Throwing Gas on a Fire is Getting Really Expensive

By Metstradamus
Posted Friday, August 29, 2008

August 12th: The Phillies take a 3-2 lead into the eighth inning: Chad Durbin coughs up the lead in the eighth before J.C. Romero loses the game in the ninth to Los Angeles.

August 13th: Chad Durbin coughs up a two run eighth inning lead in Los Angeles, setting the stage for a Nomar Garciaparra walk off dinger in the ninth.

August 21st: Ryan Madson blows an eighth inning lead and loses the ballgame to the Washington Nationals to snap their 12 game losing streak.

August 27th: With a sweep against the Mets fast approaching, Rudy Seanez gives up a tying home run to Carlos Delgado before Brad Lidge implodes in the eighth to give the Mets a series split to go along with first place.

August 28th: The eighth inning started with a Phillies 4-1 lead over the Cubs. When Madson and Durbin were through, Aramis Ramirez had a grand slam that hasn't come down yet, and the Phillies lost to Chicago 6-4.

You guys get the point, right? If there's hope for the Mets it's this: The Phillies bullpen, which has been great since August of last season, is showing itself to be at least human. So for all of the problems that we have here in the Flushing bullpen, issues are starting to creep up on the other side of the Walt Whitman Bridge.

Of course, we know about bullpen problems ... heck, over the last two years, the Mets have not only been blowing games, they've made it an art form (I'd list all the examples here but carpal tunnel is a bitch to get rid of.) So no way would I gloat at other teams' pen problems in this space. Hey, at least the Phillies went out and got Scott Eyre.

And that's the point here: Sure, the Mets went out and got Luis Ayala and Al Reyes ... more reclamation projects for Omar Minaya. Part of me has always believed that there really hasn't been any more Minaya could have done to shore up the 'pen, with many asking for prices that are too high ... and with the way guys like Nick Evans and Daniel Murphy have been performing, and with a guy like Jon Niese getting ready to play an important part in a pennant race, you could say that Omar played his cards right.

But with a guy like Eddie Guardado getting moved for a Class A pitcher, and Eyre being moved for a similar price, has Omar really done enough? Or is he guilty of believing too much in a group of guys who haven't shown enough consistency? Or his he guilty of something else?

This was a Minaya quote from a Newsday article which reported that Minaya wasn't going to be fired anytime soon. You decide if I'm reading too much into it:

"There was a time with this organization where we had to get back to relevance and improve the brand, so we had to be more aggressive," Minaya said this week during a dugout interview at Nationals Park. "I was thinking big picture at that time four years ago, about how we've got to be relevant, how we've got to get people back in the stands.

"Well, we're going to have over 4 million in attendance this year, our ratings are off the charts, we're moving into a new stadium. For me, there's a time to be aggressive and there's a time to be patient. This is a time to be patient."

Here's the question: Has Minaya's newfound patience, which may have come from job security, cost the Mets a chance at another decent relief option? Probably not, and hey ... job security's a good thing if it keeps you from trading blue chip prospects for middling relievers (I'm talking to you, Jim Duquette and Steve Phillips) but I'd hate to think that attendance and television ratings would keep the Mets from doing everything possible to upgrade the roster, especially when the cost wouldn't seem to be prohibitive.

There's still some time ... guys like Huston Street are still out there just waiting to be put on waivers (unfortunately, Brian Fuentes' bereavement leave along with his team still being in the putrid NL West's race will keep him from the waiver wire). And in a race where one game can tip the scales, just one decent reliever would do the trick. Let's see if Omar can work against the odds and pull off a waiver deal ... or be ready to rely on all 15 call-ups from the minors being relievers to go one batter each for the rest of the season.