Mets Expected To Low-Ball K-Rod, Lowe and Fuentes

According to David Lennon of Newsday, the Mets are expected to officially send out offers to several free agents that they have targeted.

Chief among those free agents are closers Brian Fuentes and Frankie Rodriguez, and starting pitcher Derek Lowe.

Although, Lennon doesn’t mention Sabathia, I have to believe that the Mets will at least send a take it or leave it type offer to the top starting pitcher in the draft too. I know it probably wouldn’t lead to anything but it wouldn’t hurt to try.

The article also does not mention Oliver Perez, who I think should get some kind of an offer as well.

Surprisingly so, Omar Minaya stated last week to reporters and to Mike Francesa in an interview, that he was not targeting any offensive players.

That certainly seems to be the case as even the rumors that have been leaked in the past seven days have all been focused on pitching.

The one thing in the article that caught my attention was the following:

The Mets’ plan will be much different from what the Yankees did Friday in making an offer to CC Sabathia that is said to be for six years and about $140 million. Expect Minaya to start small and work his way up the ladder in a negotiating process that should extend into the winter meetings, which begin Dec. 8 in Las Vegas.

Considering how many holes the Mets have to fill, I’m surprised that the Mets intend to low-ball the players they are targeting. Hopefully, they don’t insult and piss off any of them along the way… something the Mets were notorious for doing during the Steve Phillip’s era.