Fixing the Mets: Part 1 Slash and Burn

As promised in my pissed off ramblings on The Big Lead, I am not going to look at the future former Mets manager to be former just yet. Instead, I am going to look for ways to fix this team so our fearless leader can bring this franchise back to prominence. So today is the start of a Major League Jerk mini-series “Fixing the Mets”. My promise is that this will be a reasonable effort to change things, not a ridiculous fan induced trade-o-rama that involve the Mets getting every All-Star available. So today I bring you part one: Slash and Burn.

As I look at the Mets for easy fixes to a complicated problem, my eyes fixate on the first baseman Carlos Delgado. It is my opinion that change is needed to fix Willie Randolph’s New York Mets and an easy change would be removing a person that undermines the six time World Champion manager both on the field and in the clubhouse. Now, in a perfect world we world trade the .219 hitting 16 million dollar player who was washed up by last July. But unless the Yankees view him as an upgrade over the .230 hitting 22 million dollar Jason Giambi, I doubt their are going to be any takers. Delgado is in the last year of his contract. The Mets will owe him a 4 million dollar buyout at the end of the year just to tell him not to comeback. I say just pay him to do nothing, because paying him for what he is doing now is a hell of a lot worse.

Carlos Delgado has been getting worse defensively. Carlos has been horrendous in the clutch (I know Nick P…there is no Clutch). Carlos has been horrendous the other times he is up as well. He gets an occasional excuse me home run and I am supposed to forget the 8 guys he left on base that game? Fuck that and fuck him. He had a chance to backup his manager this week and instead said it was a front office decision and he is paid to play not think. Thanks, asshole. I mean Billy Wagner went out and waved pom-poms for a guy who he thinks misused him for two years and you can’t even muster a half hearted yes. Team guy all the way. He is not needed. He is poison. He poisons this teams ability to win on the field and poisons their ability to be cohesive in the clubhouse. Bye bye Carlos. Thanks for 2006.

My proposed fix at first base is Jose Valentin. Valentin was left for dead in spring training. It was felt he had a leg injury that would end his career. Well, he was getting paid to be here anyway so he rehabbed and is now tearing the cover off the ball in Port St. Lucie. He was just sent to Triple A to get ready. Put Valentin at first. He has to at least match Delgado’s production. Plus, it is been stated that he was a very positive influence on Jose Reyes and in the clubhouse overall. These attributes make Valentin a reasonable solution for the short term at first. I mean hell, they are going to sign Mark Texiera next year anyway so let Jose have a swan song.

Another move is to send the much maligned Aaron Heilman to Triple A. Now it has been chronicled how I feel about Mr. Heilman. But I am willing to make a change here. Heilman is 26 years old with options. He has always wanted to start and now the Mets are using him in mop up duty. The fact the Mets have lacked back end starters this year means we might be better off trying to stretch out Heilman to try to start as opposed to letting him wallow in the bullpen and be a lightning rod for this team’s ineptitude. The Mets happen to have a few young relievers in AAA (the only depth this team has in the minors) so why not send Aaron off to fix himself and let a Carlos Muniz try to help. It can’t be any worse than what we have going on now. Plus with the inevitable Pedro injury, Heilman might be back sooner than later.

Here is one last move I feel needs to happen. Luis Castillo needs to be off the field for a while. He has lacked hustle. He has lacked brains. He can’t run and field like he used to. His knees are a mess and he is dragging this team down. Now I am not unreasonable. I know Luis is getting paid for the next 4 years (Thanks, Omar!) but I do think we can put this guy on the DL and let him rest his legs and his head. In the short term, bring up Anderson Hernandez and let he and Damion Easley split time at second. Hernandez can’t hit but can field and would provide a backup at shortstop, something this team does not have. It would give the manager a chance to manage and rest a player that has been playing 150+ games a year for 3 years. Maybe a versatile utility man will come available as July 31st gets closer to allow the Mets to bring Luis back with someone who can shoulder the load.

Tomorrow: Part 2 Possible Trades