Lastings is #9 out of 100 top prospects in BA

[Guest KC]

I thought this was posted already, but I can't find the thread.

I got the hard copy today and was flipping through it.
Pelfrey is #36 which isn't too shabby for someone who
hasn't thrown a pro game that's counted yet.

Dodgers have 9 in the top 100. Nearly ten percent of the
top 100 is pretty impressive if they can make it work for
them down the road.

[Guest Edgy DC]

So, who was the writer who said something about a consensus of knowledgable baseball guys being surprised the Mets were foolish enough to go for Milledge and not eventual Yankee pick Eric Duncan? (Never mind that at least 14 of those men subsequently passed on Duncan also before the Yankees went for him.)

[Guest KC]

Duncan is #86 for info purposes.

[metirish]

Any chance we see him this season, would Omar be tempted if the Mets got an injury to an outfield player?

[nymr83]

I have already taken the position that a long-term injury to Beltran = Milledge Time, others have disagreed with me, but since none of us want Beltran to get hurt i hope we never see who is right.
I don't think that an injury to Floyd or Nady/Diaz necessarily (or even likely) gets Milledge up here because we have other guys to play the position but i still maintain that with Cameron gone Milledge is by far the 2nd best Centerfielder in the entire organization right now and its not even close (your other choices being an out of position Nady and a bunch of no-hit glove men like Tike Redman and Endy Chavez.)

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

I think the "glass" eye has hurt Duncan's stock.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Bill Madden was the guy who regularly trashed Met drafts always unfavorably to the Yankees, and even when he was right, to him it was always about bad choices, not never recognizing team frequently failed to give itself a chance to get good picks via FA signings.

Anyway, in the game between 1st round & supplemental 1st round draftees since 1997, I think the Mets probably win

Mets
Geoff Goetz
Jason Tyner
Billy Traber
Bob Keppel
David Wright
Aaron Heilman
Scott Kazmir
Lastings Milledge
Phillip Humber
Mike Pelfrey

Yanks
Tyrell Godwin (DNS)
Ryan Bradley
Mark Prior (DNS)
Andy Brown
David Walling
Dave Parrish
John-Ford Griffin
Aaron Sardinia
Jon Skaggs
Eric Duncan
Phillip Hughes
CJ Henry

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy DC wrote: So, who was the writer who said something about a consensus of knowledgable baseball guys being surprised the Mets were foolish enough to go for Milledge and not eventual Yankee pick Eric Duncan? (Never mind that at least 14 of those men subsequently passed on Duncan also before the Yankees went for him.)

It was The Daily News's Bill Madden in what was one of several columns where he trashed the accomplishments (or lack thereof) of former NYM minor league director (or whatever the title was) Gary LaRoque. I have no reason to go to bat for LaRoque but I did think it odd at the time in that big city writers rarely even bother with guys on LoRoque's rung on the ladder much less do so several times. It almost made it look like there was some sort of personal beef.

Then what made things look even worse was that some of the "facts" didn't pass the smell test. IIRC, his claim was along the lines of: 'people all over baseball were stunned' when the Mets selected Milledge over Duncan; implying that Milledge was some kind of illogical "reach" as a 12th overall pick. Except, as pointed out, not only did another 12-15 teams also pass on Duncan but Milledge went right around where he was projected pre-draft. In fact, BA just ran an updated article on "the class of '03", essentially revisiting that year's top HS players to see how they fared; Milledge was listed as their 2nd best prospect of that group (behind Delmon Young) while Duncan was nowhere on the list. If anything, it was Duncan who was the reach.

What essentially happened was that Duncan - drafted somewhere in the mid/late 20's - signed almost immediately and had himself a good first half-year. Milledge, on the other hand, didn't sign until the year was practically over and then got a late start the next year when he broke a finger during ST, all of which gave Duncan nearly a year's jump on young Lastings and temporarily seem ahead of him at that point. But that doesn't justify going back and revising history to make some kind of point.
Add in the fact that Madden - who's also been tough on the Yank's farm system over the last few years - has many connections within the NYY hierarchy to the point where he's been accused in the past of being a conduit for their viewpoints, makes one wonder who or what was the impetus for those articles. Plus, he would have kept his credibility a bit higher if he hadn't screwed up the kid's name by calling him Chris - rather than Eric - Duncan.

[MFS62]

It must be a Yankee thing.
I remember two year ago, when the Yankee staff was in turmoil, that Michale Kay was suggesting at mid season that the Mets trade Al Leiter to the Yanks for Duncan. His reasoning was "The Mets have always needed a third baseman and can afford to wait a few years for Duncan to develop". This was the time when David Wright was tearing up AA and there had already been numerous articles in the NY press about him.
Kay's cohort (a Mets fan I believe) would bring up Wright's name and Kay would dismiss it with a comments such as " well, we know Duncan is the real deal".

Later

[Frayed Knot]

I like to compile a sort of consensus list each year combining the opinions of several of these lists; in this case BA's, BP's and also Dayn Perry's at the FoxSports site (the gang at Hardball Times usually do one also but they haven't as of yet).
Milledge was 9th, 13th & 16th on the 3 lists which puts him at 11th overall.

Here's this year's top 25 with how they compared to a similar consensus from last year.


1 - Delmon Young; OF Devil Rays (Last year's rank = 2)
2 - Jeremy Hermidia; OF Marlins (33)
3 - Brandon Wood; SS Angels (NEW to the list)
4 - Francisco Liriano; LHP Twins (NEW)
5 - Howie Kendrick; 2B Angels (NEW)
6 - Ryan Zimmerman; 3B Nationals (NEW)
7 - Andy Marte; 3B Indians (3)
8 - Alex Gordon; 3B Royals (NEW)
9 - Prince Fielder; 1B Brewers (9)
10 - Chris Young; OF Diamondbacks (NEW)
11 - Lastings Milledge; OF Mets (13)
12 - Matt Cain; RHP Giants (15)
13 - Ian Stewart; 3B Rockies (4)
14 - Stephen Drew; SS Diamondbacks (NEW)
15 - Chad Billingsly; RHP Dodgers (19)
16 - Justin Verlander; RHP Tigers (NEW)
17 - Joel Guzman; OF Dodgers (5)
18 - Justin Upton; SS Diamondbacks (NEW)
19 - Jarrod Saltalamacchia; C Braves (NEW)
20 - Billy Butler; OF Royals (NEW)
21 - Andy LaRoche; 3B Dodgers (NEW)
22 - Nick Markakis; OF Orioles (NEW)
23 - Jeff Clement; C Mariners (NEW)
24 - Daric Barton; 1B A's (11)
25 - Carlos Quentin; OF Diamondbacks (10)

39 - Yusmeiro Petit; RHP Marlins (21)
43 - Justin Huber; 1B Royals (59)
55 - Mike Pelfrey; RHP Mets
60 - Mike Jacobs; 1B Marlins


Of those from last year's list, the biggest fall off the list (aside from those who "graduated" to the ML) ... that would be Eric Duncan; #16 last year - not in anyone's top 50 now.