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.

AA All Star Nick Evans has rejoined the Mets, replacing Ryan Church who will once again be placed on the DL. Church has experienced migraines the last few days, though test indicate they are not concussion related. While doing quite well in AA, Evans had just four hits in his last stint of the Mets, with three of them coming in his first game.

As always, this article will run again next month.

Unlike the actual Mets, quasi Met Nick Evans has been selected for the All Star Game. Well…the Eastern League All Star Game in New Hampshire. Same thing. He’ll be joined be fellow B Mets Mike Carp, Salvadar Aguilar and Bobby Parnell. Evans was with the Mets for two weeks, getting three doubles in his debut and then for the most part not hitting anything. In his nine games, including his three doubles he got four hits in 23 at bats. But he does much better in AA, where he has a .309 average with seven triples.

Tickets are still available if for some reason you’re in New Hampshire.

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.”

The Mets have called up Nick Evans from Double-A Binghamton, reports Bart Hubbuch on his blog for the New York Post. The report comes from the Binghamton Press.

Evans is a right-handed batter who has played first base, third base and left field, but it stands to reason that he was called up to provide some depth to an outfield that has been decimated with injuries.

Moises Alou is out with a hamstring injury and Marlon Anderson left the game tonight with an apparent hamstring injury while running to first base. Ryan Church is still recovering from a concussion he sustained while sliding head first into second base a few nights ago.

Evans was hitting .292 with eight homers and 31 RBIs in 45 games with the B-Mets. In the game Evans was pulled from tonight, Mike Carp hit a two RBI double that gave Binghamton the win.

Hat tip to Peter Wade for the news.

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.