This all makes perfect sense, especially since I shaved my beard last night. And for those of you who are just joining The 'Ropolitans, my beard has had a long history connected to the Mets.
David Lennon in Newsday cites an anonymous source who indicates Minaya will show the money to Francisco Rodriguez and Brian Fuentes, and possibly Derek Lowe. Lennon points out the Mets are more worried about the amount of years on the contract, opposed to how many bucks they'll be forking over.
Three, thankfully, seems to be the Mets limit. Minaya is fearful of anything more than that, as he's learned his lesson with some long-term contracts with aging or injured players.
Lennon also presents a side to the story I never really thought about:
The Mets already have suggested that K-Rod, despite the best resume among the candidates, is not a slam-dunk to anchor their bullpen. But it's difficult to determine if their reservations about Rodriguez - floated publicly as concerns - are legit or merely a negotiating ploy to get him at their price.How true and how smart.
I've heard a bit of a rallying cry against K-Rod, due to his "arm problems" and "decreased velocity." Are these people just buying into some falsified rumor? I don't think so, because his numbers are there to prove something is up, but maybe the rumor was made to fit the numbers.
Before I get all conspiracy theorist here, let's remember that we we're almost universally worried about Johan Santana and his decreased velocity. He seemed to have lost a few miles per hour off his stuff at times, but look at the season he put together. Could this have been another ploy to land the pitcher for cheaper? Oh, here we go again.
Either way, the Mets seem poised to make the first move of the 2008-2009 off-season as they build around the core for the '09 campaign. The waiting game is quickly nearing it's end.