This new (and surprising) youth movement that Omar Minaya has established at Shea certainly wasn’t planned. There were injuries, specifically in the outfield. Then there were injuries to the bench players who replaced them. After seeing this, it seems as if Minaya threw up his hands and decided to raid Double-A Binghamton.

Oddly enough, though, the “star” of the Mets farm system is not among them. Fernando Martinez, a man Mets fans had clamored for in light of the outfield injuries, remains in the minors. Metsblog had the story on July 24 when he left the game with a hamstring injury. He returned on August 5, but one would suspect with his recent injuries and his .287 average with 5 HR and 26 RBIs, he isn’t getting the call tomorrow.

Metstradamus interpreted the non-call of Martinez as reason that Minaya’s youth movement is not simply to appease fans, and I agree. For example, the call-up of Nick Evans came out of nowhere, and he was the first player from Double-A up on the Mets squad. Mets fans might have heard of Dan Murphy before his call-up, perhaps in the kind of semi-fame Mike Carp enjoys with Mets fans, but I don’t think anybody was clamoring for his appearance at Shea. It’s not just throwing the cards on the table; there seems to be a method to Minaya’s madness.

But some would call it simply that — “madness.” In Ted Berg’s latest column for SNY.tv, he criticizes the arrivals of Murphy and Evans, saying both have had little time at Triple-A and both are not traditional outfielders. These are valid complaints, but ultimately, both were called up for their bats. Evans hit .311 with 14 HRs and and 53 RBIs in 296 at-bats at Binghamton, while Murphy hit .308 with 13 HRs and 67 RBIs in 357 at-bats. The team has shown a willingness to sacrifice defense at the corner-outfield positions to bring more offense (see: Fernando Tatis, Marlon Anderson, et al.)

In the same breath, Berg again cheerleads for Triple-A New Orleans slugger Valentino Pascucci, who is batting .283 with 24 HRs and 66 RBIs in 321 at-bats with the Zephyrs. His OBP is a sparkling .409 with them. Pascucci becomes especially relevent, since another Triple-A slugger, Fernando Tatis, has enjoyed success at Shea in 2008. But for whatever reason, the Mets brass don’t seem to be as enamored with him. With an older player such as Pascucci, they certainly aren’t protecting him in any way, to be sure. There is just something about him they seem to dislike, which has caused the team to choose countless players over him. One would then begin to wonder why he is still in the organization if he is so decidedly not in favor.

Ultimately, I have no problem with the moves Minaya has made in bringing up Evans, Murphy, Argenis Reyes, and Eddie Kunz, but I feel Mets fans have irrational expectations for young players to be excellent right off the bat. For example, since Mike Pelfrey wasn’t a lights-out ace right off the bat, he was much maligned for a good two years. A. Reyes is an example of a player that Mets fans have conditioned their expectations for and accept on the basis of his strengths and weaknesses. Meanwhile, Evans impresses with a debut day of three doubles and then disappoints greatly when he doesn’t have follow-up games in the same vein. Murphy has come out to a good start, but I fear he may suffer the same fate as Evans has.

It’s hard to manage the careers of youth during a pennant race. Berg argues that these tryouts would be acceptable in a forgotten, lost year but not in 2008. This makes sense because in a pennant race, if Kunz doesn’t show the results of a big-league closer immediately, the team cannot have time for him. In the same way, if Tatis continues to hit and Ryan Church comes back, suddenly Murphy and/or Evans are simply riding the pine and potentially stunting their growth as players. The ultimate goal for the Mets, of course, is winning and doing whatever it takes to win. But the odd timing of the youth movement truly complicates matters.

Welcome to the big club Eddie Kunz. We sure do need ya…

Added by Anthony De Rosa

Carlos Muniz is particularly excited to see Kunz, as he’s no longer the low man on the totem pole, require to carry the Sleeping Beauty knapsack you see here filled with goodies for the bullpen to snack on during games.

Jon Heyman of SI.com says Omar Minaya is “itching” to make a deal. The Mets want to hold onto top prospects Fernando Martinez, Jon Niese, Eddie Kunz and Robert Parnell. Heyman says that Minaya is spending more time on the relief situation.

According to Dan Graziano of the Star-Ledger, the Yankees, Tigers, Rangers and Rays have all spoken to the Mets about lefty reliever Scott Schoeneweis.

The Mets could look to promote Eddie Kunz to the vacant spot if the Mets do not find a replacement for Schoeneweis via trade.

Just speculation on my part, but a couple of names to consider are Tigers outfielder Marcus Thames, Rangers outfielder Marlon Byrd or perhaps Rays outfielder Eric Hinske.

Graziano also notes that the Mets could be showing interest in Carl Pavano. He recently had rehab start, throwing 2.0 innings with 4 strikeouts.

The way SNY portrays Willie Randolph was one of the subjects Willie spoke about in the now infamous Ian O’Conner interview. Here New York Times sports media writer Richard Sandomir reminds us that back in 1998 then Mets broadcaster Tim McCarver was likely fired because of his outspokenness from the booth.

McCarver said: “Nelson told me that Bobby Valentine said, ‘McCarver’s got to go,’ and Nelson told the manager, ‘I’ll handle it.’ ” Doubleday asked McCarver to soothe Valentine by telling him that he’s done a “hell of a job” with the players he had. “And I said, ‘If I felt that way, I would have said it already,’ ” McCarver said. “At that point, I didn’t feel real good about keeping my job.” Doubleday dallied until February 1999 to tell McCarver he was gone, saying that Valentine had nothing to do with his dismissal.

The New York Times also writes about the booing at Shea Stadium. Francis Clines piece in the Op-Ed section is a interesting read and one that I could not agree with more.

