r/NewYorkMets • u/Zeeco110 New York Mets • Jul 07 '26
Analysis Baseball America ranks the Mets farm system 24th in their new update
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u/bigdirty702 Jul 07 '26
When you graduate Benge/ Ewing/ McLean/ Scott the minor league system will take a hit. You are also not going to hit on every kid in the system.. this is why I don’t like to horse prospects..
They will recoup and rebuild the system but the lack of winning at the MLB level is a problem.
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u/Steve_Kind_Of Pastrami Jul 07 '26
It's tough. Our top three prospects graduated and are some of the only guys on the major league club actually contributing. But pretty much everyone in the minors has taken a step back. Tong is struggling to develop a third pitch, Santucci and Wenninger don't look major league ready at all yet, and beyond the month Ewing was in the minors no hitter has looked especially good
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u/Imbris2 Mr. Met Jul 07 '26
Honorable mentions to former 1st round picks Colin Houck ('23, batting .211 in high A) and Kevin Parada ('22, doing alright in AAA but no buzz).
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u/Steve_Kind_Of Pastrami Jul 07 '26
Whenever people rush to Eppler defense I think about how he took Houck over Kevin McGonigle
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u/ChiefJustise Francisco Alvarez Jul 07 '26
He also took Sproat, McLean, Ewing and Thornton in that draft, so he still drafted well that year.
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u/Steve_Kind_Of Pastrami Jul 07 '26
McLean and Ewing are sort of enigmas in terms of who to credit, Eppler drafted them but their most significant development happened in the Stearns system
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u/funcogo Jul 07 '26
You got to remember that alot of it is because McLean, Benge, and Ewing are big leaguers now. Def strengthen the system but another thing to remember is how frequently these guys get prospects wrong
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u/iamnotimportant New York Mets Jul 07 '26
I'm not too concerned, last year's draft had some very interesting high ceiling talent that is basically just in rookie ball from both the draft and the international pool. It'll take a few years for any draftee except high round talent (Benge) to develop into anything these lists will write about. Maybe Voit isn't an uber prospect but we're also working with ridiculously low draft pools from our lux tax/QO penalties that require us to sign underslot guys like Voit (signed for $800k! underslot) so we can take several lottery tickets later in the draft. I'm hopeful our draft infrastructure is complete and next week will hopefully reveal a fantastic draft
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u/__BirdsArentReal Benny Agbayani Jul 07 '26
Before everyone loses their shit, there will be a drop cause Benge, Ewing, McLean.
But there are guy who are in lower minors who will jump up rankings
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u/UpperDecker30 Good fundies Jul 07 '26
People freaking out don't actually pay attention because there is plenty to be excited about.
Randy Guzman, Elian Pena, Yovanny Rodriguez, Wandy Asigen, and Ronald Hernandez among others are very intriguing.
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u/GasGlittering7521 Jul 07 '26
You say that like having some “very intriguing” prospects is a good enough reason to not be frustrated with the state of the organization. The reality is most prospects don’t work out so if you’re hanging all your hope on a few guys who look good and aren’t even ranked top 100, it’s seems wild to say that those who are disgruntled aren’t paying attention.
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u/UpperDecker30 Good fundies Jul 07 '26
Because they aren't paying attention and they don't have the patience needed for this kind of thing. Most of the people complaining just look at this list and form their opinions on this alone, which is silly. These lists are great and all but they never give you the full picture of orgs.
Hard to be mad when back in January they had 6 in the top 100, 3 are already contributing in the majors and 2 were traded for a guy who should be a frontline pitcher. There are ebbs and flows because of this but all of the money and effort they are putting into the system makes me confident that they will have plenty of guys making these rankings over the years.
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u/GasGlittering7521 Jul 07 '26
I think you’re dismissing people because they have different expectations than you. Most fans aren’t satisfied to hear that the farm will likely be good again in a few years, they’re unhappy that the major league club sucks and the farm has been drained of its top talent for the time being. The near future is fairly bleak and especially after Cohen bought the team and the tides were supposed to turn, hearing that the team may have a decent chance to contend in two years doesn’t cut it
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u/brett_baty_is_him Brett Baty Jul 07 '26
Ah yes, the 21 yr old in single A, and then guys who are still in rookie ball are really going to save our farm…
The hit rate on non top 100 prospects in rookie ball is less than 5%. Most guys establish helium by this point. Asigen gets a pass.
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u/Paqza Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
That isn't true. That's the problem. Nobody is having a strong season in the Minors and multiple prospects have taken big steps backwards. Go see what Reimer and Clifford are up to...
Tell us which guys you see in the lower minors you expect to jump up rankings.
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u/UpperDecker30 Good fundies Jul 07 '26
Neither of those guys are in the lower minors, which OP was specifically talking about. Reimer has also been injured for almost a month.
