1:35pm: The Astros claimed Martinez, tweets ESPNNewYork's Adam Rubin. They had the first crack at Martinez in the waiver process, with MLB's worst record in 2011.
11:53am: Mets outfielder Fernando Martinez will be claimed shortly by an NL Central team, tweets ESPN's Enrique Rojas. The team appears to be the Astros, based on this tweet from Rojas.
Baseball America named Martinez one of the top 100 prospects in the game before each of the 2007-10 seasons, and at age 23, he's worth a 40-man roster spot for new Houston GM Jeff Luhnow. Injuries, selectivity, and plate coverage have limited Martinez thus far, wrote Baseball America a year ago.
Who cares. A zero outfielder with zero upside. Slow news day, so far.
you are just too cool for school!
You’re right. And this player will continue to not do anything. Signed, Too Cool For School
Astros or Pirates.
Best convert him to first base now.
this poor guy is a great example of two things. 1)The Mets’ luck (for additional info see Nick Evans and Jenrry Mejia) 2)A guy who’s career is destroyed by injuries
Can’t say Jenrry Mejia just yet…Evans just didn’t have a place on the team sadly.
Sigh…even I just said “yet”
How is it speculated its the Astros? I can’t read Spanish
The tweet says “Astros”
Well, how about English? That’s what the tweets are written in.
The tweet from Rojas was straight spanish, and it was a joke
Enrique_Rojas1 Enrique Rojas/ESPN
Fernando Martinez será reclamado en breve por un equipo de División Central de Liga Nacional. #Mets #Otro
Displays in English on the link I clicked (y disculpe por no haberte entendido).
I know….can’t read what I wrote! :-p
This tweet only says he’ll be claimed by an NL central team. Google translate is your friend, though you shouldnt need it for an easily decipherable sentence.
Yep, the tweet didn’t mention the Astros. It just said he was quickly reclaimed by a team in the NL Central. That leaves the Pirates and Astros, and the Astros had the worst record in the league last year.
why can’t they learn themselves to speak amuhrican?
No sé hermano, la verdad…
😉
Cubs probably, Thoyer loves the buy low.
My guess is the Pirates (don’t see the Astros taking him.) The Pirates love picking up prospect busts (Clement, Wood, Cedeno, LaRoche, et al.)
I doubt the Pirates, but it’s fair to think that since they had a former Mets top-prospect outfielder for a season and a half. I wonder who that was?
You in Tokyo yet..?
So does Martinez slot in at cleanup for the ‘Stros?
(I keed, I keed.)
An example of why VERY FEW prospects should be considered untouchable.
Funny nobody here is saying “he’s only 23”
Martinez is a very rare case of an athlete under 30 years old developing arthritis his career path so far is very uncommon. Many very highly ranked prospects contribute millions of dollars in surplus value because of the way arbitration and free agency work.
The first sentence of that was extremely informative and helpful. The second was obvious to the point of being pointless and borderline insulting.
I’m trying to emphasize why Gms are so reluctant to part with promising young players even though they do carry some risk. I agree that prospects shouldn’t be “untouchable” but I don’t think many really are and trading away a promising young player can be just as much a gamble as hoping they reach their potential. I didn’t mean to come across as condescending.
Only 23….started in the minors at 17….hasn’t had a full season YET. Failure.
Oh God, it was the Pirates. I’m getting sick of saying that, haha.
Rubin says waivers this time of year go by ’11 winning percentage regardless of league so if it’s not the Astros, it may be the Twins.
If it is the Astros, good for them. I’m not expecting too much from him, but you never know.
Decent low risk move by our GM. Of course something our old GM would never do because he knew Jason Michaels was barely adequate when he was with the Phillies…
Suitable pick up for the ‘stros. But with all their other outfield options, you have to wonder whether there’ll be a corresponding move to follow this news? Either way hope he pans out in the long run. It would be quite the coup if it does.
A great low-risk pick up. Most of the other options Houston has are no more sure-things than Martinez. I like the few moves I’ve seen from the new front office so far.
Really? I always thought they’d solidify the trio of bogusevic, shaffer, and martinez. All promising young of’s. But yes, like you said it’s a low-risk pick up so why not take a flier and let him compete. All in all they look solid on the outfield front.
I don’t understand why they waived him. The outfield depth is lacking as it is, and I’m sure SOMETHING could have been had in return for him. Even just optioninig him to the minors would have been better.
Nice pick up by the Astros, if he stays healthy you might have something.
another reason why this is a good low risk move by the astros is that while he has bad knees, the astros move to al next year and the dh will be a good option if he can hit. something the mets could never do. so him fielding is not as important for this claim. if he can hit and dh then the astros did very well. like someone said very low risk.
WOW. From can’t miss prospect to being claimed off waivers by the Astros, I can’t think of a steeper decline.
Rick ankiel 🙂
Adam Dunn tried to swat Brian over the head over this, insisting he had the biggest all-time decline. Thing is, on three swings, he made no contact whatsoever.
Low risk pick up and plus he has an option left. Pretty nice move even if it doesn’t pan out
I have a really bad feeling about this as a Mets fan. Something tells me that he’s going to magically stay healthy and come into Astros camp Mashing balls left and right. Then he’ll die down considerably but still put up .270 ish AVG with 15-20 HR and 80 RBI’s.
Its just Mets fans luck, YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST!!!
I bet all teams feel that way… As an Astros fan I feel like we missed out on guys like Lofton, Abreu, Johan Santana, Curt Schilling, etc…(yes, I know there were a lot of different circumstances around some of those guys, but you get the idea). We feel your pain.
In short I hope it happens to you guys this time. Sorry.