Now I do see the logic in this approach. Since we are fearing that we wont get a ace, and seeing how much teams are asking for their young, marginally successful major league pitchers, why not turn the tables and gather prospects so that next time a Santana comes on the market we have the chips to acquire him.

The problems with this logic are as follows: First of all, do you actually want the Mets to be bad next year!? Can the Mets ever be a decent team for more than 2 consecutive years!? We all thought this team would come right back in 2007 after the 2006 heartbreak and be contending for the next 5 years. Now, simply because it seems like we MIGHT not get an ace starter (which we dont know yet) we are going to throw in the towel? This is not Kansas City or Tampa Bay! This is a team that has its own cable network, drew 3.8 mil fans and is opening a new stadium! Please. Would the Yankees rebuild? Then we shouldnt either. Additionally, who knows when the next Santana will come on the market. It may be 5-10 years from now.

My theory is to always trade prospects for stars because although we focus on the few prospects we let go that turned out to be good, we tend to forget the significantly more who dont even make the majors. I for one am not willing to give up on 2008.

However, it wouldn’t be the “end of the world” if we had to settle for Colon and Jennings (prefer them over Hernandez & Silva). I could even live with Silva in a worst case scenario, if it meant that we could acquire Santana via free agency in the ’08′/’09 off-season.

It sounds like the Red Sox & Yanks won’t pony up Ellsbury & Bucholz or Cano & Hughes, respectively. If the Twins keep taking a hard line with the Sox & Yanks, as they should, then that means NO TEAM will be able to afford Santana in a trade this off-season… which in turn betters our chances to acquire Santana after next season. And that’s something most of us fans are hoping for.

If all it will cost us is our 1st round draft pick and sick money to outbid the Yanks and Sox for Santana, I’d say that’s better than trading our entire farm away. Thus, signing a “stopgap” like Hernandez, Colon or Silva I could live with in the big picture of things, if that would mean we can sign a better player down the road (like Santana, Peavy, Teixeira, etc) without emptying the cupboard bare of all our prospect chips.

Sometimes when you are not dealt a very good hand (a combination of a seller’s market and crappy free agent pool), its best to not play that game. Just hang on to your most valuable trade commodities.

Don’t sign any of these free agent pitchers for 4 years, or a reliever for more than 2 years (or 1 year and an option).

Don’t force trades for marginal talent upgrades that weaken us later at other positions down the road.

It’s better to just withdraw from all this trade hyperbole going on this off-season and seeing what our youngtsers can do for us to build their value back up (assuming it was down to begin with). It wouldn’t hurt for Gomez & Martinez to mature some more, and for Pelfrey & Humber & Mulvey to take the next steps in their development so that they will have increased value to the Mets or to some other team in trade. If that’s accomplished, THEN we should hit the free agent market HARD next off-season instead of this year.

And we know Marlins will deal to us. They’re our AAA+1. Except of course they like to knock us out of the playoffs too.

Besides, they still have the talent to win in 2008, and could really be kicking butt in 2009+

Also key that they keep the bulk of the top young guys (pelfrey, Milledge, F Mart).

But, if your top 3 are all solid for 15 (Pedro, Maine, Perez), and possibly more of course, and your 4/5 group can put up 12 each, where are you?

Well, that is 69 wins, and assumes that you pitch the same 5 all year. If you get a 1/2 year, assume the guys that share the spot combine for the 12.

So that leaves about 21 wins from the pen to get to 90. That is probably about normal for the pen, right? I of course have no idea what they got last year!

This is why the mets fell short last year. Not the #1 starter, but the #5.

Terrific idea in my opinion if we are really looking to 2009 instead of 2008.

Maine for at least one stud pitching prospect and one stud first base prospect plus filler. Sign Silva and Colon.

Mets rotation is ….
Pedro, Duque, Silva, Perez, Colon with Pelfrey and Humber and Mulvey in waiting plus a new stud ptiching prospect in AAA or AA gaining experience. Plus we get an in house option next year to go to bat with at 1b and save $16M by releasing Delgado

hahaha

Blanton and Haren are the second coming of Maddux and Glavine (think 15 years ago, not that 1/3IP debacle)?