And it has nothing to do with the weather.With Jose Reyes being sent back to New York for tests on his knee (tendinitis is the new concussion), there's a real chance that Reyes will be out for significantly more time than two days. To me, that means there's more pressure on Omar Minaya to upgrade this roster ... at least that's what I was thinking before the Braves traded for Nate McLouth.
(Oh, and great job not trading him a day earlier. Outstanding as always.)
Let us assume for a second that Reyes is out for a while ... purely hypothetical. With the Mets already behind the eight ball in terms of a thin roster (something they could have addressed a little better in the offseason), what will probably happen is that they'll go with the roster they have until, say, July 1. If they tank in June, Omar will probably be forced into a panic move. If they play well without Reyes, Omar will think there's no reason to make a move.
In reality, it should work the other way around. If there's something that I can pinpoint as a flaw in this organization (like there's just one), is that dealing from strength is something this braintrust has a problem with. Minaya is a culprit, but this team constantly waits until players hit rock bottom in their trade value, or until this team is forced to make a move (Castro) to do something rather than trade from strength. If this team has to be without Reyes for another month and they tank, you don't think Billy Beane will smell blood if Omar comes calling asking about Matt Holliday?
At this point, outfield is the one place that you could legitimately upgrade the offense. And you have to upgrade the offense ... you can't let Johan Santana continue to get one run of support per start. I don't think it's worth it to upgrade at shortstop (is Bobby Crosby really that significant an upgrade over Alex Cora and Wilson Valdez), and putting Daniel Murphy on the bench after you've finally found a position he's comfy at would just be cruel. So outfield it has to be ... whether it be Holliday, Aubrey Huff, or Adam Dunn.
(Don't think Adam Dunn isn't going to be available. Why keep the salary they have for this year and even next year if they're going to sink millions of dollars into Steven Strasburg?)
As I said in graph two, this was all in my head before the McLouth trade even went down. Now that the Braves have made their move, Omar and the Mets have to be next for a roster upgrade. And no, Matt Watson doesn't count as a roster upgrade. Nor would Sammy Sosa. And in case you were wondering, neither does re-signing Tom Glavine.
6 comments:
What a disaster.
The Braves effectively gave up nothing for a former All Star who's going to patrol CF for years to come in Atlanta.
Now Omar is going to HAVE to pull the trigger on a deal for Holliday, or worse, Jermaine Dye.
Whatever happens, you have to wonder how Omar does NOT make a move up to this point given the Mets injuries, weaknesses, etc. They've managed to somehow stay near the top despite their problems but it has been clear that disaster is around the corner for a while now. I wonder if the Madoff thing is impacting their decisions to not spend money at all. I also wonder if the inaction is more the fault of Minaya or the Wilpons.
Good post, but with Ibanez and O. Hudson BEGGING us to sign them while Minaya fiddled and eventually dissed them, I've pretty much written this season off.
Dunn's not coming here---I sat in Section 107 last week and the idiots in the Pepsi Porch called him every obscenity in the book from innings 1 through 9---we're becoming as charming as Phillies fans.
Things will have to get a lot worse before they get better, and we'll contend in half a decade once the Wilpon Dodgers, ConMan Minaya, and Passive/Aggressive Manuel are gone. In the meantime, the Corporate Seaters can enjoy their wave at Debits Field.
Schneck, I wonder the same thing. And there wouldn't be so much urgency of some moves would have been made in the offseason to help the Mets rather than to help Buffalo (not that any moves have helped Buffalo lately).
KJS, I'm convinced that had Ibanez had come here, he'd have zero home runs, would have been playing worse defense than Daniel Murphy in left, and there would have been a bleach incident in the clubhouse involving him. That seems to be the way that goes. (Well, maybe just the home runs.)
And why wouldn't Dunn come here if the Mets traded for him? What could he do, refuse the trade because the fans said mean things to him? He has no say. The only thing he can do is request a trade at the end of the year since he would be traded in the first year of a multi year deal. But I think he'll forgive whatever a few drunken idiots said in exchange for entering a pennant race.
You think Glavine was "devastated" by his release?
No no, just disappointed.
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