SaberMets.com

Is Mets management out of its FRACKING mind???!!! We came this far on Carlos Delgado and have backed out because he said he wanted more time to make a decision???!!! Does Mets management think if he didn't agree to sign that all of a sudden there's be a mad rush by clubs for the other available first basemen (or should I say EXCUSES for other first basemen available)?? Is that INSANE, or what??? Is any other FRACKING club beating down the doors of Travis FRACKING Lee???!! Is anyone else out there also horrified by this guy's career stats? And now, we're trying to bring back John Olerud??? Or trade for Doug Mientkiewicz??? And are we really now going after Magglio Ordonez, who has had NOT ONE, BUT TWO FRACKING knee surgeries??? All because management wanted a decision made by tonight? What's the FRACKING HURRY???!! Isn't a talent of Delgado's stature worth waiting a couple days more for?
I am SO FRACKING PISSED about this. He could've been the last vital piece in the lineup we needed.
I could accept it if we tried our best and were beaten by a better offer - but we lost him - TO A DIVISION RIVAL, NO LESS!!!! - because we weren't willing to give him more time?
THAT BLOWS.

Why not just spend the money on relief pitching and platoon Valent/Phillips at 1B? Valent hits lefties well, and Phillips can't possibly be as bad as he was last year. If Delgado can't post a .900+ ops for at least 3/4 years of the contract(and at his age there's no guarantee he will) he'll be a bust at that price..

I'm only lukewarm on Delgado.

-- He is outside the 28-32 prime hitting years, so he can expect to decline.

-- He has batted under .280 4 of the past 6 years, .269 last year.

-- Below average glove at first -- most teams wanted him as a DH.

-- the history of low average, defense-challenged power hitters that come to Shea is extremely poor.

If you can expect a decline from .269 based on age, and a decline from the 32 HRs based on Shea....what are we realistically expecting in 2005? .255 and 25 HRs? And for HOW much?

Wouldn't break my heart if we don't get him.

For starters, there isn't $12 million worth of relief pitching available. Besides, I don't think the Mets bullpen is as badly off as many other think it is.

If the Mets fail to get Delgado, they will have a very difficult time contending for the wild card in 2005. That doesn't mean they can't or won't contend in 2006 and beyond, but this team simply hasn't improved by the 20 games or so that would be necessary to turn last year's team into a playoff team.

There's really nobody else available that could replace Delgado's production at a cost of only money (i.e not prospects). The Mets will certainly be an exciting and much improved team without Delgado, but they'd probably be about as good as Philly or Florida. Unless of course Florida gets Delgado, in which case they're probably the wild card favorites in the NL.

I wrote an article a few weeks ago about Delgado:

http://sabermets.weblogs.us/archives/022385.html

That's one reason I'm not worried about him.

Does it seem to anyone else like Delgado's agent David Sloane is a little over his head with these high-profile negotiations?

http://www.nypost.com/sports/mets/38777.htm

The Sunday night episode where Sloane pre-emptively removed the Mets from the negotiations, followed by Minaya's discomprehension and this week's Mets re-entry, make for one of the weirdest free-agent negotiations in my memory. I'd assume any minimally competent agent would do his best to keep all the teams in the bidding till the end, even if he was *sure* his client didn't want to play for one of them. And it seems as though Delgado is genuinely interested in the Mets. So what was his agent doing throwing that Sunday-night hissy-fit?

Sloane is playing a strange game, if it works he looks good.

If the Mets walk away and the market collapses and Delgado gets 3/36, Sloane will look stoopid.

Let Delgado go off the Miami. If he and his agent want to play games with Minaya and the Mets I feel they should just say screw it. How about trading Heilman, Lastings Milledge and Victor Diaz for Todd Helton. I know he has a huge contract, he is unproven hitting at sea level, but on the upside he plays gold glove defense and the mets need that left-handed bat between Beltran and Piazza. He's three years younger than Delgado and definately worth the risk. It's giving up a lot, but the Mets really need a big bat. Plus Piazza has hinted that 2005 will be his last and Myself and every Mets fan would like to see him win a ring with the Mets. We're taking back New York! METS IN '05

The problem is this: there are no bats available anymore that are big enough to put up the runs that would turn the 2005 Mets into a playoff contender. Delgado was the team's last best hope -- this year, at least -- of adding offense at a corner spot, where the team has been laughably weak for the last five years or so (remember Derek Bell and Benny Agbayani as starting RF/LF?). The current roster has the corners filled by 3B Wright (obviously a major talent but not yet ready to carry the team), 1B Mientkiewicz (assuming he rebounds, a replacement-level hitter), LF Floyd (man of glass, and starting to look old), and RF Cameron (mega-plus glove, sub-replacement-level hitter). Assuming they move Floyd and/or Cameron, the picture gets even uglier: Valent and/or Diaz as everyday corner outfielders, rather than bench guys, or Maggs limping after fly balls. That's a weak grab-bag of seventh- and eighth-spot hitters in the positions that should provide the meat of a good lineup. Where do they find the offense to make up this gap? In the 2006 free-agent market, is my guess. Get ready for an 85-win season: great compared to what we've been used to recently, but no chance at contention. And hope the team is far enough back at the All-Star break that we don't see another delusion-of-grandeur-driven, win-it-now Kazmir trade.