Buzz: Mets to Focus on Second-Tier Free Agents
Bill Madden of the Daily News says the Mets will likely be focusing on second-tier free agents this winter.
According to Madden, the Mets were “right in the middle” of teams that made money this past season, but due to reduced revenue projections for 2010 and raises due for their returning players, they will have about $20 million to spend.
…if they have $20 million to spend it makes no sense for Omar to be speaking with the agents for John Lackey and Matt Holliday among others, which is why i believe that no matter what, the Mets recognize the need for a major improvement and will do what it takes to put a competitive team back on the field…
…keeping this in mind, one of the Mets biggest problems right now is that they have spent, but their money is in a lot of bad places at the moment…there have clearly been wiser and less costly investments in terms of dollars and years to make at certain positions over the past few years and that was evident even when these investments were made…
…it looks as though the Mets have been attempting to fix this by shopping Luis Castillo‘s bad contract and replace him with a better and less costly player, such as Orlando Hudson, which is a great example of how the team is trying to improve in a more economically sound fashion…it’s easier said than done, but the team can be better performance-wise while at the same time having greater flexibility in terms of years and dollars at the position, and i dont feel there is anything wrong with that approach…
Considering this, Madden feels the Mets should be focusing on players like Randy Wolf, Mark DeRosa, Marlon Byrd, and Jason Marquis.
…the only one from that list i wouldn’t consider is Byrd, and i am not totally sold on DeRosa for that matter…i think that an objective approach to filling a roster is to basically ask ‘can this player start on any major league team’ and if the answer is yes, the player can be considered…looking at their current roster it’s hard to say that about a few of their players which is why upgrades are necessary, but i don’t feel there is any point in acquiring a player if he can’t start on any team, because that puts them right back where they started…
…there is no way to know who the Mets will sign and who they won’t sign, but what they spend should not be the focus, rather the quality of the player or players should be considered…i know that quality players usually require a team to spend, but i’d rather the Mets acquire five or six solid players with their money rather than making a big splash and sending all of their prospects away and over-spending…
For more on this, check out Madden’s report here.
