Declaring “the future is now” (though not in so few words), Mets closer Billy Wagner tells the New York Post’s Joel Sherman that he’d gladly swap the organization’s hottest prospects for Dontrelle Willis.
“You can’t think long-term when you are about winning it now,” Wagner (abvoe) said. “If you get Dontrelle Willis, it says you are about winning now. It is not about tomorrow. It is all about today.”
In this, Wagner should know he has an ally. Minaya refused to discuss Willis directly. But those close to Minaya said he would be open to trading Milledge or Pelfrey, his top two prospects, if Willis were available. But, at present, Willis is not available and no executive spoken to in the past few weeks expects that to change.
The Mets love Jason Schmidt, but it would take the unlikely – the Giants falling out of the congested NL West race – for their ace to be marketed.
Still, Minaya is determined to add a veteran starter with Washington’s Livan Hernandez a strong candidate, in part, because the price in prospects would be tepid. That would contrast what the Marlins would extract should they change their minds on Willis and open the field to the Mets and the 10 or so teams that would crave the star lefty.
For now, Willis is merely revelatory of the Mets’ thinking, in the clubhouse and the executive suites. For at the midseason break, both Wagner and Minaya see the Mets needing more to improve their championship stock. Wagner, despite permitting a homer to Miguel Olivo, saved a 7-6 victory over Willis’ Marlins, which gave the Mets a 53-36 first-half mark and command of the East. But winning the division is not enough.
“Getting to the playoffs is a great accomplishment,” Wagner said. “But getting there and not doing anything is not satisfying.”
Normally I’d disagree, but the other day I took a gander at the NY Mess’ rotation and I was shocked at some of the names I saw on there. Too bad about Bannister’s injury, and Zambrano’s…well, career, but these mo-fo’s are going to need waaay better starters for the postseason than frigging Lima and Maine. And since it looks like the Yankees won’t give up Wang, Cano or their best pitching prospect, I’d say that Dontrelle is theirs if they are really willing to part with their prospects. Of course, if they’re willing to give up the farm they should probably try for someone better than Dontrelle but that’s another issue.
If I were Jeffrey Loria — and I thank the good lord every day that I’m not — I wouldn’t trade Dontrelle Willis. Of course, Jeffrey Loria is an asshole and may wind up doing just that, but the Marlins are pretty good as is, and should he decide to spend a little dough this offseason or whenever the team’s stadium/city-of-residence issues get hashed out they could become a real title contender right away. I think they’re an ace closer and one veteran outfield masher away from being really, really good.
And luckily, Lima got the DFA 1979, hopefully for the last time, this week. I’m not so into running Maine and his mid-list ilk out there for the remainder of the season. But if the rotation is, in two months, something like Martinez-Glavine-Trachsel-Duque-Bannister/Pelfrey/Heilman, I wouldn’t feel so worried. You only really need three or four starters in the postseason, right? With a healthy Martinez and rejuvenated Glavine, they’ve got a better 1 and 2 than all but five or six teams as is.
a 1-2-3 of Pedro, Glavine and El Duque in the postseason might be enough to get past any of the other NL contenders, but I’m not nearly as confident how the Mets’ rotation will fare against the White Sox, Detroit or Boston, assuming any of the above get that far.
And the Heilman question remains. He’s been inconsistent in a role he’d prefer not to be in, while the club continues to experiment with the 5th spot in the rotation. The deeper-than-deep pen is a terrific thing, but not when measured against the idea of giving Livan Hernandez the ball — even if DC wants little or nothing for him.
Obviously, Heilman put Ben-Gay in Willie Randolph’s cup, or something, so we can assume he won’t ever be given a chance to start. The prob with the Pedro-Glavine-Dookie axis is that Pedro will only be the quality post-season guy if he’s healthy (he’s tough, yes, but also hurting in several areas) and Glavine/Dookie are old. “Rejuvenated?” Pffft. The man is pushing mandatory retirement age. I don’t think they get past St. Louis without another quality starter, though they probably win their NLDS. On the other hand, if Omar is playing for the future (and just not telling anybody), then keep the farm and get some free-agent dudes this winter. It all depends on his timetable.
Rog,
the Cards are just one Albert Pujols twitch away from being very, very ordinary. They’ve also got a closer who is on place to blow 14 saves. A formidable opponent, sure, but not a team that scares the shit out of me, either.
I think a cursory glance at the Mets’ roster, payroll, etc. pretty much answers your question regarding whether or not Omar’s Mets are built to win now or later. Ideally, they’d like to do both, but this is the best shot (and possibly last) you’ll have at getting another ring for Pedro and Glavine. El Duque is, well, older than old. As are Franco, Valentin, Floyd, even Delgado is looking like his skills will be decreasing in the not-so-distant future.
Granted, the Mets have a nucleus on the left side of 30 (Wright, Beltran, Reyes) that should ensure respectability, if not contention, for years to come. But we’re not talking about a team that is 6 games out of the wild card spot on the eve of the trade deadline, like they were in ’04. That huge lead over Philly and the Fish is no mirage , and the rest of the schedule is pretty favorable between now and October. Barring a complete meltdown, the NL East is as good as won, and Minaya’s single greatest task at this very moment is to figure out how to win 12 games in October. Are Willis or Zito worth mortgaging the future that Milledge or Pelfrey represent? Minaya might not have the luxury of trying to answer that question as long as Florida has a shot at the wild card and Oakland leads the NL West.
Oh, they win the division easy and probably the NLDS if they’re paired with an NL West team (right now, the Pads and the Dodgers are pretty close and one of them could get the Wildcard). I was just really awed at how totally JV they looked against all of the AL teams they played. I know Minaya built the team to win now, I just don’t think getting Glavine/Pedro/whoever another shot at a ring should be a motivating factor for the architects of this team. I think they need a whole lot more than just D-Train, and if waiting another year in order to hit the free agent market for pitchers gets ’em over the hump (AND they get to keep Milledge, Heilman, Pelfrey, etc.) then maybe they should. If they had held their own against the AL teams, I’d feel VERY different about their chances this fall.
agreed about how the Mets stacked up against Boston, but just to clarify, winning a championship for Glavine/Pedro is a byproduct of winning now, not the goal in and of itself. But I’m not nearly so certain the Mets will have nearly as clear path to the World Series as they might this season.
as far as not holding their own against the AL, they split the 6 games with the Yankees, took two of 3 against the Blue Jays, dropped two of 3 to Baltimore and got swept by the Red Sox. Of the above opponents, I don’t think the Mets will be seeing the Orioles in October. Certainly, the series against Boston was sobering, but if we’re having this conversation in the Autumn, I don’t think Alay Soler is the starting pitcher for Game One of the World Series.