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u/Paqza Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
Which guys in the low minors are having outstanding seasons? Peña, Voit, Baro... they've all been bad relative to what you'd expect from good prospects. There's no bright spot.
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u/UpperDecker30 Good fundies Jul 07 '26
Voit had a fantastic June and Pena is 18 while still flashing.
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u/Paqza Jul 07 '26
Grasping at straws. For a guy who's almost 22 in high-A, Voit's numbers are not that impressive. Once he hits in AA, let's talk. Overall, the 107 wRC+ isn't great.
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u/UpperDecker30 Good fundies Jul 07 '26
22 doesn't matter because he was a college bat, he's only played in 85 games in the minors. IF he figured something out then he should go through the system quickly.
Look at his June:
20 G, .299/.427/.442 (.869 OPS), 23 H, 5 2B, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 18 R, 13 BB, 11 SO, 12 SB, 145 wRC+.
If anything, you're grasping at straws trying to throw up a white flag on a kid that is showing potential right now.
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u/Paqza Jul 07 '26
I want him to crush it. We need a 2B.
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u/UpperDecker30 Good fundies Jul 07 '26
Same! He has great speed and plate discipline, I'm confident he'll contribute in a couple of years. If he keeps developing we're gonna love this kid in the near future.
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u/GasGlittering7521 Jul 07 '26
But you say that as if the other 29 clubs don’t also have guys in the lower minors who will progress. Yeah we may have some guys jump up but right now we have one single prospect in the top 100 and that specific prospect has actually fallen drastically. It’s just disingenuous to paint this as anything but a predicament right now especially considering the MLB club has a massive payroll and is on pace to lose 95 games.
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u/brett_baty_is_him Brett Baty Jul 07 '26
Who? If we had any they’d jump up rankings…
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u/Calloused_Samurai Steve Gelbs Jul 07 '26
“Will jump up rankings”. Will. As in some time in the future.
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u/hawkbiz Keith Hernandez Jul 07 '26
The MILB box scores are depressing to look at this year. The opposite of last season. A lot of sub .700 OPS’s
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u/FrankArmhead Jul 07 '26
Good lord. If you graduate a frontline starter and two top-of-the lineup hitters who are plus defenders in CF and RF, it’s ok if your farm system ranking takes a step down.
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u/Garys_Synthesizer Jul 07 '26
He drafted only one of those players and falling to almost the bottom 5 despite deliberate comments on how important he found the farm system to be… yeah thats pretty damn bad.
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u/FrankArmhead Jul 07 '26
Yeesh, I get that the team sucks but the hatred of Stearns is out of control.
He has had TWO drafts so far.
One of the two first rounders is Carson Benge.
The other is Mitch Voit, who was picked at #38 less than a year ago and is holding his own at Brooklyn.
What realistically are you expecting?
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u/Garys_Synthesizer Jul 07 '26
For people to acknowledge his glaring failures as a GM of this team. I do not understand what is with the defenders of this man.
He has shown nothing but pure ineptitude and we have so many people giving him benefit of the doubt.
And why are we only talking about first rounders? The point is for every pick to show potential… not just the firsts. A good GM is finding players elsewhere. Just silliness.
He has coasted on the tails of established players and farm system and hes showing an inability to adjust to anything which leaves the Mets in one of the worst situations in baseball.
I have no problem with the man, but hes awful at his job.
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u/FrankArmhead Jul 07 '26
Who is defending him?
Who’s saying that his moves have worked out?
He has obviously fallen massively short of expectations.
But there’s rational criticism and there’s irrational criticism.
Criticizing the decision to let Pete go is rational. Saying that Mitch Voit and Jack Wenninger should be MLB starters is not.
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u/Garys_Synthesizer Jul 07 '26
Never once said they should be. Being a top 100 prospect does not equal “MLB ready.”
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u/JDDJS The Captain Jul 07 '26
86
Charles Davalan
77
Josiah Hartshorn
54
Anthony Eyanson
Those are the only 3 top 100 prospects that we could've drafted instead of Mitch Voit.
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u/FrankArmhead Jul 07 '26
You complained that only one of the three rookies who is on the MLB roster was drafted by Stearns.
“He drafted only one of those players”
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u/Garys_Synthesizer Jul 07 '26
And????
Thats just a fact.
He still has 2 draft classes who now have no impact in making the farm system an even average group. Also… he drafted Benge and hes in the big leagues already. Kind of ends your silly logic by itself.
Hes had the time to draft a couple of notable prospects and yet here we are writing off the fact he has 1 notable player period.
If the big league team was a solid roster maybe I wouldnt mind so much, but we are a bottom team in the bigs, and the farm is crap now that we lost Epplers picks to call ups… he deserves to be fired.
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u/FrankArmhead Jul 07 '26
I don’t fundamentally disagree, but your main point is your last paragraph. He’s failed at the big league level. Complaining on results in drafting is not a really strong criticism, because success or failure in drafting and IFA will take a few years at least to pan out.
