Collect the Mets

Superior selections supported by seven sequential senior signings

Full list of 2019 Mets draft picks

Anticipation was running high for this year’s draft, the first with Brodie Van Wagenen as GM. Day 1 was business as usual, a couple of picks that went a few slots ahead of where they were projected because the Mets probably already had deals worked out so they could save some money (or so we thought). Brett Baty and Josh Wolf have the usual Leaf autographs and such, as do all highly-ranked high schoolers these days. Day 2 though went way off script and saw the Mets taking Matthew Allan, considered to be a first-round talent, in the third round after he fell due to reportedly asking for way too much money. Then they spent the rest of the night picking college seniors, who can be signed for a Burger King coupon book and a six-pack of Red Bull (collectively, not one for each). While it looks strange on paper, the Mets have an awful track record when it comes to later early round picks (see: 2014, et. al.), so effectively punting rounds 4-10 on a bunch of scratch tickets is functionally indistinguishable from their usual draft strategy. And if it gave the Mets the $3 million it was estimated to take to sign Allan (down from the $4 he told everyone so they wouldn’t pick him), then it would all be worth it.

So of course the Mets ended up with $2.5 million they could use for Allan after saving less than expected on Baty and going over slot on Wolf. Lets’s recap: Allan floats a $4 million asking price so teams won’t pick him, allowing him to fall to the Mets in the 3rd round. Then the media reports that the $4 million figure was never his real number, which was instead $3 million. And then the Mets worked out their signings to give them $2.5 million to work with, which reports later said would be enough to sign Allan. And which was probably a number that several other teams would have been willing to pay. Look, I’m all for the Mets loading up on young talent, but this is sketchy as hell and seems like something that MLB will want to take action on before it gets out of hand. By instituting a hard slotting system, MLB has made it profitable for teams and players to concoct elaborate schemes to beat the system, largely because of the impact of not signing a high pick, which makes teams extremely risk averse.

Seven other picks also have autographs, all but one from either 2014 or 2018 Leaf Perfect Game products. Of those seven, only Kennie Taylor, Hunter Parsons, and Ryan Shinn signed.

1 Brett Baty	2 Josh Wolf	3 Matthew Allan	4 Jake Mangum
9 Joe Genord	14 Kennie Taylor	19 Hunter Parsons	24 Hunter Barco (DNS)
25 Joseph Charles (DNS)	34 Ryan Shinn	35 Daniel Maldonado (DNS)	36 Tucker Flint (DNS)

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