The John Delcos New York Mets Report Featuring Mets' commentary, analysis and news.

Maybe this will be the summer in which the Mets fire Omar Minaya. It also might be the summer in which they get it all together.

Care to guess which one has a greater chance of happening?

MINAYA: Just how much power does he have?

It’s known throughout the industry that the Mets just don’t do it the way the model clubs do – and that includes the Yankees and Phillies. There is no definable budget, or at least one that can be easily recognized. And, there was no real setting of priorities.

How else can you explain the setting the goal as pitching at the end of the season, and yet having your key offseason move be a hitter who really had nowhere else to go?

It was reported Joel Pineiro and Jason Marquis set the Mets as their priorities, but the Mets did not respond. No, neither is John Lackey, but either would have made the Mets’ rotation better and deeper than it is today.

The Met were more content to look at last season as an injury-plagued fluke, and ignored such factors as not improving their pitching depth in the 2008 offseason or building their long-criticized farm system as to provide replacements when a starter went down.

OK, the Mets have Bay, but with no other real bidders they coughed up a fifth-year option. … They got into a spitting match with Carlos Beltran, their best player, over surgery, which should have been avoided with surgery in November. … There were no decisive changes in their coaching staff. … And, their pitching remains the same.

Randy Wolf, Pineiro and Ben Sheets all went elsewhere for salaries that didn’t break anybody’s bank. The Mets by the way, had an ERA of just under five a game.

Minaya has made his share of mistakes, beginning with the Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez contracts, but truth be told, ownership signs off on those type of deals. They weren’t done without Wilpon’s blessing.

So, a miserable start – and with that pitching, who doubts that could happen? – could mean the sacking of Minaya. But, that won’t change anything because they are the same old Mets.

Posted under Commentary/2010, Mets Commentary

The real trend-setter for starting pitcher’s contracts isn’t John Lackey but Randy Wolf, he of the 101-85 career record in 11 years (basically 10-9 a season), who signed a three-year contract with Milwaukee for $29.75 million.

Ben Sheets, despite his injury history, wants $12 million per season and Joel Pineiro wants a four-year deal with a higher annual average than Wolf. Aroldis Chapman, the Cuban defector who has never thrown a pitch in the major leagues, has a $15.5 million offer on the table from the Red Sox.

Also, lurking are Pedro Martinez, Erik Bedard, John Smoltz, Randy Johnson and Brett Myers. There are three Hall of Famers there, but that’s in the future and past tenses. Present tense, well, they aren’t much better than whom the Mets have now.

For the Mets to add pitching, their choices are to overpay for mediocrity, or in the case of Sheets, take a health gamble. The Mets are gambling their current rotation will progress, and if it doesn’t, then at least they have the economics on their side (save Oliver Perez).

Not encouraging, is it?

Posted under Commentary/2009, Mets Commentary

Mets general manager Omar Minaya faces a daunting task in rebuilding the Mets, and let’s face it, tweaking will not get it done.

MINAYA: Looks perplexed.

Signing a guy like Matt Holliday or John Lackey won’t get it done. Signing both won’t get it done, either.

For the Mets to become the team they have promised they will be, there’s tweaking in some areas, hoping in a few more, and throwing money at several others in what has been described as a less-than-stellar free-agent market.
Read More…

Posted under Uncategorized

PEREZ: Time to give ultimatum.

GM Omar Minaya puts the odds at 50/50 of the Mets re-signing Oliver Perez, this despite no other team linked to the erratic left-hander.

What we can expect from the Scott Boras client is to drag out the negotiations in the hope of driving up the price. Long and painful, just the way it is when the tge  The Mets displayed patience last year and Johan Santana came back to them. And, because the Mets controlled the closer market, they were able to get Francisco Rodriguez on their terms.

It won’t be that easy with Perez. If Minaya’s odds are accurate, the Mets need to go in another direction, and right now, needing a left-hander, that means Randy Wolf.

Wolf, the former Phillie, has nibbles from Baltimore, Atlanta, Los Angeles and San Francisco. At $3.7 million last year with a 12-12 record, somebody will snap him up.

If you’re think 12-12 is no great shakes, remember Perez, for all his stuff, is 55-60 lifetime.

The Mets should pursue Wolf hard and make sure Perez understands that situation. I’d give Perez my best offer now and tell him the clock is ticking with a deadline. After the deadline, the offer is off the table and could go down.

Should the Mets sign both? Why not? They have two spots to fill and Jon Niese is no guarantee.

Posted under New York Mets 2008-09

WOLF: Mets interested in lefty.

His name has been mentioned on this blog several times, now it appears the Mets have interest in signing lefthander Randy Wolf.

GM Omar Minaya placed the odds at 50-50 the Mets would re-sign Oliver Perez.

It’s a smart move on Minaya’s part to look elsewhere. The more he pins his pitching hopes on Perez, the longer agent Scott Boras will drag this out with the hope of driving up the price.

Posted under New York Mets 2008-09