This move was a cosmetic one, a Minaya Met blemish that Alderson gently wiped off. >>>>

cant really say it was a blemish. fmart was a highly sought after 16 YO who was offered more money by other teams but took less to sign with mets. just didnt work out. most of the underage signings in baseball dont work out.

Fair or not, F-Mart was emblematic of the failed promise and egregious hype of the Minaya era.

in game 2, fmart again dh'ed. dont know if its because he currently cant play outfield or not.

Can't really argue with that point too much. None the less, at 23 years old, the was stilll at least a chance he could be something, and he wasnt causing any harm by being in the minors.

There's a lot of people who still like this kid! I am disappointed he's no longer with the Mets.

They both were. Getting rid of them helped put the Mets in the dumper through most of the 70s.

Well, I don't believe in curses, despite all the recent bad luck. And actually, I don't really believe in luck. But they should've kept him for another year or two. He may not pan out. He could get injured yet again. But young players are a commodity you shouldn't part with quite so cheaply.

>>>"Well, I don't believe in curses, despite all the recent bad luck. And actually, I don't really believe in luck. But they should've kept him for another year or two. He may not pan out. He could get injured yet again. But young players are a commodity you shouldn't part with quite so cheaply."<<<

Exactly. It wouldn't have hurt anything to keep him another year, or even two. We don't have a great OF prospect he would have been blocking, and we aren't likely to be winning anything at the major league level in the next two years, so there was nobody so valueable on that roster that needed to be saved.

>>>"When a kid has an injury in the minors, where he misses time, his development goes back two steps. The amount of injuries he had, for all intents and purposes, stopped much of his development. I understand totally why the Mets let him go and have no problem with it. The time had come for F-Mart and the Mets to part company. It would be just the Mets luck that the kid never has another injury and becomes an all-star. If it wasn't for bad luck the Mets wouldn't have any luck."<<<

I haven't dumped on Sandy for this move, nor would I, but I am just not real comfortable with the move on it's face - in that I didn't see the harm in keeping him here another year or two.

For a franchise that doesn't really have many great OF prospects close to the majors, and little depth, I just would have preferred to keep him.

If it had been a case of a choice of roster spot between FMart and say a Capt Kirk, then yeah, oboviously FMart is someone you cut loose. But if the kid was cut loose in order to have more space for the Harristons and Casracso's of the world, then I don't get it - especially since the 2012 team is unlikely to be winning much of anything.

>>>"a 23 YO with an arthritic knee who could barely run the outfield in winterball. i didnt have much problem letting him go. maybe would have kept him on the 40 man over lutz and satin, a pair of definite, never will be's."<<<

Well, if the move was made primarily because of fears about the effects of the knee long term, then that is a horse of a different color. From that standpoint, I could understand it, but if it was to spots for some of the other marginal talent on the roster, then I don't.

>>>"This move was a cosmetic one, a Minaya Met blemish that Alderson gently wiped off."<<<

Could be. I would not rule out that Sandy just made FMart part of his house cleaning. Clearing away the ghosts of Christmas' past, while putting his own soliders in place.

>> I haven't dumped on Sandy for this move, nor would I, but I am just not real comfortable with the move on it's face - in that I didn't see the harm in keeping him here another year or two.

There was a valid reason for it. Given his injury record, how long are you going to wait for the kid to play a full season? I'm sure Alderson knew the kid dogged a couple of plays. Not running out a pop up isn't good. It looked to me like he dogged a couple of plays in the outfield. The kid is a better outfielder than what he showed. As you know it's not unexpected when a kid comes up to struggle at the plate, but when he dogs plays you have to question his attitude. This is his chance to impress the powers to be. Hitting is only one part of the game. If your not hitting you have to give extra effort in the other parts of your game, and he didin't do that.

>> For a franchise that doesn't really have many great OF prospects close to the majors, and little depth, I just would have preferred to keep him.

You have a valid point in the lack of depth in OF prospects in the system. He's just had so many different injuries and missed so much time. He's also got the arthritic knee which doesn't bode well for the future. He's really young to have that.

>> If it had been a case of a choice of roster spot between FMart and say a Capt Kirk, then yeah, oboviously FMart is someone you cut loose. But if the kid was cut loose in order to have more space for the Harristons and Casracso's of the world, then I don't get it - especially since the 2012 team is unlikely to be winning much of anything.

As far as the roster spot goes I don't think he would be on the 25 man roster this season. He would of started back in AA. I think with the injuries, and the fact that he didn't show the desire and drive you want to see in a young player, they let him go. One thing a kid never should do is anything that can give the organization is reason to question his attitude. Getting to the majors and dogging plays is not the way to prevent that.

i agree releasing him for nothing was a head scratcher.

at the very least they should have brought him to spring training maybe he could have upped his trade value with a great spring.

poor asset mgmt.

Like it or not and age aside, it's understandable why teams impose a statute of limitations on how long they're willing to wait for a prospect to mature. Obviously, there are those exceptions who suddenly rise to stardom when a team gives up on a player either prematurely or that player hasn't shown significant improvement over a certain time period, either due to lack of talent or improper coaching/nurturing, etc. Nolan Ryan (and, more recently to a lesser degree, Heath Bell) are good examples of prospects that "got away", but the fact is they both logged at least 4 years of major league experience in before being released/traded. So Nolan Ryan is the classic example of a Met misread/blunder, but if you look at his stats over that 5 year period there's little evidence to show progression or prove what he would eventually become. Hey, it happens, and not just to the Mets, and it could have very well come down to mishandling of talent...OR the guy simply couldn't cut it here.

F-Mart was considered a top prospect, but honestly I'm not exactly sure why. If you look at his minor league stats over the past 5 years you see a guy with little power or speed and a very average OBP who occasionally could hit for upper .280-.290 BA. Not a blue chip prospect, IMO. There was always the thought that his power would improve, but it never really did. So yeah, I would have been willing to give the guy a little more time, but there's little evidence in his history to show the makings of a potential superstar.

For every Nolan Ryan in the rough there's at least 3 or 4 Lastings Milledge's to show that teams can usually make a proper talent assessment, but naturally they're raked over the hot coals the minute they let one get away.

Somebody on our crack medical staff told Sandy that arthritis is contagious.

The Mets dealt Staub for Mickey Lolich who was just about done and look at what Staub did in Detroit... he had some great RBI years.....

"Couldn't keep him on roster and risk losing someone else"

Yeah, what WOULD we have done w/o Scott Hairston?.....

It was a mistake. They had a couple other options.

"Risk losing who?

Scott Hairston? Cedeno?

He may never be able to put it together but it's not like the kid is 30... Don't see why the team gave up on him.
"

Exactly. It was a foolish move.

Ahma go one further.

Cut Havens NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Noodlehouse next!!!!!!