If you prefer Keppinger over Gotay long term we probably should terminate this conversation.

However you view his acquiring Maine and Perez, he got them. He specifically targeted both and got them. Don’t qualify his successes and rail against his failures. I’m not making excuses for his poor offseason last year… he stunk it up.

But Willie could have done a better job as a manager, namely resting guys like Reyes, Beltran, and LoDuca more. Those guys wore down the stretch. Not to mention he could have gotten after these guys a bit more… he admitted this himself in an interview recently.

And what jackpot did Easley hit? I think he got a one year deal for less than a mil. He’s the perfect bench player. Former starter, one time all star, who can play multiple infield positions with some pop off the bench. Vets tend to be better bench options than rookies anyway.

Please don’t tell me you would rather have Nady than Perez. Because that’s just silly. Nady is a nice player, but he really should be a platoon guy and Perez pitched well for us last year.

As for El Duque, whatever. Who knows if we make it that far without him. The rotation was in shambles in ’06.

The reason why you have one title in 35 years is because of crappy management. The exact philosophy you are promoting is what has caused this franchise to become mired in mediocrity. Signing the Alomars, Vaughns, and Jenkins of the world is NOT the way to build a good baseball team. For the most part, when you sign a free agent you are signing up for his DECLINE years. When you develop talent you will have them while they are on the rise and in their prime. Then you let them walk when they become a free agent if they’re value is inflated, and you plug in the next kid in the pipeline. This is what the Mets need to build.

Signing free agents is not the way to build a ball club.

I need to go back to “let’s win one and go from there.” I seriously laughed when I read that. You just don’t get it… that’s not the way things tend to work and not the way to run a successful franchise.

AND I’ll submit to you that while I was glad to get Benson out of here(Anna not so much) Omar had
no choice! And Duque’s injuryhistory likely cost us
a ring last year and atleast a playoff berth this.
He assed into Maine ’cause he had visions of Jorge Julio as the 8th inning guy when that deal was made.
I’d take Keppinger over Gotay for the long run.
And he didn’t as much “land” Perez as was handed him.Remember, Hernandez was the key to that deal
which in turn caused us to live thru a yr of Green.

While everyone should assume some responsibility
for the collapse, Omar is the Boss!! he put the pieces together! What was Willie to do w/ a staff who couldn’t hold leads or go 5 and a bullpen which was shot in August. This again while Omar fiddled w/ non-sense
lile figuring which job Rickey would get even before
Down was fired and continuing to insist Franco
could still play.
There is no need to go into the ungodly ammount of $
Omar locked up w/ players who did little to nothing for this club.
35 seasons-35 seasons-I’ve seen 1 championship.
Please dont give me the junk “we gotta build to compete every year”. Lets start by winning one and
we’ll go from there.
Yes , you can trade a Martinez because a good organization, lead by a good GM is supposed to already have the next guy coming close behind him.
This, while in a big market you can sign the right FAs
to compete every year.

Not to mention that he is slowly building up the farm system. While we’re a bit weak at the top, from what I can gather on the net we have a lot of talent in the lower levels of the minor leagues and in our academies in the Caribbean.

Sure he’s swung and missed as well, but that’s baseball… failure is part of the game.

It’s funny to see you being critical of them signing Alou, Easley, and Castillo when above you stated that the front office should not waste our key players’ prime seasons by breaking in young players during this time.

Take a look at the free agent market, not a whole lot out there.

As for the collapse, there is plenty of blame to go around. Willie, Omar, and the players are all to blame. No one should be forced to shoulder it alone.

To play off your comment from above, the goal is not to win merely A title, but to compete for and win numerous titleS.

You know, it’s funny, everyone likes to claim that you can’t break in young players on a good team. You only need to point to the Red Sox to show that this is bunk.

My answer to you is a resounding YES. A team with that core can certainly handle one or two young players breaking into the big leagues. In fact, I think this is the best time to break in a young kid. Look at Pedroia. He had a rough go at first, but they were able to let him ride it out and he ended up being a valuable contributor to a championship team.

Again, I’d much rather deal with some growing pains than to sign a guy like Tori Hunter, who will not be worth his salary halfway through his contract.

So far this off-season hes done it again, w/Alou,Easley
BUT worst with Castillo—Spend,spend,spend on guys
whos health is questionable at best.
Thats my point.

I thought the object was to win a title. Also, what?
no other OFers coming through the system?

And you have to stop w/this you cant judge Omar
on this or that.–He gets judge on the totality of his
job –like us all–and in the end that Colon trade was a disaster!!–It would be like if Duquette had traded
Reyes and Wright in another Benson/ Zambrano
move. Think about what that state of this team would be.
Well with Omars helping hand–Thats what kind of condition The Nats are in Now,minus the money to spend. All the more reason why he should have been a little more careful.

On the flip side, the Mets are not going anywhere. You just listed a bunch of players who are on the downside, but they’re all coming off the books next year. You need players to come in and replace them. I’d much rather show some patience and develop our own talent than shelling out a bunch of money to a guy like Aaron Rowand who will fizzle out halfway through his deal. Teams hold onto their good players more and more these days. It is essential to long term success that you have a strong farm system.

No move the Mets make this offseason will guarantee a world title. No move. Therefore, I’d rather have some patience and build a model franchise that will compete year in and year out.

I think the Royals, Devil Rays, and others would do the same thing. After so many years of futility, when you get that chance to win, you HAVE to do everything you can to win. Case in point…Mets deadline deals for Kris Benson and Victor Zambrano. This was a team that was under .500 at the time and on the fringes of the wild card race. I think those were desperation deals more than anything else. I don’t think Duquette, in his heart of hearts really believes Kazmir for Zambrano was a great baseball move. I think he thought it was a good move at the time. That team could have traded for Benson and the fans would have been happy enough with the effort (although I never saw Benson as any higher than a #3 pitcher). So don’t bring up “going for it” in Montreal as a knock on Omar. He tried to win and it didn’t work out. How close has that team come since then?

Point is if Omar the Great is such a genius hows he
making that trade?

Not thinkin bout the future then BUT now with a team he
can spend like a Billionaire Virgin @ Scores, with a team
who has guys like Pedro, Duque, Wagner, Deldado,Alou
alone tied up for almost 60 Mil. AND on the down-side.
PLUS, Bel-tron in the middle of his prime, Suddenly–
everyone’s gonna worry about 3/4 years f/ now???

No me baby, its been 22 years and I want to see another
parade.