No other team in Major League Baseball has suffered more disappointment over the past three seasons than the New York Mets. Just think back to how those years have ended and it’s easy to understand the urgency facing this organization as they head into the off-season.
In 2006 they were one hit away from the World Series before ultimately falling to St. Louis in game seven of the NLCS. That was followed by the greatest collapse in the history of baseball, as they blew a seven-and-a-half game lead, with 17 to play at the end of the 2007 season.
This past September was a repeat of last year. This time it saw them build a three-and-a-half game lead after five-and-a-half months of baseball—before collapsing again.
Both years they were officially eliminated from playoff contention on the season’s final day.
What’s at stake as they move forward is bigger than simple wins and losses—it’s this group’s legacy. How will they be remembered? As chokers and underachievers who failed to get over the hump? Or will they finally prove their naysayers wrong and realize their World Series expectations?
To say that the New York Mets stand at a crossroads would be an understatement. They sit directly on the brink of being considered a success or a failure.
Staring down the barrel of the most important off-season in club history, Omar Minaya, fresh off a four-year contract extension, with the full support of ownership, has been given opportunity to finish the job he started.
With so much on the line, Met fans can only hope that the off season wish list sitting on Minaya’s desk looks something like this:
Sign K-Rod – With Billy Wagner’s Tommy John surgery expected to keep him out until at least August, the first priority for New York is to find a new closer. Lucky enough for them, the best one in the business just happens to be a free agent.
Francisco Rodriguez seems like the perfect fit, assuming K-Rod is OK with leaving southern California for the pressure cooker of New York. An offer in the range of five to six years and $75-$100 million will probably be necessary, but at 26-years-old this kid is worth every penny and Omar Minaya knows it.
If Rodriguez is gun shy about coming to New York, or if the Mets view his demands as too lucrative of an option, then they will immediately turn to Brian Fuentes. With three 30-save seasons on his resume, Fuentes enters free agency off a career-best 2.73 ERA season.
As is normally the case, money will be the biggest deciding factor on who will ultimately jog out of Citi Field’s new bullpen door, with the Mets ahead in the ninth, in 2009 and beyond.
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