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Since 2005, Mets fans have been used to seeing the same man run out to shortstop every day.  They have been used to seeing the same guy go diving into second base safely on a steal.  They have seen the same guy round second and head for third for a triple a dozen plus times a year.  They have been used to the same guy being called at the top of the lineup every day.  They have been used to the same man teach them new Spanish words every home game.  Now, yet another man will be taking his talents to south beach.

Jose Reyes will now be a member of the Miami Marlins.  Reyes signed a 6 year, $106 million deal on Sunday night.  The deal includes a $22 million option for a seventh year.  Reyes will leave the Mets for the team that looks to have a lot of promise in the future.  The Marlins have already signed closer Heath Bell.  They have been in contact with Albert Pujols and are prepared to make a huge offer.  Also, they are going to be looking for a starting pitcher, with Mark Buehrle being a definite option.  Not to mention, they have a brand new stadium next season and have changed their name from the Florida Marlins to the Miami Marlins.  This move obviously changes the Mets team completely as well as the National League East.  The Phillies, Braves, and Marlins are now looked at as the major contenders in the NL East while the Nationals and Mets seem to be on the outside looking in.

Mets fans saw it coming.  They knew there was no way the Mets could bring an offer higher to the table than what the Marlins brought.  The Mets just do not have the financial room to keep Reyes and then add more pieces, which they clearly need after having an extremely disappointing last couple of seasons at Citi Field.  Losing Reyes completely changes up everything in Queens.  It ends an era of one of the most exciting players we have ever seen in baseball.  Reyes was exuberant on the field and a one of a kind type player.  From his stolen bases to his triples to his flashy fielding, Reyes will be missed in every sense of the word.  Taking over for Reyes as shortstop will be 22 year old, Ruben Tejada.  Tejada got a good amount of playing time last season playing in 96 games and batting .284.  For Mets fans, it will never be the same.  Reyes is a guy that you do not see everyday.  He is a special player and a guy who changes the face of the team.  Tejada will not be that guy and still is developing as a player.  The Mets lose a leadoff hitter, a leader, and an all star and replace him with a bottom of the lineup type hitter who is solid defensively.  The Mets will learn in the coming seasons that nobody can replace what they had in Reyes and it is a tough road ahead for the Mets, who seem to be in a rebuilding mode.

For at least the next six years, Mets fans will now have to watch Reyes compete against them 18 times a year.  Fans have to see Reyes run out to shortstop nine times a year at Citi Field….in a Miami Marlins uniform.  For nine times a year, the first pitch at Citi Field will be made to Reyes.  It is going to be a bizarre feeling for Met fans.  It is a tough loss for the Mets to swallow, but it is time for the Mets to move on and try and build pieces to somehow replace one of the best shortstops of our era.

Photo by Keith Allison

Whether Jose Reyes leaves or David Wright is traded, or both remain in New York, the “true” face of the Mets franchise is Johan Santana. Since 2007 the Mets have been filled with injury prone players, bad contract investments, failed to meet expectations, and enter 2012 with an uncertain future. Granted, the Mets have other nominees for these dubious distinctions such as Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo, and now Jason Bay, but none come close to the stature of $151 million stature of Santana.

Since joining the Mets in 2008, Santana has battled injuries in 2009, 2010, and missing all of 2011 due to shoulder surgery. Following the surgery Santana had setbacks in his rehabilitation towards the end of the season. The injury setbacks have placed doubt throughout the Mets organization that Santana can live up to the remaining guaranteed two years and $49.5 million left on his deal with a $5.5 million buyout option for 2014. As of the first four years of the deal, and nearly $78 million, Santana has won 40 games. That averages out to $1.94 million per win, which is the type of math that only Bernie Madoff would approve. With Santana anchoring the rotation the Mets have failed to make the playoffs since 2006 and his highest win total was 16 wins back in 2008. The bottom line is that Santana hasn’t been worth the large investment the Mets made to make him the ace of their pitching staff.

Heading into the winter and into the 2012 season the Mets future forecast is cloudier than ever. It’s anyone’s guess if Santana can return from shoulder surgery, if Reyes or Wright will be with the club, and what exactly are the financial restraints from the Madoff fall out. Santana will look to prove his critics wrong and show that he can return to his Cy-Young form as the face of a Mets franchise that’s in need of a facelift makeover.

Follow me on Twitter: @MikeAScotto

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Crazy, right? Wrong.