I agree that he’s earned being fired. But what I don’t know is if firing him will make the team better. That’s not because he’s so great. I don’t know if we’re going to get a much better executive to take over if the Mets are a comically chaotic organization.
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u/Garys_Synthesizer Jul 07 '26
Well now not expecting the change to be beneficial is perfectly reasonable. This organization is garbage and we have earned the right to hold expectations as low as they get.
But thats not a reason to stick with garbage.
Sounds like we agree overall, im content with that.
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u/Highfivebuddha Howie Rose Jul 07 '26
There is a concern that the rest of our hitters, Reimer and Clifford, took steps back this season.
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u/Phishhead69 Wilmer Flores Jul 07 '26
Short term this isn't great but, they have a draft coming up next week, trade deadline where they should get some nice returns, they should be picking pretty high next season and Pena/ Asigen are on there way up. In 18 months they could quickly be back in the top 5.
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u/spreerod1538 Mr. Met Jul 07 '26
Don't they get a minus 10 penalty because their payroll is so high? So even if they have the 5th worst record, they're going to draft 15th? I don't think that penalty goes away just because we're terrible.
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u/lavuuk153 Home Run Apple Jul 07 '26
I think the draft is top 6 protected for that drop and then their 2nd pick would drop instead.
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u/spreerod1538 Mr. Met Jul 07 '26
Well hopefully we continue to be one of the 6 worst teams in the league then lol
Obviously, I'd prefer to make a run actually... mainly because I love to go to games, especially if they mean something.
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u/TheAnswer310 Jul 07 '26
We are probably gonna sweep KC and completely fool the fool Stearns into thinking a turnaround is happening.
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u/DienekesMinotaur Atlanta Braves Jul 07 '26
Making it clear, the draft is lottery based, with worse records having better odds, with the Top 6 spots being protected.
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u/JA_MD_311 Mr. Met Jul 07 '26
I'll be downvoted for this post, but that's ok. People are rightfully angry at the state of the team.
Alas...
This is probably lower than some other publications will have them, it's a tad harsh. This is not a top half system though.
If you read BA, FGs, BP, or Pipeline before the season they all told you the Mets system was going to take a hit with graduations. It's definitely been a down year but development isn't linear and there have been some decent guys. Elian Pena is league average as an 18 year old in A ball. Mitch Voit has been very good recently. Cam Tilly has had a decent year. Santucci, Wenninger, Tong, and Thornton have had ups and downs but they're still arms.
System will look better after the draft and deadline.
Easy to pile on but it's hard to have a great system year after year after year.
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u/StephenDawg Jul 07 '26
A little irrelevant. The top guys just graduated and if they hit their stride within the next couple of years then the farm did fine. And within that time, the farm will likely be restocked and higher on these lists.
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u/Weary_Capital_1379 Jul 07 '26
Right. Bringing up the two top guys makes it look weaker.
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u/Thanzor Jul 07 '26
McLean, benge, Ewing, Scott all are up
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u/Weary_Capital_1379 Jul 07 '26
I look at Scott as the class of a couple of years ago. McLean last year.
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u/zpk5003 Pastrami Jul 07 '26
This is why trading prospects for known commodities is usually a win. Things like PCA happen, but look at Baty, Vientos, and Alvarez. We could have gotten someone great in exchange for them but we waited way too long
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u/DaCrees Hello Jerry! Jul 07 '26
Are people being ironic when they say Fire Stearns for this or do they genuinely not realize that the prospects that made this a top farm system are no longer in the farm?
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u/Garys_Synthesizer Jul 07 '26
Most of the call ups from this year werent drafted by him. From what I can find only Benge was.
Stearns inherited a solid group of players, and once they got called up we have a shit system that he himself said was a focus to strengthen… yeah im gonna give him shit.
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u/DaCrees Hello Jerry! Jul 07 '26
I’m not sure how that’s realistic. You honestly expect 2 draft classes worth of prospects, who are going to be in single A at best in their development, to have the same value as major league ready talent? I’m not trying to be someone who defends everything Stearns does but saying it’s bad just because he did it is equally silly.
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u/Garys_Synthesizer Jul 07 '26
Who said anything about players being equal to major league ready talent?
The farm is now reaching the point of being his class, and its near the bottom of the league. Some players take a matter of months to shoot up the ranking because they ball out so hard. To act like he deserves no criticism is just allowing him to keep trying despite all the signs of his brutal failings.
Every team has the same situation of current classes of prospects making up their lists, and they have better farm systems. Im not saying we should be top 5, I get we called up the studs, but almost bottom 5???? Thats a failure.
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u/DaCrees Hello Jerry! Jul 07 '26
You just did. You are saying that the major league talent which he did not draft isn’t being replaced by Stearns drafted talent. The issue there is the current major league rookies were not the last players drafted by the previous regime. Stearns is currently responsible for the very bottom of the farm system. If they don’t pan out, then yeah blame is on him. But the current AA/AAA players were not his drafts. Farm is not yet his class.
