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(8/12/03 3:47 pm)
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 Making The Grade At AA Binghamton..
www.newsday.com/sports/ba...ts-utility
Best hopes for Mets at Binghamton
By Marty Noble
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
August 6, 2003
Binghamton, N.Y. -- Here, in the middle of New York state, a few dozen Butch Huskey home runs from Cooperstown and significantly farther from Flushing, it already is the summer of 2005 - in Mets years.
Justin Huber is behind the plate and a tad ahead of schedule. Victor Diaz is carrying his own weight in the batting order while fielding grounders and suggestions that he shed a few pounds from his Lenny Harris physique.
Bob Keppel, the 21-year-old with a 51-year-old hairline, is winning games when he doesn't have his best stuff and pitching a no-hitter when he does. Craig Brazell, after a frightening experience when he temporarily lost vision in one eye, has both eyes set on the rightfield wall at NYSEG Stadium. And resolute Roger Royce Ring, the recently relocated reliever, is really rolling.
Each is on the roster of the Mets' Double-A minor-league affiliate, the Binghamton Mets, that does business in this rusted, somewhat threadbare city. Each has a chance to reach the big leagues within two years. Each knows which way the current wind blows: the big-league team is open for renovations. "We all know there's room at the top," first baseman/slugger Brazell said. "No one plays minor-league baseball to stay in Double A."
The five of them - and others - hunger for a time that offers filet-mignon living in place of their Greyhound existence. When former teammate Jeff Duncan, the Mets centerfielder of late, called and told of how he needn't carry his own luggage "up here," the hunger increased.
Just the same, they know they can't fixate on developments two flights up. "You can't look too far ahead," said Diaz, the second baseman obtained from the Dodgers last month in the trade exporting Jeromy Burnitz. "An oh-fer can bite you if you do."
"I'm not that much more caught up in getting to the big leagues now just because there's more opportunity," Keppel said. "I've been focused on it since I was 6 years old."
The B-Mets, as they are identified by those with an aversion to syllables, also are identified as potential parts of the future. Their roster may include more than five future major-leaguers; it may include fewer. No one can say. Player evaluation in baseball is more gambling than science.
Huskey, a Double-A bruiser in 1993, dropped from view before 2000. Albert Pujols burst from absolute, Class-A anonymity after 2000 to potential Triple Crown winner this year. So who knows?
No matter, Double A is where the Mets store most of their hope. The Triple-A Norfolk affiliate has been mostly disarmed by the promotion of players to replace the departed - Burnitz, Armando Benitez, Roberto Alomar, Rey Sanchez, David Cone, Graeme Lloyd, Tsuyoshi Shinjo - and the disabled - Mike Piazza, Mo Vaughn, Pedro Astacio, Scott Strickland.
The only likely promotion from Norfolk to Shea before Sept. 1 is that of 26-year-old Orber Moreno, a relief pitcher who has struck out one of every three Triple-A batters. With the possible exceptions of Scott Kazmir, the club's primary pitching prospect, and third baseman David Wright, both with the St. Lucie Mets, the talent on the other six minor-league rosters is more question mark than exclamation point.
"With a few exceptions, you know who you have more than what you have in Class A," former Mets general manager Frank Cashen used to say. He knew what he had in Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden and Gregg Jefferies. Cashen and his successors learned - the hard way - what they had in David West, Calvin Schiraldi and Pete Schourek.
Jim Duquette, the man in charge of making Mets fans forget 2003, knows what he has - a task. "Rebuilding" is said to be a four-letter word in the New York market. Call it what you choose, the game plan the interim general manager now implements clearly is different from what his predecessor Steve Phillips was ordered to implement after each of the last three seasons. It sure smells like rebuilding.
Owner Fred Wilpon has called for a blended 2004 roster with a pie-in-the-sky eye toward more victories than in 2001 (82), 2002 (75) and this season (extrapolated to 66). That means more veterans than in 1996 when the Mets tried to re-create the Orioles' fabled Baby Birds and more kids than in April 2003, when Wilpon and Phillips gave Art Howe the game's oldest roster.