In two seasons with the Mets, Jason Bay has a .252 AVG and 18 home runs. In one season with the Red Sox, Bay hit .267 and 36 home runs. The obvious answer to the dramatic decrease in production for Bay is the size of Citi Field compared to Fenway Park. Even with the renovations that will be made at Citi Field, it will still be one of the biggest parks in the league and Bay will never be able to showcase his power.

Before Bay’s term with the Mets, he hit 21 or more home runs in each season. I’m not trying to beat a dead horse here, but Bay has yet to hit 20 home runs in two seasons with the Mets.

Now it’s safe to say that Jose Reyes will not be back with the Mets in 2012. This calls for a replacement player. Although Carl Crawford did not live up to the hype in 2011, you would be pretty narrow-minded to think that he won’t have more seasons like he had in Tampa in the coming years.

The only way this could work would be if the Mets agreed to take at least 60% of Crawfords contract.

This would be a trade in which both sides could benefit. The Red Sox would open up a lot of money to go get a much needed starting pitcher, Bay would be back in Boston where he made a living off of the 310 foot left field wall, and Crawford would be able to slap the ball to each gap and use his speed to run out triples. Hence, replacement player.

Photo by Keith Allison

The July 31st trade deadline looms! We’re now into the peak period when general managers try their luck, play the hand they’ve been dealt and maintain their best poker face in trying to either better their ballclub for the heat of the pennant race or cut their losses and live to play another day. In a few days, we’ll find out who’s selling and who’s buying. The Mets, predictably, will most likely be selling and streamlining the big club for next season while trying to re-stock down on the farm.

The Mets have already lightened the load by sending closer Francisco Rodriguez to the Brewers for 2 of the proverbial players to be named later. As long as these unnamed players are still breathing when they get here, the Mets made a good deal. Fans complained that letting go of K-Rod well before the deadline leaves the team without a closer, shows management has given up, etc. The front office struck while the iron was hot after finding a pigeon in Milwaukee and then closed the deal as soon as they could. The Mets were very fortunate that Rodriguez has behaved himself since his major snap of last season. That made the process of shipping him off that much smoother.

Aside from the obvious tolling of Carlos Beltran and the impending free-agency of Jose Reyes, I don’t see the Mets as having too many more desirable chips to deal away. Unless someone wants one of the young former Buffalo Bisons or if Ronny Paulino has convinced another club that he’s actually a good hitter, pickings are slim. Sandy Alderson should start off his phone conversations with a joke, “Trade? Sure! How about Bay and Pelfrey?! LOL!” If by some sheer miracle the other party bites, reel them in like they’re Captain Kidd’s treasure!

I think Alderson will make a strong play to re-sign Reyes, and unless Jose’s a great actor, he looks like he sincerely wants to be here. You just have to cross your fingers that the hamstrings hold up and if they do, you’ve got one of the best and most exciting players in the game locked up. And unless Sandy’s a great actor, I think he’s finally realized how popular Reyes is with the fan base and that he’d have a mutiny and mass exodus on his hands if he let Jose slip away without an excruciatingly major struggle.

Beltran is gone. It’s just a matter of the details – where and most importantly, for whom! Some say his career as a Met would have been much different if he didn’t look at Strike 3 in the 2006 NLCS. If he popped to short, would that have made a difference? Not really. The only way things would have been different? If he won the game and if that Mets club went on to take the Series that year. Even so, Carlos was not vilified after the Mets were so abruptly eliminated in ’06. He’s been a good soldier here, aside from that minor Walter Reed visit bump-in-the-road. He was not a free-agent bust. He’s had some great games as a Met, capped off by his game-tying HR the other night up into the Pepsi Porch that landed next to Gary, Keith & Ron who were doing the broadcast from up there. He’s remained healthy and put together a great season, earning an All-Star nod. He deserves to go to one of the teams on his trade list and help them win, just as he did with the Mets on many occasions. Gracias, Carlos. Adios y buena suerte.

No final grades as yet. We’re only halfway through the season. The Mid-Summer Classic is in the offing, and we still have three solid months of baseball to be played.

Now, about the Mets. Taking everything into consideration – the new front office, the old financials of the owners and all THAT, the introduction of a prospective new minority owner, the ridiculous design of the playing field dimensions and the injuries. Taking all these factors into consideration, to be hovering around .500 at the halfway point I’d give the club a sold ‘B” grade.

