The 'Annie Hall' view of the Mets

The way people view the Mets this offseason reminds me of the joke in "Annie Hall" in which the old ladies at the Catskills resort complain that the food is terrible - and such small portions. The Mets are criticized for not spending enough - and for throwing away money on the wrong players.

The Post's Mike Vaccaro warns that Jason Bay could be the next Bobby Bonilla. The Record's Bob Klapisch thinks the Mets should trade Johan Santana. (Thanks to Andrew Vazzano of The 'Ropolitans for posting the Klapisch link.)

I agree with much of what Vaccaro has to say:

How many times do you have to sign Kevin Appier and Bobby Bonilla before you recognize the difference between attracting the cream of a good free-agent class (see Sabathia, CC, and Teixeira, Mark) and the prettiest homecoming queens of Homely High?. . .

It is one thing for a team with resources, such as the Mets, to muscle up for Mike Piazza or Carlos Beltran or Frankie Rodriguez, seminal players whose coveted gifts demand top dollar; it is another to throw money at players who would be second-tier free agents in other winters.

The best news so far this offseason is that it wasn't the Mets who gave Randy Wolf $30M for three years. Joel Pineiro hopes to get an even more ludicrous contract. These over-30 pitchers have each come off one good season (not a great season, a good one) after years of injury and mediocrity.

The numbers currently being discussed for Bay are a lot more reasonable than Scott Boras comparing Matt Holliday to Teixeira.

Vaccaro thinks the Mets should avoid spending on Bay to save money for the great free-agent class of 2011. But there are no guarantees that any of those potential free agents are available, and if they are, that the Mets would be able to get them. Joe Mauer, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett would be of interest to every team willing to spend on free agents, starting with the Yankees.

Why shouldn't the Mets try to win now? Has everyone forgotten that this team won 89 games only a year ago? If everyone comes back healthy, the Mets still need a cleanup hitter to replace Carlos Delgado. And signing Bay helps the Mets not just now, but for the next few years, unlike Omar Minaya's signing of Moises Alou.

Just because the Phillies are clearly better on paper does not mean that the Mets should go into rebuilding mode, as Klapisch wants them to do. Does Klapisch want the Mets to become the Indians? How has trading CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee worked out for them? While it is too early to judge the prospects acquired in those deals, it is not too early to say that the Indians stink now and are likely to continue to stink for the next few seasons.

Klapisch, though, believes that every Met high-profile signing has been a failure:

Still, the Mets have to make peace with the idea that the Santana experiment has failed, just as the Carlos Beltran, Pedro Martinez and Billy Wagner gambles all turned to vapor. Yet, they continue to chase The Next Great Star as if this was 2006 and they were one player away from greatness.

In 2008, Santana nearly pitched the Mets into the postseason. Beltran has been one of the best players in baseball for most of his Met contract. Pedro and Wagner were both All-Stars until they got hurt. Of all these contracts, the only one that could be considered a failure was the one for Pedro, who was only able to give the Mets 1 1/2 out of four years. Wagner was a top closer for more than 2 1/2 years out of his four-year deal. For a free-agent pitcher, that is a good percentage.

Klapisch should realize that the big-money signings are what propelled and kept the Mets in contention. Santana was not an "experiment," but a great move for a team that a the time was one player away.

The problem is not pursuing high-profile free agents. It is having a lousy farm system, mediocre coaching that does not teach fundamentals and a questionable training and medical staff.

In "Annie Hall," Allen says that a relationship is like a shark - it must keep moving forward or it dies. Klapisch thinks it is time to kill the shark:

It's true, dealing the franchise's best pitcher would be tantamount to surrender. But it would be at least be an honest admission to fans, who've grown weary of the all the disappointment.

Yep, that's the way to please the fans. Just like in 1977, when the Mets traded Tom Seaver. What a relief to not have to worry about whether or not I would land postseason tickets.

The Mets need to make like a shark and keep moving forward to return to contention in 2010.