Editor, FlushingUniversity.com
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Well, the baseball executives are all home nestled snug in their beds, home from the Winter Meetings in Indianoplace -- even Steve Phillips has given up trying to find young, impressionable female TV production assistants to bed at the hotel bar -- and yet we know very little more about what the 2010 Mets will look like.
Before you assume this is some hysterical rant about Omar Minaya fiddling while the Mets burn
Nope. Sure, the Mets' front office, especially the business staff, is evil incarnate -- you only need to read this post at Mets Police about season tickets and how they treat their paying customers -- but the baseball people seem to actually have a plan that might make some sense.
It basically goes like this: Don't. Overpay. For. Mediocre. Talent.
Now you might wish that they'd gone with this thought before signing Oliver Perez (and romancing Derek Lowe). John Lackey? An okay pitcher with an injury history and a guy who might be a nice no. 2 at a park like CitiField. Not an ace. Not close to being an ace, to be honest. And not a $100 million dollar guy. Matt Holliday? Great in Denver. Human in St. Louis. Probably nothing special at CitiField.
So in targeting Jason Bay...which by the way, all of the supposed baseball geniuses pontificating at the local dying newsprint factories said wasn't going to be the case, the Mets may actually be targeting a guy whose price roughly equates his value and -- shockingly -- may be the best match for CitiField.
And cue the critics: "They're not really serious about Bay. They're just doing this to make their fans happy."
Uh, wha...? If you think they much care about making the fans happy, go back and reread that piece from Mets Police. I'll wait.
Okay. Now then, it looks from here they'd doing it for one reason: making their team better. (cue John Lennon: "It couldn't get much worse.") Imagine that, if you will.
Maybe someone learned lessons from the past few years: big money on mediocre players is a bad plan. Sure, Carlos Beltran, Pedro Martinez, Johan Santana and so on were clearly stars and bargains when the Mets acquired them. And Mets do have a core of true star players: Beltran, Santana, Wright, Francisco Rodriquez and yes, if healthy, Jose Reyes -- all All-Star caliber players.
Assuming relative health, the Mets need good, complimentary players. Jeff Francoeur is a perfect example. As a complimentary piece with the Braves, he flourished. As a central piece in the lineup, he didn't. No one expected much fron Frenchie after he came to the Mets -- and again, he flourished. By adding another bat, it takes pressure off Francoeur -- and he can be a stud, hitting sixth or seventh.
Bay is similar, but shown to be in a higher pay grade. Expected to replace Manny Ramirez with the Red Sox, Bay thrived even when David Ortiz disappeared and the Sawks placed a large offensive burden on the former Binghamton Met. I don't think Bay is a pure superstar -- not a focal point in a lineup. But, hitting between Wright, Beltran and Francoeur -- teams have to pitch to someone. Anything like a decent bat at first, yes, even Carlos Delgado -- and suddenly the tumblers of this lineup fall back into place like it did in 2006.
It's that simple -- and that complicated.
As for the starting staff -- with John Maine, Mike Pelfrey and Oliver Perez giant hairy question marks, the Mets need one thing above all others: a guy who pitches every fifth day and gives the team a chance to win. To me, that's Jason Marquis. 190 innings, 12 or so wins and he's a nice Jewish boy from Staten Island who really, really wants to play for the Mets. Of course, I might take a flier on Ben Sheets if he isn't demanding $10 million a year (which he seems to be doing), too.
While it has been Minaya's MO to strike early and often, it really makes a lot of sense to be patient and let the market come to him. Let the media and talk radio twits foam at the mouth. Worry about winning August and September instead of December.
I love it when a plan comes together.
