OK, so I promised I’d weigh in on this Bob Klapisch column, and here’s that.
This Bob Klapisch column is entirely based on faulty premises. Check ’em out:
considering how poorly Omar Minaya has done this winter… They need to address their bankrupt minor league system…. The Mets had one legitimate shot at improving themselves this winter and saw it vanish when John Lackey signed with the Red Sox…. Still, the Mets have to make peace with the idea that the Santana experiment has failed, just as the Carlos Beltran, Pedro Martinez and Billy Wagner gambles all turned to vapor…. Wright, in particular, could bring a bundle of prospects in return — and who knows, he might just welcome a trade since he’s playing in a new ballpark he obviously hates.
I could continue, but I’d basically be quoting the entire column, and that’s not good for Internet integrity.
I’m not going to reiterate why all of these tidbits presented as facts are nonsense. If you’ve read this space with any frequency, you know I don’t think Omar Minaya has blown anything yet this offseason, nor that John Lackey was the Mets’ “one legitimate shot” this winter, nor that the Mets’ Minor League system is bankrupt, nor that Carlos Beltran is an investment gone awry, nor that Wright “obviously hates” Citi Field.
And it’s hard to kill Klapisch for simply aggregating a ton of different sentiments coming from the mainstream media that explain why the Mets are doomed. He’s certainly not the first to suggest that Lackey was the team’s only answer, or that they have no prospects to speak of.
But the idea of trading Santana now — and I don’t think even Klapisch is suggesting it as a reasonable option — is baffling. Trading Santana now and handing off his huge contract to some willing taker would amount to little more than a salary dump with the ace coming off elbow surgery. Plus, Santana has a full no-trade clause, so it’s not even necessarily an option.
What I will say is that Klapisch should earn a small margin of credit for suggesting the Mets rebuild, since it’s at least out-of-the-box thinking. But a three-year plan?
C’mon. I really don’t understand the thinking that the Mets’ window to win with Santana, Reyes, Wright and Beltran is closing quick. All four of those players are elite talents under the Mets’ control through 2011. If all four are healthy — no safe bet, for sure — the only thing holding the Mets back from competing every single season is a halfway decent supporting cast.
That’s the problem here, right? The issue with the Mets’ front office has never been its ability to acquire or develop All-Stars, it’s the inability to identify decent, cost-efficient talent with which to complement them.
That should be the goal. Teams with the Mets’ finances should never have to blow it all up and start from scratch.
Especially — especially! — not when trading any of their All-Stars would amount to a sell-low deal.
The Mets’ lineup and pitching staff has question marks absolutely everywhere going into 2010, so I would never advocate trading youth or making foolish commitments to older players to try to patch things together for a one-season run. Never.
But there’s a big difference between a question mark and a goose egg, and for all the cases against players on the Mets’ roster, there is an equally strong counter-argument.
So the mission statement for this offseason should remain the same as it was before Lackey signed that big contract with the Sox: First, do no harm.
By July, the Mets will have a much better sense of what to expect from every player on their team moving forward. And many of their best prospects will be in the midst of their first full seasons in the high minors.
Only then will they really know how hopeless their franchise is, and how bereft of young talent. And if then the outlook is still as bleak as Klapisch suggests it is, then sure, blow up what you can, retool, look forward.
But until then, the only thing the Mets and their fans absolutely need to do is be patient. That’s not the type of suggestion that attracts web traffic or sells newspapers, but it’s the one that will ultimately be best for the club.
Tedquarters 
I have a hard time understanding how Omar Minaya or anyone else has “done poorly this winter” when today is the first day of winter.
That’s an outstanding point.
Meh. Everything between the World Series and Spring Training is baseball’s “winter.” They did just have the Winter Meetings, after all. Hell, most of Spring Training takes place before it is actually spring.
Technically incorrect? Yes. But it’s just a term of art. I can’t see getting on Klapisch’s case for it.
Yeah, but what could he have done? (Omar that is)
How has Omar done poorly? Not yet at least. Thats for sure.
Bay and Holliday are still available. Can’t judge him on that yet.
We were not getting Halladay. Can’t fault him there.
Lackey needed to be overpaid for us to have a chance of getting him over the Sox. I’m very glad we didn’t. It’s certainly not Omar’s fault for not overpaying Lackey.
We haven’t given a bad contract to molina yet. Can’t fault him there, yet.
Granderson was not coming to the Mets.
Jackson was not coming to the Mets. (not for what it would cost) Again, can’t fault Omar there.
We did not acquire Milton Bradley. When we very well may have been able to. That’s ok.
Sooo…what exactly could Omar have done first off? Since that answer is none of the above, its way too premature to say his winter is going poorly. It’s just slow, painfully slow.
If only they could publish your article in every NY-metropolitan newspaper or read it aloud on WFAN.
My worry with Klapisch’s article and to other print reporters and even a few on-air radio personalities, is that fans are very gullable. People might actually read his article and think its true. It then, in turn, makes our fans unnecessarily bitter and angry. This stuff makes us look bad. It makes our team look bad. It’s lazy journalism that has more power than we’d like to think. I don’t need to worry about any intelligent reasonable fans or even our own Front Office (they’re not THAT stupid), because they will read this story and laugh at its idiocy and sensationalist nature. But its those other fans…those fans that could make up the majority of our fanbase that might actually believe and quote this article as truth.
Whats most frustrating of all is the fact that even if we did want to make a splash, the options out there are so meager as to not make much of a difference. The team is not going to the playoffs next year, face it the rotation sucks even if we got Bay and Molina on offense. Maybe we’ll get lucky with the 2010 FA class, but we’re competing with EVERY other team out there for a limited number of players. Worst of all, it seems that no one really wants to play for the team. All in all, its a depressing time to be a “-ets” fan.