I am disheartened. This is the part where I talk about baseball. The great thing about the merry go-round of general managers the Mets have going is that the fans get to experience different breeds of idiocy. First there was the Steve Phillips win now-now-now, damn the future and by the way, I'll pay $10 million for a reliever, any old one will do, as long as he is really, really old. Then there was Jim Duquette, who gets called ineffectual by the people who are trying to DEFEND him. Now there is Omar Minaya, who frankly, just can't tell a good baseball player from an aardvark.
I have no gripe if Omar wants to trade Piazza or Floyd. They are old, and won't be part of the next great Mets team. But Reyes? For Soriano? Isn't it enough that the Mets pissed away one great young talent for a pile of magic beans? Were they so unmoved by the reaction to the Kazmir trade that they want to do the same thing again?
Objectively, I can see an argument for trading Reyes. He's injury prone, he has holes in his game, most notably substandard plate discipline. His performance last year when he was healthy wasn't exactly inspiring. His value is at his highest right now. But he is young and cheap, immensely talented and the Mets control his rights for the next five years. So if you're going to deal him, better get something tasty back.
This is where Omar has a problem. He apparently has interest in Alphonso Soriano. Soriano just isn't a very good baseball player. He has been declining for the past two seasons. He has worse plate discipline than Reyes. He is a defensive liability. He is expensive and the Mets would only control him for this year and next before he becomes a free agent. His park-adjusted OPS was actually below the league average last season. But damn it, he runs fast and he has all those nice, yet meaningless counting stats like home runs and RBIs, so lots of folks like Omar think he's just dandy.
Now admittedly, after the Kazmir deal, Mets fans are gun shy about this sort of thing. They hear a crazy rumour that would be a colossally stupid deal for the Mets and automatically assume the Mets are going to do it. There could be nothing to it. I hope there is nothing to it. But if it happens, I can't say I will abandon the Mets - if I didn't leave after the Kazmir debacle, nothing is going to do it - but I will root for them to lose and continue to do so until they prove they aren't run by a bunch of morons with no ability to see past the upcoming season. But what I'm saying is nothing new. Just go here .
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