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Steve Cohen: “I Want to Build a Strong Farm System”

By Ted Klein

November 10, 2020 No comments

Today, Steve Cohen and Sandy Alderson spoke to the press, unveiling a new future for the Mets, now and going forward. They talked about analytics, good personnel, and good players at the upper level, but what was more striking was the essential emphasis by Steve Cohen to build up through homegrown talent.

As a hedge fund manager, Steve Cohen continued to drill down that he was someone who opened up an academy to create good personnel from the inside, with new ideas and new talents.  He stated, in so many words, that he wants to do the same here. With the Mets, and us prospect geeks, it’s like sweet music. “Sustainable success” was an empty line before, but Steve Cohen and Sandy Alderson seem to really mean it this time. That gets me excited.

Reports prior to the conference have mentioned more active in the international free agent market, something consistently ignored by Mets in wide scale. In the former Wilpon regime, the Mets battled with this concept, ignoring the Cuban International Free Agency, not just with players like Alexei Ramirez and Jose Abreu, but also Yoan Moncada and Luis Robert. The latter two, who would be excellent players in the infield and center field would have vaulted this team to a higher echelon with ease.

The Mets, early on in the 2000’s, shied away from the big contracts, spreading around their money to 6-figure contracts. The top contracts in the first decade of 2000 were Fernando Martinez, Juan Urbina, Francisco Pena, and Wilmer Flores. They seemed to pick and choose contracts, mostly unsuccessful, (I’ll leave your interpretation for Flores to yourself), but started to create more emphasis in 2008 by building a gorgeous academy in Boca Chica, upgrading from a prior academy that looked as though it was a warehouse built towards radioactivity, not producing great players. The Academy in Boca Chica included State-of-the-art facilities, four baseball fields, coaches, staff, armed guards, a cafeteria, weight room, and classrooms to learn English. The Academy still hosts one of the most important Dominicans in history- Ozzie Virgil.

Sandy’s regime the first time was different in terms of spending, showing willingness to spend in the international free agent market, not Cuban-but starting to invest more in the players, signing Amed Rosario, who broke their bonus record at 1.75 million in 2012, and then continuing on by signing some guys such as Andres Gimenez in 2015, who was the most advanced player on the Market, and Gregory Guerrero, who were signed in the seven-figure bonus range. While Gimenez was a great get at 1.2 million dollars, they finished reportedly 2nd to later Uber-Prospect, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at 3.9 million dollars.

The Mets refused ever to go over the Bonus Pool and pay additional tax on top signings. They continued to move on, higher and higher, with Ronny Mauricio and Francisco Alvarez, higher bonuses in the mid 2-millions, but not ranked high on the International Free Agency top-30. They aim to go even higher, and go towards the top of the International Free Agency. Yoelqui Cespedes and Oscar Colas, two talented Cubans come to mind, with the Mets deciding to spread around their payroll in the last year.

Francisco Alvarez/Photo by Allen Greene Photography

The Draft was the other Crux, they had trouble with their top guys, and shied away from going overslot in the pools of the early 2000’s, shying away from players like Giancarlo Stanton or Freddy Freeman instead of Eddie Kunz and Scott Moviel. The Mets shied away from High-Risk/High-Reward players, the Five-Tool players, the Aces, and tried to develop from within, seeing many failures of their own in their strategies.

While most of Sandy’s first round picks have had shown some promise, namely Michael Conforto and Brandon Nimmo as well as Dominic Smith last year, they were mostly high-floor athletes. The top potential player with promise, Jarred Kelenic, was traded away, and a lot of high-floor guys were traded in Brodie Van Wagenen’s strategy towards developing a winner.

While Brodie focused on the high upside, the team ignored another aspect: they stopped scouting other teams below A-Ball, making it hard for the team to lay foundation towards a deeper future. Most teams do this-finding the next guy before other people do, and I’m betting that Steve Cohen and Sandy Alderson will definitely emphasize for the future.

The farm system is definitely not in shambles, with young players Francisco Alvarez, Ronny Mauricio, Matt Allan, and Pete Crow-Armstrong leading the charge, with other players uncovered that are lesser known. They are close to Middle of the Pack, with two replenished drafts netting Allan, Crow-Armstrong, Brett Baty, JT Ginn, and Isaiah Greene, and other high-upside prospects.

Nevertheless, increased analytics, scouting the players, increasing communication in the minor leagues, investing in the International Free Agency, and building up the farm system are excellent steps towards a better Mets future. As I said, music to my ears, it feels like Stairway to Heaven.