So its time to chronicle the thinking of Mets’ brass with respect to Jenrry Mejia. Clearly those whom felt that Jenrry Mejia was best suited as a reliever won. There were not enough naysayers that felt that an upside existed to send him out to make him a starter. The former was correct. Mejia is indeed the club’s future closer and will emerge as Francisco Rodriguez’ set-up man by May.

Now about that rotation.

It doesn’t look good at all. The decision to not acquire talent during the off-season looks to be a poor one. Johan Santana is a given and the Mets committed their money well. He’s a Hall of Famer, but could be a 1970′s version of Steve Charlton if no one else emerges to get outs beyond the first five innings of games.

Thus, the Mets have to end their past formula for winning games which dictates just getting five innings from starters and following it up with three relievers working an inning a piece. Aside from Santana, no other starter has demonstrated the ability to do this. A change in philosophy is in order, but the Mets have not shown any inclination to change.

Perhaps they should ask a few of their current employees who do television about it. Bobby Ojeda and Ron Darling understood their role as a starting pitcher very well. They both started for a club that won a World Series, won two division titles and finished second three other times.

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Howard Megdal runs costs numbers and fairly criticizes the Mets on the way they’ve handled planning for 2B this season. Says Megdal:

But Adam Kennedy signed last night for $1.25 million. $1.25 million! Or put another way, for $750,000 less than Alex Cora. $1.25 million less than what the Mets will pay Gary Matthews

In the event Castillo opens the season at 2B, Megdal’s point makes even more sense. They’ve spent the off-season either trying to trade him or letting the perception live on that his play and/or him were such a negative. Doing so decreased any value that Castillo might have. This is yet another example of being deaf to their own signals.

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Joe Janish does a good job in extending my own remarks. I agree with him that Putz probably should have been shut down when persistent pain surfaced in his elbow. I’m hesitant to comment in depth as I was not there to hear Putz’ own feedback of how he was feeling. There is no way of knowing what he was saying to the Mets staff as he was aware of his own contract situation.

Reagrding Putz further, a question should be asked at as to whether of not the Mariners were candid with the Mets about Putz’ health. That does not absolve the Mets, however, from doing their own physical exam like they did before signing Pedrom Martinez in 2004. Did they receive his medical records? If they recieved accurate ones, they should have been concerned as it would look much like Janish’s timeline. Putz was apparently hurting enough when he arrived in camp for it to be an issue during his spring training physical exam. Consideration via hindsight does not reflect well on the Mets. But the Mariners were indeed aware of Putz’ history and can be said to have knowingly traded damaged goods.

The rehabilitation for removal of foreign bodies from of the elbow is relatively short, and in hind sight a more prudent decision would have been for an arthroscopy when pain persisted. A noteworthy comparison is that a similarly injured Johan Santana is doing so well right now. I have no way of knowing why that decision was not made.

Dr. David Altcheck took over for Dr. James C. Parkes after the 1991 season. Altchek was a departure from the conservative Parkes in that he appeared to recommend surgery for players much quicker than would have Parkes. Whe Joe McIlvaine returned to the Mets as GM in 1993 he asked Altcheck why there appears to have been so many surguries. The Mets contracted their physician care out to a hospital that payed them a lot of money for a few years before they turned to Altcheck before the 2004 season.

In the cases of Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes and Putz there seems to be a change in philosophy to opt for surgery. I doubt that that philosophy is driven by Altcheck. Last season the Mets also clearly displayed similar hesitancy in placing these same players on the disabled list. Observers are probably wondering outloud about how long Santana was hurting before it was decided to perform surgery on him.

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The signings of Jon Garland (Padres) and Ben Sheets (A’s) over the past few days were the last available options for the club to begin the season with a new #2 starter. And it was about the money. The Mets obviously felt that the talent available was not worth the cost and that it was better to see what their own pitchers can. So the Mets now will have to rely on healthy rebounds of John Maine, Oliver Perez, and Jon Niese.

We are now seeing one of the hidden problems that last seasons crushing amount of injuries resulted in. They had no chips to commit to trades.

Billy Beane thought that Ben Sheets was worth the gamble. Omar Minaya needs for Beane to be wrong.

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One myth can now be cast aside. The Wilpons are not broke and will not be going into small market mode. They would not have signed Jason Bay if they were. Give the Wilpons and Omar Minaya for being smart with their money.

1. The moves in the bullpen signal a clear philosophy. Low investment with the potential for high yield investments in Kelvin Escobar and Ryoto Igarashi may represent 8th inning alternatives. The Mets must also believe that Bobby Parnell can be the same, otherwise they would have sent the talented righthander home this offseason with instructions to prepare to start.

2. The Mets are always making noise about wanting another lefthander to complement Pedro Feliciano. They brought in numerous lefties last year but kept playing roster whack-a-mole with them all. If they have really been serious about needing to fill this role, they would have actively pursued former Met Darren Oliver whom ultimately signed a one-year deal with the Texas Rangers. They also made no move for Mike Gonzalez who probably wanted to close anyhow. So I don’t think that the Mets really want to pay alot for someone for this role.

