Mets Play Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda

The major story this past off season for the New York Mets was inactivity. I mentioned in a previous article that, the Mets GM Omar Minaya added depth in preparation of the possibility of repeating last year's injury ward. That is true, however it is not the entire story.

This past week, two stories came out that were disheartening and equally frustrating to a Mets fan. As a Mets fan, the off season was spent clamoring about adding starting pitching behind Johan Santana for the rotation. It also was spent talking about the need to have a premier catcher. The team spent the few months of the off season heavily pursuing players to fit that criteria, or so we were told.

It has come to light that, a pitcher who wanted to come to New York, Jason Marquis was never given a serious offer from the franchise. They had at least five pitchers that were mentioned to the public as considering for the team. John Lackey and Jason Marquis were among them and both were offered contracts.

It was assumed by the fans that Marquis, at the very least, was a done deal. The fan base waited and waited for the breaking news story that the team added a new pitcher, but it never came. Marquis had requested from his agent that he be notified only of serious offers. That never came from the Mets. That is disturbing to a fan of the franchise.

In a similar story, earlier in the week, it was released that the team was never aggressive in negotiating with Benjie Molina. They refused to add a second year to the offer they had on the table to Molina. Molina would have signed for only two guaranteed years. They ended up getting a decent defensive replacement that may be okay at the plate as well, in Rod Barajas.

The point is a lack of foresight and aggressiveness cost them a tremendous addition to the team. For a second time in a span of only a few months, they missed out on a player that wanted to come to Queens. The Mets could of signed Marquis and Molina. How differently would we be looking at this past off season if they had done that.

Jason Bay, Jason Marquis and Benjie Molina as well as the other minor leaguers for depth, would have been a grand success. As a result, we have spent all off season complaining about their inactivity. The activity that they had, was good, but it certainly could have been better given some forward thinking by the organization.

This is troubling, but it isn't the end of the world for the team. As I stated, Barajas is an able replacement. Let us not forget, there are still pitchers out there in the market, namely Jarrod Washburn. Also, the trading deadline always brings desperation for contending and non-contending teams alike.

It would appear that the off season isn't quite over yet, so the team still has a small window to do the right thing and add a pitcher. Let's hope they learn from their previous activity or lack thereof.