Author: Paul Zinn
This is the time of year when baseball fans start turning their attention toward spring training. Football season is winding down. November, December and January (the three months with absolutely no actual baseball) are also winding down. You are supposed to be focused on the enthusiasm of Opening Day.
But for me, the enthusiasm of Opening Day and the 2010 edition of the New York Mets, is really starting to wane. This has been an awful offseason.
Since the conclusion of last year, I have been a big proponent of making big moves this winter. However, if the Mets would prefer to stay the course, get healthy, play out this year, and focus on big moves next offseason with a better free agent market, I am okay with that. I don't necessarily agree with it, but I understand it.
What I don't understand is the Mets current operating procedure. It seems to make no sense.
Manager Jerry Manual has talked frequently about the need for this team to get off to a quick start, clearly insinuating that he will lose his job if that doesn't happen. I have to believe the same is true of Omar Minaya.
What I also have to believe is that Minaya and Manual can't be at all excited about putting their jobs in the hands of a rotation that includes Mike Pelfrey, Oliver Perez and John Maine, in addition to a yet-to-be-named fifth starter.
I think this rotation will leave them jobless, and I have to believe Minaya and Manual know there is a very realistic chance that is how it will play out as well.
From the end of the season, it's been clear the Mets needed to add pitching, as a top priority. Yet they have done nothing in that department, despite clearly having the ability to obtain a number of second tier pitchers if the team just spent a little more money. And they didn't seem to make a move at either of the available aces, Roy Halladay and John Lackey, either.
So where exactly is the breakdown here? Why would Minaya and Manual put a team on the field that could certainly lead to them losing their job?
Did they spend money incorrectly? Did their budget change midseason? Did they not have any budget?
Well the answer to the last question is clearly no. They had $80 million to spend on Jason Bay, a move I was a big proponent of, but not if it was to come at the expense of adding pitching.
If this was the extent of the budget, it should have spent on the clear top priority - starting pitching. That's what the team needed most. And Minaya and Manual would probably have the same line of thinking, if for no other reason than they need a stronger starting rotation to get off to a strong start for job security more than they need Bay.
Cather Bengie Molina is another example. If the budget was small, it should have been used to fill the pitching need, the catching need and the leftfield need, all at a lesser level. In other words, it only made sense to get Bay if there were more moves to come. Despite having Bay, the Mets have gaping holes in the pitching and catching departments.
I guess the budget could have changed midway through the offseason, but if that is the case, I believe Minaya and Manual are being put in a position to fail before the season even starts. And why would either of them want to be in that type of situation?
Maybe the Wilpons are forcing Minaya's hand. But then again, Jeff Wilpon was on WFAN after the season ended, and said Minaya would be the one making the personnel decisions, that he would have the power to make moves and that the team would be built around pitching and defense. Starting pitching and catching clearly fall into this category.
Yet the Mets went out and got a leftfielder, which was also a priority, but not like starting pitching was. They then passed on every pitcher to date the market place offered, as well as the best catcher. Finally, they secured Gary Matthews Jr. in a trade that no one can make any sense of.
It is no wonder there have been reports this week from Ken Rosenthal and Buster Olney that the Mets need to change the way they operate.
There just doesn't seem to be a plan.
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