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u/Garys_Synthesizer Jul 07 '26
McLean and Ewing were drafted months before stearns took over.
Also, do you think only AA-AAA players make up the list? Lmao
He doesnt deserve the benefit of the doubt you are attempting here.
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u/DaCrees Hello Jerry! Jul 07 '26
No, I’m saying Florida league and A ball players aren’t reasonable comparisons to AAA players when you are evaluating a farm system.
It’s not benefit of the doubt, it’s saying what he is actually responsible for. Is it Stearns’ fault that Beltran didn’t swing at that pitch too? Is it on this current office that Harvey flamed out after the 2015 World Series? I’m being hyperbolic here but it’s not being a Stearns defender to not blame him for things he has not done.
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u/patrickthunnus Jul 07 '26
JMO but our deadline trades should be to restock the farm system with high grade position players (yes, I am Cpt. Obvious).
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u/ASP41661 Jul 07 '26
You get high grade prospects when you have something of value to trade. This team is devoid of such talent, save for the handful they have deemed untouchable. I too am Captain Obvious!
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u/bowlofcantaloupe Francisco Alvarez Jul 07 '26
Raley, Minter, Weaver, Brazoban could all get good returns at the deadline. Holmes and Peralta possible but looking less likely as the deadline approaches.
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u/ASP41661 Jul 07 '26
Yes. The first four possibly but nothing near say a top 10 near-ready MLBer for any of them. Four of 26 on the active roster I’d say is pretty devoid. Not getting much more than a middling low A player for the other two.
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u/Maleficent_Cap_9610 Kodai Senga Jul 07 '26
Feels a bit disingenuous to drop these rankings before the trade deadline
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u/rambisyouth21 Jul 07 '26
I get the narrative that if your top guys graduate some regression is expected - but this is an area I expected to improve with Cohen and all the Stearns hires focused on player development. You’ve got the resources to better identify international talent and diamonds in the rough beyond just the picks in the first few rounds of the draft. This is disappointing - like the rest of the direction of the org.
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u/pm-me-nice-lips Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
You genuinely can’t come to this sub anymore to actually talk baseball. Full of whining and negative cornball repetitive one-liners. Even if it’s something positive like a highlight for an individual player or moment, boom, cornball negativity, sarcasm, and who could out-joke who.
I used to be baffled when people would shit on Mets fans and their behavior until i got familiar with this sub. Holy shit.
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u/DaCrees Hello Jerry! Jul 07 '26
What’s even worse is there’s that other sub where it’s somehow even worse
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u/Jakeobese Jul 07 '26
Yeah if the Mets are underperforming (or if they're performing well but it's April/May/June) - you really gotta temper yourself before coming on this sub lol.
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u/NuanceManExe Jul 07 '26
You know what doesn’t help? When fans like you come here and gaslight everyone for being realistic and honest about the state of the franchise. If you talk down to people it’s obviously going to get argumentative. But you don’t even have a point. You are watching an absolute disaster of a baseball season. You’re not going to find many places online or offline that are very positive about the Mets right now. If that bothers you then you should blame the Mets not the fans. The product on the field is what it is.
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u/d3arleader Grimace Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
Discussion can be had after Stearns is fired. That is the utmost priority before anything else moving forward.
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u/Galxloni2 Jul 07 '26
Perfect example of one of the whiners
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u/Garys_Synthesizer Jul 07 '26
Why is that a “whiner” phrase?
Hes built one of the worst teams in baseball for the most money and now after calling up players that he DIDNT draft the farm tanks. Its a legitimate conversation to have.
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u/d3arleader Grimace Jul 07 '26
Sterns supporters are delusional and/or psychopathic. Forcing Senga out there AGAIN.
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u/Galxloni2 Jul 07 '26
How is it not a whiner phrase? They said they won't stop whining and derailing discussions in random unrelated threads until stearns is fired
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u/Garys_Synthesizer Jul 07 '26
When your team refuses to get rid of the dead weight, yeah it kind of weighs down the situation.
Your failure to acknowledge the reasonable expectation is the problem.
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u/Galxloni2 Jul 07 '26
No, your failure to know the difference between derailing every single thread with whining and voicing your complaints in appropriate situations is the problem
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u/Garys_Synthesizer Jul 07 '26
So why is a post about his farm system not a relevant one? Explain that.
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u/Galxloni2 Jul 07 '26
Literally read the comment chain. You defended the comment saying they will keep derailing every comment section until stearns is fired
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u/Garys_Synthesizer Jul 07 '26
You called someone a “whiner” for saying stearns should be fired on a post that very much had to do with something under stearns control.
I dont think you are following this at all.
