Interesting discussion on Mets Blog about signing Fuentes in an attempt to prevent K-Rod from reaching his vesting option.
It’s very interesting…but what happens to K-Rod when you bring in another closer type and start using that guy to finish games. Does K-Rod just smile and say gee whiz, I love the team, it’s great that we’re winning and I am happy to not make $17 million next year?
Even if you don’t bring in Fuentes, what is Colactus to do when the Mets are 10 back on September 1 and K-Rod has pitched in 45 games?
Fortunately, K-Rod is a level headed person with no signs of aggression, and the Mets clubhouse has been free of selfish pitchers.
I think the Mets are planning on having a huge fire sale by the trading deadline in 2011 and they are hoping Krod as well as others Beltran/Reyes are performing so they have some value. Krod going to a contender in July and having his contract renegotiated (lower salary/more years) is not out of the question and would be a good thing for the Mets. JUST DO NOT SAY WE ARE REBUILDING!!
The best-case scenario for the Mets might be if K-Rod isn’t ready to start the season on the active roster. If he misses the first month of the season and Collins only uses him in save situations, Rodriguez might not finish enough games for the option to vest.
Most players are pretty selfish. But it’s irrelevant to a well run and managed team. We didn’t have a well managed team, and it certainly didn’t seem well run, or at least, was too many cooks spoil the broth type situation.
If Sandy is controlling Terry to the point of dictating strategy, or Terry is letting things like financials affect his decision making strategy _in game_ then we’ve got bigger problems.
And if we have an overpaid top of the line closer in 2012? there are worse things to have.
If Rod gets traded, does the new team pick up the option or is it invalidated since he’d not have the 100 appearances in two years with the new team?
I don’t know if the Mets could pull off intentionally keeping Rodriguez from hitting the magic number, nor would I want them to, but if the plan is to sign Fuentes so he can take over when they part ways with Rodriguez, I could live with that. $6-9.5 million can be spent on any number of things that would take some pressure off your bullpen anyway.