What do you do with Daniel Murphy? If he can't carry an OF corner or 1B offensively, can't play 2B and is blocked at 3B, is he most valuable as a trading chit?

As silly as this trade would have sounded a year ago, is Murphy for Delmon Young feasible?

Other than a possible lack of the "health skill", how much separation is there between FMart and Flores?

Max...I think u just carry Murphy as a super-utility type...if we become a championship club he can't be starting in left, as much as I love the kid

What about playing Murphy at second when anyone but Pelfrey starts? The Mets have had one of the more extreme flyball staffs in baseball the last couple years, and it's not like Castillo's defense is any good right now. You can stick him in left or at first against the occasional rightie, give Wright a day off here and there. I think you have to give him 120-130 games this year to see if he can be a .290/.370/.470 type player if you aren't going to sign another big corner bat, which it seems like they aren't.

Kevin,

Where would Carp and Cleto have come in on this list, had they not been dealt?

Where does Nick Evans fit in in all this?

Evans is no good...he'll never hit enough

Kevin,

Hold on to F-Mart and assume he'll play a nice RF and hit 30-plus bombs or trade high before we pull a Milledge again?

You list Flores as 6'3" and 175 lbs, but say that he has a thick build. Doesn't seem like the description matches his listed size. What gives?

How far was Rustich? He looked good before the injury.

That's what Flores is listed as but from the pictures I've seen he's right, he does have a thick build. It's weird.

Doesn't really matter but Brad Holt was drafted out of North Carolina-Wilmington not UNC.

Kevin, I've been looking forward to this piece for a while now, and I appreciate the insights. I realize I'm not a scout and that I only play one on message boards, but I'd like to quibble with your upside projection of Jon Niese as a "solid and unspectacular number four starter." You point out that Niese's best pitch is a plus curveball, and that he rounds out his arsenal with a high 80's-low 90's fastball and a changeup. Based on that description alone, he sounds an awful lot like Barry Zito, who in his prime was considered a pretty good number two or three type starter (before he started sucking eggs with the Giants, of course). Now I'm not saying that Niese is the next Cole Hamels or anything like that--and I'm not even sure that he's ready to assume a spot in the rotation coming out of spring training--but don't you think your projection on him was a wee bit pessimistic?

Ruben Tejeda, any info on him? He was rushed but some accounts have him as handling it well even though the numbers may not have been there. It's still the the same ARL argument we have to use on some of their other kids.

Re: the disappointment of Ike Davis and according to some, of Reese Havens as well. Is it not somewhat rash to judge a young player in his first exposure to the pro game (different environment, wood bats, etc)? Can 200-odd ABs really change one's perception of 3+ years of scouting that came beforehand? I know the danger also lies going the other way (i.e. Brett Wallace), but it seems to me that without a full year of pro ball under one's belt, a prospect should be rated much more heavily on the scouting reports, with small sample discrepancies serving as caveats to the report. Thoughts?

I echo the 'where is Nick Evans?' comments.

311/365/561 at age 22 in AA is nothing to sneeze at. Just a mistake or did you leave him out on purpose?

Listing F-Mart as a CF? Brings the lolz.

Logged on to the site today and was excited to see the next installment of Future Shock. Alas, it's either still not up or it's not being posted today. Future Shock's Top 11 Prospects started on November 3rd only ten teams have been posted in the six weeks since that time, so we're averaging about 1.66 teams per week. Assuming Goldstein still maintains this average after he gets all of his new Japanimation Playstation games for Christmas/Hanukkah next week, he might just have all 30 teams covered before the 2009 season starts in late March. I'm no sabermatrician, but his FSARP/Week (Future Shocks above Replacement Level per Week) seem pretty low this offseason.

Happy Holidays, Kev