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u/thegaykid7 When in doubt, blame Heilman Jul 07 '26
You can if you would have the discipline to engage with the people you want to engage with instead of doing your own bit of whining while complaining about the complainers. And I have no idea why you were expecting this sub to be any different than literally every single sports sub out there with regard to a team with high expectations having a very disappointing last two seasons. We're humans first and foremost. And the bandwagoning goes both ways.
Plus, there are a few people in this very thread who would stand counter to your point. Just because the louder majority may not agree with you doesn't mean the quieter minority wouldn't still exist. If you get downvoted for expressing yourself who cares? Ignore the exhausting people and don't fall for the bait.
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u/GrabtheBull Jul 07 '26
This sub is now basically the Comments section of the NY Post sports articles. Absolutely brutal.
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u/norkraswocken Jul 07 '26
where else can you come to be told 'you don't know ball' by folks who don't know ball?
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u/Observe_Report_ New York Mets Jul 07 '26
Yeah, but do other teams have a casino outside their stadium?
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u/VigilanteBillionaire Jul 07 '26
Graduated top prospects and some others didn’t progress as needed this season. I expect a lot of the trades this deadline to be about replenishing the farm. Maybe add 3-4 guys who would slot into a top 10 slot
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u/Orgasmitchh King Kirk Jul 07 '26
Who do we have that will net us that sort of return? It’s mostly relief pitchers and the return for those will likely be underwhelming
Edit: obviously Peralta is biggest one
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u/VigilanteBillionaire Jul 08 '26
Mets traded two of their top 10 prospects for Rogers last year
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u/Orgasmitchh King Kirk Jul 08 '26
I guess this is helpful context and a good reminder that guys like gilbert and tidwell were ranked decently high in our org. Meaning top 10 organizational prospect isn’t a very high bar
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u/Gigi_0102 Ya Gotta Believe! Jul 07 '26
this is a result of both graduating Benge, Ewing, and McLean AND many of our prospects who were supposed to be closer to the majors having rough years
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u/PJKetelaar3 Mr. Met Jul 07 '26
Obviously the draft and trade deadline are places to rapidly remedy this.
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u/thegrilledcheese886 Jul 07 '26
Just how the cycle goes. A lot of the top guys graduated which is a good thing
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u/MrNumberOneMan Shea Stadium Jul 07 '26
And they’re not being followed by much in terms of standout talent
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u/JDDJS The Captain Jul 07 '26
Stearns has had two drafts here, and his best luck is in the majors. I looked up all the top 100 prospects drafted after Mitch Voit. There were only 3: 86 Charles Davalan, 77 Josiah Hartshorn and 54 Anthony Eyanson. Seems to be a weak draft so far. His biggest international signing is Wandy Asigen, who was the #2 International Prospect when signed, is a strong candidate to eventually be a top 100 prospect, he's only not one yet because he's a 16 year old who has only played 5 games in the DSL.
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u/banana455 Jul 07 '26
The Stearns system. Remember McLean and Ewing were drafted by Eppler, not Stearns. He gets credit for their development, but he should get much more blame if the 26-28 crop of prospects fail.
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u/bowlofcantaloupe Francisco Alvarez Jul 07 '26
Conveniently ignoring Carson Benge to push your agenda lol.
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u/banana455 Jul 07 '26
Lol yes my "agenda" of disliking a guy overseeing a 38-53 team with a $400 mil payroll
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u/bowlofcantaloupe Francisco Alvarez Jul 07 '26
I bet you think Stearns personally injured Soto, Lindor, and Holmes this year just to make the Mets worse.
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u/banana455 Jul 07 '26
Oh yea without those injuries things would've been great. You are one of the biggest Stearns homers on here. I don't care what you think.
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u/bowlofcantaloupe Francisco Alvarez Jul 07 '26
The Mets are 3-16 without Soto this year.
Lindor's injury forced Baty to play everyday.
Holmes was our ace this year.
But sure, those three injuries barely mattered...
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u/GasGlittering7521 Jul 07 '26
Every team deals with injuries to their players, this isn’t some issue only the Mets have to deal with. And regardless, maybe without these injuries we get seven or eight games back and we’re a .500 team. And if you add in the missed WAR from our injuries I’m being really generous by saying seven or eight games. And that’s if we had literally no injuries, which again, isn’t realistic
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u/bowlofcantaloupe Francisco Alvarez Jul 07 '26
My point is just that we probably could have weathered the injuries to Alvarez, Young, Mauricio, Tauchman, Polanco, Robert, Scott, Senga, Semien and been okay this season. The injuries to 3 of our best players and the regression of Bichette and Peralta have doomed us more than any of the other minor, foreseeable injuries or the underperformances by Baty, Vientos, Semien, Peterson, Manaea, Senga etc that could have all been expected.
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u/CrosbyBird Jul 07 '26
It's amazing to me that people act like what happened to the Mets in terms of injuries and career-underperformance was just par for the course for an average MLB team.
