Mets Sign Clint Everts

[TransMonk]

Went to the same high school as Kazmir and was drafted 5 spots ahead of him in 2002. No mention of money yet. His minor league stats don't look half bad.

http://www.hotstove.com/2009/12/mets-sign-minor-league-pitcher-clint-everts/

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=everts001cli

This good be a very good pickup.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I remember her from her tennis playing days. She was kinda cute.

[TransMonk]

Not this one either:

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Futures game in 2004, top-5 prospect for Washington through 2006.

Something doesn't smell quite right... was there an injury?

[Guest Edgy DC]

I guess they non-tendered the guy. Did he get an MLB contract from the Mets? Musta, right?

[TransMonk]

From MLBTRADERUMORS.COM:

Everts was a first-round pick of the Expos in '02 (by Omar Minaya), and has spent his entire career in their minor league system. He had Tommy John surgery in '04 and now works as a reliever.

On edit - 2009 in AA and AAA combined - a lot of K's and a pretty high WHIP, but runners didn't score that often:

39.1 IP, 42 K, 21 BB, 35 H, 2.06 ERA, 5 W, 1 L, 4 Sv

Edited December 10, 2009 by Guest

[Guest Edgy DC]

This has been a pretty productive Fregosi Day.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I imagine that the Nationals felt they had younger and/or more promising young players and didn't have room for Everts on their 40-man roster.

I'm not sure how the rules work exactly, but you can't keep someone buried in the farm system forever; eventually they have to be on the 40-man, or promoted, or they get to be a free agent.

(I'm getting a d�j� vu thing here; this is like the Tommy Henrich discussion from last week.)

[Benjamin Grimm]

From Wikipedia:

Minor League Free Agency - Like major leaguers, minor league players also enjoy free agency. Their contracts expire after seven Minor League seasons, if they are not on the 40-man major league roster at the time of the expiration of their Minor League contracts. Those who can't find the right deal with an affiliated baseball club may also take a season in independent baseball before returning to the farm system of another major league club. This is done because players, in the world of free agency and high-dollar salaries, often find their careers "stuck." Major league clubs will often trade for a big dollar position player rather than call someone up from the minor leagues. This can leave position players in the Triple-A and Double-A levels of the farm system with no ability to move up. They become "spare parts" players unless they can find a new club that views their skills differently.

This is exactly the kind of free agency (except, perhaps, for the seven-year part) that Tommy Henrich pioneered.

According to Baseball America, these are the 24 players from the Mets system who gained minor league free agency this winter:

New York Mets (24) RHP: Manuel Alvarez (Hi A), Julio de la Cruz (AA), German Marte++ (AA), Chris Mason (AAA), Tim McNab (AAA), Carlos Muniz+ (AAA), Jose Sanchez+ (AAA), Kyle Snyder (AAA), Jim Ed Warden (AAA) LHP: Edgar Alfonzo (AA), Adam Bostick (AAA), Adam Pettyjohn (AAA), Heriberto Ruelas (AA) C: Robinson Cancel (AAA), Salvador Paniagua (AA), Rene Rivera (AAA) 2B: Argenis Reyes (AAA) 3B: Javier Castillo (AAA), Mark Kiger (AA), Mike Lamb (AAA) OF: Chip Ambres (AAA), Jason Dubois (AAA), Jesus Feliciano (AAA), Luis Rivera (SS)

[smg58]

I can see why Minaya would still have an interest in Everts. Zero-risk, so why not? Fernando Nieve was a similarly good prospect whose stock crashed after an injury, and the Mets have gotten (and may still get) some decent work out of him.

[Frayed Knot]

I remember when Everts was drafted. That he went 10 spots ahead of Kazmir was more a reflection of perceived contract demands then they're standing as amateur prospects (iow, Everts was an "over-draft", picked that high to save money on a real 5th overall choice). He still was a legit 1st round pick, just not a top-10 guy.
Several injuries have cropped up since.

[TransMonk]

CNN names him as the 5th biggest draft bust of the noughties.

5. Clint Everts, Expos, 5th pick 2002
He had the name of a ballplayer, and was from the hotbed of Houston. But unfortunately, he will forever be recalled as the pitcher who was taken one spot before the Royals got Zack Greinke.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/magazine/specials/2000s/12/03/mlb.trades.free.agents.draft/1.html

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

The way Greinke's starting to look, Evert's looking like baseball's Sam Bowie.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Sheesh. For a while there, Greinke was destined to be remembered as a bust.

[MFS62]

This has been a pretty productive Fregosi Day.[/quote:37krndec]

Far more productive than the Mets career of the player after which it was named.

Later

[ashie62]

Sheesh. For a while there, Greinke was destined to be remembered as a bust.[/quote:9pleeif5]


I was thinking the same thing, Greinke had to take some "time away" from Baseball. I remember hoping it wasn't a Josh Hamilton type issue.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Clinical depression/social anxiety disorder. He began treatment during his hiatus that-- as I understand it-- continues to this day. There's a ton of stuff written about his circuitous path; one of the better pieces is linked below.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/joe_posnanski/04/28/zack.greinke/index.html

Fun fact: he did pretty damn well out of the gate, starting 24 games with a 3.98 ERA and 4-1 K/BB ratio in a rough AL, and finished fourth in league ROTY voting that year. The winner: Bobby Crosby. Second? Mr. Zero/2005 Met Shingo Takatsu.