Fangraphs does a good job (link below) running down why it isn’t crazy that the Mets exposed Fernando Martinez to waivers to make room on the 40-man roster for Ronny Cedeno and Scott Hairston. (Tiny reliever Daniel Herrera also got the waiver treatment.)
Back in 2007, Martinez was the uber-prospect, you may remember. I’d arranged with the Binghamton Mets to spend the day with Martinez. I thought I’d have a chance to get insight into a star just before he took New York by storm.
But the weekend before my day with Fernando, he broke his hand. It was a sad harbinger of things to come.
I saw him many times in the years that followed, but seeing him last spring, in Carlos Beltran’s debut spring game, was shocking just the same. Playing in the same game as the hobbled Beltran, Martinez ran terribly, the result of an arthritic knee. Beltran moved far better that Martinez did.
I hope he finds good health and salvages his career. To me, Martinez gets placed on the shelf next to Alex Escobar. After all, both players spent plenty of time on the shelf.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/is-fernando-martinez-worth-a-waiver-claim/
3 Comments
Claimed by the Astros. For years, F-Mart was touted as a can’t miss future outfield star by the Mets. He’s young and he may turn out to be just that, but in an Astros uniform. In the recent past, they could have thrown this guy into a deal for a decent pitcher. They let him hang around and they get bupkis. Even if they had put him in a package for a competent pitcher, they couldn’t pay the pitcher. So much for the Wilpon regime and MoneyBall.
Porpoise, what do you mean so much for moneyball? That has nothing to do with F-Mart and I have no idea why you would bring that up…
You are right that it was unfortunate that the kid everyone thought was a five-tool player ended up being a hump of scrap metal. Some prospects workout and some don’t. Its the nature of the sport. This isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last. I hope F-Mart can make it in the big leagues, his story is a little tragic going from top of the world prospect to 20 year old kid with bum knees and underwhelming stats.
Now the mets move onward, in search of new prospects…
As opposed to old prospects? In addition to his myriad and constant injuries, I think the Mets saw FMart as a slacker, but wouldn’t publicly label him as such since he might still hold for them some value. Eventually realizing that he didn’t, they finally released him. Despite all the hype, you could tell from his first major league game that he was a disinterested dope.