TheBrush said:
Last time I checked there are two other outfield positions my friend. The core has been described as Wright, Reyes, Beltran, Milledge (may hernandez we will have to wait and see).
That article was written after Escobar blew out his knee or whatever sidelined him so yea it looked like a steal........I glad you live in a nice little world whereeverything fits nicely in a box. Oh this guy didnt turn out to be great so its a steal.
Hindsight is always 20/20
alex escobar was signed by the mets in 1995. he had his best statistical season in the minors, when he was declaired the best prospect in baseball, in 1998. he was traded after the 2001 season. when he was traded, he was still a minor leaguer, having had just a brief cup of coffee in september with the mets. his star was already fading by the time he blew out his knee, and he wasn't considered to be a lock future super star anymore by the time he was traded. and if you had read that article, it brings up that at the time... AT THE TIME... not months or years later... AT THE TIME of the trade King George the Third was outraged that the Mets were able to get Alomar for a few pieces off the scrap heap.
on to lastings milledge... he's a centerfielder. if you know even a tiny bit about baseball, you know that centerfielders tend to have large ego's about the position they play. they don't want to be moved to another outfield position. beltran certainly didn't want to move to rightfield when the mets were pursuing him, even though cameron was obviously a better defensive player. cameron moved reluctantly, and then it took only a year for him to demand to be moved back to centerfield or traded. and the mets have still yet to ask milledge to move to either corner outfield position. one would think that if he were part of their plans, they would have done that already, considering that beltran ain't goin' anywhere anytime soon.
but maybe milledge is the real deal... i don't know... you never know. he's a minor leaguer. there are no gaurantees. for every david wright, jose reyes and daryl strawberry the mets have had, they've had two jay payton's, alex escobars, greg jefferies, timo perez's, paul wilson's and bill pulsipher's... all of whom were once billed as future met superstars.
the mets have two bonefied, major league proven, future superstars under the age of 23 in Reyes and Wright. they also have beltran for 6 more years, who's not yet 30. they also have a load of young arms in the minors... despite giving up petit. there are those that say petit's success is because he has great stuff, and there are those who say it's because he has a gimmick delivery. he was awesome in AA, but in his brief call up to AAA he got rocked.
the mets are making a push to win it all now... this year. not 7 years down the line. they still have a load of young talent, but they have no problem dumping some of the unproven talent to bring in guys to get it done this year. after all... they did sign pedro, like you brought up. and he'll be retired in 5 years, right? so why not deal milledge now if it can bring in a bonefied stud RBI guy like manny f'ing ramirez?
as for wagner and the phillies and the thome/rowand trade.
it could free up money to resign him, but all reports indicate that what will push it over the edge for wagner is whatever team gives him that 4th year. the mets will, the phillies, as of now, still say that they will not.
but who knows... maybe a few extra million will change his mind.
