The Messiah is Here, Or Is He?
By Mike Silva ~ May 27th, 2009. Filed under: Mike Silva.
I shared in the fans enthusiasm of Fernando Martinez’s arrival to the big leagues yesterday. After all, we have heard about him since he was signed in 2005. I learned about MILB.com just to check out the stats of the next Wright, Reyes, or, how some people have put it, Albert Pujols. Now that F-Mart is here will he join Wright and Reyes to create a triumvirate of top notch home grown talent? Or will he be remembered as another failed positional prospect like Alex Ochoa, Butch Huskey, and Lastings Milledge?
The last time we had this hoopla was when Lastings Milledge was brought up in 2006. Martinez has one big advantage over the failed Milledge: a good attitude. When I spoke to him last summer he couldn’t have been more humble and accommodating. He tried to be thoughtful in his answers while still attempting to master the English language. The big question is how good is Fernando Martinez? His major league stint could either keep him here to stay, help his future trade value, or, like Milledge, ruin any value he has left.
The concern I had is with the words of Omar Minaya on SNY last night. He accentuated “average” to describe Martinez game. He very well could have been tempering expectations, but I never heard Wright or Reyes being described as such when they were brought up. Remember, this is a guy that has been billed as the top positional player in the organization. You would expect him to be more on the Reyes/Wright comparison scale than Jeremy Reed. Let’s not forget that, up until the last month, he never has performed at a star level at any of his minor league stops.
My main point is that Fernando Martinez might very well turn out to be a decent player, but I am very tempered in my expectations. At the very least he may be able to inject some life into a lineup that, right now, is very ordinary. Ideally you would want him surrounded by Delgado, Beltran, Wright, and Reyes when he was called up, but circumstances didn’t dictate that. In the end I hope the Fernando Martinez experience doesn’t leave us wondering what the hype was all about.
