MetsFail

So now that the offseason is pretty much over and pitchers and catchers are reporting to camp, it’s time to reflect on the Mets’  off season moves… and lack of them.  But instead of just talking about how we signed Jason Bay, a couple of pitchers, and 35 backup catchers, I thought it would be interesting to compare this offseason to the one between the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

The first free agent signing of the 2003 was on December 10th.  Kaz “I’m the wrong” Matsui was signed to a three year deal to play SS, pushing Jose Reyes over to 2b.  Anyone reading this blog knows how well that move turned out.  Next came backup outfielder Eric Valent, formally of the Reds.  Mike Cameron followed on December 18th, the Mets prize signing for the winter.  Cameron was solid in 2004 as the Mets’ CF, but we all remember that gruesome collision he had in 2005 after the Mets moved him to RF to make room for newly signed (and fellow collidee) Carlos Beltran.  Apparently the Mets didnt learn from when they tried moving Piazza to 1b and Reyes to 2b during the 2004 season.

Things remained quiet until January 6th, 2004, when the Mets signed their new closer, Braden Looper, previously of the Florida Marlins.  Looper has the distinction, besides of blowing many a save during his time as the Mets closer, of being one of the first players with a name rhyming with BOO (Moooo-kie!!), to have unknowing crowd members state upon him entering a game “oh, I get it, they are saying Looooo,” which would then elicit the response from the “real” fans, “no, we are actually booing the shit out of him.”

Following Boooper, I mean Looper, was another backup OF, Karim Garcia, and a middle reliever, Jose Parra, both on January 20th.  Then came the return of Todd Zeile, previously of the Mets from 2000-2001.  Another fine move by the Mets, as Zeile batted a whopping .233 for the season.  His fielding wasn’t much better.

Following Zeile was yet another backup outfielder, Shane Spencer, formally of the Yankees.  His and Karim Garcia’s best hits of the year were the ones they put on a pizza deliveryman during Spring Training.  Wrapping up the off season was the signing of a middle reliever (Rickey Bottalico) sandwiched between two “Oh God Why did They Just Sign Him” pitchers, Scott Erickson and James Baldwin, both of whom only appeared in two games for the Mets before being released (Baldwin) or traded (Erickson).  They both sucked in their two appearances with the club.  Completing the moves were the trades of Timo Perez to the White Sox for subpar SP Matt Ginter, and Roger Cedeno to the Cardinals for SS Wilson “I’m in no way, shape, or form, anything like Carlos” Delgado.

So, how does this compare with the 2009-2010 off season?  Well, the team didn’t sign anyone to displace Reyes, although many a Mets fan wanted them to sign someone to replace Luis Castillo.  We did sign a star OFer in Jason Bay.  Instead of a bunch of backup outfielders, we signed a bunch of backup catchers (Chris Coste, Henry Blanco, Luke Montz (who?), and Shawn Riggans.  Instead of a number of mediocre to bad pitchers, we signed a bunch of…well… mediocre to bad pitchers (Elmer Dessens, R.A. “No ulnar collateral ligament” Dickey, Kelvim Escobar, Josh Fogg, Takahashi, etc).  We signed a former Mets 1b with stone hands to another contract (Mike Jacobs).  And instead of trading a once decent now crappy outfielder (Cedeno), we traded for one instead (Gary Matthews).

All-in-all, I think the two offseasons measure up fairly well.  What do you all think?

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