With the first two considerable moves of the off-season now out of the way, the Mets are in full hot stove mode.
With Tom Glavine declining his player option and Willie Randolph officially being retained, the Mets must now go about the business of filling some major flaws and in the process, resurrect the confidence of the fans which has been largely shattered.
When you consider the dearth of talent in this year’s free agent market, you can see how daunting a task this will be for general manager Omar Minaya.
To begin, the Mets have to consider whether Ruben Gotay is the full-time answer for them at second base, or try and re-sign the top free agent at the position, Luis Castillo (32). Among other free agent second baseman you have Mark Loretta (37), Tadahito Iguchi (33), Kaz Matsui (32), and former Mets Damion Easley and Jose Valentin. You can now see why the Mets have no other clear choice than to re-sign Castillo. The Mets could always trade for a second baseman, but in doing so it may cost them the bargaining chips they will certainly need to land a starting pitcher to replace Tom Glavine.
The Mets are faced with the same dilemma behind the plate at the catching position. Not only might they have to re-sign the outspoken Paul Lo Duca (36), but his backup Ramon Castro (32) has proven to be a valuable backup as well. The only alternatives at free agent are Brad Ausmus (39), Michael Barrett (31), Jason Kendall (34), and Jose Molina (33). Ivan Rodriguez and Jorge Posada have been both mentioned as possible free agents, but there is a slim chance that both won’t be retained by their teams. The closest Met prospect is still years away from joining the major leagues.
The Mets don’t have much in the way of bargaining chips. Younger pitchers like Philip Humber and Mike Pelfrey have actually seen their own trade value take a hit. Neither of them busted out of the gate with solid performances, and rather than future aces, they looked more like middle or back-end rotation guys according to one National League scout.
Both Lastings Milledge and Carlos Gomez have shown flashes of their potential, but their attitudes and lack of baseball instincts, make them seem too raw and risky.
I’ll take a look at some of the other areas of concern, namely the outfield, the bullpen, and of course the rotation in the next couple of days. As you can see the Mets have a lot of work to do, and replacing Glavine is just one of a myriad of concerns.
But here at Mets Merized we fully stand by the slogan, "In Omar We Trust… Most Of The Time."
