The Mets went from zero to sixty in a flash, signing top free agent closer Francisco Rodriguez and trading for another, J.J. Putz of the Mariners. And just like that Omar Minaya, who many accused of sleepwalking through the winter dramatically addressed the team's most glaring weakness. How K-Rod and Putz will co-exist in the Mets' bullpen remains to be seen, but all of a sudden sports pundits across America, including John "I still get a paycheck from the Phillies" Kruk are touting the duo as devastating and game changing. Many talking heads also called Omar one of the biggest winners at the Winter Meetings, considering that he was able to completely re-build his bullpen without giving up any blue chip prospects or key big league contributers (plus the losses of Aaron Heilman and Scott Schoeneweis have to be addition by subtraction).
Questions Remain:
I would love to see Omar pull another rabbit out of his hat and grab a righty outfielder with pop (NOT named Pat Burrell). It seems to me that Minaya prefers making splashy trades to signing free agents--I think he just enjoys the challenge of making creative deals. Every Met fan would love to see the GM find a way to ship Luis Castillo out of town and bring back a useful piece in return. Then again, how crucial really is second base to a team's success?Farther down on the list of priorities, a full time, right hand hitting replacement for Brian Schneider at Catcher would greatly help the balance of the Mets' offense, both in terms of lefty/righty and creating a threat at the bottom of the batting order.
I haven't even mentioned yet that the team still needs TWO starting pitchers, ideally a durable, consistent number 2 or 3 and one of those fancy "innings eaters" to compete with Jon Neise for the 5th spot. It sounds like Ollie Perez and his agent Kizer Soze (I mean Scott Boras) are pricing the lefty out of the Mets' price range. Personally, I'm torn on Ollie, as he consistently drives me insane but you can't discount his success against the Braves, Phillies and Yankees. With the exception of last September Perez just seems to get up for big games. I just hope with age comes consistency. It may be a moot point as Ollie is almost certain to leave for greener pastures. I can't say I'm too excited about the alternatives on the market: Derek Lowe has never impressed me and I think his "durability and consistency" are overrated. He also wants more money than he deserves. Other than Lowe, the likes of Jon Garland, Randy Wolf and Tim Redding are pretty mediocre. The scary part is that beyond Johan the Amazing, Mets fans can't be sure what they're going to get from Mike Pelfrey (coming off the most success of his short career but also the most innings he's ever pitched) or John Maine (coming off injury and still trying to make "the leap"). Bottom line: the bullpen better be DOMINANT.
There is still work to be done, but Omar Minaya has impressed so far. He still needs to add pieces and make up for some of his recent mistakes (looking at you Louie).
Keywords: New York Mets, Omar Minaya
