hot after the mid-season trade to the Mets last year (.311/.338/.498 in Mets garb) and he does have a cannon for an arm, so we'll see if he can earn more playing time, even after Beltran returns.

Our outfield backups include another returning Met, Gary Matthews, Jr., who got a grand total of one at-bat for the 2002 Mets before we traded him to clear a roster space for McKay Christensen. (Hey, he hadn't discovered HGH yet, okay?) "Little Sarge" carries a ridiculous contract calling for $11 million this year and $12 million in '11—

(IRL, the Angels paid almost all of this, but that's the sort of detail that the game engine can't seem to understand; it was the same way with not realizing the Tigers were paying Gary Sheffield's giant salary when he was with the '09 Mets in OOTP10)

—and I have no idea how I'm going to unload it. Matthews has a good eye and is still useful in the field, but his contact and power skills are gone, and he's put up OPS numbers of .742, .675, and .697 the last three years. Ugh.

Last, and least, we have Frank Catalanotto. His bat's been in steady decline since he left Toronto after '06, and he's a butcher in the field. I think he's on the team because, as a Long Island native, he knows the best places to go for team barbecues on the off-days. Don't expect to see him too often.

Next, a look at the exciting (but horribly-named) Buffalo Bisons! Be there, or…don't be there. (I never was that good at the hard sell.)

Où Sont les Neiges d'Antan? Buffalo.
 

And now a look at those who stand and wait and play for the Buffalo Bisons, whom I suppose should be in a league with teams called the Mooses, the Deers, and the Sheeps. Just so you know, Buffalo, the plural of "bison" is…bison. Sheesh.
Attachment 227142

Not a bad group of Plan Bs, even before we add Niese to the mix. Mejia is the top prospect in the system, with three potentially-outstanding pitches, while the flame-throwing Parnell struggled as a reliever with the big club in '09, and so needs to build up his stamina in AAA for now. Misch and Nieve both made the most of what they had, and the knuckleballing Dickey will try to keep up.

In the bullpen, super-veterans Dessens and Martin are on the decline, but Rudy likes the strikeout potential of Everts and the consistency of the German-born Stoner. Mexican League vet Valdes is another lefty arm, while Igarashi looks to have better stuff than fellow Japanese signing Takahashi, but Tak got the major league contract, so he'll get the first shot in NYC.

At least Igarashi has a way cooler birthday. (Yep, mine. We share it with Mike DiFelice, Kirk Gibson, John Fogerty, Gladys Knight, Rudy Guiliani, Elizabeth Hasselbeck, Dr. Guillotin, Dr. Kevorkian, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Sierra Club, the PLO, Amnesty International and Kamala, the Ugandan Giant. None of whom are likely to pitch any better than Iggy will.)

RA Dickey not being good makes me really sad:( I love that guy. Not to offend you, but your team looks pretty bad. When Voltron and Jose Reyes get back, you'll be better, but it won't be enough to make a postseason run. Fernando Tatis? Where's Ike Davis when you need him? With your awful division that you mentioned earlier (which shocks me, I thought Philly would be good), your limited team might be able to make the playoffs, but nothing more. I'm assuming you're starting on Opening Day, because that's how OOTP handles the quick start IIRC.

Elmer Dessens is still around?

Sad to see Jason Bay go from the penthouse to the outhouse when it comes to his hitting. I always felt sorry for him when he was in Pittsburg, now I feel sorry for the Mets that have him.

Elmer's the Glue, baby!
 

The Hermosillo Hexpress had a perfectly good half-season for the Mets in '09 (28 G, 3.31 ERA, 1.04 WHIP). Still, not anyone I want to count on.
One has to remember that he was a late-blooming star, having kicked around in three other organizations before reaching Pittsbugh. Traditionally, those that take a while to bloom don't last as long at the highest level. Sigh.

We'll just have to Knuckle Up, like Rocky.
 

