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July 28, 2007 Hot Stove Joe Janish

Second Base Question

No, this isn’t a question about a second baseman for the Mets.

The question is: how did the Phillies — in the market for a second baseman for about three hours — pick up a very serviceable one from the White Sox in return for an A-ball middle reliever?

Don’t believe the headlines that state “Tadahito Iguchi Dealt for Pitching Prospect”. A guy who is pitching middle (not closing) relief in the South Atlantic League, and sporting a 3.88 ERA, is NOT a prospect.

Now, I’m not saying the Mets should have chased after Iguchi. But, if he could have been obtained for some schlep pitching mopup for Port St. Lucie? Welcome to New York, Iguchi-San!

If that’s the cost for Tadahito Iguchi, I imagine the Mets can pick up Mark Loretta for Lino Urdaneta. Get it done.

Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
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  1. sincekindergarten July 28, 2007 at 8:20 am
    Joe, there’s something here that isn’t obvious. Whatever that is, I don’t know, but we’ll find out soon. Does Kenny Williams secretly have a grudge against Omar, seeing as Omar didn’t want Jose Contreras, and he figures to help out the Phillthies?
  2. Matt Himelfarb July 28, 2007 at 9:01 am
    The reason the White Sox were only able to recieve a A-Ball reliever is because the compensation the White Sox would’ve recieved had they let him go via free agency was a 2nd or 3rd rounder, not a first round pick plus a supplemental pick had Iguchi been a type A free agent. In other words, as you’re probably aware, the reason someone like Adam Dunn probably won’t get traded with the exception of getting supreme talent in return is because the Reds are simply better off taking the draft pic next year. it’s debatable whether the white Sox should’ve taken the 2nd round or 3rd round draft pick instead, (I would’ve consider the talent they got back in return) but that’s how the deal went down anyways.)
  3. Micalpalyn July 28, 2007 at 12:26 pm
    I some what disagree. Despite the posturing and demands, several teams are out to dump salaries and rebuild. If they can get 3 or even 2 ML/near ML ready talents the process is shorter. In this Igy deal I think Williams in banking on getting 7-9 players for Dye, contreras and either Garland or Vaz. Then letting the chips fall in Spring plus the nastier they are thru Sept the higher thir draft position.

    Which leads me to make a Tampa comment: They have picked Brazelton, Nieman and now David price They have ipicked up Edwin Jackson who seemingly has turned a corner and Kaz. Baldelli, crawford Upton, Young and Dukes are still high upside talents. Why does that system still suck so badly?

  4. joe July 28, 2007 at 6:53 pm
    Tampa Bay doesn’t stockpile enough quality pitching. They have a few good arms here and there, but the fact is, most 18-22-year-old “great talents” don’t ever make it, due to injuries, attitude issues, etc.

    All we have to do is look back to the year of the SI cover of the Mets with Izzy, Wilson, Pulsipher, and others they had. How many actually made it and were anywhere near the expectations?

    The Marlins have the right idea, as do the Braves and Twins. Just keep getting more and more arms, and eventually two or three crack through.

  5. Matt Himelfarb July 28, 2007 at 8:49 pm
    I don’t know what you mean by the fact the Devil Rays haven’t stockpiled enough pitching. They’ve drafted Jeff Niemann, Jacob mcgee, Jeremy Hellickson, Wade Davis, James Houser, and now David Price over a four year period.

    And BTW, if anyone bothered to look at statistics 10 years ago, bill Pulsihphiers and Isringhuasens failure was easily predictable. Their strikout rates were as low as Kevin Mulveys.

  6. joe July 29, 2007 at 10:40 pm
    Matt, six pitchers in four years is not stockpiling. A team needs to draft — and sign — six worthwhile arms every year to stockpile. Not just arms that are about to fall off (i.e., Rice graduates). Teams need to find arms through the draft, through Latin America, from Asia, through trades, and via shrewd minor league draft picks and free-agent signings to stockpile. Tampa Bay has focused on stockpiling hitters and athletes rather than arms, and that’s part of why they’re still a disaster.
  7. Micalpalyn July 30, 2007 at 9:16 am
    I would say you were wrong joe, but the sample size has not materialized. In their total existence which is the same as Arizona who have they developed?

    No one. There is no Brandon webb, or Facimile we can point to. There best pitchers were developed elsewher. There is a nice comparison here of the 90’s Mets and present Tampa. The Mets, under the microscope drafted chris Roberts, Kirk Pressley, along with Wilson. Wilson, Izzy, of course had injury issues, I doubt Pulse was really worthy of the labels put on him, But Roberts and Pressley should have done better, Robert Person was a decent pitcher for Philly, Schourek was great in Cincy for a while, Arnold Gooch Juan Acevedo should have done better. In other words the Mets could have done better.
    AND there is no excuse for Tampa who btw are better positioned (geographically) to influence the latin american market.