While the Yankees play a game that matters a little bit tonight in the Bronx, Mets fans have to look forward into a more distant future.  Jim Callis wrote the Mets draft report card for Baseball America yesterday, and here’s his summation of the Mets work in the 2009 draft:

Though they’re wealthier than most clubs, the Mets don’t press their financial advantage in the draft. They went over slot to sign Matz ($895,000) and Dotson, but otherwise were conservative and didn’t add much depth to a thin farm system.

I certainly can’t argue with that assessment.

BA surprised me by showing a bunch of love for 19-year old OF Chase Greene, who the Mets picked in the 16th round out of West Boca Raton (FL) HS.  The Mets signed Greene for $125K, buying him out of a committment to the University of South Florida.  BA lists Greene as the Mets draft class’s BEST ATHLETE and he shared the title of FASTEST RUNNER with ZeErika Hall (29).  Based on conversations with Mets people, I thought fourth-rounder Darrell Ceciliani would be a candidate for both awards.

Callis on Greene:

In addition to his speed, Greene has strong hands and bat speed that bode well for future power once he fills out.

After a 2-for-15 start to his professional career this summer in the GCL, Greene hit .333/.385/.458 with six doubles in his final 15 games.  A shortstop in HS, the Mets wasted no time moving him to the outfield, as he played just one game at second in the GCL, while splitting the rest of his time evenly between the three OF positions.

PG Crosschecker.com also praised Greene’s speed this spring:

Though his arm is well below-average, he has a chance for plus range out there [in CF]. Though I didn’t get a good running time in this game, he would grade out as a 65 runner on the 20-80 scale.

The Mets list Greene at 5′11″, while PG has him shorter:

The 5-9, 160 righthanded hitting Greene will have to figure out a pesky offensive game to take advantage of his speed; he doesn’t project as a big power guy or middle order hitter. The bat-speed and raw power isn’t quite there for that.

That the $125,000 the Mets paid Greene to sign was the sixth largest bonus of their draft class, provides some measure of the value the Mets placed the young outfielder.  He’s obviously a long way away, but the Mets are quite thin in high-upside athletes, especially in the OF.

The Mets did attempt to buttress their position player depth in the ‘09 draft.  As Callis points out, the Mets signed just three pitchers from the first 20 rounds after failing to sign RHPs Damien Magnifico (5), David Buchanan (6) and Casey Schmidt (15).