Sports Illustrated picked the Mets to be ugly this season, yet as of this writing they‘re 3rd in the NL East. Pretty respectable, considering they have the Braves and the Phillies ahead of them – both superior clubs.

With keys lost like Santana, Wright and Davis, role players like Murphy, Pridie, Turner, Tejada have plugged the holes and performed more than adequately. Carlos Beltran has played above and beyond. No one would have counted on Carlos to be in the lineup as much as he has and to make an impact daily. A most pleasant surprise! Bay? We‘ve discussed this already. He’s under achieved seriously, and although he’s shown some signs of snapping out of late, he’s got a long way to go. And the overwhelming play of Reyes. Jose is having an MVP-type season. Sandy Alderson has a big decision to make on whether he wants to re-sign Reyes, or deal him and build his money-ball club. If dealt, however, he’ll never receive equal value or replace what Jose brings to the lineup. Right now he’s performed like he’s one of the top 5 players in the game.

Mike Pelfrey’s issues and inconsistencies are not physical I’m afraid. Chris Young loss was a big one. Capuano, Gee, Niese hqave all been solid. Dickey has been his bulldog-self. Pitching for the Amazin’s has been a pleasant surprise. K-Rod wouldn’t fit the mold of being a Mets’ closer if he didn’t make you sweat every time he appears. I’d still try to find a taker for him sooner rather than later and groom Bobby Parnell to close. Problem is there are most likely zero teams interested in Frankie.

The Mets have made do with less. There’s another factor however. The leadership. I admit I was not in favor of the hiring of Terry Collins. I felt the club needed to keep a tie to the past and make a popular choice for the new skipper, like Wally Backman. I was wrong. Terry Collins has been a GREAT hire for this club, and it’s a welcome and refreshing change from the regimes dating back numerous years. A manager who was tagged with “losing the clubhouse” in the past scared me, but this is a perfect example of a man who can learn from his experiences. Terry Collins has taken a damp sponge and parlayed it into a positive glass half-full!

Despite the injuries and the other factors, Reyes is captivating the country, Beltran’s an All-Star and Terry Collins is right for the reigns. Met fans shouldn’t “settle” and be satisfied with a .500 club, but they certainly should “B” happy with their team at the break.

Photo by slgckgc

The Mets organization reached out to Reyes last week in an attempt to negotiate a contract extension.

His answer came yesterday: We’ll talk….later…

That’s the message shortstop Jose Reyes and his agent had for the Mets yesterday at Citifield.  Reyes said he would not discuss future contracts with the Mets GM Sandy Alderson during the regular season because he didn’t want it to be a distraction.

“It is Jose’s desire to postpone any negotiations until after the season,” Alderson told reporters prior to Monday’s game against Oakland.  “He wants to focus on baseball…We will respect his wishes and hopefully pick up negotiations at the end of the season.”

What does this mean for the Mets?  Well, first and foremost, it means that any advantage they had in negotiating exclusively with Reyes between now and the start of free agency has been reduced by about three months.

That being said, Reyes’ agent, Peter Greenberg told Newsday that “The Mets will have an exclusive window at the end of the year.”  Yes, but it will be a lot shorter than it appeared to be just 24 hours ago.

Reyes has made it clear in the past that he loves New York and would like to finish his career as a member of the Mets.  But with the franchise’s current financial woes, can they afford to ink a player like Reyes to a long term big money contract?  The specter of the $1 billion lawsuit by Madoff case Trustee Irving Picard is still hanging over the heads of ownership.

There’s also the matter of owner Fred Wilpon’s quote last month that Reyes won’t get “Carl Crawford money,” a statement Wilpon may come to regret.  Now, with his MVP worthy numbers and the demand for quality shortstops by contending teams, the possibility continues to increase that if he doesn’t get a seven-year, $142 million deal like Crawford did, Reyes may come very close.

The fans are still behind Reyes.  Another banner was in the stands at Citifield last night proclaiming “Don’t Trade Reyes.”  The sentiment has been echoed at rallies and on local sports talk radio by Mets fans who have grown up watching and rooting for the speedy shortstop since he made his debut as a Met back in 2003.

There are many factors the Mets must consider when deciding whether or not to trade Reyes.  Certainly, from a baseball standpoint, if they deal him or let him leave as a free agent, what will they get in return?  Alderson obviously wants to get as much back as he can. In the short term, anybody else they bring in to play shortstop will be a step down, but what combination of prospects, draft picks and players could the Mets get for Reyes?

