Shea-Rod?

Rampant speculation, entirely baseless rumors. Outlandish trade and free agent proposals aplenty, from every armchair GM calling into WFAN or writing their own blog. Welcome to the hot stove - it's only one month until the Winter Meetings.

A Rod talk has been widespread and deafening, and its only been a week since his untimely opt-out announcement. Of course, the Mets already have a third baseman, and a shortstop for that matter, but that hasn't stopped fans, baseball pundits, anyone really, from counting the Mets as a legitimate part of the Rodriguez mix. My own most recent post before this one considers the possibility of one big A Rod-related move the Mets could make this winter.

And make no mistake, readers of Warning Track Power, few and far between as you may be: I'm an idiot. There is no way the Mets should trade Jose Reyes. Even for Johan Santana, even if Alex Rodriguez would be his replacement. He is one of two Met players on the current left side of the infield that make up a star fundamental and homegrown core to be built upon, not leveraged...you've heard the argument, but that doesn't make it any less valid. If the Mets are indeed going to pursue Santana, it should be with their current prospects, i.e. Gomez/Milledge/Humber/Pelfrey, or they should just hope he makes it to free agency next winter. If not, we should find a way to win without him (Santana); I'm sure it can be done.

Don't trade Jose Reyes. Ever.

As for A Rod, I also said I wouldn't favor an acquisition of this year's presumptive MVP if it didn't in turn mean Reyes for Santana. Once again, I lied. If the Mets do go after A Rod, it should and should only be with a three-way commitment to him, David Wright, and Jose Reyes. This would require a position switch for one of David or Jose, but if it's feasible to move Wright to first and trade Carlos "I'm bored" Delgado, (the only position switch that should possibly accommodate an A Rod signing) going after Rodriguez under these terms at least seems worthy of consideration.

There are several reasons for going either way on this. At the end of the day, I have no gut feeling. I'm torn. Consider that:

An infield with Wright, Reyes, and A Rod would be monstrous. Wright might be better suited for first base anyway, that infield would put up absurd offensive numbers. Reyes, Wright, A Rod, and Carlos Beltran in 4 of the first 5 spots in the batting order would be a pretty sweet offensive core for the next several years. A Rod would break several MLB records in a Mets uniform and there would be a good chance that one of the greatest players in the history of the game would go into the Hall of Fame wearing a Mets hat. I've never liked A Rod, but this all might just be a manifestation of the really-hot-girl-who-you-don't-like effect. She starts to seem a lot more likeable when you find out you might have a chance with her.

Like Amanda Peet in "Saving Silverman"...kind of

On the flipside: 10 years, $300 million. We can afford it sure, but A Rod is 32 right now. That means he will be between the ages of 37-42 for entire second half of his contract. 42 is old. That's the downside of his career. $150 million would be going to a player on the downside of his career putting up declining numbers.

This deal would look really good for a few years, but what about after that? A Rod would probably break the home run record in our uniform, while also passing Pete Rose's career hits mark in those last 5 years. Is that worth $150 million? That's the $300 million question.

To me, it's also the only serious reason why signing A Rod would be a bad idea. Make no mistake, it's a big consideration, but as far as moving David Wright, I don't think it's such a bad plan. Kevin Youkilis, Albert Pujols, and Craig Biggio all serve as counterpoints to any arguments about position switches and their negative impacts. And for all the fuss about A Rod's ego, potential to be a cancer in the clubhouse, and postseason failures, I have a feeling a lot of the problems with him are going to go away with him leaving the Yankees. I think the financial question will be a huge question for whoever A Rod's next team ends up being, but as far as the other "issues" go, I really don't think they're that big of a deal and I think they were exacerbated by the competing arrogance and total lack of support that met A Rod's arrival in the Bronx.

In the end, though, I guess I would rather spend that $30 million per season elsewhere. A Rod would be the big splash move that's not going to come regarding the pitching staff this offseason, because our prospects aren't good enough to get Johan Santana - even Scott Kazmir - and, well, we've been through the other scenario and why it should never happen. Omar Minaya might be feeling pressure to make that big splash, but I'm just not sure it's worth that amount of money. We have a left side of the infield. David Wright just won a gold glove. We need pitching.

But oh that tricky catch-22: there's not any non-overpriced, better-than-mediocre pitching out there that's legitimately available to us this offseason. Should we do what we can and save the money for the impressive crop of free agent pitchers hitting the market next year? Maybe we can get any of those overpriced, mediocre pitchers we need while also signing A Rod. I don't know.

I know I could still end up going either way on this, which is good, because it's going to take forever to play out. Screw you, Scott Boras.

(Pictures courtesy usatoday.com, celebopedia.com)