THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 14, 1995 TAG: 9508140255
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
They really are the New York Mets who will be at Harbor Park tonight at 7, playing the annual exhibition game against the Norfolk Tides, their top farm club.
A Triple-A feeling will be thick, though, almost as if the contest is one more on the International League schedule. That's not just because the Mets are last again in the National League East and own the third-worst record in all of baseball, either.
Rather, 10 players - or 40 percent of the active roster - who will be in Mets uniforms were full-time Tides at some point this season. That doesn't include infielder Bill Spiers and outfielder Ryan Thompson, who passed through on medical rehabilitation assignments.
For the Mets, the situation is unprecedented, practically. Hard times that hit their player development machinery in the late 1980s only now have begun to brighten. Though you might wonder when, considering the Mets' record, fruits are going to be realized at the major league level.
The Mets say not to worry, that the bruises and Letterman jokes suffered this season from so many big league indoctrinations will gird their youngsters for years of success, if not championships.
``A great number of these guys will have spent at least a little time together in the minor league system,'' Mets farm director Steve Phillips said. ``That's the best preparation for them to be teammates, because they're going to know the expectations and consequences for things, what it means to be a Met and a professional. They're going to know how each other plays and what they need on and off the field. It's an exciting time.''
It is a cleaned house, if not a real good one just yet, that the Mets bring to Norfolk. Except for outfielder Brett Butler, the top veterans, Bret Saberhagen and Bobby Bonilla, have been dealt and replaced by prospects.
Meanwhile, fading relief ace John Franco, who joined the club in 1990, is the player with the longest tenure as a Met. Catcher Todd Hundley, currently on the disabled list, is next with barely more than three years before this season.
In all, 15 current Mets have been full-time Tides since Hundley in 1991. Aside from infielder Tim Bogar, who was last a Tide in 1992, everyone else has come along since 1993. Not included among that bunch is infielder Edgardo Alfonzo, who skipped Norfolk and went right from Double-A to New York.
Yet the crop of '95, still being developed in Norfolk most notably in the form of slugger Butch Huskey and pitcher Paul Wilson, is most responsible for stocking the Mets.
The Mets believe that Jason Isringhausen, 22, and 21-year-old Bill Pulsipher, 15-5 between them as Tides, will be mainstays of the Mets rotation well into the next century.
They think Carl Everett, recalled three weeks ago, has the tools to anchor the outfield. And who knows if pitcher Reid Cornelius, acquired in a trade with the Expos in early June and fabulous for the Tides, can do it over the long term in the majors?
A period of discovery is taking place, when it is natural for potential to overshadow performance. The Mets and many baseball people, however, are convinced that when both align themselves, the franchise will be something to talk, rather than joke, about.
``This is rewarding, as much as we've struggled the last couple of years,'' Phillips said. ``You can really see the impact a lot of these young players are going to have at the major league level. All the things we've preached and reinforced to them are starting to pay off.'' ILLUSTRATION: FROM TIDES TO METS
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by CNB