Mets farm system shortcomings since 2015 apperant in MLB Pipeline graphic

Just how average or below has the New York Mets farm system been in recent years? One graphic MLB Pipeline shared makes it clear enough.

With a preseason and midseason ranking included, the Mets make a top 10 appearance just once. It’s in the 2015 preseason when notable players such as Michael Conforto, Noah Syndergaard, and Steven Matz were still in the minors and ready to contribute later that year.

Four of the five teams between the 2015 preseason and 2017 preseason listed would go onto win the World Series. The ones who haven’t have been mostly successful with only the Chicago White Sox doing very little and the San Diego Padres using most of their assets in trades.

The NY Mets just missed the cut of having a top 10 farm system for the first time since 2015

The Mets were one spot behind having their logo in this graphic again. MLB Pipeline has awarded them with an 11th place spot.

Additions at the trade deadline and some subtraction from other organizations haven’t done a thing to push the Mets higher than they already were on this list. Their preseason ranking was also 11th in baseball, but there’s a simple explanation. Guys have graduated. Francisco Alvarez is no longer a prospect. Neither is Brett Baty who despite some MLB struggles remains a highly-touted young player.

Luisangel Acuna and Drew Gilbert have replaced those two as the gold and silver medalist on the list. Success from others plus additions of non-top 100 guys like Ryan Clifford, Marco Vargas, and Justin Jarvis keep the Mets planted in the same spot.

The bigger question is how the Mets went from a top 5 farm system in 2015 to not having anything close to it ever since. They’ve made the playoffs only two times post-2015 with a wild card berth in 2016 and again in 2022. Not too many of the notable Mets prospects have gone on to punish the team following a trade just yet, however, they’ve continually subtracted rather than added. Getting very little at the 2017 and 2018 trade deadlines did them no favors. Once Brodie Van Wagenen took over the year after, the elimination of young talent on a regular basis began.

A combination of misses with the scouting and regularly trading young players away seems to be the culprit. It doesn’t help that promising young players like Matthew Allan have seen their career sidetracked due to injury.

The Mets do look like they’re capable of having a top 10 farm system by the 2024 preseason as long as they keep things intact. Does Steve Cohen delay the gratification or do a 180 and give his front office the greenlight to sell the prospects?