Time To Sift Through The Minor League Bargain Bin
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
For fans of rich teams like the Mets and Yankees, every October brings fresh hope that all problems can be solved by spending on famous free agents – veteran stars in the primes of their careers whose potent arms and bats can be counted on to solve all and push their new teams on to victory. It also brings such hope to the teams, who have in recent years bid on any ambulatory player on the market, leading to such spectacles as Carl Pavano as an ace pitcher and Richard Hidalgo being brought in as a dependable lineup anchor. This is what happens when you’re willing to pay top price for whatever’s on the market.
Fans might not notice, but major league free agency isn’t the only kind. October also sees the market flooded with several hundred minor league free agents, players who have either spent six years in the minors without being added to a 40-man roster or not been offered contracts by their teams. Mostly, these players are nothing exciting – they’re either washouts or fringe major leaguers biding their time in Triple-A, hoping for a break that can get them back into the majors.
Still, there are more than a few good players to be found in the bargain bin every year: players no worse, usually better, and much cheaper than the bullpen and bench scrubs like Mike DeJean and Tony Womack on whom teams like the Mets and Yankees purposelessly lavish millions of dollars every fall.
Were I in charge of the Yankees, for instance, and looking at my relatively barren minor league system, I’d be looking to snap up as many formerly promising young arms as possible. Two on the market this year I’d be watching closely are Billy Traber and Carlos Hernandez, lefty starters and former top prospects who never quite made it back from arm surgery.
You may recall the 26-year-old Traber from his days as a top Mets prospect; he was a centerpiece of the deal that brought Roberto Alomar to Shea, pitched ineffectively for two injury-plagued years in the Indians’ farm system, lost all of 2004 to injury, and showed mixed results over 28 games at three levels this year. Hernandez, a former hard thrower in the Astros’ system who was considered Roy Oswalt’s superior when both were coming up, completely lost his control after a 2003 injury and has never regained it, walking around five batters per inning over the last two years.
Why bother fishing through the rejects pile for prizes like these? Because talent doesn’t just disappear. Traber and Hernandez lost velocity on their fastballs and command of the strike zone to injuries, but they didn’t suddenly become worthless. They’re still young and still left-handed; why not see if they adapt well to bullpen roles? You can pay six players of this caliber for the cost of one Mike DeJean; if two of them prove able to contribute, even in a limited situational role, you’re better off than you would have been with the veteran.
Pitchers are inherently sketchy; batters, less so. One of the mysteries of the Mets teams of the last few years has been their inability to cobble together decent benches. There’s not much to it – you need a spare catcher, some hitters, and some fielders for the skill positions. All are to be found in abundance among minor league free agents.
Someone, for instance, is going to find a use one day for Jack Cust. He fields, by all accounts, like a paralyzed Frank Thomas, but the man has always been able to hit. When he was 19, he posted a .528 OBA in rookie ball, and since 2000 he’s had just one minor league season in which he hasn’t posted an OBA above .400. In 141 big league at bats with Colorado, Arizona, and Baltimore, he hasn’t done much, but he’ll be just 27 next year, and his minor league numbers suggest he’d post an OBAheavy OPS of about .750 in the bigs – not spectacular, but a lot better than what the Mets got from the likes of Brian Daubach, Eric Valent, and Jose Offerman this year.
Former prospects like Jason Hart, Dave Kelton, and Michael Ryan are all similar players who veered off track for whatever reason and never quite got back on, but could be relied on for some walks, some power, and maybe a season better than anyone thought they still had in them.
The point here isn’t that players of this caliber are the solution to the woes of the Mets and Yankees – it’s that they won’t add to them, and that if you round enough of them up you’ll be rewarded with an occasional Aaron Small. That’s a lot more than can be said for the reliably inept likes of Womack, a lesson both of the city’s ballclubs have yet to prove they understand.