According to the Post Standard, the Syracuse Sky Chiefs are willing to make a deal with the Mets if they make Syracuse their new home. According the report, the Chiefs, a publicly owned team, would sell a stake to the Mets organization. Officially, neither the Chiefs or Bisons can make any sort of offer to the Mets till after midnight tonight, though rumors have already circulated that the Mets and Bisons have reached an unofficial agreement.

Its like all the fun of trade rumors, but with full teams. For what its worth, if we end up in Syracuse, hopefully the Wilpons can use their new partial stake to give the team a cooler name. Sky Chiefs? Seriously? Sure, there’s nothing really grand about Syracuse in which to name a team after, but we can only have so many ariel based minor league teams in a row. Maybe the Syracuse Mr Met Jrs?

For those downstate who ignore the far reaches of New York State, the Buffalo Bisons and Cleveland Indians have gone their separate ways. Why should you care you ask, after all, most Met fans live in general NYC, North Jersey and Long Island areas, several hours away.  Well, because Buffalo hopes to reach a deal to be the AAA team for the Toronto Blue Jays, something also mentioned by the Jays GM to the AP.  That, would free up the Syracuse Sky Chiefs, who last season had made remarks indicated an interest to become part of the Mets family.

While nothing officialy has been said from the Mets camp, the above scenerio would benefit all involved. Buffalo and Toronto are a mere 90 minutes apart.  Syracuse a simple four, five hour drive (or hour flight) from Shea, which would be significantly closer than New Orleans. The Sky Chiefs are also an International League team, bringing the Mets prospects back to a league played on the East Coast, making emergency call ups a bit quicker during their away games.

The only real loser in all this, would probably be the Zephyrs. I understand the Mets have worked hard down there to become part of the community, give back, etc, but as a Met fan I have to root for this all to work out. Aside from the selfish reason (the Sky Chiefs would play my hometown Red Wings), it would place our top minor league players and rehabbing major leaguers a day trip away, making player exchanges or in house scouting a much simpler task. Need to send a pitching coach to see if your reliever really is ready? Done. Castillo’s blows out both knees during warmups? Aregenis Reyes can be in Flushing by midgame. The only real downside for the Mets would be a loss of access to good gumbo, and David Wright would have to cancel his Mardis Gras plans.

The Mets farm system has been considered by many to be “dry”. I took a closer look at the key components and the stats aren’t too shabby. Here’s a look at some of our future Mets.

Triple A New Orleans:

• Val Pascucci: Pascucci, a 29 year old journeyman, has really found a home in AAA this year with the Mets. He is hitting .292 with 18 home runs and 51 rbi in 74 games this year.

Double A Binghamton:

• Fernando Martinez: Martinez has battled injuries this year, but when he has played this year he has more than held his own. As a 19 year old, he is hitting .292 with four homers and 21 rbi in 55 games.
• Eddie Kunz: Kunz, the possible heir to Billy Wagner at the end of the ‘09 season, has done very well as the closer of the Binghamton squad this year. He has saved 25 games, and holds a 1-4 record with a 3.09 ERA. He has registered 37 strikeouts in 43.2 innings.
• Dan Murphy: Murphy has flown under the radar, with the reemergence of Mike Carp and the highly touted Martinez playing in AA, but he deserves some credit. The 22 year old Murphy is hitting .309 with 11 homers and 57 rbi in 81 games this year.
• Mike Carp: After struggling for much of the ‘07 due to injuries, many scouts soured on Carp. He has silenced the critics. Carp is batting .299 with 10 homers and 49 rbi in 92 games, playing 1b and the OF and should once again be touted as a top 10 prospect in the organization.
• Jon Niese: After really impressing in spring training this year, Niese has followed it up with an impressive year in AA. He is 5-7, but has a solid 3.22 ERA in 21 starts. He has struck out 104 in 117.1 innings

Single A:

• Ruben Tejada: Tejada, an 18 year old SS, really struggled for the first few months of the season, but has been slowly getting better and no longer looks overmatched. He is batting .240 with two homers and 31 rbi this year in HiA St Lucie, a league where the regular age ranges between 20-21.

Short Season Brooklyn:

• Ike Davis: Davis has struggled after getting drafted by the Mets with the 18th pick in the draft. The first basemen is batting .253 with no homers and nine rbi in 21 games so far.
• Reese Havens: The Mets other first round pick, Havens has really impressed many around the organization due to his feel for the game. In 17 games this year, Havens is batting .265 with three homers and 8 rbi.
• Brad Holt: Holt’s stats so far this season are showing the Mets made no mistake taking him 33 overall in this year’s draft. Holt is 2-2 with a 1.96 ERA for the Cyclones, and has 30 strikeouts in 23 innings.

Rookie Ball:

• Wilmer Flores: Another young shortstop in the organization, Flores was considered the Mets best sign out of the international market in 2007. The 16 year old Flores has not disappointed so far, hitting .346 with five homers and 22 rbi in 26 games.

In an article for ESPN.com, Jerry Crasnick reports that OF Jordan Schafer, a top prospect in the Atlanta Braves system, was suspended 50 games for HGH use.