Money obviously also remains a big factor both short term and long term. The recent addition of David Einhorn as a minority owner certainly helps.  If the lawsuit by Picard is settled or resolved in the next few months, that would also give ownership a clearer idea of where they stand budget-wise going forward.

But perhaps a bigger issue remains what message trading Reyes would send to an already frustrated fan base.  A fan base that wants to know their team is committed to winning and almost unanimously wants to keep one of the team’s most productive and popular players who at 28 already has an injury history, but is also  just entering the prime of his career.

What happens to Reyes will say a lot about the future of the Mets franchise.  All we know now is that a contract extension isn’t in the cards until the end of the season.  That is, if Reyes is still in a Mets uniform by then…

In light of the lack of offense supplied by Jason Bay since he signed with the Mets, it’s time to arrive at a solution to the problem. Do you stick with the struggling one-time slugger as he’s tossed asunder by the stormy seas of a horrendous slump – playing him every day while getting no production at all? Or do you flush Bay down the tubes and sit him in favor of another in the hopes of catching lightning in a bottle?

Although you can cry “foul” when the Bay signing is compared to some of the worst free-agent additions in Mets’ history due to the amount of time he lost last season, the picture we’ve seen speaks a thousand words – this guy looks like he wouldn’t hit if you sent him up there with an ironing board. Speak of the devils, let’s take a look at some of the worst free-agent signings by the Mets the last 20 years:

Vince Coleman – lead-off hitter and sparkplug for some great Cardinal teams before coming to the Mets in 1990. Embarrassed the club with the allegations made against him and two other Mets that spring by a Port St. Lucie woman, as well as the Dodger Stadium incident when he threw a firecracker into a crowd of autograph seekers, injuring 4 children including a 2 year-old.

Bobby Bonilla – the Mets are still making deferred payments to this bust. Best remembered for trying to intimidate writer Bob Klapisch with the immortal “I’ll show you the Bronx” threat.

Kevin Appier – just a colossal yawn for the huge price tag. What’s worse is that they shipped him off to Anaheim after one season for Mo Vaughn.

Tom Glavine – leave it to the Mets to obtain a future Hall of Famer and give him ample opportunity to tarnish his HOF plaque (see Roberto Alomar…they were too late in delaying the trip to Cooperstown for Yogi Berra, Duke Snider. Warren Spahn and Willie Mays) . Will forever be recalled for his laissez-faire reaction after getting shelled in the final game of the ‘07 season, costing the Mets a shot at the post-season.

Kaz Matsui – after performing like Ryne Sandberg in Japan, he was the first Japanese infielder signed by a ML club. He was sub-par at the plate and a sieve in the field. Imagine this, younger fans, the Mets once seriously considered moving the highly-regarded prospect they had at shortstop to second base to make room for Matsui. The prospect‘s name? Jose Reyes.

Luis Castillo – this nightmare is still fresh in our memories. No need to add salt to this wound.

Back to Jason Bay…as Ralph Kiner once remarked, the Mets are paying Bay to hit homeruns, not singles. Right now, he’s doing neither. Plus he draws the ire of the fans who view his failing as a big waste of money. Bay needs to be sent to AAA to work out a solution to his problems just as another fellow Mets’ free-agent Steve Trachsel once did. In the meantime, the club can’t afford his lack of production and a player like Jason Pridie who has shown promise can add more punch to the offensive attack.

Despite their recent success, winning two straight games against the Atlanta Braves, the New York Mets are still in fourth place in the National League East (NL East). With financial issues and concerns about keeping some of their key players, the Mets short-term future is very interesting. Mets owner Fred Wilpon made edgy comments that were towards shortstop Jose Reyes, third baseman David Wright (15-day DL stress fracture in lower back) and right fielder Carlos Beltran, were a little rough- but was it a lie?

Wilpon stated that Reyes won’t be getting “Carl Crawford” (Boston Red Sox left fielder) like money, because he’s more likely to get injured. “He thinks he’s going to get Carl Crawford money,” Wilpon said. “He’s had everything wrong with him. He won’t get it.”  That statement could have been said differently, as to not sound like he’s attacking Reyes, but Wilpon makes sense. Crawford signed a seven-year $142 million dollar contract with the Red Sox in the off-season. The fact is Reyes won’t be getting that from the Mets. Reyes is in the last year of his contract, and there’s a possibility he could get traded before the season is over.

