Is The Best Off-Season Pick-Up Playing In Queens?

(Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

It's been a pretty rough season for Mets fans so far in 2009.

Whether it's Oliver Perez not living up to his new huge contract, the seemingly endless trips to the disabled list, or just the overall inconsistent play on the field, 2009 has yet to live up to the expectations of most Mets fans.

Come to think of it, the Mets haven't lived up to expectations since Johan Santana's three-hit shutout of the Florida Marlins on the next-to-last game of the season.

We all know the story. Johan's brilliance was followed by an absolute stinker, resulting in a second straight loss on the last day of the season, a second straight September collapse, and a second straight season with no October baseball.

Then there was the offseason.

After pleasing the Queens faithfull by going out and revamping the bullpen, adding Francisco Rodriguez, JJ Putz and Shawn Green, Omar Minaya and Fred Wilpon waited for the perfect deal.

They waited, and waited, and waited some more. Only this offseason, there would be no Johan Santana-type deal falling into their laps.

The front office's patience brought the ire of Mets fans.

As the Grapefruit League season progressed, New York sports radio was flooded with calls wondering and suggesting what the Mets moves should be. There were your supporters for Manny Ramirez to be rooming the outfield at the new Citifield. Then there were the people who wanted Orlando Hudson to replace Luis Castillo at second base. There were calls for Adam Dunn, Pudge Rodriguez, Raul Ibanez, Pat Burrell and AJ Burnett.

Basically, if a player was available, there was a Mets fan out there who wanted him.

Mets fans would sit back and watch all those players sign with other teams, while Mets brass continued to try to sell us things like the Daniel Murphy/Fernando Tatis platoon.

So it seemed the Mets would do nothing else to improve their team, that is until about a week before the start of the regular season.

That's when the Mets signed Gary Sheffield to the veteran's minimum salary.

That's right, Gary Sheffield...40-year-old Gary Sheffield. The same Gary Sheffield who once admitted to purposely making errors in the field so the Brewers would trade him. The same Gary Sheffield that would accuse Joe Torre of being a racist. The same Gary Sheffield that had worn out his welcome in almost every city he had played in.

Oh yeah, and it's the same Gary Sheffield who the Detroit Tigers had just released, eating approximately $14 million because they were convinced he was a washed up player who, at best, was a DH.

Sure it was no Manny Ramirez, but for $400,000 it was worth the risk. At the very least, the Mets envisioned Sheffield as a bat with pop off the bench, and another veteran leader in the clubhouse.

Nobody, not even Sheffield himself, would have imagined that, as of mid-June, he would not only prove to be the Mets most important player, but maybe the best pick up of the off season.

Sure Sheffield is not anchoring a pitching staff like CC Sabathia, having a career year for team trying to repeat as world champions like Raul Ibanez, or finishing his stellar career with his original team like Ken Griffey, Jr., but he's been just what the Mets have needed.

Think about it for a second and it makes sense. Where would the Mets be without him ?

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