I smell a repeat of this debacle.
Earlier this week, I argued the Mets should essentially stand pat for 2010, let the injured heal, the young mature and everyone jell, and let’s see what happens before we dive into the trade or free agent pool.
Aside from my previous arguments about being able to field an 85-win team with what we already have, there are two other reasons why I think we should stay pat.
Over-reaction and over-paying.
Omar Minaya is under time pressure to do something/anything to “improve” the Mets. My fear is that he will do something – for the sake of doing something.
All I want, as the Mets plot their moves in the off-season, is for Minaya and the powers that be to heed what emergency room doctors are taught: it may be better to do nothing than to do something that risks causing more harm than good.
Unfortunately, because of the pressure to win, Met GMs can’t bask in this wait-and-see luxury. Our oft ill-considered rush to win has cost us dearly in the past. I am reminded of the Mets failures in the early 1990s and management’s over-reaction to same, resulting in the acquisition of such big name disasters as Frank Viola, Vince Coleman, Bobby Bonilla, Frank Tanana, Tony Fernandez, Eddie Murray and Bret Saberhagen. And do I have to go through the litany of equally disastrous young/core players for “big names” trades the Mets regularly have made?
Adding to the problem is the dearth of available free agent talent. I keep hearing “We need a bat and an arm.” But I have yet to hear anyone realistically discuss who would want to voluntarily commit themselves to the Citi insane asylum, or that the Mets could realistically sign at reasonable rates.
The top free agents desired by the Mets and fans – John Lackey, Matt Holliday, Jason Bay, Randy Wolf and Jason Marquis – all will be playing in the post season. We will get a closer look to see how they perform under pressure (and, likely in Marquis’ and maybe Holliday’s and Wolf’s case, against the Phillies), a prerequisite for playing in the glassed-in prison cell of New York City.
But let’s say all five pass the post-season pressure test. What then?
Just because we want them doesn’t mean we’ll get them. And just because we can get them doesn’t mean we should get them. But these aphorisms aside, I just can’t see Lackey, Holliday or Bay signing with the Mets.
Lackey hails from Texas and has pitched his entire career in Southern California. Why would someone exposed to this much country life want to play in New York? (Especially since he wears 41, which he couldn’t wear as a Met; I could find no evidence he wears that number because he was a Seaver fan, however.) I smell Ed Whitson II.
Holliday is purely a Midwesterner – born in Oklahoma, played in Denver and St. Louis. Sure, the Cards may think he’s too expensive and we might be able to sign him – but will he be comfortable in the big city? He couldn’t make it in Oakland, for crissakes.
Bay was once a Mets’ prospect – albeit for four months. Would he want to come back? Should he come back? His power would be muted by CitiField’s dimensions. And Bay isn’t exactly Endy Chavez in left field. Remember what a couple of muffs in left field did to our view of Daniel Murphy?
I honestly don’t know enough about Wolf other than he played for the Phils and seems to enjoy big city life, but I truly believe Niese could be a much cheaper version of same and ought to get the chance to prove it – here.
I know why one of these free agents might sign with the Mets. Because Omar, in an attempt to grab one or more of them just to be able to say he grabbed one or more of them, will be tempted to overpay.
No, check that. We will overpay. With so few quality players and so many teams chasing them (yes, other teams need a bat and an arm as well), this will be a seller’s market.
The one realistic signing the Mets could make is Jason Marquis. According to the NY Post (I know, not exactly the most trustworthy source), Staten Island native Marquis actually wants to play for Mets, perhaps lured either by Citi’s copious dimensions, dementia or both. Â Works for me (I always thought you had to be a little nuts to want to live here), but, again, not for the Oliver Perez money it might take to land him.
It’s not that I don’t want the Mets to bulk up. What I’m afraid of is that Dr. Minaya will metaphorically prescribe expensive steroids for quick results rather than stick to the old fashioned way of diet and exercise. The latter route may take longer, but it’s ultimately healthier and will produce longer-lasting results.
Random thoughts:
* Was that a great game yesterday or what? Wow.
* But wasn’t it weird hearing Ron Darling’s voice without Gary Cohen? Boy, is RD smart! Why hasn’t someone hired him to manage? Say, the Mets?