Wright is still dealing with stress fractures in his lower back, and he’s not expected to return until for another three weeks. Wilpon believes Wright is a good player, but not a superstar, “Really good kid. A very good player. Not a superstar,” said Wilpon. Wilpon was on the money with that statement. Wright is a good player for the Mets and some believe he’s the leader of this team. He is not at the superstar level of an Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez,  or Roy Halladay. While Wright can certainly be considered a star- his skill level simply doesn’t compare to the superstars of the league.

Beltran had a great playoff performance in 2004 as a member of the Houston Astros, and Wilpon believes he got rich off that one post-season. “We had some schmuck in New York who paid him based on that one series. He’s 65 to 70 percent of what he was,” said Wilpon. Again, could have stated it differently, but it does make sense. Beltran injuried his leg going for a foul ball against the Braves, and he still isn’t 100 percent, and he’s 34 years of age. Clearly he’s skills are slipping, if it hasn’t begun already.

Wilpon was making statements an average Mets fan will make. At least he was being honest, and didn’t hide from the truth. Now that Wilpon knows the truth about his players, lets hope he makes the right decision as the trade deadline and off-season approaches.

Yes, it’s only 4 games into the young season, but the New York Mets are off to a 3-1 start and are attempting replace all the negatives from last year with new and hopeful promises. Even though they had an Opening Day dud down in Florida against the Marlins with pseudo-Ace Mike Pelfrey giving up a grand-slam to John Buck, the Mets were able to take the last 2 games of the series with timely hitting from newcomer Willie Harris and great pitching from Jonathon Neise and R.A. Dickey. With that winning series, the Mets were able to get their 1st series win on the road out the way early. I mention this because it took the Mets in to June last season to get their 1st road series win. Automatically, it’s a better season.

If the Mets can keep up the aggressive play and good pitching, it will go a long way in turning this season into an overall positive. The Mets’ franchise has been battered and beleaguered by mismanagement that has permeated through the entire team. Not to mention the Bernie Madoff mess that overshadowed the entire offseason. So far, through 4 games, the Mets seemed to have bought in to what newcomer Terry Collins is preaching as manager.

You might have questioned some of the moves Collins has made so far. Why he pinch-hit for Josh Thole on opening day with Scott Hairston when they were down 5-2? Why Josh Thole sat last night for the lefty Cole Hamels? Terry Collins has a prerogative to not only get all of his players some at bats early on but also to find out what his players can do in certain situations. Granted, Thole is considered your everyday catcher and, at 24 years old, he should be getting all the at-bats he can. However, Collins has a plan and with the early returns positive, you can’t question it excessively.

I’m not saying the Mets are going to win the World Series because they’ve won 3 of 4. I’m not saying that by the end of the month they’ll even be .500. What I am saying is for a team that was picked by most experts to be horrid this season, to be in one way or another a joke around MLB, they have come out of the gate strong and are playing the way you would want them to. And, if they can maintain it, the loyal Mets fan base will have something to cheer about this season.

One of the more well-known proverbs warns the individual that they must lie in the bed they’ve made for themselves. For example, those who sleep around while they’re married tend to end up alone once both parties figure out what they’re up to. In general, people have to take both the good and the bad consequences that come with their actions.

Someone needs to refresh Brian Cashman on the existence of this proverb. On Saturday, Cashman criticized the Mets’ treatment of new Yankee Pedro Feliciano, who is currently on the disabled list with a shoulder injury. Cashman used the word “abused” to describe his use by the Mets, who trotted him out to the mound 266 times in the past three years, including 92 games last season.

Cashman has a right to be upset that his $8 million investment hasn’t earned a cent of that money in a regular-season game yet, and may not for at least a month. But his finger-pointing isn’t helping matters. The statement was a deflection tactic, an attempt to use the much-maligned Mets management to make people forget that the Yankees took a risk when they signed the 34-year-old lefty. It’s a risk the Yankees knew they were taking, and it’s one they’ll have to take responsibility for.