Booing, once directed only at the visiting team, has become the dagger du jour as hometown fans bestow loud, selective blame on that relief pitcher or this heavy hitter for the Mets’ thus far mediocre record. Such disloyalty is hard to witness, particularly as youngsters learn from Dad and Mom to condemn one of their own. The song goes: If they don’t win it’s a shame — not a personal affront.

Greg Berlin of NL Beast is one of many who totally disagrees.

Mike Lupica of the Daily News got it touch with Yogi Berra who, as Lupica points out holds the distinction of being fired by both NY teams. Yogi tells Lupica what we all know to be the truth…

“Yeah,” Yogi said. “Tell him to win some games.”

Lupica’s main point is if Willie wins games then all the drama, self inflicted included, will just go away. What I found interesting is Lupica revisits the notion that is accepted by almost everyone, saying that the Mets collapse last season was the worst in baseball history. Now, while I hurt just like every Mets fan I always thought the Yankee collapse in the playoffs against the Red Sox was much worse. I have found very few people, whether in the media or people that I know who agree with me. But, alas Lupica wrote this today and obviously I agree 100%.

We constantly hear that last September was The Worst Collapse in Baseball History. No, it wasn’t. The worst collapse, in context, and because of the aftermath, because of who was involved and the way it happened, was the Yankees blowing a 3-0 lead to the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 American League Championship Series.

In the Daily News Adam Rubin shares some reactions to yesterday’s smashing debut by rookie Nick Evans :

His first hit: off Jeff Francis on the first pitch he saw in the big leagues. His Binghamton Mets teammates watched that moment on the scoreboard before their game while taking batting practice. “There was no way we were going to miss that,” Double-A closer Eddie Kunz said…Said Evans: “I was very nervous. I haven’t really eaten.”

In his column Beating the Bushes for the NY Post Tim Bontemps brings us up to date with Mets top pick from last year’s draft RP Eddie Kunz. Tim has quotes from Kunz’s old manager from Oregon St. and some thoughts from Mets brass. The Mets are obviously high on this kid, they would even think about giving him some time this season with the big club,

Mets VP of player development Tony Bernazard didn’t shy away from the possibility of Kunz being brought to Shea - even straight from Binghamton - if the need arises this season.
“It depends on the needs of the club,” he said. “The Eastern League is a very strong league, and guys have been brought straight up to the major leagues before.

After the Santana deal a lot was written about how the Mets have very little talent left in their system. So, the good news is he is impressing scouts and people within the Mets organization. Wow, at 22 there wasn’t a flat “no” to the idea raised of using him this year. Nice, I can hear the chants of Eddie, Eddie already.

At his blog minorleagueball.com, John Sickels has posted his 2008 edition of the New York Mets Prospects. Fernando Martinez ranks in at #1 followed by in order Deolis Guerra, Carlos Gomez, and Kevn Mulvey. John ranks Philip Humber at #7.

I am a big fan of Jon Niese’s but I dont feel he should be ranked ahead then Humber. Other then that, for the most part though, I agree with his list.

Overall our system has some talented pitchers with some good potential such as Scott Moviel, Brant Rustich, Eddie Kunz, & Nathan Vineyard who could possibly make an impact at the big league level this year, but when you look at the hitters all you see is Fernando, Gomez, and possibly Mike Carp becoming successful major league players. Unfortunately this shows how weak the Mets really are offensivley in the system.

Nick Evans and Brahiam Maldonado are two guys that definatley get overlooked in the Mets farm system and I am very excited to see what they both do in 2008.

Adam Rubin on his New York Daily News blog relays the final numbers for the Mets representatives.

Reliever Eddie Kunz, the Mets’ top pick in the 2007 draft, went 0-1 with a 10.13 ERA in nine appearances.

Fellow reliever Carlos Muniz had a 3.27 ERA in eight appearances.

First base prospect Mike Carp hit .243 with no homers and 16 RBI in 107 at-bats.

Caleb Stewart batted .318 with 6 home runs, and 11 rbis in 12 games.

Mike Nickeas batted .196 with 1 home run, and 6 rbis in 13 games.

Adam Bostick was 2-0 in 6 starts with an era of 2.74 and 23 strikeouts.

Eddie “Macho” Camacho was 0-2 in 10 games with an era of 2.31 and 9 strikeouts.

Mets.com recently wrote about Mike Carp and Eddie Kunz. Carp is coming back from a hand injury and Kunz was picked up by the Mets in last year’s amateur draft.

SNY.tv provides some insight from scouts and people who closely monitor minor league prospects, such as Jim Callis of Baseball America, primary editor of the soon-to-be released “Prospect Handbook” (available in mid-January through Baseball America), on some of the Mets prospects playing in the Arizona Fall League.

The Mets have four pitchers on the Scottsdale Scorpions: lefties Adam Bostick and Eddie Camacho and righties Eddie Kunz (the Mets top pick in 2007) and Carlos Muniz.

Deric McKamey, advisor to the St. Louis Cardinals and author of the soon-to-be-released, third annual “Minor League Baseball Analyst” believes Adam Bostick can be a swing-man or two-inning reliever. He sees Camacho as a LOOGY (lefty one-out guy) and Muniz as a ROOGY.

McKamey is not high on Kunz. He sees his command as an issue and places him a notch below Aaron Heilman, and projects him to be a seventh-inning guy. An American League East scout agreed with McKamey as well.

“I can’t believe Kunz was a first-round pick. I think his ceiling right now is Aaron Heilman and not many players reach their ceiling.”

Jim Callis is higher on Kunz and sees him as a potential closer.

For more analysis on Mets prospects playing in the AFL, head over to SNY.tv