I told the Mets not to sign Francisco Rodriguez

There is a tale of two closers in New York.

Both are from Latin America… both are slight… both have World Series rings… both have experienced the thrill of being the pitcher on the mound when their team wins a post season series.

One, Mariano Rivera, is stoic, clutch, doesn’t let the rare blown save get on his nerves and is one of the classiest and easy to like Hall of Fame legends in Yankee history.

The other, Francisco Rodriguez, beats the crap out of his elderly father in law.

See the difference? It is subtle.

Seriously… I said back in 2008 the winner of the Francisco Rodriguez sweepstakes was the team that DIDN’T sign him.

I’ve felt he was overrated, coasting on the reputation earned in the 2002 post season when nobody had a scouting report on him. (Yet when Bonds figured him out, he launched a homer in the 2002 World Series that I don’t think has landed yet.)

Yeah he piled up tons of regular season saves. So did Armando Benitez. As a Red Sox fan, there were fewer more welcomed sights than seeing Rodriguez coming out of the bullpen in the playoffs. (His 0-3 record with a 7.36 ERA in 3 playoff series against Boston can attest for that… as can Manny Ramirez standing and admiring his walk off homer in the 2007 Division Series.)

But, like Manny, I never anticipated “beating up the elderly” to be on his debit column.

He’s got baggage now… along with a HUGE paycheck. Good luck dealing him. And this is coming of course at a time when, even with Santana’s complete game shutout today, the Mets are floundering at .500 in August.

And while it not seem fair, but this sort of crazy distraction coupled with the season slipping away, could be the nail in Jerry Manuel’s coffin.

Now I’m not saying the Angels are world beaters since Rodriguez left.
But with all their problems, Los Angeles of Anaheim is above .500.

And they drafted Randal Grichuk and Garrett Richards in Rodriguez’s place.

And oh yeah, when Brian Feuntes faced the Red Sox in a playoff situation last year… he came through!

Why don’t teams LISTEN TO ME?

Hey Mets! Nice sense of urgency

Last Tuesday I wrote a post that basically said the Mets aren’t winning it in 2009 so don’t bother making a trade.

I often get a lot of traffic from Mets fans so I was expecting a lot of hits.

I got a lot of hits.

I was expecting some comments and some private e mails.

I got them.

I was expecting them to be insulting and cursing me out and informing me that the Mets were only 2 games out with half the season to play.

I was wrong.

EVERY SINGLE comment and e mail I got was agreeing with me, that the Mets were dead in the water. Some actually insisted that I was too light on the Mets.

You can’t accuse Mets fans of being overly optimistic I guess!

And you also can’t accuse the Mets of panicking. You CAN accuse them of phoning it in!

Seriously, when you are stumbling to stay at .500 and are going to play your chief rival… the one that you blew the division to the past 2 seasons… the one you NEED to play well against in head to head match ups… you should do better than 3 runs.

They scored 3 runs against the Phillies. Not per game, that would be sad enough. TOTAL!

They are now 4-6 against the Phillies. Gee Whiz, I wonder if THAT will come back to haunt them.

Oh yeah, they start tomorrow against the Dodgers who now have Manny back. Tomorrow will be the official halfway point of the season for the Mets and they have clinched a losing record for their first 82 games.

Somewhere Willie Randolph is laughing his butt off!

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The Mets aren’t winning it this year… so don’t make a trade

OK, I am expecting some hate e mail from this post by Mets fans.

I have my guard up.

Let me get this out of the way… I don’t hate the Mets. I have moved on from 1986 (seeing my team win two World Series helps.)

So save any “You are an angry Red Sox fan jealous because of the Buckner error” responses.

Fine… that’s on the record. Let’s get to the post.

I am going to type a few facts.

It is late June and the Mets are a sub .500 team.
It is late June and the Mets are a third place team.
It is late June and the Mets are riddled with an insane amount of injuries.

Carlos Beltran’s career might be in jeopardy.

Carlos Delgado is still unavailable and nobody knows what he will contribute when he comes back.