One of the general rules about pitchers in major league baseball (and at any level) is that the more they throw, the more susceptible to injury they become. Denny McLain’s workload during his 31-win MVP season of 1968 ended up sapping him of his ability to pitch by 1972. Mike Marshall, who set appearance records in 1973 and 1974 and threw nearly 400 innings out of the bullpen in those two seasons, dealt with injuries that prevented him from pitching a full season again until 1979; he was out of baseball two years later. Part of Doc Gooden’s downfall was credited to the 644.2 innings he pitched in his first three seasons. Every now and then, you’ll get a Nolan Ryan or a Greg Maddux, who can withstand years of pitching 200+ innings without suffering arm problems. But for every Ryan, there’s an Andy Messersmith, and for every Maddux, there’s a Mark Prior, a pitcher with tremendous talent who has it sapped from him due to arm problems.

Feliciano may not have thrown over 300 innings in a season, like McLain did, but he approached Mike Marshall-like numbers in terms of appearances. In fact, he eclipsed them; his 266 appearances over the last three years were a major league record. “Perpetual” Pedro, as he was known to Mets fans, would frequently get into every game of a three or four-game set, particularly if the opposing team was from Philadelphia. He was the linchpin of the team’s bullpen. He was Jerry Manuel’s most consistent performer. And he wanted the workload that he got, if you believe Dan Warthen’s response to Cashman’s comments yesterday. There was no sense of outrage from any party while Feliciano was wearing orange and blue.

One of Sandy Alderson’s biggest decisions this off-season was deciding whether to bring back Feliciano, particularly at the $4 million per year he was expected to fetch on the open market. His service to the Mets over the previous three seasons was unquestionably important to the team’s success, but leftover thoughts of the “Moneyball” philosophy on left-handed specialists (specifically, the over-rating of lefty-lefty/righty-righty matchups), as well as concerns over Feliciano’s workload, caused the Mets to let him go. The Yankees swooped in and gave him that two-year, $8 million contract, presumably after considering at least the latter concern, which makes Cashman’s comments on Saturday stranger at this point.

The one thing that comes to mind is that Cashman never wanted Feliciano on the Yankees to begin with. If you remember, when the Yankees gave Rafael Soriano a big contract to be the team’s setup man this off-season, Cashman distanced himself from the signing, saying it came from executives above his head in the organization. It’s possible that Cashman didn’t want to spend that type of money on Feliciano, either, and that he’s lashing out at his own organization with his comments. That seems to be the most logical explanation, at least.

It certainly doesn’t make sense to lash out at the Mets months after bringing the lefty specialist in, though. Everyone knew that the Mets used Feliciano at a record pace in the last three years. It’s not a stretch to imagine that he would suffer from arm problems at any point of the two-year deal he signed. It’s a shame that it happened in the inaugural moments of the contract, but that’s the risk the Yankees took.

Gerald R. Johnson once said that “no man was ever endowed with a right without being at the same time saddled with a responsibility”. Cashman had the right to offer Feliciano the contract he did. He can’t try to deflect the responsibility now that he took that risk.

He made his bed. Now he has to lie in it.

Sometimes, when you’re living in a moment, you don’t realize how good something can be.

An example: I spent my high school years complaining about how miserable I was. I spent my college years complaining about how much different school was compared to my expectations. Once I got out of both, however, I discovered that I enjoyed both more than I consciously realized. Sure, I wasn’t the most popular guy in either place, but I had friends, I had fun, and I made few enemies.

Before Oliver Perez’s release became official earlier today, I was thinking about what his most endearing memory in a Mets uniform would be. I assumed that it would be some appearance in the last two years where he couldn’t find the plate with his fastball, where he looked like an A-ball pitcher against the Pirates, where he embarrassed himself and the four script letters on the front of his jersey.

But that wasn’t what first came to mind.

No, my most endearing memory of Oliver Perez’s Mets tenure comes from one October night in 2006, when the then-26-year-old Mexican lefty was thrust into pitching in the biggest game of the Mets season, a Game 7 to determine whether or not the team would play in the World Series. (In hindsight, can anyone believe that the Mets almost pitched Dave Williams in this game?) What sticks in my brain is Perez’s reaction when Endy Chavez single-handedly kept the Mets in that game on that ball Scott Rolen hit over the Shea Stadium fence. It started with a spontaneous reaction of excitement that encapsulated what Mets fans were feeling in that moment, and ended with some sort of Tiger Woods arm-swing dance and run off the mound.

Forget that Chavez basically bailed Perez out with that catch. It was a great moment, and it automatically put Perez in the good graces of Mets fans, even after Aaron Heilman blew the entire season three innings later.

