From River Avenue Blues via MLBTradeRumors comes the order of the June 2010 free agent draft.

The Mets have the 7th, 51st, 83rd and 116th pick. If they had kept Billy Wagner, a Type A free agent, they would have also had the 20th pick.

It’s hard not to question the wisdom of the Mets’ move. For Wagner, they received a 26 year old AAA outfielder in Chris Carter and a 20 year-old 1B in Eddie Lora. With the Mets being notoriously tightfisted in amatuer signing bonuses – they were 3rd fom the bottom last year, its easy to conclude that they didn’t want to have another expensive slot to pay for next summer.

Maybe the Mets have good reports on Lara from their scouts in the Dominican Republic where he played in 2008. Coupled with Carter they may feel that the trade off in talent with a potential 20th pick is a good one.

I wonder what they will be thinking in their draft war room in June when they see a player they really, really would have wanted at 20. To be fair, it will take some time to judge this move. But I’d really like to have had the opportunity to take a player that has such an upside as the 20th best player. Chances are, the scouts in the room will see a player that had rated much higher than the slot.

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