(If you look closely you can see Fernando Tatis)The Mets are beginning to look a lot like the Yankees… by clubbing the rest of the organizations in their division with their checkbook. Mind you, the Mets are arguably more talented on the field at this point with the Yankees aging and a number of young players unproven. As a result of recent acquisitions, such as that minor trade that netted one of the best pitchers in baseball, the Mets do not appear as though they will entrust significant playing time to any rookies in 2008, barring a run on catastrophic injuries.Music to Mets fans' ears! Well, we already knew that. Any Mets fan paying attention knows the only thing left in the minors is F-Mart. And most Mets fans are content with that for now seeing as how the depletion was the result of the Santana trade. So to recap: The Mets minor league system is barren...
Not according to the Mets!
The propaganda machine that I interviewed to work with - and was summarily dinged - churned out this beauty on Jonathon Niese this past week.
In case you hadn't been paying attention, Niese was drafted in '05 and spent the last two season in A-ball. His numbers aren't that impressive (4.29 ERA and 1.35 WHIP last year) especially considering it's in single-A. The one thing that stuck out for me is how dramatically he cut his BB rate from '06 to '07. Niese had slightly over a 2:1 K:BB ratio in 2006 and he raised to just over 3:1 in 2007.
In case anyone cares, Sickels ranked Niese the organizations #5 prospect (before the Santana deal) for 2008. He was ranked above both Humber and Joe Smith. Now I'd imagine it's a toss up between Niese and Eddie Kunz for the #2 prospect in the organization!
It's a sad, sad state of affairs. Emphasized by the fact that Jay Horowitz & Co. (aka "Marty Noble") felt the need to start hyping a pitcher who by all accounts will start a third straight year in A-ball with a career ERA of 4.09.
Don't fear Mets fans, help is on the way.
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For the record...because I've been getting a ton of "Jon Niese" google hits - this isn't an attack on Niese or his potential. I, more than anyone, hope he turns out to be 10x the pitcher Deolis Guerra is. I just thought it was funny that the only complaint anyone had had about this offseason (Da Edge put aside) is that the farm system is crap - and the Mets start hyping prospects from A ball that only die-hards know about.
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