Sure, Perez undid all of that good will after Omar Minaya handed him a 3-year, $36 million deal he couldn’t possibly live up to before the 2009 season. His ERA over the past two years was 6.81, his strikeout to walk ratio was under 1, and he consistently refused to do the right thing by going down to the minor leagues. Forget all that. If you’re a Mets fan, the last two years shouldn’t exist in your brain anyway.

Yesterday, I wrote an article saying that it was pointless for the Mets to bring Luis Castillo into spring training, since they were going to cut him anyway. Castillo, I argued, was still capable of playing in some capacity on a major league roster, but that wasn’t going to be with the Mets. Keeping him in spring training worked against both him and the organization.

Perez, too, shouldn’t have made it to spring training, but for a different reason: everyone knew that he wasn’t capable of helping a major league team in any capacity. Perez himself seemed like he knew it with his comments today. I don’t think I’ve seen a pitcher look as clueless as he did on a pitching mound this spring, unless you include an All-Star game appearance I made during Northport little league when I was in fifth grade. (The only reason I didn’t give up a walk-off grand slam was because I had a center fielder taller than the fence.)

When you consider Perez’s last two years of work, it seems impossible to remember that he put up several decent major league seasons in the not-so-distant past. Once traded for Brian Giles as a prospect, he never lived up to the promise he showed in 2004 with Pittsburgh, when he posted a 2.98 ERA and led the league with 11.0 strikeouts per nine innings. Of course, he was horrible the next two years, but his two emergency NLCS starts allowed him to revitalize his career in 2006, to the point where he put up good enough seasons in 2007 and 2008 to keep him in the majors. (Let’s not forget that the Mets trusted him enough to start the last game of 2008, and, unlike Tom Glavine, he left them in a position to win.)

But the contract, a panic move after Derek Lowe spurned the Mets for the Braves, was a disaster. This writer knew it would be from the moment he first heard about it, even though some people were defending it at the time. (No one will admit to it now, I’m sure.) I worried that Perez would regress and suffer the same mental struggles that derailed him in Pittsburgh. I don’t think I knew things would go as badly as they did, but there were plenty of warning signs that should have told Omar Minaya to stay away. He didn’t, and now the Mets are here.

Perez and Castillo were easy targets for Met fan ire over the last two years, and they felt plenty of it. Now they’re both gone, and the Mets’ prospects for 2011 look no brighter. (As I write this, Mike Pelfrey is facing his eighth batter in the fourth inning of a spring training game without getting an out.) Mets fans will probably find a new target to whine about, point at for the team’s troubles, make it seem like the team will be much better without (Carlos Beltran looks like the next logical target). It won’t change the fact that the team will be lucky to stay out of the NL East cellar this year, but it is a step in the right direction, at least.

Castillo, predictably, latched on to a new team quickly, finalizing a minor league contract with the Phillies earlier today. The Mets could see a lot of Castillo this year, particularly with Chase Utley’s knee problems uncertain. Perez’s major league future is unclear. He hasn’t proved that he can get batters out in the last two and a half years. His fastball was topping out at 86 in spring training, and when that’s coupled with remarkable control problems, it makes a pitcher’s value approach nil at any level. Perez’s major league career is likely over; his baseball career at any level could be as well.

Mets fans will likely look back at Perez’s tenure with scorn and disdain, comparable to the tenures of Bobby Bonilla (twice), Roger Cedeño (part 2), Vince Coleman (felt like twice), Mo Vaughn, and Castillo. They’ll see only the bad, see the pitcher who failed spectacularly after signing his contract, which will arguably be seen the worst in Mets history. The name will likely inspire feelings of anger whenever it’s brought up in the future.

Me? I’ll remember all that. But the most endearing moment will be from that Game 7, remembering the reaction to Chavez’s catch, feeling like I was dancing off that mound with him. In that moment, the Mets felt invincible.

Since then, they’ve been anything but.

Photo by Keith Allison

By now, every Mets fan knows that the team cut Luis Castillo free yesterday, parting with the past-his-prime second baseman with one year and $6 million left on a four-year deal that was a disaster from the minute it was announced in November of 2007.