Of course you expect Polanco and Robert to miss time, but 38 combined games through 91?
Of course you expect Semien's offense to decline a bit, but his defense as well?
Of course you consider the possibility of Bichette struggling a little as he adjusts to NY, but to be a bottom-five hitter through May?
Of course you expect that Senga, Manaea, and Peterson aren't all going to be solid pitchers, but to combine for nearly three wins below replacement level?
Of course you expect that Peralta is going to regress from his 2025 season, but to be a replacement level pitcher?
Of course you're skeptical of Baty and Vientos, but .601 and .641 OPS bad?
Of course guys get hurt sometimes, but to lose considerable playing time from Soto, Lindor, and Holmes?
And then all these things happening in the same half season. Saying the Mets had colossally bad luck is not dismissing the failures of the front office in player acquisition but it is the difference between this flawed team having an outside shot at the wild card and this team having the second-worst record in the NL.
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u/anto_capone Jul 07 '26
Ngl it seemed easily predictable to me. The only surprise for me was how bad of a start for Bichette.
Everything else seemed predictable
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u/GasGlittering7521 Jul 07 '26
Not gonna lie, this comment section is a bit confounding. Not sure how you can watch a miserable MLB level club, see how far our farm system has fallen after only graduating two players and still not be concerned. You guys realize we didn’t fall 17 spots just because two guys were called up right? We fell 17 spots because the rest of the prospects we hoped would progress and be major league ready soon have fallen, some drastically, and nobody else from lower down has climbed the rankings to help cushion all of this.
We have a bad big league team with a monstrous payroll and nobody on the horizon that looks game changing in the farm. Yeah the trade deadline will help the farm, but that’s at the cost of the big league team getting even worse. It’s not like we’re gonna be able to unload any of the guys making up the majority of the payroll at the deadline anyway so I wouldn’t expect any drastic payroll relief. If I’m missing something please feel free to tell me but like… I just don’t see it
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u/PTRBoyz Jul 07 '26
3 players because mcclean too was there.
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u/GasGlittering7521 Jul 07 '26
Yeah, it’s three that’s true. I was thinking he had graduated prospect rankings by preseason for some reason. Unfortunately that doesn’t really change the reality of everything else though. All of the main concerns are still the same.
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u/bowlofcantaloupe Francisco Alvarez Jul 07 '26
We graduated 3 prospects (McLean was still a prospect in the off-season). Scott also returned this year after throwing fewer MLB innings prior to this season than McLean. And we traded Sproat and Williams for major league ready players. Drastic payroll relief will come in 2028 (Soto, Lindor, Semien, Williams are the only non-rookie contracts on the books).
Yes, the decline of many prospects still in the farm system is concerning. The underperformance of Myers and Peralta and Bichette (QO penalties) are all bad returns on farm resources for sure. We'll see how much we can recoup at the deadline.
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u/GasGlittering7521 Jul 07 '26
There very well may be a payroll cap in 2028 and if it’s anywhere near the league wants it to be, Soto Lindor Semien and Williams alone will make up at least half of that, and likely closer to 60%. If Bo doesn’t Opt out we’re up to over 75%. Semien is unplayable, Lindor will likely have regressed by 2028, Williams is just not good and Bo is a bunch of question marks right now too. The farm either has to be literally straight up top notch by the end of this year or 2028 will prove extremely difficult to field a competitive team.
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u/CrosbyBird Jul 07 '26
If there's a payroll cap it's not going to take teams by surprise. It's going to be implemented with some ramp-up and/or allow teams to exempt dead money from players not on the roster (cuts).
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u/GasGlittering7521 Jul 07 '26
Correct me if I’m wrong but players who have been DFAd are already not counted towards payroll, right? And I get it will probably be implemented in a way that allows team already at the cap or near it to still sign players, but the Mets would be around 75% or so at most by my estimates, so would the league not just say you still have 25% left, make it work?
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u/74Sunspots Jul 08 '26
Agree. And I don't understand the comments that it's not a real or fair ranking this year because three guys were moved from the farm to the Mets over the last two seasons. Are we supposed to pretend that other teams don't promote their best guys to the majors as well? Even with the three promising rooks performing well, the Mets are the 2nd worst NL team and the farm system is now, gulp, in the bottom 20% by this ranking.
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u/ekins1992 Jul 07 '26
Nope this about covers the majority of it. They are an awful team and, barring any significant signings/trades, there’s very little reason to think next year or the year after will be anything more than a slight improvement. 6 years into the cohen era and The Mets are at the beginning of a multi year rebuild
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u/TheNewCore4 Jul 07 '26
Don’t look at the stats for any of the Mets top 30 prospects. You will throw up.
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u/M_Waverly Jul 07 '26
McLean, Ewing and Benge have graduated off the prospect rankings. That’s gonna leave a mark. The immediate pipeline is thin, but there will be some names bubbling up over the next year. Since Benge and Ewing appear to be legit, I’m not concerned with the system.
