A Year Later, The Mets Bag Delgado
It’s been a while since I wrote but yesterday’s trade was so big it merits some discussion. When the Mets traded Mike Cameron to the Padres last week for Xavier Nady it was accepted mainly for the cost cutting aspects of it. Nady is not nearly as accomplished as Cameron and the Mets used the key word potential when talking about him.
But the main reason why this trade was accepted by commentators and fans alike was the impact it had on payroll. The trade freed up several million dollars for the team to add to any offer they make to Billy Wagner, the free agent closer and best pitcher in this year’s free agent crop. Instead the Mets sent that money along with Mike Jacobs and Yusmeiro Petit, the teams best pitching prospect, to the Florida Marlins for Carlos Delgado. You may remember Delgado from last years free agent market. The Mets heavily pursued him but he spurned their offer to sign with Florida. (At the time Delgado even said he was insulted by Omar Minaya’s tactic of selling the Mets as a haven for latin players.) After Delgado signed with Florida the Mets turned their attention to center fielder Carlos Beltran and traded for first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz.
With Delgado the Mets add a slugging first baseman to their offense. Offense has been sorely missing from the first base position in recent years. Last year I wasn’t heartbroken when they didn’t get Delgado citing him as a defensive liability. But after last years offensive performance has convinced me that it would be a good time to upgrade the pffense at all costs. Delgado will out produce Cameron so the teams offense is upgraded already.
How much the offense is truly upgraded will not be known until the team finds a catcher, second baseman and right fielder. This is a significant move but Minaya and his right hand man Tony Bernazard still have their work cut out for them.
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Trading,Mike Jacobs, Jae Seo, and Petit will cost Mr Minaya his job. None of this will bear fruit.Seo will win at least 15 and Jacobs will outplay Delgado. Loduca and Wagner gave us enough to win. Now just forget it.