The Mets offensive output in the recent subway series was nearly matched by Mariano Rivera.

They have issues up and down their pitching staff.

Their line up resembles a AAA team.

The clubhouse seems as to be as enjoyable and healthy place to be as Eli Roth’s Hostel.

Now players are calling for Omar Minaya to make a deal.

Mets fans are screaming for a change in the line up.

Nothing I just typed can be disputed.

Now for my thoughts.

Omar Minaya can’t be blamed for EVERYTHING that happened this year, but for the third straight season since the Haunting year of 2006, the Mets seem like an undermanned team.

And what trade now can fix the Mets ills?

They need hitting. Who are they going to get?

Yeah the A’s are dangling Matt Holliday out there… but what will the A’s be asking for? I alluded to this in my Lion and Prey post. They want players ready for the Bigs.

If the Mets had anyone who was Major League ready, that player would be currently playing for the Mets! Beane could do better just taking the two draft picks.

They could use a solid pitcher… but anyone dealing a pitcher in this market would demand solid prospects in return.

If the goal of the Mets is to win the World Series, I submit this radical plan:

STAND PAT!

Why? Because this team isn’t a player or two away from being a World Series contender. Can you IMAGINE this team in a best of five playoff series?

How would they do against a Tim Lincecum or a Chad Billingsley or a Chris Carpenter? They made Chien Ming Wang look awesome!

It isn’t happening this year. They don’t have the horses and do a panic move now, they’ll deplete their farm only to be a Division Series and out team AT BEST.

Ah but Sully, what about 2006? The Cardinals stumbled into the playoffs and won it all!

When Jerry Manuel becomes a Hall of Fame manager like LaRussa, I’ll listen. Instead, I’ll call 2006 a fluke.

And yeah, there is 87 games, more than half of the season to go.

But it isn’t THAT early. What part of the first half of the season could make ANY honest Mets fan say “This team can win it all!”

A player that will help turn the season around would cost a Fernando Martinez, a Wilmer Flores or a Bobby Parnell… and even THEN they wouldn’t be better than the Phillies, Dodgers, Cardinals or Brewers.

The Mets aren’t winning the 2009 World Series. You know it. I know it. We all know it. So why sabotage the chances for the 2010, 2011 and 2012 seasons for an ill advised pennant run?

Why revisit Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano?

I say look back to 2006.

No, not Carlos Beltran looking at a called third strike… I’m talking about the 2006 Red Sox!

They were in first place on July 1.

They had a 4 game lead on July 4th.

They were in first place at the trade deadline but experiencing injury after injury. The lead had shrunk to a single game at the trade deadline. The bullpen and the lineup needed reinforcements… and the Red Sox had a TON of minor league talent to deal.

And the team stayed pat. I am convinced that someone in the front office (maybe Theo) thought “this team isn’t winning it… and there’s no way we’re tearing up the farm for an ill advised run at it.”

I screamed bloody murder. “YOU HAVE TO GO FOR IT!” I thought. Who are these young players? Why sabotage the present when you don’t know what those players will even do?

The Yankees tied the Red Sox for the division on August 1. The Red Sox went 23-35 the rest of the way and were completely irrelevant the rest of the season… finishing the season in a distant third place.

And they held on to Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz, Manny Delcarmen and Jon Lester and they very next year they all contributed to a World Series title.

Some organizational honesty went a long way. If the 2006 Red Sox made the playoffs, they would have been KILLED in the Division Series the way they were in 2005.

They held pat and won big.

Learn from that, Mets.

You aren’t winning in 2009. Admit that and 2010 might be the year that Fernando Martinez, Bobby Parnell and company give the team a spark of youth.

Remember youth?

Or you can wrecklessly stumble into the second half and set yourself up for another painful September.

It’s your call.article_url = location.href;article_title = document.title;var iap=new Image(1,1);iap.src=’http://www.rootzoo.com/news_pulse/auto_post/31537/be85873d3eb0bdd800228eb38e26a1ce?title=’+encodeURIComponent(document.title)+’&link=’+encodeURIComponent(location.href);