Yeah, the game has no love for those born without tendons. Discrimination! Hopefully, Dickey will confound those ratings and rise to the top. (Pat Misch had a surprisingly good two months in our rotation on my first attempt, before the injury bug got him.)
No offense taken. I don't have much hope except to nurture some of the talent at the lower levels, clean out some bad contracts, and shut down Omar's Senior Senors Club.
Yeah, if I get lucky again (how did the division do in your 2010 simulation?), and people stay healthy, and those whose ratings are probably lying (Castillo, Ollie, Bay) perform like the game says they should rather than as cruel experience has taught me they will, then I might have a chance to sneak into the post-season. But I'm expecting to keep my job this year on first-year goodwill, and build for the future.

And yes, we'll start on Opening Day.

And where is Ike Davis, anyway?

Buffalo Guys, Won't You Come Out Tonight?
 

And here are the hitters that are AAAwaiting their callup:
Attachment 227170

Thole, as mentioned, will be kept at AAA to develop, unless we have an utter health disaster at the major league level. Omir Santos, who managed a better statline for us last year (.260/.296/.391) than Barajas did in Toronto, would get the first call.

At 1B, Seattle system refugee Marshall Hubbard hopes that he still has a chance to crack the big club. Well, he's got a better shot than Mike Hessman, who seems to believe in closing his eyes and swinging real hard. It works occasionally, but he's like Plan Q for me.

The rest of the infield is littered with has-beens and never-weres, except for top prospect Ruben Tejada, possibly the heir-apparent at 2B. His bat may need seasoning, but his glove (75 Range, 80 Error, 73 Arm, 83 DP) is already pretty tasty.

In the outfield, Fernando Martinez is another whom I think could use a full year's watering at AAA. Nick "Doubles Machine" Evans and Chris "All He Does is Get Blocked" Carter (obtained from the Red Sox for Billy Wagner last August) are knocking on the door, waiting to get a shot. And with the crud I've got on the big league roster, that shot will probably come pretty soon.

Jesus Feliciano plays both the guitar and center field pretty well for a blind man, and Twins reject Jason Pridie has a pridie cool name.

Next: The Lower Depths.

Arms on the Farms
 

Now that we're talking about AA and below, I'll show the "potential" ratings, since that's what I'm most interested in.
Attachment 227177
Aside from our major league and AAA starters, not many top prospects here. Rookie-ball pitcher Steven Matz has strikeout potential, and AA (Binghamton) starters Dillon Gee and Bobby Livingston may become control artists. Other than that, it's mostly live arms that will have to get better. Possibilities to watch include Robert Carson and Kyle Allen at high-A St. Lucie, Brad Holt at low-A Savannah (go Sand Gnats!), Jeurys Familia at short-A Brooklyn, and Uguey Urbina's teenaged kid, Juan, in the GCL.

Attachment 227178
Little of interest in the relief corps. Ex-Diamondback farmhand Connor Robertson (high-A) is our last best hope for something good to come of our having to endure Scott Schoeneweis's tenure as a Met (we got Connor when we dumped him). He throws lots of strikes; unfortunately many of those get taken over the wall.

OTOH, Lopez (high-A) and Hebert (rookie) are good at avoiding HRs, just not at throwing strikes. Carlos Muniz (AA) is coming back from an injury, and trying to earn a second chance up top. (5.40 ERA, but only 1.33 WHIP in 18 games in '08.)

Attachment 227179
Aside from K-Rod and Igarashi, not much here. Brant Rustich (high-A) shows potential and Eddie "Waste of a 1st-Round Pick" Kunz will try not to embarrass himself unduly at AA. Other than that, more suspects than prospects.

Around the Horn, Where Stars are Born?
 

Catchers and infielders in this post; outfielders (due to image restrictions) in the next:
Attachment 227223
Definitely a black hole behind the plate; I'll be looking to trade for/draft catching prospects. Aside from Thole, only Camden Maron shows real promise, and he's a teenager playing rookie ball. Francisco Pena (St. Lucie) and German Kai Gronauer (Brooklyn) might develop a bit, while our Savannah catcher sounds like the answer to a racist Star Trek joke: "What would you call Picard if he turned into a Negro?" "He'd be 'Jean-Luc Blaquiere!' Hahaha!". At the moment, he's Jean-Luc Mediocre, that's what he is.

