All The Injured Mets Stars, About 5 Players Too Many This Season (Courtesy of Weretheteamtobeat.com)

BY ZACHARY SCHULMAN
STACHE WRITER

The Mets continue to get injured. When it is thought to not get any worse, Murphy’s Law kicks in. Jon Niese and Fernando Martinez’s injuries were only two of the many that happened to Mets young players.

The Mets have not had much luck in recent years, with the exception of Wright and Reyes, in developing a lot of useful talent in their minor league system. This year I have paid much more attention to the Mets minor league affiliates. I was curious to see if the Mets really lacked the talent that everyone claimed they did. While the Buffalo BIsons are a lost cause for this year and probably the short term future, the AA level and below has a lot of promise.

With Delgado getting hurt in a walk year, it all but finalized his career with the Mets. Daniel Murphy has been a very pleasant surprise defensively at first and is showing some signs that he might break out hitting wise.

However, in the minors the Mets have hard hitting Ike Davis putting up stellar numbers in AA and another player named Lucas Duda, who has started playing some outfield, who is an extra base hit machine. It will be interesting to see if they get promoted to AAA towards the end of this year or at the beginning of next year.

Murphy is going to play for the remainder of the season. If Davis continues to develop, Murphy might have to learn another position, perhaps second base. Another position on the big league roster that the Mets will have to address in the offseason is catcher. They have a player in AA, Josh Thole, who is a high energy guy who rakes. He is hitting .341 with 40 RBI and a .412 OBP in 314 at bats. Talent at the catching position is scarce.

JJ Putz, John Maine, Fernando Nieve, and Jon Niese are all members of the Mets pitching staff on the DL. In AA, Jenrry Mejia and Brad Holt have been the talk of the town. Both are touted as the Mets top pitching prospects. Mejia has electric stuff and Holt has a variety of pitches and a plus fastball. Both of these guys could be mainstays in the rotation in the future joining the ranks of Mike Pelfrey and Jon Niese and anchored by Mr. Santana.

Luis Castillo, who had managed to be one of the few Mets opening day starters to remain healthy, had to eventually take the fall, pun intended. Anderson Hernandez was re-acquired in a solid move. There are two players in AA though that have been great in the middle of the diamond. Jose Coronado and Ruben Tejada are the Mets future double play combo. Both are still relatively young and have some growing to do as hitters, but both show promise.

One good thing that can be taken from the plethora of Met injuries, is that the minor leaguers are getting a deeper more thorough look. The talent is there and hopefully will continue to develop. Hopefully, as Matt Cerone, stated on Metsblog, with the potential of a third straight season without the playoffs, the philosophy among the Mets will probably change. This may mean leaning more on the farm system and creating a new look Mets team. These injuries may be a sign that the Mets need to get younger and look into the future.

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