Heyman States the Obvious, Mets Offseason Losers

In a not-so-shocking turn of events Jon Heyman names the Mets, Cubs and Dodgers as the top three teams who had the worst offseason this past winter, in this article on SI.com.  Although I do agree with Heyman in his main point, that the Mets had needs and did not address them, see Luis Castillo, catching and the starting rotation, some of his logic bothers me.

In his article, Heyman goes as far to say the following about the Mets, "They could have had Joel Piniero for $18 million over two years and surely Bengie Molina for $10 million over two (Molina was the bigger loss in my estimation, since he's a catcher with power and a rep for handling a young staff), but they played hardball with each and are left lacking at both key positions."

While I am ticked the Mets didn't upgrade the staff at all, I disagree that Piniero was the best route to go to do this.  Personally, I preferred Sheets, and not to pick this apart too much, but the Mets would have had to have beaten 2 years/$18 million to get Piniero.  Although I do agree with Heyman in that had I known we weren't planning on going after Sheets, than yes, I would have rather have had Piniero than nothing.  

As for Heyman assessment that Molina was "a bigger loss", I think my agreement in that statement can only be in the most literal sense (he's fat).  I agree that not signing Molina was a mistake, especially considering that the money they saved not signing Molina went ABSOLUTELY nowhere, because, I think the bigger loss was the Mets NOT upgrading the staff at all.  Either way, I did not like the idea of Bengie for two years, because as far as Molina getting two years is concerned, I would have been okay with the idea if I knew that next year would have been spent tutoring Thole, but Molina's looking to start and I think the conversation ends there.  

Heyman also talks about the Mets re-signing of Cora and Tatis, taking a chance on Kelvim Escobar and not trading Castillo.  As far as I am concerned, Heyman is about 50% right.  I like the risk in Escobar as he has been dominant before, and isn't a huge financial burden to the team.  Also, I like Alex Cora, who tends to be a hot button topic for Mets fans.  The guy cannot play everyday, but the Mets (on a normal season) are not expecting him to.  He can play and is a solid back-up, so let's say YES, he was overpaid, but I'm not completely pissed about that.  I'm more ticked at the ridiculous Tatis resigning, mostly because of the idea that he's a platoon-player (absurd!), and not trading Castillo. 

So, overall, I think Heyman is right.  The Mets did not have a good offseason, and the Carlos Beltran situation (which Heyman also points out), to me, is a large reason for it.  Yes, they signed Bay reasonably, and re-stocked an already pretty good bullpen, but the holes in the roster that REALLY needed help didn't get it.  And the Carlos Beltran situation created another large hole that no one can fill, especially not Matthews Jr. and Pagan...