INDIANAPOLIS — Ticket sales are lagging and fans are screaming for the Mets to make a meaningful acquisition.
And, poof, they suddenly were acknowledging making an offer yesterday to Jason Bay.
So was this merely a ploy to change the subject or was this a clear change of course this offseason?
A person familiar with the Mets’ bid said the offer was for four years and between $60 million and $65 million. Bay has already rejected a deal from Boston believed to be in the four-year, $60 million range. So was this an offer designed as a first step to more negotiations or an offer designed to be rejected, but also to get the Mets the positive feedback of being linked to a top player?
If the Mets’ intentions are pure then this is about a marriage of Omar Minaya’s instinct to big-game hunt combined with a current state of the free-agent and trade markets all but screaming to Minaya to follow his instincts.
The Mets find the second-level of talent both unappetizing and over-priced. So they figure why not make sure they cannot land one of the holy trinity of free agents from this tepid class — Bay, Matt Holliday or John Lackey — before accepting an inferior product.
“We don’t want to jump in too early and miss the chance at a big guy,” one Mets official said.
So on the day the Winter Meetings ended, the Mets made offers to Bay and No. 1 catching target Bengie Molina, hoping to keep Molina in the two-year, $12 million range. Why did they decide to turn to Bay now? The Mets’ front office felt Bay was the most likely to make a quick decision over a Scott Boras client (Holliday) or the best pitcher in the market (Lackey).
Bay has the kind of power the Mets crave and that would not be restrained much by Citi Field, but he is not a good defender. However, just as important is that the Mets do not find their next targets in free agency such as Marlon Byrd and Mike Cameron that attractive, and they were stonewalled on the trade market for such players as Juan Rivera and Josh Willingham.
Bay had 36 homers, 119 RBIs and a .384 on-base percentage last year for the Red Sox, who remain very much in the hunt for Bay. Boston is still trying to determine whether to sign Bay or Holliday. Other teams interested in Bay are the Mariners, Angels and Giants.
If the Mets land Bay, they would then try to make the best deal with a second-tier free agent starter from among Doug Davis, Jon Garland, Jason Marquis and Joel Pineiro. If Bay goes elsewhere, the Mets will turn strongly toward Lackey for the same reason they like Bay: He is far superior to that second tier.
At the moment, that group of starters is all asking for significant contracts emboldened by the early, surprising length and dollars received by Tim Hudson, Randy Wolf and, to some degree, Brad Penny.
The Mets do not see much separation in the skill level of this group and could not say for sure, for example, that Marquis would outpitch Garland or that Garland would outpitch Davis. So they don’t want to rush to sign one at what they feel are over-inflated prices. Instead, they believe there are not enough slots at those prices for all four of these starters to get the dollars they currently seek.
Thus, like rotation musical chairs, one or two will be without a team later in December or January, and the prices might lower.
Mostly, though, the Mets think they should wait because they cannot justify paying the current prices without fully investigating what the far superior Lackey will truly cost. The Mets would never forgive themselves if they signed a Davis and then Lackey actually ended up costing much closer to Derek Lowe’s contract (four years at $60 million) than A.J. Burnett’s (five years, $82.5 million).
But first up in the high-end aisle is Bay. Is he potential holiday present for downtrodden Mets’ fans or a cynical ploy to change the subject?
joel.sherman@nypost.com