Attachment 227224
We won't look at all the 1B prospects, but if you're wondering where Ike Davis is, he's at AA Binghamton. Lots of power potential, but the game isn't too sure about his chances of hitting consistently. Also with the B-Mets is Lucas "Duda, Where's My Car?", who, like Nick Evans at AAA, is an OF prospect we'd rather play at 1B. So the line of succession at 1B is basically Murphy-Evans-Carter-Davis-Duda at the moment, with Hubbard trying to fight his way into consideration. Ike will have to pound the ball and have the others flop to advance (since Evans and Carter are on the 40-man and thus will likely get first crack). Which is not to say that can't happen. (When my first attempt crashed, having reached "August 2011", Ike was backing up Murphy, who was one of my key performers. Carter was in the OF mix, and Evans was having a hot year playing 1B everyday for Jerry Manuel…in Pittsburgh.) We'll see what develops.

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Our true 2B prospects are a fairly weak bunch, but we have lots of guys listed as shortstops, and some of them will get flipped to 2B. Valdespin (Brooklyn) looks to be the best prospect here, while Hector Pellot (St. Lucie) has been in the organization since he was 17, and really needs to get cracking.

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And here we have the gem of the organization, Wilmer Flores (St. Lucie), who has a fantastic arm, but only average range, so he might move to 3B and let the switch-hitting Coronado take SS. (Imbewer Alvarez also hits well, but he may have to DH to get his ABs.) At Savannah, former first-rounder Reese Havens seems to be developing his power, but his contact skills are a concern. He also has a sub-par arm, so a move to 2B may be in his future. Sandoval, Tovar, and Shields all look nicely toolsy at the lower levels, although none of them projects as much of a hitter, as yet.

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And here's our other 5-Star prospect, Jefry Marte, who'll start at 3B for Savannah. Like Flores, he has a great arm, good DP skills, and only average range, so he could play middle-infield, but we'll keep him at 3B for now. 3B at Binghamton will be manned by a Canadian, but will it be Vancouverite Shawn Bowman, or the pride of Joliette, Quebec, Jon Malo? Whichever, they're both 25+, so they'd better stand on guard against the younger kids coming up to take their jobs. Richard Lucas (Savannah) has a 91 Range rating, and so may be converted to SS. Huge-framed Aderlin Rodriguez will start the year at Kingsport (Rookie).

As you sure that you and our favorite Giants fan are not one in the same?

I am enjoying your writing style as well as the subtle little Canada references.... you ever been to Canada eh?

Keep on trucking, I am enjoying the ride..

Fields of Dreamers
 

Eager to get a look at the outfield prospects at the lower levels of the Mets organization? Of course you are! (Honestly, this is the end of it.)
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Only two real prospects of note here: Juan Lagares (AA Binghamton) lacks power but has promise at everything else, while Sean Ratliff (High-A St. Lucie) has the pop, and a nice arm (83 rating), but is just average on the basepaths.

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The old regime liked Montrealer Emanuel Garcia (a converted 2B), but I don't know if he's ever going to hit. He'll start at St. Lucie. Darrell Ceciliani (short-A Brooklyn) has some potential, and is at least adequate in the outfield. Pedro Zapata and Alonzo Harris will battle for ABs in Rookie-league Kingsport; they've both got the wheels and the glove (Harris is another converted 2B), but they'll need to learn to hit.

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Kirk "Dutch Master" Nieuwenhuis (low-A Savannah) has tools, but I'm not convinced that he'll ever be the top prospect his backers say he is. I'm even less convinced about Chase Greene (Brooklyn), whom Rudy Terrasas loves, but whom most scouts think is no prospect at all. He'll try to justify Rudy's faith while fighting Cesar Puello, whom we signed as a 16-year-old out of the D.R. in '07, for playing time. Former 2nd-Round pick Javier "J-Rod" Rodriguez will look to flex his power potential in Kingsport.

And that's the Mets, from top to bottom. Are you ready for some baseball?