April 20, 2008

There's Gold In Them There Hills...


...the "hills" of Binghamton, New York, that is!!! Over at Metsblog, Jordan Zakarin reviews the progress three top Mets' minor league prospects, Mike Carp, Nick Evans and Dan Murphy are making in leading the high-scoring Binghamton Mets to an 8-8 record- not great, but a start that bares watching, at least offensively, for sure!

Carp (see photo) was high on the Mets' radar up until last season, but injuries and lack of progress seemed to take him off their radar- until this season, as he just won the "Eastern League Player of the Week" award and leads the team with a .435 batting average and is second in both doubles, with 5, and RBI's, with 16 in this young season. Carp was originally projected as the eventual successor to current Mets' first-sacker, Carlos Delgado. His progress stalled, the Mets started looking elsewhere for Delgado's successor, and, I'm sure, are still casting a wanting eye towards current Braves first-sacker, Mark Teixeria, who will be a free agent after the current season.

Into the potential first-base-breach are two prospects, Nick Evans and Dan Murphy, who are splitting time at DH, first base and third base. Jonathan had told me that Murphy's defense at third is supposedly better than current Mets' starter (and star) David Wright, but he also cautioned that we heard the same thing about prospect Shane Bowman some 4 years ago, and that potential has yet to reach fruition.

Carp, Evans and Murphy's progress bares watching as one or two might even make it to the majors next season, especially if the Mets don't retain the services of Delgado nor can (or want to) sign Teixeria.

Oh- and by the way- the one name at Binghamton we DIDN'T discuss- Fernando Martinez- is only hitting .247 with 1 homer and 6 RBI's in 17 games with an alarming 20 strike-outs. It's a long season, and F-Mart is bound to heat up, while one or more of the "ECM" trio is likely to slow down big-time. Still, for a minor league system that's not looked upon too well, the Mets seem to have far more prospects in line to beocome major leaguers than many writers and websites would have had you believe this off-season. That's why games must be played in order for players to be truly (and properly) evaluated!


Go B-Mets!!!!

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