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u/ekins1992 Jul 07 '26
What names in the system currently project to be actual impact level mlb players? The Mets now have 1 top 100 prospect, well behind the majority of the league. All mlb teams have prospects graduating throughout the year, yet most teams still have atleast a few top 100 guys. How come the Mets don’t? Good teams keep the farm pipeline churning. Not the Mets
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u/NuanceManExe Jul 07 '26
That should not have left a mark like this. If the Mets had taken the steps forward in player development some people insisted they had, there’d be wave after wave of at least semi-intriguing guys. This is an enormous drop and it’s because basically the entire farm is having a bad year. Cohen publicly said last week he’s extremely worried. This is bad.
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u/SteveSomers The Smoooooze Jul 07 '26
If it’s not too 10 by the end of the trade deadline, this team will be set back years
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u/bweesh Jul 07 '26
well we just had 3 top 100 prospects graduate from the list, so this is kind of unfair
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u/GKRForever Gary Cohen Jul 07 '26
Graduating prospects has nothing to do with literally every other prospect taking a step back this year.
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u/BrokeMyGrill Pastrami Jul 07 '26
At the time it looked like they got a nice haul for Scherzer and Verlander but Acuna and Gilbert were traded for nothing useful long term and Clifford looks like a bust at the moment.
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u/_Penis_fingers Francisco Alvarez Jul 07 '26
Acuna is trash and Gilbert wouldn’t be on this team. Benge and Ewing are much better
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u/banana455 Jul 07 '26
The point stands that if they didn't suck we could've gotten something useful for them.
Not that keeping them would've accomplished anything, but the Scherzer and Verlander trades and salary dumps were failures.
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u/lilleff512 Forever my Captain Jul 07 '26
The prospect part of the Scherzer and Verlander trades was a bust but the salary dump part of it freed up the money for them to spend on free agents like Manaea and Severino which led to an NLCS run.
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u/_Penis_fingers Francisco Alvarez Jul 07 '26
We got Tyler rogers for Gilbert + others. That was a good trade and Rogers was good last year and we should have brought him back this year. Not his fault every other trade sucked and the team collapsed.
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u/soaked_in_bleach4594 Jul 07 '26
"Not his fault every other trade sucked and the team collapsed".
Correct, Helsley and Mullins were having good seasons before Stearns traded for them, so on paper, those were good trades. Not his fault they sucked once they got here.
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u/Ottomatic44 Jul 07 '26
there's that Stearns Farm system overhaul he keeps talking about!
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u/pm-me-nice-lips Jul 07 '26
And as we all know, farm systems are built very quickly. They def don’t take time to develop at all, especially young guys. Baseball is well known for their draftees to be up in the league within the very same year even.
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u/baylixir WILDCARD BITCHES Jul 07 '26
You realize the farm is on the team right?
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u/NuanceManExe Jul 07 '26
If adding 3 guys to the team is “the entire farm” that’s a bad thing
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u/Subject_Aerie2093 Jul 07 '26
I’m not concerned the slightest. We graduated a bunch of players, and a few players took some small steps back. Let Stearns cook, I think everyone will be surprised.
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u/GasGlittering7521 Jul 07 '26
This level of optimism is actually impressive I’m not gonna lie. I could use the number of your therapist
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u/ekins1992 Jul 07 '26
Man I’ve been saying this for a while and always get downvoted on here. it’s hilarious how often I read on all types of Mets social media about how the Mets having some awesome upgraded + revamped farm system. It’s so far from the truth. Tong has a 6.00 era in Syracuse and looks nowhere near the pitcher he was last year. Literally everyone else projects to be AT BEST a mid level mlb player. There is no real impact talent currently in the minors that we can look forward too. They are a win now team with a bottom 5 record and a top 2 payroll with soon to be zero top 100 prospects. All of their top prospects are in the majors and performing solidly and the team is STILL in the gutter. This franchise is in the worst spot it’s been in over a decade
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u/mindfeck Jul 07 '26
Me too. Stearns supporters insisted well at least the Mets built their farm system. No, it’s one of the worst. Tong lost his control, all the minor league teams are bad. The team is like 5-10 years away from having a good farm system because it’s been so poorly managed.
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u/BearGuru Serial Optimist Jul 07 '26
Dude we literally just graduated McLean, Benge, and Ewing. Of course it’s gonna be bad because we don’t have our 3 top prospects
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u/NuanceManExe Jul 07 '26
Look at the image above. Read “System Weakness”. It’s not supposed to be this bad just because 3 top prospects graduated. Says it right there. No hitter is having a breakout season in the minors this year. Nobody really took a step forward on the position player side.
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u/ekins1992 Jul 07 '26
The entire system collapsing after graduating 3 guys is quite literally what happens to bad farm systems lmao. It’s really that simple
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u/mindfeck Jul 07 '26
3 rookies and still have a top payroll and terrible team, other top prospects declined, and other teams with rookies still have better farm teams.
