I doubt we could have traded him for Manny straight up like the rumors had alleged but if we had traded him before that season we would have gotten a better deal. Obviously with the way Church is playing now it’s hard to see how the deal could have been better but I’m talking about at the time the deal happened.

Theo and Cashman have given up draft picks by signing FAs as well.. But you know how they got them back? By offering arbitration to their own players who left for free agency. So Omar has to reconsider his practice of acquiring AARP players not only because they’re often hurt and unproductive, but also because they are unlikely to bring back draft picks when they leave the team. Either they retire or don’t rate highly enough.

i think the mets as well as most of baseball is thinking young.

When they gave Castillo four years, picked up Alou’s option year, and signed El Duque for two years, that is not thinking young.

But I agree. The trend for most of baseball is to get young and a big reason for that is without steroids and greenies anymore, older players just can’t keep up. So the Mets need to get with it and stop going the AARP way.

Also, Valentin made a surprisingly candid remark about Franco after he left — saying something like his leadership role was overblown.

The team was much better when Franco was there because Delgado and Reyes were hitting much better then. And Franco was not the reason they were hitting better then.

Regardless, I believe they need to do something with him. A trade may be the best route if they don’t have options left.

He has no incentive anymore to succeed as a reliever. He hates the role. And all the home crowd does is boo him. It would be best for both him and the clue to make a change.