DALLAS — None of this replaces Jose Reyes, especially when it comes to filling seats. No one ever bought a ticket to specifically watch Jon Rauch pitch.
But the Mets made a series of incremental moves yesterday designed to — at the least — bring competence and competitiveness to their 2012 team while buying more time for the better elements of their farm system to grow.
They clearly had a post-Reyes plan they were waiting to exact when their shortstop officially departed, and they did by signing free-agent relievers Frank Francisco and Jon Rauch, and trading Angel Pagan to the Giants for reliever Ramon Ramirez and center fielder Andres Torres.
Again, no Mets fan will celebrate these kinds of supplementary players, especially with Reyes set to don a Marlins jersey at a press conference today at the Winter Meetings. However, with a tight budget, GM Sandy Alderson is trying to create a team that is better on defense and at protecting leads.
Francisco and Rauch combined for 28 of the Blue Jays’ 33 saves last year. No one would see either as an elite closer, and neither was paid that way. Francisco received a two-year, $12 million deal and Rauch a one-year, $3.5 million pact. The difference in salary would suggest Francisco will get first crack to close.
But what the Mets envision is that duo plus Ramirez and holdovers Bobby Parnell, Manny Acosta and Tim Byrdak giving Terry Collins depth and diversity. They certainly saw that this was an area of weakness that needed to be addressed by throwing quality and quantity at the problem. The Mets certainly noticed how much a deep bullpen helped the Cardinals win a World Series last year with a good, but not great rotation. And the Mets recognize their 2012 rotation will stray a lot more toward good than great.
And don’t ignore Ramirez’s value. His 2.77 ERA over the last four seasons is sixth in the majors (minimum 250 appearances) behind only established closers Mariano Rivera, Heath Bell, Francisco Rodriguez, Jonathan Papelbon and Jose Valverde.
Meanwhile, Pagan and Torres have similarities. They are both switch-hitting outfielders who played well in 2010, but not in 2011. However, as one club official said, “we were really down on Pagan.” They didn’t like his defense in center field or his unwillingness to embrace hitting leadoff during Reyes’ injury absences.
Now Reyes has to be replaced as the leadoff man full time, and Torres has a much longer history of handling the role. In addition, he is viewed by both scouts and defensive metrics as a far superior center fielder to Pagan.
The Mets will now try to bottom fish for a starting pitcher in the way they did last year for Chris Capuano and Chris Young; in fact, one club official told me Alderson favorite Young might be brought back on a minor league contract to see if he can overcome his shoulder problems. They also might look for a second baseman or a trade for Daniel Murphy.
Again, none of that exhilarates, especially in the aftermath of Reyes’ departure. But the 2012 schedule does not go away with Reyes; a team must be assembled. And yesterday the Mets made a series of moves that made sense on their limited budget. At times like these, the best the Mets might be able to do is demonstrate competence. They did that here.