* I’m rooting for the Yankees. I live in New York and I’m rooting for my home team. This differs from most Mets fans who would like to see the Yankees eat s…er, fecal matter… and die, like Stan, an usher at CitiField and an old-time Brooklyn Dodger fan who vividly remembers attending the final game of the 1950 season when Richie Ashburn threw out Cal Abrams at the plate after a base hit by Duke Snider, who told me in a game between the Yankees and the Russians, he’d root for the Russians. He’d be disappointed. I’m pretty sure the Russians suck at baseball.
32 comments
CaseStreet
10/7/2009-1:39pm at 1:39 pm (UTC -4)
Omar’s not the guy to overpay for a guy.
He didn’t for Lowe or Manny.
There’s no reason to stand pat. It’s not like the Mets are the Nationals or Orioles who are a few years away.
The Mets have 5 top tier players at their respective positions. Omar doesn’t really have to go after the big name guys. He can if the budget allows. He can also do more with less by going after mid-tier guys who can complement our 5 stars.
Omar can reasonably fill SP, LF, C, 1B and SU. Maybe not all, but if you believe the Mets have $30-40 to spend, that’s approx. $6M-8M per position. Of course they’re not going to spend that much on a C or SU guy, so there’ll be more money for the other 4 positions.
Kingman 26
10/7/2009-1:50pm at 1:50 pm (UTC -4)
This is kind of strange. Lackey is Ed Whitson II because of the number he wears and because he is not from NY? I would say that his performance in the WS as a rookie dispels that. And take a look at Whitson’s pre-Yank career. This is a bizarre comparison.
And as Case said, which of these past disasters was Omar responsible for?
And if Murph had Bay’s offensive numbers, think maybe his defense would be viewed differently?
And the reason they would come to the insane asylum in Queens is the same reason almost all free agents sign anywhere—to get the most money.
CaseStreet
10/7/2009-2:04pm at 2:04 pm (UTC -4)
Speaking of Murph’s errs in LF, I kind of felt bad for El Caballo, though he did make an amazing catch to rob the Mets of a few runs.
Goes to show you how difficult it must’ve been for Murph to learn LF while OTJ.
wannybackstra
10/7/2009-2:12pm at 2:12 pm (UTC -4)
Southern California is country life?
I can think of some real hicks from Texas who did pretty well operating in big cities for quite some time: Roger Clemens pitched in three of them, i.e. Boston, New York and Toronto.
I don’t buy this stuff about having to be a city boy to play in NY. Not for a second. Mickey Mantle anyone?
And I really don’t see how the Mets can sit on their hands this offseason. Not after a 90 loss season. Injuries can only be blamed for so much. Plus, it would be nice to have soem measures in place to protect against relying too much on the same injury prone players.
trs86
10/7/2009-2:21pm at 2:21 pm (UTC -4)
Completely agree.
wannybackstra
10/7/2009-2:25pm at 2:25 pm (UTC -4)
uh oh. Apocalypse?
trs86
10/7/2009-2:28pm at 2:28 pm (UTC -4)
Tired today. LOL.
Actually we need Mr. Bill and Alex on here more often. We would agree much more then.
Kingman 26
10/7/2009-2:34pm at 2:34 pm (UTC -4)
We don’t need Alex. He knows about as much about baseball as I know about sports in Mongolia.
trs86
10/7/2009-2:38pm at 2:38 pm (UTC -4)
Hey I am guessing the Mongols played a mean game of polo.
Kingman 26
10/7/2009-2:45pm at 2:45 pm (UTC -4)
Yeah, they probably do, and then make a delicious Mongolian beef out of the cows they ride during the game….
Mmmmmm, Mongolian beef….
trs86
10/7/2009-2:54pm at 2:54 pm (UTC -4)
Silly Kingman, they did not ride the cows. They rode horses and cooked the cow meat under their saddle while ridding.
Kingman 26
10/7/2009-2:58pm at 2:58 pm (UTC -4)
LOL!
You may have just cured me of my liking of Mongolian beef!
trs86
10/7/2009-3:01pm at 3:01 pm (UTC -4)
Well you just have to hope it’s not smoked as the only thing they had to burn was dung.
