Busy Beavers

I guess once the shackles of the Reyes saga were unlocked, the Mets could go and pursue other options. And pursue they did.

First was the acquisition of Jon Rauch for the ninth inning, or so we thought for an hour. Rauch is 6′ 10″, which means his primary function will be as Mike Pelfrey’s bodyguard after Pelfrey has a bad outing. Would you mess with a 6′ 10″ monster with tattoos on his neck looking like he’s about to shank you? Not me.

Then, the shocker of the night: The Mets rid themselves of Angel Pagan, a popular enigma, in exchange for Andres Torres and Ramon Ramirez. Strangely enough, Pagan and Torres were compared to each other in a fangraphs article when they were coming off their good seasons. And now they’re swapped for each other in what seems to be a wash of a trade that will help nobody. Pagan might be the better offensive player, and Torres is coming off an injury riddled season, but Torres is a better defender and that’s key to me (Torres’ UZR in center field in 2011: 8.7 … Pagan’s? -14.3). My heart becomes riddled with more murderous intent every time I see Pagan take a scenic route to a fly ball. When Pagan ships his belongings from New York to San Francisco, he’ll probably do it through Iceland for no good reason. I only wish Pagan could have been traded for something better coming off his good season. But Torres was a lot better too after 2010 so if this deal was made a year ago, it probably would have been Pagan for Torres anyway. So to bottom line it, swapping disappointment centerfielders while getting a reliever for free, I’ll take it every time.

Then came Frank Francisco. Was Toronto’s bullpen that magical that the Mets felt the need to raid them? Francisco will now be the closer, and he got a two year deal at $6 million per to do it. Understood that the Mets’ more pressing need was in the bullpen, and specifically closer. But $12 million for Francisco? Because he had a good August and September? The last guy I remember that got a big contract on the strength of two good months was Oliver Perez. One year at $6 million I wouldn’t have minded at all. But to give him two years after letting Chris Capuano walk over a second year just confuses the hell out of me. It isn’t hard to confuse me, granted. But I only hope and pray that the final two months is what we’re going to get over a full season. Somehow I doubt it.

But hey, the Mets could have signed Jonathan Broxton, right? So I’ll shrug my shoulders, say “whatever”, and go about my business.