Mets deny any interest in Pedro

When I was younger, a mentor told me "Fish stink from head on down." Mets management is developing an aroma and free agents aren't biting.

The pursuit of Kelvin Escobar whose checkered injury history most recently poor recovery from [SLAP] labral tear makes no sense when Ben Sheets and Erik Bedard, better pitchers with less severe injuries are available for presumably similar prices or incentives.

The ignorance of Xavier Nady, Rick Ankiel and some undervalued young power in the pursuit for Jason Bay whose price may cost both combined, and clearly has no other suitors appears to represent myopic vision.

The failure to give Chris Carter, the excellent prospect received in exchange from Boston for Wagner, a vote of confidence as OF/1B starter. All he did was hit .310/85/20/95 for 3 years at AAA..then hit last summer in Boston.

The same could be said of Bengie Molina with the year Omir Santos put up.

Maybe management has a shrewd plan up their sleeves, but the sense I get is that Hispanic players or big names are favored at the expense of shrewder moves, that the 800 pound gorilla in the Bronx influences some bad decisions, and that the word around baseball is that the Mets' head is stinking right now...so don't go there if you can avoid it!

I think Minaya has done, at best, an okay job in his time with the Mets. The two years the team imploded was not entirely his fault. But, clearly there is something we are not seeing with regards to what happens backstage with the Wilpons. Still, Omar has made more than his share of blunders.

Regardless, we are at a crossroads. Rebuild or spend? Rebuilding will take time and the stadium is likely to have many empty seats for most of that time. If we spend, how much and how many players will it take for us to be winners and not just competitors?

I agree with drtannin on all his points, but one thing I am missing or have not heard anything about are the scouts. What about the Mets' scouts? The big names such as Johan and Beltran are no brainers, everyone wanted to sign them; but going back to Bonilla and Vaughn, who the heck recommended signing Perez last year? Who are the Mets scouts? How are they accountable? And why do they do such a crappy job? The Mets should spend their money and sign the scouts from the Marlins. The investment would be more profitable.

Oh, and I heard a rumor the Mets were going to be making some major deals and acquisitions this off season. I guess they're denying that rumor as well.

The downfall of the Mets is simply put, the NYC media. With every scrutinized move the Mets make , the media subjects the populace to suggestive ideas of futility and incompetence. No baseball writer has gotten anything right regarding the Mets besides stating the obvious. The Yankees organization has spoiled the NYC media to the point of a total collapse of baseball understanding and the atrophy of team support. My belief is the media dislikes the Mets statistically because their readers are Yankee fans and the demographic charts point to revenu in supporting the Yankees and lambasting the Mets. LOL Forget Mr. Noble I know what went wrong with this team..... Not acquiring Adam Dunn when the opportunity was there..... Not acquiring an ace( sabathia) to bolster the starting rotation.... not bringing back bobby valentine in some capacity..... not bringing back Pedro Martinez last season.... signing Oliver Perez for that much money.... not jettisoning Castillo in any form as his uninspired play is what destroys players like Reyes.... restricting emotional displays to be 2nd tier darlings of the MLB examples..... Not rushing the field in the WS when Clemens threw at Piazza.... allowing stares at Reyes from opposing teams when he celebrated.... the Mets are pussycats.... not changing the uniform design and colors along with changing their stadium( i believe in distancing yourself from failure in all regards)... not firing the medical staff.... right now I give Ben Sheets and Pedro a deal with incentives.... but Bobby Valentine is what the Mets need right now.... I bring in mex as bench coach and Darling as pitching coach.... let strawberry and doc takeover the broadcast duties.... underdogs should be represented by underdogs... im done 4 now

Why is it that the Mets would not take any chances on Eirk Bedard??? i understand that he is injury prone but no harm with signing him for a one year deal. Something similar to Kelvim Escobar's deal. we all know if healthy he can be a very good pitcher for us. the second person we should really pursue is Orlando Hudson...great personality and a very good player too.