Assuming the Johan Santana trade goes through and a contract gets signed, the Mets will have (again) forfeited the brightest stars of their farm system — Carlos Gomez, Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey, and Deolis Guerra, the latter three easily their three best starting pitching prospects. Of course, minor league fans from Hagerstown to New Orleans won’t exactly be watching empty fields — so who’s left in the Mets system, anyway?

OF FERNANDO MARTINEZ, AGE 19

Martinez is the only bona fide prospect that remains — somehow, the Mets managed to maneuver Martinez out of the Santana talks. The lanky Dominican was signed at age 16 for $1.4 million — before he could even legally play in the minors. He’s still filling out, but he’s viewed nearly unanimously as a five-tool outfielder with power potential and a sweet left-handed swing. As he grows, he’ll probably have to move from center to one of the corners, if not first base. This past season, which saw him play in AA at age 18, he missed a significant portion of the year with a hand injury. Martinez finished at .271 with 4 HR and 21 RBI in 60 games for the B-Mets in the notoriously pitcher- friendly Eastern League. Ultimately, the Twins went for Gomez, who is more major-league ready at this point. Martinez shined at A-ball in Hagerstown in 2006, batting .328 with 5 HR and 28 RBI in 195 at bats but had difficulty adjusting in a lateseason move to St. Lucie, dropping down to .193 in 119 at bats. Nonetheless, the Mets moved him to AA, where he’ll likely return this spring.

RP EDDIE KUNZ, 21

Going back to his days with the Nationals (when he chose current National closer, and frequent Met trade target, Chad Cordero from a college relief job in the first round in 2003 and quickly brought him up to the then-Expos) to Joe Smith this year, Omar Minaya likes to take college relievers and plunk them in the bullpen with little to no minor league service time. Kunz is another example. The 6-foot-5-inch, 250 pound righty, the team’s first-rounder out of Oregon State, seems to be on the fast track to the Mets relief corps (although with the way the Mets bullpen threw in September, I can’t imagine there’s much of a slow track). Kunz struggled, though, in a very small sample in Brooklyn, giving up 9 runs in 12 innings, striking out 9.

RHP DYLAN OWEN, 21

This was Owen’s first season, after being chosen in the 20th round in June out of Francis Marion College, but it was simply terrific: 9–1, 1.49 ERA, 69 K in 72.1 IP. Brooklyn’s not as close to Flushing as it seems, but if he keeps this up, Owen has a good chance of making anyone who knew it forget the name Kevin Mulvey.

1B MIKE CARP, 21

The left-handed hitting Carp was a rising star until this year when he struggled, and then hurt his hand. He played only 97 games, batting .251 with 11 HR and 48 RBI. But he had an excellent year at the age of 20 with St. Lucie, batting .286 with 17 HR, 87 RBI, and a .378 OBP in 137 games. He’s an average first baseman, but there isn’t any depth behind Carlos Delgado, who’s in the last year of his contract.

3B DAN MURPHY, 22

Murphy, a 13th round pick in 2006 out of Jacksonville University, clearly won’t play 3B if he makes the Mets, but his bat may be worth keeping around. In his first full season, at high-A St. Lucie, Murphy hit .285 with 11 HR and 78 RBI, though his .338 OBP was mediocre. The lefty-swinging, 6-foot-1-inch Murphy will probably make a move to first base, though, with his bat, he may have heightened trade value staying at third.

With the exception of Martinez, these players probably aren’t potential all-stars — but they could very feasibly make contributions to the big club in the not-too-distant future. Of course, if Santana pitches to form, no one will really care if they do. Besides, the Mets do have one young, talented, hard-throwing pitcher left: Mike Pelfrey