None of the Double-A players appears equipped to address the Mets' two needs for 2004 - rightfield and second base. Duncan, after an eye-catching start, has fallen victim to overexposure and a lack of Triple-A training.
Other than Ring, Moreno, former Yankee Jason Anderson and recuperating Tyler Yates, no current minor-league pitcher is likely to begin next season in Queens. "A summer at the beach," as B-Mets general manager Bill Terlecky called it, awaits the rest of them. The Triple-A Norfolk Tides play a few Huskey home runs from Virginia Beach.
Duquette has imported what he calls "end-of-the-game arms" in Ring and Edwin Almonte (from the White Sox), Anderson and Jeremy Hill (Royals) as he has reduced payroll. But he hasn't seen any of them pitch yet.
Who knows what to make of them? Consider Hill, obtained for Lloyd last week. He struck out 41 in 40 Triple-A innings with the Royals' Omaha team. He also allowed 42 hits and 42 walks.
Just last week, position players Virgil Chevalier and Brian Shipp playfully auditioned to be the B-Mets emergency pitcher. Chevalier showed some pretty nasty stuff. Manager John Stearns was impressed. "But down here," Stearns said, "you never know."
Five for the Future
The Mets' five leading Double-A prospects
Royce Ring, 22, lefthanded pitcher
Ring was regarded as the key acquisition in the Roberto Alomar deal by people within and outside the organization. He has three above-major league average pitches - fastball, slurve and changeup. Binghamton manager John Stearns loves Ring's "give me the ball" makeup. He had six saves, one victory, no losses and a 2.31 ERA in nine games with the B-Mets through Monday. Very effective against lefthanded hitters, and his slurve tempts righthanded hitters before it drops. Likely to be a setup reliever in the big leagues.
Estimated time of arrival: Early next season.
Justin Huber, 21, catcher, bats: R
With Jose Reyes already in the big leagues, Huber, signed as a non-drafted free agent, is the Mets' primary position-player prospect. He began this season, his third as a professional, in Class A. For now, he is a hitter who catches, rather than a catcher who hits. His defense is improving under Stearns. So what if Huber, Australian-born, didn't know of Johnny Bench until he came to this country? The Mets are familiar with the downside of having a catcher as a primary offense player. But they like Huber as a catching prospect.
ETA: With Mike Piazza, Vance Wilson and Jason Phillips blocking the plate at Shea, 2005.
Victor Diaz, 22, second baseman, bats: R
Or third baseman or . . . What does it matter? If you can hit, they find a place for you. Evidently, he can. Jim Duquette suggested parallels exist between what Diaz did, winning two Class A batting titles with the Dodgers, and what Albert Pujols did at a comparable stage. "Wouldn't that be nice?" the GM said. Diaz has power in his Lenny Harris body. Stearns marveled at the line drive Diaz hit off the hitter's backdrop, 400 feet away, in Binghamton in his first week after the trade (for Jeromy Burnitz).
ETA: September 2004.
Bob Keppel, 21, righthanded pitcher
Long (6-4) and lean, Keppel looks likes a pitcher - a good one when he throws a no-hitter, as he did against Portland (Maine) on Saturday. His ERA is down to 1.83, his record is up to 7-2. A "sandwich" draft choice in 2000, he has been promoted each year. And 2003 is his best season, by far, statistically. He is visible on the big-league horizon.
ETA: Late in 2004.
Craig Brazell, 23, first baseman, bats: L
The primary power hitter in Double A and Triple A, Brazell had hit 15 home runs and driven in 70 runs in 381 at-bats (through Monday) in his first full Double-A season. He temporarily lost vision in one eye to Bell's palsy in May. He asked for more batting practice, the Mets asked that he show more plate discipline and walk more. He has genes. His father, Ted, was a catcher and manager in the Tigers' minor-league system for 14 years.
ETA: 2005.
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"He's been selected to the Hall Of Fame five years in a row." ~Ralph Kiner on Daryll Strawberry |
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