:wtf:
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In recent years, the Mets front office swung and missed when trying to land free agents Vlad Guerrero, A-Rod and Mike Mussina. Will new Mets GM Omar Minaya overpay to put his stamp on this Mets club? According to this morning's New York papers, the Mets have submitted a contract to Pedro Martínez that tops the two-year, $25.5 million deal offered by the Red Sox. The Mets' deal is said to be a three-year, $37.5 million package with a vesting option for the fourth year if Martinez stays healthy. A move to Queens makes sense for Pedro -- the Mets offer what AL teams courting him can't: less taxing, DH-less lineups, as I wrote about in this space last week.
Minaya, who has also aggressively pursued another declining star, Sammy Sosa, is making the same mistake his predecessors did: throwing money around as if the team is one or two All-Star additions from becoming a playoff team. The Mets were dreadful in '04, and they were dreadful in '03, and the addition of a Martinez circa '99 doesn't guarantee them games in October. This is a lot of cash for a declining righthander who has lost five mph on his fastball over recent years and whose 5-foot-11, 180-pound frame logged a hefty 217 innings this past season. Meanwhile, the other team in New York, desperate for arms, has not offered Martinez a contract even though George Steinbrenner met with Martinez on Nov. 16 in Tampa.
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http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/albert_chen/11/30/hot.stove/index.html