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u/NYerInTex New York Mets Jul 07 '26
This is one thing I won’t get on Stearns about - YET.
Guys are on the big league club, that’s a positive not a negative.
BUT, our big league club sucks (and Stearns should go), so now is the time to replenish that system and get back to top ten through trades and other moves before next season begins.
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u/mxza10001 Mike Piazza Jul 07 '26
The Stearns defenders are working overtime in this thread
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u/OmegaRED95 Jul 07 '26
Didn't they revamp the entire farm system in 1 year a couple of years ago? What the hell happened??
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u/Djason_Unchaind Wilmer Flores Jul 07 '26
We graduated McLean, Benge, Ewing and traded away Jett and Sproat. Plus Tong, Reimer, Clifford all took steps back.
Pair that with the fact that Parada and Houck were busts and Voit hasn’t really taken off in his first year of pro ball, you’re gonna see the system drop in the rankings.
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u/GasGlittering7521 Jul 07 '26
But considering the big league club is still really bad, I genuinely don’t get how people are defending Stearns. So now the system is struggling while we’re on pace for 95 losses… how is that defendable? Like I really genuinely don’t get how people are just saying “yup that’s just the cycle oh well can’t blame Stearns”. I feel like I’m losing my mind right now
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u/coldfreezerbee Jul 07 '26
I bet it will go back up after the trade deadline.
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u/Xalazi Jul 07 '26
Maybe the strongest case for staying the course with Stearns is that this is a pivotal moment for the farm system, and he's had at least one big win with the Wandy Asigen international signing. Changing the President of Baseball operations right before a chaotic lockout shorten off-season and while the farm system is in desperate need of talent would be extremely painful.
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u/NuanceManExe Jul 07 '26
This makes Stearns look awful. This is the weakest case for staying with him! He’s probably going to try and save his reputation next year too rather than take a step back. I actually think Cohen has to stick with him for 1 more year. But this is not going well.
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u/hjablowme919 Jul 07 '26
Stearns will rebuild the farm system!
The farm system is our strength!
Let the kids play!
Some fans will believe anything.
If anyone in the Mets organization reads these posts, hire me to fix the team. I will work under the same conditions that Stearns does and I guarantee you in 2 years the team will be contenders for a championship. And I will do it for $1.5 million a year, which immediately saves the team $8.5 million per year
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u/bowlofcantaloupe Francisco Alvarez Jul 07 '26
The point of the farm system is to produce major league players via graduation or trade, not to win rankings.
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u/OatFest Michael Conforto Jul 07 '26
Be careful getting off that high horse, it’s a steep fall
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u/NuanceManExe Jul 07 '26
High horse?! We’re selling at the deadline and we have one of the worst farms in baseball with a $350 million+ payroll! It’s not going well
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u/OatFest Michael Conforto Jul 07 '26
You’re right man, the random guy from Reddit with an inflated ego who insists he can save the franchise will make us better! Buy stock now!
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u/ekins1992 Jul 07 '26
Yeah hopefully they can rebuild the farm system this trade deadline like they did when they traded away Verlander and scherzer for top prospect Luis Acuna ryan Clifford and Drew Gilbert
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u/myassholealt F8 Jul 07 '26
Yes many of the players that ranked high in our system are out of it and playing in the majors, but Stearns is supposed to be building out the minor league system with his drafts, and after two draft seasons his build out to date being ranked 24th out of 30 is not that great. Especially when he was given credit for the highly ranked minor league system when it had a bunch of players he didn't draft.
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u/toastfreezer Jul 07 '26
Remember when Kramer was wearing the very pants he was going to return and got them dirty.
When people say, effectively, our fire sale at the deadline will restock the farm it’s basically the same concept!
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u/Ok-Stretch1022 Jul 07 '26
As a long time Knicks fan David Stearns is our Phil Jackson.
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u/Upstairs_Date2769 Jul 07 '26
This doesn’t track though. Stearns held this same role with Milwaukee. Phil Jackson had never been a GM, only a coach
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u/Hustlediva Jul 08 '26
We went from like #2 to #24 in a matter of a year thanks to Stearns. Another gift from him
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u/NYCWriterOfAllThings Jul 08 '26
Read the post. It’s due in large part to Ewing and Benge getting promoted
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u/False_Concept1300 Mark Vientos Jul 07 '26
Yeah, the Mets have graduated multiple top prospects over the last year. That doesn’t change the fact that most of the prospects in the system have taken gigantic steps backwards and that there are no guys who are rising in the rankings.
If you’re graduating most of your top specs, you should be having other guys rise and take their place. Graduating guys and then immediately sucking is not good practice. It should be a constant revolving door.
This deadline/draft is an opportunity to get back within the top 10-15 range.