(SS teacher, full of random triva)
Kingman 26
10/7/2009-3:13pm at 3:13 pm (UTC -4)
Yeah, I majored in history in college, and as you may have gathered, while I am not a teacher (but thought about it a LOT and still might do it someday), I am seriously addicted to trivia of all kinds….when Trivial Pursuit was popular, I was frigin unbeatable—seriously, I was like the 86 Mets of Trivial Pursuit, but I never had to have any late-inning rallies….
Kingman 26
10/7/2009-2:30pm at 2:30 pm (UTC -4)
LOL!!!!!!!!!!
trs86
10/7/2009-2:20pm at 2:20 pm (UTC -4)
Obviously, I completely disagree with all of this. However, nice job explaining your faulty logic (j/k).
CaseStreet
10/7/2009-2:26pm at 2:26 pm (UTC -4)
mrbaby is the anti-christ.
He wants the Mets to stand pat and he’s rooting for the Yankees!
trs86
10/7/2009-2:29pm at 2:29 pm (UTC -4)
LOL, maybe not the anti-christ but I would check his forehead.
fongy2
10/7/2009-2:45pm at 2:45 pm (UTC -4)
First off, no disrespect BUT anyone who roots for the yankees while calling themselves a
Mets fan loses all standing with me. The opposite is also true,as much as I love my brother-in
-law,hes a yankee fan who says proudly”I rooted for the Mets in ’86&’06″ Great!
I’m sure the yankees and their fans welcome you on board while things are going well for
them! As for the rest of your posting, a few problems.1)How can anyone compare Lackey to
Whitson except to say they were both MLB Pitchers.2)While Bay isn’t a great OFer,he isn’t
a bad one either.Heck,hes been catching flyballs for 15+yrs now.To in anyway compare his
fielding skills(in the OF) to Murphy’s is just foolish.3) Wolf is alife long Dodger fan
whos said all yr,he’d prefer to stay there if he could resign.Additionaly,while he had a
nice season, his injury history isn’t something I’d think most Met fans would want to deal
with,especially given our traing staff.4)8months ago would have been the time to get Marquis.
When he was playing for money and suddenly figured out how to Pitch.You wanna trust him now?
Heck both the Braves and Cards gave up on him and they have alot better recent history of
developing Pitchers than we have.5)I wouldn’t waste too much off-season time w/Holliday/Boras,
we know what hes looking for.The most money & the most yrs.Lastly, with all these FAs…..
“its a sellers market”, Huh? Hows that? Where are all the teams with both the money and
need that these FAs will end up with tons of choices as to where to sign?
Kingman 26
10/7/2009-2:54pm at 2:54 pm (UTC -4)
Yeah, I can see why some folks think I am a jackass for not hating the Phils, but I am not sure I have EVER met a die-hard Met fan who would root for the Yanks…not saying Mr Baby is not a die-hard as he sure seems to be, but he may be the only one who roots for them jerks!
GO TWINS!!!!!!!!!!!
fongy2
10/7/2009-3:01pm at 3:01 pm (UTC -4)
Christ!, I agree completely! I have spent just about as long as I’m a Met fan
rooting against the yankees almost as hard.I think thats the reason I became
partial to Manny and Pedro over the yrs.Not only were they not affraid of them
but loved beating them as well. I couldn’t stand the Braves of several yrs ago
but it lacked the passion with which I hate the yankees and almost all their
fans. As for the Phils, well, most here know how I feel.
Kingman 26
10/7/2009-2:50pm at 2:50 pm (UTC -4)
In the trivia department, I was wondering, and that pic of Bonilla with Bobby V is not from his initial signing, as Bobby V was Rangers manager then….must be when they got him back in a trade….
fongy2
10/7/2009-2:55pm at 2:55 pm (UTC -4)
It was, Little Stevie wasn’t the GM and we weren’t wearing those awful uni’s at the time.Funny you picked that up Brock, it was the first thing I noticed as well.
