The Mets signed catcher Dusty Ryan to a Minor League deal today and invited him to Spring Training.
It’s certainly not a high-impact move or a big Winter Meetings splash. I imagine it won’t preclude the Mets from signing a more experienced right-handed complement/backup to Josh Thole, and I would guess that if Dusty Ryan ends up on the Major League Mets in 2011 it means someone is either hurt or woefully underperforming.
But Ryan — unlike so many of the guys signed by the Mets to be Minor League roster filler in recent years — actually has some upside. He is 26, for one thing. For another, he actually has some mild history of offensive production in the Minors.
Ryan does not make a ton of contact — he hit .199 in Triple-A in 2010. But he has demonstrated a decent batting eye at the level, and can boast a decent-for-a-catcher .237/.348/.416 line in 631 plate appearances in Triple-A. (As a point of reference, Omir Santos’ career Triple-A line is .251/.305/.324.) There is some chance Ryan can improve or enjoy a career year and actually contribute something positive to the Mets at the Major League level.
Right around this time last year, I wrote:
What neither Coste nor Cora will provide is upside. Upside is the chance a player can actually provide more to his team than he’s being paid to provide. Upside is something the Mets should be searching for among the potential Rule 5 Draft picks and non-tendered free agents. Upside is something worth committing money to when a team is operating with a finite budget.
Maybe I’m again reading to deeply into a minor move, or maybe the acquisition is yet another sign that things are looking up for the Mets. Point is there’ll be someone behind the plate in Triple-A that might actually outperform expectations and that’s, you know, cool.
Tedquarters 
I usually love your columns but it seems you have jumped on the Alderson will do better than Minaya at finding talent with small moves like this.
Minaya did pretty good at finding talent with upside in his tenure as GM.
He did a good job finding some useful guys off the Major League scrap heap. He didn’t find much value from Minor League free-agents young enough to contribute for more than a season. Often he filled up Minor League rosters with 30+ year old players with limited upside — the Abraham Nunezes and Eli Marreros of the world. And when he needed depth he often had to turn to guys like Santos and Argenis Reyes — guys who never really produced anywhere before joining the Mets’ system.