Schafer, 21, is currently playing for the Braves AA affiliate in Mississippi.  Baseball America ranked him number 25 on their list of the top 100 minor league players.

Even though this happened to the Braves, its tough to take joy from this.  You hate to see a promising young kid mess up his future with PED’s.    

The B Mets will remain in Binghamton and part of the Mets family until 2010, as the two parties extended their affiliation agreement.

I’d assume that with the proximate of Binghamton to Shea, as long as the Mets organization is willing to keep the team stocked with decent, young talent, both parties would remain interested in staying together. Especially after the fiasco with the break from Norfolk, in which the team ended up in a further location that plays primarily on the other side of the country. Hopefully the rumors about a affiliation jump to Syracuse (home of the Sky Chiefs) will become true.

While we wait for the results of Pedro’s MRI today, Adam Rubin reports in his blog for The Daily News that Brian Stokes has cleared waivers and will head to AAA New Orleans.

Stokes, who lost out for the final bullpen spot to Joe Smith, is expected to be part of the Zephyrs rotation.

7.07 era last year in Tampa’s pen.  Not a shock that no one picked him up.  Now that I’ve distracted you for two minutes, you can go back to waiting for the Pedro update.    

Gustavo Molina, of the non famous Molina family, has been reassigned to minor league camp. We are contractually obligated to remind you he is not related to any of the 100 famed Molina catchers, not even Benji.

The Mets reassigned four more players to minor league camp yesterday, none of whom were realistic shots to start the season with the Mets anyway. Fernando Martinez was the only big name given his traveling papers and a hug goodbye from Omar. He will be reassigned to AA Binghamton, home of the only Mets with Bees on their uniform.

Tony Armas, having joined the team this week due to visa issues (the legal residence kind, not the plastic charge card), Nate Field and Joselo Diaz round out the group that was reassigned as well. Neither was believed to have received a hug goodbye from Omar.

Jordan Zakarin over at Mets Blog provides a nice concise background on some of the lower level Mets pitching prospects in the Mets minor league system, including those just drafted this past year.

This is a nice list by Jordan, and gives fans some insight beyond the Pelfreys, the Humbers, and the Mulveys of the world.

There has been buzz recently about the Mets possibly moving their Triple-A affiliation to Syracuse. In the New Orleans Times Picayune, Zephyrs general manager Mike Schline spoke about the uncertainty of the Mets remaining in New Orleans beyond this season.

“First of all, the name makes a difference,” he said. “And the Mets are a big name. And how much interest a team takes in its Triple-A franchise makes a big difference as well. The Mets took a very active interest, both in the community and in making sure that we stayed stocked with talent.”

“We had a great year here last year, both on and off the field,” said Mets Director of Minor League Operations Adam Wogan, who also was at Wednesday’s gathering. “Our guys loved being in the city, and we built some very solid relationships.”

I’m torn, because I know lots of local fans are excited about the Mets Triple-A team playing close to where they live. I grew to really love the fact the Mets had an affiliate in New Orleans, and look forward to making another trip down to see them this year. I know how much the people down there appreciate having the Mets affiliation, and would love to see them stay.

Mark Hale of the Post reports that Jose Valentin has agreed to terms with the Mets. As mentioned previously, his new contract is for the minors, but with a spring training invite. He would receive a bonus if he made the Mets roster.

Hale reports that Valentine will most likely not resume baseball activities till mid-March.

No such thing as too many backups, as we learned last year. And while I don’t see Jose returning as the full time secondbasemen, should Gotay or Castillo hit the DL it will provide us with a decent defensive second basemen, one with some more offensive possibilities than Anderson Hernandez, who most likely will never be able to hit on a major league level.

If it turns out Castillo and Gotay stay healthy and productive all year, well its a minor league deal that didn’t really cost the team anything. Plus, we’ll at least catch him on a few of those televised spring training games and his rocking Stache.

MiLB.com takes a look back at the Mets minor league team highlights of 2007. Among the best moments are…

• Jonathan Malo belted a walk-off grand slam in the ninth inning to rally St. Lucie past Jupiter, 7-4.
• Anderson Hernandez driving in an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth and then hitting a walk off homer in extra innings to defeat Omaha.
• Jason Vargas takes a no-hitter into the seventh inning against Salt Lake.
• Seven Gulf Coast Mets combined to toss 14 hitless innings in a 1-0, 17-inning loss to the Cardinals.
• Binghamton’s Brett Harper and Mark Kiger were selected to the postseason Eastern League All-Star Team. Harper finished with a .296 average, 26 homers and 88 RBIs — all career highs. Kiger, who was promoted to Triple-A New Orleans on Aug. 19, hit .312 with 10 homers and 50 RBIs in 114 games for Binghamton.
• On three days’ rest, Brooklyn’s Nick Waechter threw a one-hitter against Hudson Valley.
• St. Lucie’s Jonathan Niese allowed one hit over six innings against Brevard County, beating them 8-0, in Game 1 of their Florida State League.
• Kevin Mulvey fired seven shutout innings to put the Zephyrs into the Pacific Coast League Championship Series with a 6-0 win over Nashville.

MinorLeagueBaseball.com has begun counting down their list of the top 50 prospects in baseball today, starting with 31 through 50.