How soon until Mets start dealing ???

Bob Klapisch, of The Record, has a very interesting article called "How soon until Mets start dealing ???" (http://www.northjersey.com/sports/mets/Klapisch_How_soon_until_Mets_start_dealing.html)

Portions of the article are below, for the full article, go to The Record's web site.


With the trade deadline looming, Omar Minaya reaches a crossroads decision: Do the Mets become sellers? Would they be so bold as to deal Carlos Beltran? It would be an enormous philosophical change for a team so heavily invested in its 2008 outcome, but don’t think this doomsday scenario already hasn’t been discussed among senior officials.

(If the Mets winning percentage remains .500 or worse, they should become sellers. Look at the trend. Teams that have become younger, Tampa Bay, Florida, Oakland, Arizona, et. al. are competing faster than they expected. Too many Mets have become old, brittle, and unreliable.)

“We have to get younger,” is what one executive emphatically stated this week. The failure of the Mets’ business plan, which has called for heavy reliance on older, more expensive players, has forced the club to consider a complete overhaul in the absence of a rapid turnaround this month. While other major league executives find it hard to believe the Mets actually would concede the season in July, they nevertheless believe if the Mets are serious about adopting a forward-thinking plan – using the Red Sox’ as a model — their first move would be to move Beltran in exchange for at least two and maybe three young, major league-ready players.

(Amen ! I'm tired of the Mets constantly thinking they're in the playoff hunt, near the deadline, and being buyers, when they should be sellers. I would hate to lose Beltran. He's been playing hurt, trying to recover from surgery on both knees. His offense is struggling, but, he still plays Gold-Glove caliber defense, a very important contribution from a center fielder, the captain of the outfield. But, Beltran is marketable, and could help the Mets quickly acquire good young talent. It's also quite possible that Beltran's performance may have peaked.)

“That’s the way to go, because [Beltran] is a very good player and you could get something for him,” said the executive. There are obstacles, of course, the most daunting of which is Beltran’s full no-trade clause. It’s anyone’s guess whether he’d want to leave Shea, although it’s worth remembering the center fielder was ready to give the Yankees a sizeable discount before signing with the Mets as a free agent in 2005. If the Mets weren’t Beltran’s first choice, it’s not impossible to think he’d agree to a deal, particularly if he was being dropped into a pennant race.
The other issue is getting another team to take on the final 3½ years of Beltran’s seven-year, $119 million contract. But it’s not just the money, it’s trying to sell an outdated philosophy. Hardly anyone is willing to give up young players anymore.

(Beltran may have had it with the constant media pressure, the fans occasionally critiquing him, and the frustration of being the last out in 2006, and constantly being reminded of it, as well as the decline in the team's performance, since 2006. He may agree to be traded if it's "marketed" as the Mets wanting to move him, and Beltran agreeing for the good of the team.)

That is, except the Mets, who all but stripped their farm system in the deals for Johan Santana and Carlos Delgado. That’s left Minaya no choice this week but to acquire Trot Nixon, yet another 30-something retread, as a Band-Aid in right field. Meanwhile, everyone else, even the Yankees, are trying to emulate Theo Epstein’s formula in Boston.

(If the Mets were foolish enough to be in buy mode, realistically, what do they have that other teams would want ? If they went into sell mode, they do have major league players who can be moved.)

The Mets haven’t yet faced that pressure from any of the National League’s big-market teams, but that doesn’t mean the Wilpon family already isn’t seeing the light. The question is, is Minaya the right choice to rebuild the Mets in the post-Pedro, post-Wagner, post-Delgado era? Minaya has yet to fulfill his promise to make the Mets younger and more athletic. Instead, Minaya has used the Wilpon’s money to fill the roster with marquee names now in decline.

(If I am Fred or Jeff Wilpon, I call Minaya into a closed door meeting, and TELL HIM, we are going into sell mode. Call the other 29 general managers, and don't tip your hand, say that we are willing to listen to offers for anyone on our team, and that common sense will dictate that some players are more willing to be traded than others, but, we will listen, seriously, to all offers. This mind set does not broadcast which players the Mets would like to move, which would then lower those players' perceived market value.)

At 31, however, Beltran is the exception, the Mets’ most talented, all-around player still in his prime. Trading him would hurt, and likely result in a horrific fallout with the fans. But if the Mets don’t soon recover in the East, they’re going to need a radical approach to the rest of the decade. Firing Randolph would be only the beginning.

(This team can be saved, and competing in 2009 (hopeful), or more realistically, 2010 (when some of their AA prospects MIGHT be ready to help), if they go into sell mode this season, and move some of their major league talent for younger, athletic, minor leaguers who can immediately, or eventually (2009 or 2010) help at the major league level.)