The Mets Must Get Younger, Trade Beltran

The first decade of the 21st century may go down as the most painful in New York Mets history.

Of course, it started with great promise: in 2000, the Mets made it to the playoffs for the second year in a row and won the National League championship. But it was all downhill from there: the Mets lost the World Series to the Yankees; hired Art Howe; shifted Jose Reyes to make room for Kaz Matsui; traded Scott Kazmir for Victor "I'm Not Even Related to Carlos" Zambrano; fell to the Cardinals in the 2006 NLCS; lost a seven-game lead to the Phillies with 17 games to play; lost another lead the following September; and spent all of 2009 reeling from injuries. The past decade also featured Willie Randolph's unsmiling tenure; Mike Piazza's sudden physical breakdown; Roberto Alomar's bizarre under-performance; and Mo Vaughn's weighty failure. Oh, and Mets owner Fred Wilpon reportedly lost millions of dollars in Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme.

Naturally, Mets fans hope that the worst has passed. But if the Amazin's aim to turn things around in the coming decade, they must avoid repeating their two most baneful blunders from the previous one.

First, the Mets need to stop paying top dollar for veterans who are well past their prime. Granted, this seems pretty obvious. Yet time after time during the 2000s, the Mets signed or traded for former stars who were already on the downward slope of their careers: Vaughn, Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine, Jeromy Burnitz, Shawn Estes, Richard Hidalgo, Shawn Green, Moises Alou, Julio Franco, Luis Castillo, Gary Sheffield, and J.J. Putz. Moving ahead, Mets brass should resist free agents who, under the best of circumstances, might -- just might - repeat their performance from three seasons ago. Personnel moves should be based on up-to-date data, not wishful thinking.

Second, the Mets should part with their aging stars before it is too late -- preferably, by trading them away for younger, less expensive prospects. This would mark a shift from the sentimentality of the previous decade, which deterred the Mets from trading Mike Piazza once his decline became evident post-2002.

In this vein, the Mets should trade Carlos Beltran now, while they can still move his costly contract with relative ease. Beltran might be attractive to any team that sees itself as one good outfielder away from contending: he will be only 33 years-old next season; has two years left on his contract; and, despite his injury-plagued 2009 season, is still considered a perennial all-star. But he is no longer the franchise player around which a contender might be built, and his trade value is likely to decline precipitously after this off-season. Therefore, Beltran is most valuable to the Mets as immediate, prospect-attaining trade bait -- and least valuable as an expensive, decent player on an otherwise bad team.

At the moment, it is hard to imagine the Mets contending in 2010. After all, many players are returning from injury; the entire right side of the infield and much of the outfield need to be overhauled; and at least three other teams in the National League East look stronger. In turn, the Mets should build for the future by pursuing younger, cheaper prospects. Of course, this is hardly a new strategy -- but it is one that the Mets have long avoided to their peril.

 

Follow Eric Trager on Twitter: www.twitter.com/EricTrager18

Comments

[tomsemioli]

The Mets named their stadium - a garish Las Vegas version of Ebbets Field - for corporate criminals. The Mets bilked NYC tax-payers for subsidies when they could have easily afforded to pay market value. The Mets lied about job creation and other economic benefits. The Mets are now cursed - no matter who plays for them. Welcome to Wilpon's Folly.

[3fingerbrown]

GRRRRR.... Don't get me started!

OK, you already got me started.

You're right. The Mets aren't winning anything next year with or without Beltran, so trade him and begin the long, slow process of restocking the farm system. The problem is, the current regime has done such an awful job in player development that I'm not sure Omar knows a good young player when he sees one.

Normally, with a team as rich as the Mets, I'd agree with Firstgame's comment below about stockpiling good players. But the Met system is so devoid of big-league-ready talent that desperate measures must be taken.

2009's freakish run of injuries really exposed the bankruptcy of the Met system and Omar's fraudulence as a talent evaluator. Remember who came up from the minors last summer to replace all those injured veterans? Neither do I. And why should we? There wasn't a single legitimate prospect called up—not even a kid who was a year or two away! I hadn't seen such an assemblage of misfits, has-beens, and never-beens since "F Troop" was canceled.

(And whatever happened to all those great young Latin players who were going to flock to the Mets after they signed Pedro Martinez, which was one of the key justifications for giving a long-term deal to an aging pitcher who everyone else in baseball knew was falling apart physically? Los Mets to Loss Mets in five quick years.)

[FirstGame72]

While I agree with most of what you write (and i might even go further - the 2010 mets should adopt a new business model, one in which they allow all of there huge and bad player contracts to get closer to expiring and spend virtually zero addtional money on new free agents. just for 2010 mind you).
I disagree on Beltran being the one to go. Successful franchises, in any of the four major sports but especially baseball where there is no salary cap, stick to a simple principle: Keep your "best" players (or the players who recently have put up solid numbers) and get rid off your "bad" ones.
Beltran falls into the former category. He has yet to have a poor batting or fielding season with the Mets. If the Mets need anything for 2010, it's pitching. Their 2009 lineup, even with injuries, tied for the highest batting average in the N.L.
Remember this simple principle: Good franchises collect good players, bad franchises allow their good players to go elsewhere.