Delgado: Not Too Bad or Salt?

So I woke up this morning to 933 e-mails about the Mets acquiring Carlos Delgado.

Of course, our good friend Willie B has already purchased his World Series tickets. His e-mail this morning read: "I'm sure Sippy Momo is going to find a problem with this deal."

Well, of course, me being the cynic that I am, I do have my problems with the deal... but also a bunch of things that I love and like about it as well. Without further ado...

1 Thing I Love About The Deal

1. Timeliness: This is the only thing that has me salivating about this trade. For the same reason that signing Pedro helped lure Beltran, I think this signing will help show Billy Wagner that the Mets are trying to field a winner.

As I've stated before, Wagner should be the Mets' No. 1 priority and I think that this will be the bait he needs to become a Met.

5 Things I Like About The Deal

1. Delgado is a monster. He adds another huge bat to a lineup that will become one of the better ones in baseball. He is coming off a great season in a pitcher's park, so at least we know that Shea won't be too big of an adjustment and we are not getting Chase Utley's 30 Citizen's Bank Park homeruns.

2. Trading Yusmeiro Petit doesn't bother me. As much as chicks dig the long ball, I dig power pitching. I think it is what wins in the post season (I have this theory that the colder weather slows down bats just a mili second making 95 seem like 98). I'm no scout, but for about three years now real socuts have been forcasting Petit is a 3, which the Mets already have four of, and which are almost always available via free agency.

3. The deal brings optimism to people like Will B. and makes Mets fans really excited about both this off-season and for the season.

4. It's nice to make the first splash ahead of the Yankees. In a city where the Yankees always seem to get their guy, this year that just isnt happening. They have no farm system and will be in the third year of the luxury tax (every year, the further you are over the luxury tax barrier, roughly $110 mil, the higher the percentage per dollar over the threshold you pay) . If I remember correctly from my sports law class, the third year is 40 % meaning the Yanks would owe 40 mil if they have their same $206 mil. Thats a lot of YMCA's.

They are so stubborn about Robinson Cano and Ching Ming Ding Ling Sing because they are trying to mask the fact that finally they just can't spend anymore, it is becoming too expensive. Otherwise, do you honestly think the Yankees wouldn't have traded those two for Beckett and Luis Castillo?

5. Delgado does not have red hair. We have all seen what that done to Eric K.

10 Things I Hate About You (The Deal)

1. Again, Minaya gave up too much. Buster Olney, apparently our clone (Editor's note: somewhere Buster is undoubtedly wondering if it isn't the other way around), has a nice piece about this on espn.com: http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=olney_buster#200511233

About two weeks ago my father told me that the Marlins needed to cut payroll. He has a pal who works with the team. If the desperation was so great that he knew, than clearly something was there.

The Mets got Delgado minus 7 million dollars. That is still 3 years/41 mil or roughly 14 mil per season, which is a ton of money for a 34 year old.

The Marlins would have given us this guy for a bag of peanuts. They got him for his cheap year( 4mil) and were now stuck with a highly overpaid contract. They were dying to dump his salary to the point where they could almost give us someone to take it. I know this because I read it somewhere.

Instead, we give two of our five best prospects for him.

Not to mention, there wasn't a long line of teams dying for Delgado. This wasn't like Josh Beckett, an ace pitcher, that every team in baseball should have sought after. Beckett warranted prospects because there was a huge demand for him. I just don't think it was there with Delgado.

2. I'm not happy about trading Jacobs. As I've said here before, this kid could turn into something. Sure, this deal makes the Mets better now, but who knows 5 years from now.

We have already seen a glimpse of what Jacobs can do. This isnt some kid in AA. He is a guy that proved (granted, for only about a month) that he could be a special hitter. I would have liked to see him get his cracks, and have the Mets go get a RF or 2B if they were looking for power.

3. I'm not exactly sure where we hit Delgado. It makes sense to hit him 4 or 5, but I dont want him and Floyd back to back. No need to let another team bring in a lefty to face them in the 8th, every single game.

3-4-5-6 could be Beltran, Delgado, Wright, Floyd. I know AFOMG doesnt like this move, having Cliffy hit 6th, but I think this is what it is going to be.

Unfortunately, due to matchup problems, I think this deal blocks the Mets from hitting Beltran 2, Wright 3, which bothers me. This is Willie's decision though, not us here at Yankees2000 so we will see.

