All offseason the Mets and their fans have been concerned with free agent signings, specifically how much money and how many years to spend on these players. I know the fans, and hopefully management, have learned through being handcuffed by bad contracts, like Luis Castillo, the Mets do not have limitless pockets like the Yankees do. And that those bad contracts that hold the team back from other acquisitions, in conjunction with poor results and high payroll, lead Mets fans into a situation where they are always defending their team. As a result, Mets fan and management are afraid of failure.
As a Mets fan, there is nothing more frustrating than being given crap from other fans because your team is not producing with a huge payroll. I think this, more than anything else is the reason Mets fans have been put in a situation where they are overly concerned with free agent contracts/salaries. It's time for the fans, and the organization, to care less about how much players and being paid, and time for them to be more concerned with improving the team by any means necessary.
The truth of the matter is, on the free agent market, the Mets can afford to spend more money on free agents than most teams. The Mets know it, their fans know it, and most importantly agents know it. So, if that's the case why aren't the Mets cashing in on free agents. Easy, they are afraid. Everyone is afraid. The team is scared to make big financial, and time, commitments to certain players at the risk of them being handcuffed, or worse, mocked for it.
So how do the Mets curb this fear? Go all out, and use the one-year, incentive-laden deal to your advantage...
Now that it's time to start stepping up and making moves in the free agent market, especially when it comes to pitching, the Mets need to open up the checkbook and pay for what they want. Ben Sheets is not going to come cheap, BUT, on a one-year $12 million deal with an attainable second year option, the Mets should NOT be afraid. The Mets are in a position where they need to bolster their staff and should do so by all means necessary, financially. They need to learn from their past mistakes, which so far they seem to have done, see Bengie Molina's two year demand. But a player like Sheets offers the Mets a good option, the one-year option.
Should Ben Sheets pitch up to his contract financially, and attain his incentives, then he would be well worth the money and would warrant a more than one year investment. Should the Mets stink this season, and Sheets pitch well enough, he can bring back a nice return on the trade market. If Sheets turns out to get hurt, he'll be a bust, BUT, he'll only be around for a year.
The bottomline here is that if the Mets don't take a risk and do what is necessary to sign Ben Sheets, then they'll be looking at much lesser options available to them. Good organizations don't take lesser options. Good teams, and organizations aren't afraid to make mistakes. Good organizations aren't looking over their shoulder, or accross the river. Good organizations step up take a risk, and don't make excuses should they come up short.
It's time for the Mets to show the league, their team and their fans, that they are a good, confident, organization...
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