New York Mets: Three things we can learn from the Miami Marlins Rebuild

What could the New York Mets possibly learn from the rival Miami Marlins and their rebuild?

The title of this post seems difficult to imagine. Even considering the New York Mets and their level of dysfunction in recent years, they clearly have great talent. The Miami Marlins, on the other hand, have felt like a dumpster fire for many years. What could the Mets possibly learn from their NL East rivals?

While there are a number of reasons that the Mets should avoid resembling the small market Marlins, there are also several aspects of the South Florida franchise that are worth mimicking. This is particularly true considering the team’s pending transition to new owner Steven Cohen.

Here are three strengths of the Marlins that the Mets would be wise to copy.

#1: Focus on Building the Mets Farm System

When the Derek Jeter led ownership group took over in Miami, their first step was to clean house in a way that was extreme. The group traded two future MVPs in Christian Yelich and Giancarlo Stanton, as well as two All-Stars in Marcell Ozuna and JT Realmuto, in order to obtain young prospects and shed financial commitments. It was a shocking amount of talent leaving South Beach.

However, in exchange, the Marlins were able to turn a bottom-level farm system into a unit that ranked fifth in the league at the 2020 mid-season mark. One of these players, pitcher Sixto Sanchez looked like a future star as he helped lead his team to an unexpected postseason run.

The Mets, who currently have the 20th best farm system in MLB, are in a similar position as the pre-fire-sale Marlins. Am I advocating that the team go full-Marlins and trade top assets like Jacob deGrom, Pete Alonso, Michael Conforto, or Jeff McNeil? Certainly not! The Marlins took this strategy to an extreme that dramatically hurt their reputation amongst their fan base.

However, the Mets cannot continue to ignore their prospect pool. In recent seasons, They have elected to part ways with top prospects in deals to acquire Marcus Stroman, Robinson Cano, and Edwin Diaz. They have made zero postseason appearances during that span.

The franchise needs to take every opportunity to rebuild a suffering farm system. Hopefully, the Cohen transition will allow the team to sign playmakers without having to sacrifice assets. Perhaps players like Brandon Nimmo, Amed Rosario, or possibly even Wilson Ramos or Steven Matz, can use used to accelerate this restock.