The move doesn’t catch anyone by surprise. Castillo’s fate was written on the wall as soon as Sandy Alderson stepped in the door in November.  His injury-plagued 2010 certainly didn’t help his cause; had he recorded enough at-bats to qualify for the OPS leaders a year ago, his .604 clip would have been the second-lowest in the major leagues, ahead of only Cesar Izturis.

Castillo will likely be chided by fans and media alike for his last words to the Mets upon getting his release. According to Newsday, he told manager Terry Collins that he felt like he didn’t get a fair crack in the team’s five-headed second base competition. “I said, ‘I came here to play and you didn’t give me the chance,’ ” he told Newsday’s David Lennon. ” ‘You didn’t use me.’ ”

On the surface, Castillo doesn’t have much of a leg to stand on (and no, that’s not a crack at his bad knees). The Mets paid him to play poorly for them for two of the past three years (it’s easy to forget, but he hit .302 in 580 at-bats with an on-base percentage of .387 in 2009, when he stayed healthy). They watched as the All-Star attributes he demonstrated with Florida vanished. His range in the field evaporated, his speed was sapped from him, and his .320 averages started dipping south of .250, magnifying his biggest flaw (a lack of any power whatsoever) even further in the process.

Yes, it’s hard to imagine that any of the parties involved (including Castillo) expected him to win the second-base competition. And Castillo’s 29-at-bat spring training sample showed more of the same: a .289 average, no power, and suspect fielding. When you can’t beat out players like Luis Hernandez and Brad Emaus for a starting job, you are best served elsewhere.

But consider this: Instead of Castillo saying “I didn’t get a fair shot” with the Mets, does he mean that he didn’t get a fair shot anywhere to earn a roster spot? It’s clear he wasn’t going to earn it here unless he put up Ty Cobb-like spring numbers at the plate and looked like Ozzie Smith in the field, all within a tiny sample size. Castillo might have been saying that the Mets should have cut him sooner rather than later, allowing him to look for a job elsewhere.

It certainly would’ve made sense from the Mets perspective. They would have avoided the headache of having Omar Minaya’s two albatrosses (Castillo and Oliver Perez) taking up roster space in camp. And Castillo would have had a chance to give a new organization a fresh look at him for a cheap price. Now, Castillo will likely have to start the regular season in the minors so whatever team he latches on to can go through that evaluation process.

Some might say things like “tough”, “it isn’t like Castillo isn’t getting paid”, and “he sucks”. These are all fair points, and the Mets certainly had every right to hold Castillo to his contract. It just seemed rather pointless. It’s possible that the Mets’ financial troubles forced them to hold him into spring training until they could find the money to buy him out, but otherwise, it made more sense to cut the cord and bury the cost to avoid the subsequent media distractions that followed.

One thing’s for sure, and that’s that Castillo will not be missed by Mets fans. He, along with Perez, were vilified by the fan base, frequently pointed to as scapegoats for the team’s problems. Make no mistake, they were terrible investments from Minaya. (This writer sensed that both would be from day one.) Castillo’s scapegoat status was larger, perhaps, because of the way a Mets-Yankees game ended on June 12, 2009, which overshadowed what was actually a decent. (Perez, remember, kept the Mets in game 7 of the 2006 NLCS, and put together a decent 2008, so Mets fans had an easier time accessing positives before he signed his new deal.)

But Castillo should not be met with as much disdain as Perez. Perez was audacious enough to frequently rebuff requests from the Mets to figure out whatever mysterious problems ail him in the minor leagues last season. We have no reason to believe that Castillo would have refused such a request, as it was never posed. And Perez’s career went into the tank as soon as he inked his contract. Castillo still put together one decent season at the plate, at least.

Castillo’s situation reminds me a lot of Rick Dipietro’s with the New York Islanders. They both were offered bad contracts; it’s not their fault they signed them. They both proceeded to suffer recurring injury problems, problems that their respective teams had ample warning about before said contracts were offered. It was no surprise, then, that they were unable to live up to the terms of the contract. Perhaps they failed more spectacularly than anyone expected, but at least they tried to fulfill their deals to the best of their ability. The same cannot be said for Perez, although the warning signs were there, too.

Regardless, Luis Castillo’s era in New York is over. He will be the next in a long line of failed big-money acquisitions in this organization, alongside the Roberto Alomars, Bobby Bonillas (twice), and (soon-to-be) Oliver Perezes of the world. The bad will greatly outshine the good, as it should, and Mets fans will be stuck with another player to try to forget.

It just didn’t have to last as long as it did.