Best way to build a team

You know, just for once, I'd wish the Mets would hang on to their young players and build a team through them. I'm so sick and tired of us losing draft picks cause we need to sign the biggest free agents out there. We have had really good prospects in the past, but were traded away for proven talent. Hell, most of our prospects are with Florida now due to a couple of trades back in the winter of '05.

If you ask me, the best ways of building a team is through the draft. If you constantly sign free agents then you'll get nowhere. Just look at the New York Yankees of now and the Mets of the mid '90s. They didn't get anywhere since that was all they did. But look at the Atlanta Braves from '91-'05. They won the NL East 14 straight times and even went to the World Series twice, winning one of them, all because they held on to their prospects. They developed them through the minors and constantly pissed off fans like me since it worked. Two other teams to look at are the Minnisota Twins and Oakland Athletics. Due to their owners being cheap assholes, they can't sign the big free agents. Instead, they need to keep constantly building their ways up for the future instead of winning now. And when they finally do get to that point, most of their young players get to become eligible for free agency and dart for the big bucks given to them by teams like the Mets and Yankees. It's really a shame too.

But the two teams I mentioned earlier, both New York teams, may finally be getting the clue. The Yankees have some pretty good talent out there in the minors ready to blossom into big leaguers while the Mets are the same. While the Yankees were smart, and didn't trade Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, and Joba Chamberlan, the Mets were the same and kept on to players like David Wright and Jose Reyes. Course...if the reports are true, the Yankees may soon trade away Hughes, Melky Cabrera, and a third prospect for Johan Santana. And if that were to happen, guess who's farm system would be crippled and guess who's team would rejoice? Get the picture now?

If I were Omar Minaya, I would hang on to players like Kevin Mulvey, Carlos Gomez, and Fernando Martinez and contend for the next 10-15 years. Just look at our rotation if we were to keep our young guns:

Pedro
Maine
Perez
Humber or Pelfrey, which ever doesn't get traded
Mulvey

That is a nice, young group of talent in slots 2-5. Pedro is still the ace as you can see. I took El Duque out of there since I think he should go to the bullpen and save his arm a little. And when you look at fielding positions:

Carlos Delgado(1st)
Luis Castillo(2nd)
Jose Reyes(SS)
David Wright(3rd)
Brian Schneider/Ramon Castro/Johnny Estrada(C)
Carlos Beltran(OF)
Carlos Gomez/Ryan Church(OF)
Moisus Alou(OF)

Now, chances are Estrada will be gone by opening day and Church maybe too. Delgado better have a bounceback season or else I think his ass should be gone next year. Alou is old as dirt but if he can play effectively for another year, then maybe we can slot Church in LF after next year if he isn't traded by then. That way, when Fernando Martinez is ready by '09 or '10, he can take over. That way our outfield will consist of Gomez, Beltran, and Martinez. We're solid at SS and 3rd for the next decade since Reyes and Wright are both only 24 and monsters and will be All-Stars for many years to come. Only problems I can see in the future will be 2nd, 1st, and Catcher. Our only prospect at 1st is Mike Carp and he hasn't proven much in the minors. I have no idea of any propects at 2nd except for Ruben Gotay and Anderson Hernandez, and even then I'm being generous in calling them "prospects". At catcher, I know of a guy named Fransisco Pena but he's a ways away from being in the majors.

Ugh...this better get me a job somewhere one day...