After a disastrous 2-9 West Coast swing — one that would’ve been a 1-9 road trip were it not for the ineptitude of Phil Cuzzi — all but ended the New York Mets’ realistic playoff aspirations, there’s a slight excuse for Omar Minaya’s inactivity at the trade deadline. That is, if you’re deluded enough to believe the Mets’ offensive woes and lack of bullpen depth only materialized the day after the All-Star Break with no prior warning, it’s easier to sympathize with the GM.
For those Mets fans who are halfway conversant with life on Planet Earth, however, there was much about Friday and Saturday’s flurry of trade action everywhere else to find distasteful. The Rangers and Dodgers’ respective ownership/financial straits prevented neither club from attempting to improve. Though both had more coveted pieces (ie. any) to move, if the Mets weren’t buyers this weekend, why weren’t they sellers? The contracts of Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo are immovable, granted. The same might not be true of Carlos Beltran, a player whose 2011 salary is considered so prohibitively expensive for a rebuilding team, Gary Cohen is allowed to openly call said contract as big an albatross as Perez or Castillo’s. 6 1/2 games behind the NL East leading Atlanta Braves and 6 1/2 behind the Wild Card Reds with two months to play were considered insurmountable deficits by ownership, and whether that’s a self-fulfilling prophecy or not, it poses another unpleasant question : why is so little being done to prepare for 2011? While the crosstown Yankees were adding veteran spare parts such as Fat Elvis and Kerry Wood Saturday, “it was easy to forget that the Mets still actually existed in the majors” opined the NY Post’s Joel Sherman.
Executive after executive, scout after scout reported that the Mets were dormant ” that maybe they really were not allowed to add to their payroll. The Marlins pretty much decided in the final 24 hours to try to obtain a reliever and came up with Will Ohman from the Orioles. And Florida began yesterday with the same 52-51 record as the Mets.
The Mets, meanwhile, failed to find a pitcher of any type. They also didn™t get creative and use one of their upper-level outfield prospects ” Fernando Martinez, Sean Ratliff or Kirk Nieuwenhuis ” to land a pitcher who could help long-shot playoff chances now, but is also under control into the future. Remember the Mets are locked into an outfield of Jason Bay, Carlos Beltran and Angel Pagan next year
I don’t know that I agree on Beltran — he’s a really good player and worth the money when he’s actually playing. He’s probably untradeable, too, of course, but he’s a different animal than Castillo or Perez or Cora, who really don’t provide any value for the money they’re getting paid.
If the Mets were really worried about their payroll — and if they’re not, they should be — they’d DFA Cora (to avoid allowing the option to vest that would pay him another $2 million for a negative WAR next year) and cut ties with Perez, who is never ever ever going to win a game in a Mets uniform again. I imagine that they won’t do either, probably for the same reason that they didn’t do anything at the deadline — Omar seems unwilling or unable even to acknowledge mistakes, and simultaneously incredibly fearful of making them. I’m kind of glad, in a way, that he didn’t make a trade, if only because him dumping a couple of prospects for a two-month rental of Jake Westbrook — in the interest of continuing the charade that the Mets are somehow a playoff team — would arguably be more painful than watching them continue to stink up the joint. And also because the Mets would then sign Westbrook to a four-year $44 million extension.
I’m in favor of keeping Beltran — a marvel in CF when healthy and one of the most unfairly maligned superstars in recent NYC sports lore. But there is slight disconnect when the otherwise reasonable Gary Cohen — unprovoked by his boothmates — ID’s the contracts of Castillo, Perez and Beltran as (his words) “the biggest challenge facing the Mets in 2011”. 48 hours later, the GM does nothing to address any one of the 3 pacts.
Also of note : the way Cora’s vesting option was openly discussed during Sunday’s debacle. It’s a slight comfort the way such matters are handled in a frank manner during SNY’s telecasts, while the flagship station’s afternoon hosts (and callers) seem to exist in an information-free bubble.
Right on about Gary, Keith and Ron, obviously — they’re increasingly the only reasons to watch the team. Keith, in particular, is amazing: his brief bit on the agony of having to deal simultaneously with a hangover and Dutch Rennert’s overloud umpiring was great even for him. Their astuteness — and, yes, the way that they say stuff on air that beat writers won’t say in print — does indeed highlight how out of it and behind the curve Omar and the field staff seem to be, but the most sobering part of the whole thing is the sense that no one will be held to account for any of it.
That is good, in that no one is going to censure/censor the broadcasters, but bad in the sense that gross mismanagement by the front office and dugout dudes is just going to kind of go on as usual. They’re a ghost ship, just like last year, and that’s what makes it tough to cheer for them (for me), even though I like a lot of the players.
I agree with not trading the young guys for Westbrook or someone of his ilk. What I heard on WNBC was that there was a deal for Perez/Castillo for Zambrano. That’s the trade I would make. It would at least be fun to watch Big Z implode here.
yet even with Zambrano’s contract, the Cubs believe he’ll ultimately be worth more than Perez & Castillo. And they’re probably correct.