3. I believe there is a reason that 2B Orlando Hudson has not signed with anyone yet. He’s waiting on the Mets to get rid of Luis Castillo. Maybe there’s even some back room conversations. Now that the Mets have filed the left field hole, some certainty exists for Minaya. He can now move Castillo and sign Hudson. Unless there’s something else going. See #4.

4. All’s been quiet on the rumors that the Reds were trying to move some big salaries. Earlier this month, there was some speculation at MLBTradeRumors about Bronson Arroyo and Aaron Harang being moved. Other high salaried Reds mentioned were Arthur Rhodes, Brandon Phillips and Franciso Cordero. There are some matches there, especially if other clubs get involved. It is from this scenario that Minaya can acquire a starter, a lefty reliever, a set-up guy or an upgrade an 2B. Stay tuned.

4. I don’t believe the Mets have ruled out contending, but they know that they are banking on a healthy return to form by Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran. With them plus Bay, David Wright should be better. Wright found out what George Foster did in his first season when it was just him. It’s unlikely that Carlos Delgado will not be returning. It would be nice if Daniel Murphy became at least a Dave Magadan circa 1991. To be fair, it’s really been Minaya’s only viable option to pursue with respect to the line-up.

5. Dan Warthen needs to be right in that whatever the final upgrade in catching matches a some sort of improvement in Oliver Perez, Mike Pelfrey and John Maine. Whomever they group with Henry Blanco, they won’t be counted on for offense, but it will be ok if Murphy and Jeff Francoeur are hitting sixth and seventh.

6. Last season was an aberation with respect to injuries. The Mets made no changes in their sports medicine team, and it shouldn’t have. Admittedly I have a soft spot for these guys, but I do not communicate with any of them. I’ve always maintained that a communication problem existed and that the presence of Tony Bernazard poisoned this as well.

7. There were some changes to the coaching staff. I hope they were based mostly on Jerry Manual’s wishes and not Omar Minaya’s prejudices fueled by Bernazard’s manipulations. Firing a manager’s coaches makes a manager impotent. The beginning of the end began for Davey Johnson and Willie Randolph when the front office dismissed some of their staffs.

Spring training is just 6 weeks away. Minaya has been signalling that the team will be better at that time. He’s wisely let the market come back and has saved the Wilpn’s some money they may have to spend later in the event the Mets actually do contend. With more positive moves, Minaya will haveweathered the media firestorm that surrounded him and it will pay off once camp opens.

No drama.

Only hope with a dash of reasonable expectations.

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I sorta think so. Mike Silva tells Molina to take it or leave it.

With Bay, I suspect it’s that he really does not want to play in NY. He probably went into the off-season hoping the Red Sox would make a strong bid to resign him or that his hometown Mariners would come calling. If the rumor that Milton Bradley is going to Seattle is true, I doubt they would want to add another 30 year-old outfielder. Bay and his agent are waiting for someone else – anyone – to enter the bidding. Making a counter proposal to Minaya means the Mets are the only suitors.

I agree with Silva in that it’s his agent trying to get more money from the Mets.

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The Mets got nothing more than a career AAA player for Billy Wagner thus making it even more clear it was about the money. The Red Sox picked up the remainder of Wagner’s salary and shaved some commitments to payroll while letting go the opportunity to draft highly regarded talent next June. This fact, coupled with the news that the Mets paid out the least amount of bonuses in baseball further demonstrates just how much trouble the Mets are in financially. Only if the Mets show they will spend to bring in a legitimate number two starter and a power bat this off season will they be able to assure their loyal fan base they are serious about winning.

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With the startling news that the Mets were last in the amount paid out in bonuses to draftees in June, its easy to imagine that moving Billy Wagner will be a financial decision. Will it be that they just let waivers expire and the claiming team just take Wagner and his remaining salary and commitments? No talent in return? Another Alex Rios?

If they end up not moving Wagner, it will be a signal that they may want to keep him. Knowing that Wagner will be on the club next year is an early slotting of salary to a total that by all reports will come down significantly.

What did or did not happen with Gary Sheffield is puzzling when compared to Billy Wagner’s situation. On one hand, its clear that a plan to attempt to move Wagner has been in place for some time. The organization has been on the same page all along. Why put Sheffield on waivers at all if you have no idea what plans you have for him? It must be that the Mets do not have a blueprint for the future because of questions about what will be happening with its top people.

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He’s lying. There’s no other way to explain why he’s getting his cabinet together to find a way to cut $100 million out of their collective departments. That money isn’t enough to get a number starter anymore. Talk about a sideshow and a way to, um, distract people away from his and the Democrats attempt to socialize evety aspect of the American economy. It really shouldn’t matter anyway as he’s got over a dozen czars whom actually are in charge of everything and suspect to little, if any congressional oversite.

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Well done, as always, from Betsy Newmark.

Plenty of tortured Dem nuance from the Obama administration.

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