I've vacillated on this point and turned it over in my head, considered the possibility and agonized over how it would make me feel. I've thought at length about what it would mean for the Mets, in '08 and going forward.
The idea's been referenced - brought up in the blogs, on the message boards, in the daily way-too-early off-season conversations and thoughts of many a Mets fan. I'm hardly the first person to think of it; really it's not an altogether ridiculous or unrealistic proposition, and while it's not completely obvious the idea certainly doesn't come out of left field - switching up our metaphors, maybe we could say it comes out of the left side of the Mets infield, which would be dramatically altered if...
You'd think, given A Rod's millions, that, you know...Cynthia Rodriquez?!?
The scary part, as I mentioned, is that the Mets could probably make it happen if they wanted to. SNY, Citi Field and all, they're certainly one of the few teams right now who could afford A Rod, regardless of whether they were to then turn around and use Reyes to acquire Santana. (If they just signed A Rod, a move by itself that would be considerably less likely in my opinion, David Wright would probably move to 2nd or 1st) As far as trading Reyes for Santana, we all know the scenario with Johan. He's the best pitcher on the planet, he hits free agency next year, the Twins won't be able to afford him, many people think he's getting dealt this offseason one way or another. You're telling me the Twins don't take a 24 year-old shortstop who, absent a terrible September, is still the most electrifying player in the game, blah blah his contract for the next four years is far below market value?
This move (the two would have to be a package deal for me to consider either of them) would obviously blow up the look of the Mets. One of the two best homegrown Mets players since Doc and Darryl would be gone. David Wright would hit his prime in A Rod's shadow; that could be a good thing or a bad thing but he's a team player and I think he blossoms into the Mets' unquestionable leader over the next 10-15 years regardless of who's playing around him. We would obviously only make the move with Minnesota if we were granted a window to negotiate with Santana, and knew we could sign him (though I can't substantiate this, I've heard Johan Santana has expressed a desire to pitch in New York, for the Mets, and would presumably be eager to sign with us long term for the right price). Johan Santana would obviously demand an A Rod-like contract of his own, and at the end of the day, without going into Yankee territory payroll-wise we'd basically become the Red Sox, i.e. big-market club who hovers around $100 million for a long time before biting the bullet and going up to around $140 million because the money's there and it's just a question of being willing to spend it. Make no mistake - with Carlos Delgado ($16 million), Pedro ($11 million), Orlando Hernandez (6.5 million), even Guillermo Mota ($3.2 million, aye) coming off the books after next year, along with the aforementioned new ballpark and on-the-up-and-up cable network (one needn't look further than the YES network for an accurate model of yearly revenue growth for a sports team-oriented cable TV station in a big market), the Mets have the ability to afford Johan Santana and Alex Rodriguez.
There's a laundry list of reasons why signing A Rod and trading Reyes for Santana might be a bad idea, certainly why it's unnecessary. Build around your homegrown and existing talent - just look at three out of the four teams in the two League Championship Series this year; that's also what made the Mets successful last year. But homegrown talent is just as valuable if it's dealt in the right moves for the right players on other teams. Perhaps a package to the Twins lands Joe Nathan too and helps solve our bullpen issues.
Look, you can make arguments either way on this. We might be selling our soul, we might be making the right move for the sake of the franchise. I love Jose Reyes; I think he's coming back strong next year. And I think that no matter what happens this off-season we've got the talent regardless to go back to the playoffs in '08.
Interesting to see, though, if we pursue the nuclear option.
(Photos courtesy atomicarchive.com, msnbcmedia.com, cnn.net, emlbhome.com)
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