Meet The Mets...

Same as the old boss?  The New York Metropolitans pulled off the biggest move of the always competitive: Hot Stove League.

 It cost them 4 prospects.  What is a prospect?  Prospectors looked for gold.  Most didn't find it and were forced to star in mediocre shows like Deadwood.  Lots of times, prospects turn out to be great pros.  More times, they are funny anecdotes when baseball men get together and go:

'We just got the best pitcher in the world for 4 guys that have never put on a major league uniform'

 Then they laugh and clink their mugs of ale together.  That's how I picture it.

I played baseball for a lot of years.  I played in college and had some pro prospects...I'm not a pro.  See where I'm going?  You should.  If not, you are not a prospect.

 The latest craze in baseball is teams hording their prospects.  Increasingly, teams are calling 19, 20, and 21 year old kids who have had 0 success at the major league level, untouchable.  In the years AM (after Moneyball), nearly every team is attempting to create the kind of structure where they can remain competitive for years even if they don't have the budget of the feuding empires (Jankees and Pink 'B' Hats).  In many cases, teams have been validated.  The Braves won 486 division titles in a row buy mixing vets every year with a steady influx of their own home grown talent.  Hard to argue with the guys that came up through their system that they have trotted out there: Jones, Jones, Franceour, Glavine, Smoltz etc.

All that said, these latest trends are more out of control then the big sumb sunglasses that girls wear in my neighborhood in New York.  Is this girl a 5?  Is she an 8?  You can't tell because she's wearing Bono's novelty Oakleys.  Both the empires (as well as other teams who pulled themselves out of the running) could have had Johan Santana.

 The Jankees reportedly refused to include Phillip Hughes and Melky '.290 with little pop' Cabrera in a deal.  Sure.  I get that.

The bandwagon Boston Franchise refused to include both Jacoby Ellsbury and John Lester.  John Lester! ' Umm Twins?  Are you guys out of your minds?  John Lester had a 4.6...he's untouchable.  You want him and Ellsbury?  Umm Ellsbury had a good 2 months...he's untouchable also.  I know Santana is this generation's Sandy Koufax but I don't think we can make this happen.'

So anyway, back to the Mets.  On paper, where everything is always decided, they are the best team in the NL.  They have all the ingredients.  So what's the problem?  The problem is, they are now quite shallow.  During the dog days of the season when guys have to fill in, step up from AAA to take some innings or at bats, they don't really have anyone they can go to.  This is a small problem.  I think they will be eons ahead of the Phillies, Braves, Nationals and the artists formerly knowns as the Marlins (they have cheerleaders now.  Another blog on that soon) so it won't matter.  The staff is now dominant.  That's what happens when you add THE BEST PITCHER IN BASEBALL.  Every team should be ashamed of themselves.  That's what it took to get Johan Santana.  4 guys that might never make a splash.  If they do, it will not compare to the wake from Johan's super cannon ball into lake Minnetonka.