Kingman 26
10/7/2009-2:59pm at 2:59 pm (UTC -4)
Didn’t think of Met-hater Little Stevie, but seeing Bobby Boo and Bobby V together seemed strange, as my first thought was that the pic was from back in the days when we could not “wipe the smile” off Bobby Boo’s overrated face….
fongy2
10/7/2009-3:04pm at 3:04 pm (UTC -4)
Yes, he of “I always wanted to be a Met” then having his agent call
around upon okaying his 5yr/25mil deal with us to the Chisox and Phils
offering his services to them if they matched that deal.
That is what still burns me a little about Beltran,him pulling the
same thing,only that time with the yankees.
CaseStreet
10/7/2009-3:29pm at 3:29 pm (UTC -4)
it wasn’t him, it was the Mole
Kingman 26
10/7/2009-3:37pm at 3:37 pm (UTC -4)
HAHA!!!
fongy2
10/7/2009-3:39pm at 3:39 pm (UTC -4)
I think the mole is what put off the yankees!
Jeter was worried it might be contagious.
darknova306
10/7/2009-6:12pm at 6:12 pm (UTC -4)
I disagree with, but fully understand, your feelings on the Yankees. “At least it’s a NY team winning it all” isn’t a bad mentality in my mind, but I just hate the Yankees too much.
Teams are locking up their young talent for longer terms these days and keeping the better guys away from free agency more and more. With the FA market getting thinner on top talent, of course we’re going to overpay for a guy like Holliday if we really want him. I honestly think we have enough top flight guys if we add a LF or 1B (assuming the top guys we have now are all fully healthy next year). What we really need is to look for nice mid-level guys to compliment the stars, something I don’t trust Omar to do.
gipperpdx
10/9/2009-8:05pm at 8:05 pm (UTC -4)
“I disagree with, but fully understand, your feelings on the Yankees. “At least it’s a NY team winning it all†isn’t a bad mentality in my mind, but I just hate the Yankees too much.”
But it ignores the most glaring fact: what they play in the American League may be a sport of some sort, but it sure as hell isn’t baseball!!!! The DH is an abomination!
whataputz
10/9/2009-8:32pm at 8:32 pm (UTC -4)
Girardi is lucky Mauer didn’t go deep off jaba, because why in the world would he leave him in to fave Mauer with coke ready?
ellispa
10/16/2009-1:00pm at 1:00 pm (UTC -4)
Omar has to do something and it is fair to say that he has made few severe blunders in his time, even if he has “overpaid”, which may be a meaningless term – he paid what it took to get players here. After 2007 Met fans were in despair and I for one would’ve sanctioned a trade of Reyes for Santana. But Omar bided his time and ended up landing Santana without giving up any important players.
Most of the players cited as bad acquisitions actually had one or more good years for the Mets. Murray had two 90 RBI years, Viola won 20 games, even Bonilla had a couple of decent years. The main problem with Bonilla Act I was that the Mets got him and pretended they were getting Barry Bonds instead of waiting one year for the real (pre-steroid) Bonds to be available. Some of those players just had “chemistry” issues and were otherwise on bad teams. Interesting that MrBaby didn’t mention some really bad moves during the last 15 years – Robbie Alomar, Kaz Matsui (to play SS over Reyes), Jeff Kent for Carlos Baerga.
No, I think Omar is aware that making a really bad desperation move, such as say, Kazmir for Anna, er… I mean, Kris Benson, would seal his fate more than doing nothing. And with some big salaries coming off the books – Wagner, Delgado – there is room in the budget.
As for Met fans who root for the Yankees also, here’s my theory. If you grew up in NYC all baseball fans were either a Yankee fan or a Met fan and there was an intense, biting rivalry played out in school, summer camp, wherever. Rooting for the NYC team was meaningless because New York City was the world and you lived only inside that world. You could not later on set aside this inbred hostility to the other camp who had declared perpetual dominance in your world.
If you grew up outside NYC you didn’t experience that almost fratricidal hatred as a kid. When you moved to NYC you may have favored one team over another but you didn’t have that emotional history, so you could adopt all things about your new home city. I think most Met fans secretly admire the Yankees place in baseball history. It’s just this year’s or this generation’s Yankees (and fans) we can’t stand. Anyway, that’s been my observation.
But I do miss Anna Benson.