Say this about the latest Mets call-ups: They have experience. Jose Offerman, Gerald Williams and Brian Daubach, all promoted from Triple-A Norfolk in the past two weeks, have played a combined 37 big-league seasons.
What they don’t have is “prospect” status. And that’s a major issue, with the Mets wanting to annually infuse their roster with young talent, plus have chips for trades. While it’s not Yankee dire, one Mets official acknowledged the number of sure-fire major-leaguers is slim. Not that the promotions of the 36-year-old Offerman, 40-year-old Williams and 33-year-old Daubach suggested otherwise.
One scout responsible for the NL East, who has watched the Mets’ three highest-level farm teams, said the organization lacks a blue-chip prospect like Philadelphia first baseman Ryan Howard in the upper minors, but the overall depth – while concentrated in A-ball and in pitching – ranks in the middle among organizations.
“They’ve got kids that aren’t too bad,” the scout said. “They have as many as anyone else, expect for one other I’ve seen. I think they’re wise to call up those veterans. When you bring up the young kids, you don’t know what you’re getting and you can damage their immediate futures.”
(OF Lastings Milledge — too polite to say “please don’t trade me for Jose Mesa”, so we’re saying it for him)