The trendy Mets topic of the day is “the Mets core.”
This is where everyone rolls out the theory that Reyes/Wright/Beltran/Delgado are never going to win together.
Concurrently, all of Metsdom agrees that the Mets need pitching.
You have to give to get, right? You can’t say “we’ll give the Giants Omir Santos and ‘prospects’ for Lincecum” excpet on WFAN at 3 in the morning.
You want something, then you have to give something.
So let’s say we want to make a big move.
I think franchise-wise it’s best if Wright and Reyes have 15 year runs in Flushing. The team has never had a superstar go end to end. Even Seaver only played 11 years as a Met.
So that leaves Delgado and Beltran.
Delgado turns 37 this year, and if you trade for him he isn’t signed for 2010. You can just grab him in the offseason if you want him, and first base isn’t that hard a position to fill.
That leaves Carlos Beltran.
Carlos Beltran, a center fielder, 31 years old, and “only” making $18.5 million through and including 2011. One problem, a full no trade clause.
So, now we’re only left with horrible options. If you want to make the blockbuster, it’s Wright or Reyes. If it’s me, and I had to move one, I keep Wright.
The other choice is to sit on you hands and hope the pitching magically gets better.
Take a look at this list of 2010 free agents …under the assumption that a team is never going to let a stud go unless it’s a walk year. Is there someone on this list you’d move Jose Reyes for? Cliff Lee is your best bet.
These seasons can get away from you fast.
Do you want to trade Jose Reyes for Cliff Lee? If not, it might be a long year.
(Is this a stupid post and stupid idea? Yeah, it is. That’s why I walked you through it. The core ain’t going nowhere.)
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Francessa and fools like him have been saying mets should get rid fo “core” for past 2 years. I dont see how this will help team at all. Mabye folks at FAN want to mets to do like yankees and buy buy buy away their problems.
What the Mets need to do is the opposite. They need to COMMIT to the core, win or lose. Stop thinking of the Mets as a scaled down version of the Yanks. They are a scaled-up version of a smaller market team, and they only succeed through loyalty and player development.
Completely agree with the above two comments. Sometimes teams trade away their homegrown talent (developed or not) for a quick fix that works, and wins them a World Series, but usually they just end up worse off than before (was it worth it for the Brewers to trade for CC Sabathia? For the Mets to send off Scott Kazmir?).
If you have a team that really just needs one more piece to win, then it’s far safer and sounder to wait a year or two, and build those pieces up from the inside rather than getting a rental.
Not to mention the benefit for the fans, who should see young players like Wright, Reyes, Beltrán, Santana, in the organization for years. The Mets should have *Mets*, not just hired help. For all the teams the Yanks have bought (which still hasn’t gotten them a ring in 9 years), they still have Jeter, Posada, Mariano, and Pettite.