The problem comes when one of these guys leaves the organization (as was the case with Whitey) or gets promoted (McIlvaine), and is no longer involved in the day-to-day scouting and development. That's when you see those changes and dropoffs.

You can also see tendencies that reflect the personal preferences of these guys. McIlvaine, for example, liked high-school pitchers over college pitchers, and seemed to be better at picking pitchers than hitters.

This may be impossible to know with certainty
but how good is the Mets scouting? I have no idea how you can judge it unless you have access to every organization's assessments of "could be" guys. Back in the 2000 World series there was a story about how the Mets were laughing at all the scouts the Yankees had watching them. Steinbrenner's paranoia paid off as those guys figured out how to pitch to the previous hot Timo Perez.."walk the ladder"..pitches just a little higher each time.

I do agree that it takes time and Omar has only drafted the last three years. I think as Met fans we need to be a bit more patient with Omar and his staff.

Besides the June draft, Omar and Co. have signed numerous players from Latin America (Like Fernando Martinez, Francisco Pena).

Last yr in the June draft, they went for pitching.

This yr they will probably mix in some position guys.

The problem has been partly due to an unwillingness to psy over slot, while other big market teams have done so. Omar has said he may change this in the coming draft.

They have 3 1st round/sandwich picks this yr, which should help them re-stock.

Also remember that while some players have been traded, others haven't panned out, due to injury or just bad drafting from the pre-omar days.

It takes time to re-build a farm system.

I don't know too many other stories. Ed Kranepool says he wanted to sign with the Yankees but he saw they had Joe Pepitone. He went to the same high school as Hank Greenberg (and broke his records) who was running the White Sox, Greenberg talked mainly about how great he was. So he signs with the Mets..got good money for the time $85,000.
Tug McGraw had an older brother Hank who was a catcher and signed first. There was some kind of dispute with Hank later on about his hair length although he may have been in the Phillie organization then. The funny story is late in 1980 the Phillies picked up Sparky Lyle..too late for the post season roster. At the World Series in the Phillie family members section there is a guy with a mustache who is identified by the braodcasters as Sparky Lyle. It wasn't, it was Hank McGraw. Lyle is watching the game on TV and says "Hello Sparky".
The Mets did have some sharp people in the 1960s. Whitey Herzog, a Mets nemesis in the 1980s, was director of player personnel. One guy he missed was they selected a catcher named Steve Chilcott instead of Reggie Jackson. Jackson has charged it was racial, Herzog says no, Chilcott was highly regarded and unfortuantely hurt his shoulder on military reserve duty. The Mets missed golden opportunities to name Herzog as GM in 1969 when Johnny Murphy died and manager in 1972 when Gil Hodges died. Not a yes man.
One thing I never understood is how the team could get good young talent in the early 1980s (Gooden, Strawberry, Dyskstra, even Jeffries) and then go through a barren period. Lower draft positions hurt. But was there something else..key people leaving?

Nice catch about Zito. I am now more glad that Omar didn't get him.

I know Seaver wasnt drafted, thats why I used the word selected. The important thing is not that these players came from the june draft, but that the Mets organization had a fine eye for young talent, especially pitching talent in the 1960s.

Im sure most of us would like to know the stories of how the other players you mentioned became mets minor leaguers, since they dont have a famous story like Seaver does.

Maybe… two games of Delgado and Castillo hitting a bit before the aches take them back down to Earth again.

Gotta take what we can get at this point.

Nothing much came out the seventies, but the 80's provided some nice drafts, netting Strawberry, Gooden, Dykstra, Aguilera and Randy Myers among others.
The 90's were a disaster-generation k enough said.
This decade has seen Reyes, Wright, Joe Smith, Milledge, Kazmir and bannister. Carlos Gomez and the 3 pitchers who went for santana would make our minors look better right now, but they provided the chips needed to get Johan.
It looks like a pattern of good drafting in even decades and bad drafts in odd ones.

the big metsies don't deserve such excellent fans such as the two of you….. You two should become Red Sox fans…. Then you'd have 2 World Series rings in this little decade instead of none which you will end up with, same # as us, right Delcos..? Just like Marino and O'Brien had the same # of super bowl rings…...

That says it all.

Omar has not done what he said he would do-turn Mets into Braves. You can only do so much w/FAs.

Youv'e got to build from w/in but not w/these guys most people think are the next All star when they are at best utility guys, 25th man on the roster types.