And now, still, the Mets dont have a 2 hitter...Don't say Kazuo/Cairo

4. With what looks like a second consecutive huge offseason, the rest of Anerica is slowly starting to bunch the Mets with the Yankees. Quoting the camper:

"The Mets are going to sign every ***** alive."

I guess this shouldn't bother me. After all, the Mets are getting better, and they're still not at the point where they're signing players just so their fiercest rivals don't. But I don't want to feel or have this team be perceived as the best team money can buy, which unfortunately, it will be.

5. Could we have gotten in the Beckett sweepstakes? Could we have given Jacobs, Petit and say Mike Pelfrey or Phil Humber for Beckett, Lowell (who would play 1b) and Luis Castillo?

I would die for this deal. I think Beckett is the man. After throwing down 10 bucks at 50:1 back in June '03 for the Marlins to make the World Series, and then watching it unfold before my very eyes, I became a huge Beckett guy.

I grew his patented chin goatee and went on a streak with the co-eds of Upenn like nothing you have ever seen. (Sorry parents)

Castillo immediately solves our problem at the 2 spot and along with Lowell would give us baseball's best defensive infield.

We could then move Trachsel, Seo or whoever for bullpen help. In this scenario, the Mets are a much better and more complete team.

6. This deal is just another indication of the sorry state of baseball. That the Marlins would trade a 30/100 guy to a division rival just because they can't afford him, sucks. This isn't how sports should be.

Baseball is now the only sport with salary dumps. Sure in basketball teams try to move bad contracts, but that is for the purpose of strategizing around the salary cap.

Baseball is a real business and that's just not how it should be. Hopefully, Bud, if you're reading this, you'll take notice and try and do something about it. It may cost some owners some money, but this just isn't the way things should be.

7. This deal comes on the same day that I took the clicker from the living room, preventing my mother from watching her dvr'd shows that she wanted to watch... on her birthday. Talk about bad karma.

I never like to let my mother be right, at least in person, so I'm apologizing to you, mommy, via this blog. I messed up and I do so frequently.

But be thankful. At least I don't have red hair.

8. Timeliness: We all know the baseball offseason sucks, and now with Delgado on board and the pursuit of Wagner winding down, it appears the Mets' major offseason moves could be done by the first week of December, leaving nearly four months until pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training.

Sure, there will be minor moves along the way. As the people at ESPN can tell you, these are the deals you never notice but that are felt in a big way come the grind of the 162-game season. The Mets have already lost Marlon Anderson and his ridiculous running stride to the Nationals, so there are holes to fill. That said, it's never quite as exciting when the Mets get a Marlon Anderson on board as it is when they get a Carlos Delgado.

9. You know that feeling when you feel awkward on someone else's behalf? That's kind of how I feel about Carlos Delgado, his agent, David Sloane, and Omar Minaya. Delgado and Sloane publicly served Omar last offseason, rejecting more money and shared Latin heritage to sign with the Marlins.

A year later and Omar has orchestrated a trade bringing Delgado to Los Mets. Does he want to be here? I can't say. All I know is that the conversations Omar has been having with Delgado must have been awkward as shit.

10. I hate the way you talk to me, and the way you cut your hair. I hate the way you drive my car, I hate it when you stare. I hate your big dumb combat boots and the way you read my mind. I hate you so much it makes me sick, it even makes me rhyme. I hate the way you’re always right, I hate it when you lie. I hate it when you make me laugh, even worse when you make me cry. I hate it when you’re not around, and the fact that you didn’t call. But mostly I hate the way I don’t hate you, not even close… not even a little bit… not even at all.

As you can see, we here at Yankees2000 were quite taken with the Larisa Oleynik whopper "10 Things I Hate About You". This movie, which brought Heath Ledger to our mind, body, and soul with such lines as "she's without" and "don't let anyone ever make you feel like you don't deserve what you want" (maybe that was Omar's mantra about Delgado all along!) stole our hearts and, in no small measure, inspired this blog. For which, on this the day before Thanksgiving, we here at Yankees2000 give thanks.

A Happy Thanksgiving to all. Without another frontline starter/bullpen the Mets will still come up short. There are talks of a Benson and Brian Bannister for Javier Vazquez swap which I think would be nice.

A friend of mine had the privilege of teaching Anna Benson poker before the World Series, not really sure how but a sweet story nonetheless. He said she is not that hot in person and that she curses every other word she says. Time to get that no class strumpet out of NY.

All I got. I'm out of here for Thanksgiving so we will back and running next Monday. In the meantime, A Friend of Mr. Glass' may decide to post so keep checking back in.

Truth,

SM