INDIANAPOLIS — In the midst of yet another strategy session to unearth a capable starter, one Mets official suddenly began talking about Derek Lowe.
He certainly is available because the Braves have five other starters and want to remove the three years at $45 million left on his contract. Even in a down year, Lowe won 15 games and bettered 180 innings for the eighth straight year.
But almost as quickly as Lowe was proposed, he was all but dismissed. As desperate as Atlanta is, the Mets did not see it essentially giving Lowe away to a division foe.
Plus — more important — the Mets backed off on Lowe last offseason when his asking price went from three to four years. And now he has three years left on that four-year deal in his age — 37, 38 and 39 –seasons.
HARDBALL AT THE WINTER MEETINGS
That the Mets would even ponder about Lowe accentuates how much they are scouring to find a starter. The issue became more complicated because prices are higher than they anticipated this offseason.
The Mets did not expect Tim Hudson (Braves) and Randy Wolf (Brewers) to receive three-year deals or nearly $30 million each. Nor did they figure Brad Penny would raise the next tier of starters’ asking prices by getting a $7.5 million base in 2010, just months after being released in-season by the Red Sox.
The Mets, for example, were not planning to offer more than two years to Wolf, who was nearing an agreement yesterday with Milwaukee.
So for now the Mets are focused on five free agents: John Lackey, Joel Pineiro, Jason Marquis, Jon Garland and Doug Davis.
The internal debate among team brass was still ongoing on whether to go all-in on Lackey. Those against it are worried that investing too much in Lackey would leave too little to spend on catcher and left field.
Those in favor of Lackey think the righty, in tandem with Johan Santana, would most favorably impact the team. They reason the Mets are unlikely to get a star behind the plate, where Bengie Molina remains the priority, or in left field.
So why save the money for those spots? Besides, if the costs in the starter market are really rising, the pro-Lackey element figures why not just get the best guy rather than a more run-of-the-mill candidate?
As of yesterday afternoon, the Mets had not made an offer to any free-agent pitcher. However, they had met with Lackey’s rep, Steve Hilliard, and privately expect Lackey to receive a deal between Lowe’s figure (four years at $60 million) and A.J. Burnett’s (five years, $82.5 million).
Lackey currently is the only free-agent starter the Mets would consider going beyond three years on. That could knock them out on Pineiro, who is seeking a four-year deal.
The Mets would want to keep Davis, Garland and Marquis to no more than two years. The Mets have been mostly rebuffed in efforts to obtain Kevin Millwood because Texas refuses to accept Luis Castillo as a financial counterbalance.
As for Molina, the Mets think they can progress quickly and perhaps finalize a deal at these Winter Meetings. However, they also do not want to go more than two years on Molina. The catchers they are considering after Molina are Rod Barajas, Jason Kendall and Yorvit Torrealba. They also are gauging if the Rays would flip the recently obtained Kelly Shoppach.
The Mets believe they will not address left field until later in the off-season. They do not think they are players for Jason Bay or Matt Holliday. They discussed a John Maine-for-Milwaukee’s Corey Hart deal, but would only do that if they obtained two other starters.