The Mets finalized a three-year, $36 million contract yesterday with Oliver Perez, which not only completed their rotation, but also almost certainly ended their association with Pedro Martinez and any long-shot possibilities they had of ever pursuing Manny Ramirez.
The Mets have methodically worked through this offseason one major issue at a time: Closer (Francisco Rodriguez), primary set-up man (J.J. Putz) and now significant rotation piece in Perez.
Sources familiar with their thinking say the final items on their agenda are small: low-cost options for a righty hitter off the bench (think free agent Rich Aurilia) and lefty reliever (think free agent Joe Beimel). That does not leave room for future Hall of Famers such as Martinez or Ramirez.
One person familiar with the Mets’ thinking said he could imagine that if Martinez’s price and alternatives elsewhere both plummeted even more than they already have, he could see GM Omar Minaya, at least, considering a lifeline.
“The idea of Pedro coming back was always a long-shot and the signing of Perez makes it even more remote,” said a person familiar with the Mets’ thinking. “I guess you can’t quite rule it out. I would put it in the extremely, extremely unlikely category.”
For now the Mets are prepared to have the same rotation front four as last year, with Perez rejoining Johan Santana, John Maine and Mike Pelfrey.
In their ideal scenario, Freddy Garcia would be healthy enough to take the No. 5 starter job with Tim Redding pushed to long relief and Jon Niese moved to Triple-A.
That would provide better potential rotation depth than the Mets have enjoyed in recent years – and also make it too crowded, in all likelihood, for Pedro’s return.
As for Manny, the Mets really have never made a move toward the high-maintenance, high-production slugger.
They are scared of his makeup, age, poor defense and – of course – his pricetag. Under Wilpon ownership, the Mets have always prioritized staying under the luxury-tax threshold, and signing Ramirez would move them near or perhaps even over the $162 million threshold.
Not counting Perez, the Mets have 20 players signed for next season at $117.3 million in just straight salary.
Perez, Pedro Feliciano’s arbitration, the $1.6 million given to Arizona to trade Scott Schoeneweis, Garcia’s base salary if he makes the roster and the few other players necessary to round out a 25-man roster would add approximately $17 million more to the total.
That puts the Mets’ payroll into the $133 million range, or about the same as last year.
Since the Mets do not want to go higher, they do not plan to pursue Bobby Abreu, either, even with his diminishing demands. They still think he costs too much, plus the Mets feel they already are too lefthanded and do not like Abreu’s defense.
As for Perez, they discussed the potential of giving him a three-year deal with a fourth-year option that would move the total package to $44 million if the option were triggered.
But Perez and his agent, Scott Boras, decided to stick with the three-year deal because it was worth more on average per year ($12 million) and also because it allows Perez to return to the free-agent market after the 2011 season, when he will be 30.
The Mets and Perez will hope he is a much more attractive commodity by then, because it would mean that he improved issues with his maturity and focus to reach his top-of-the-rotation potentials.
It was that potential, his age and his familiarity with New York that led many organizational decision-makers to favor Perez over Derek Lowe this offseason.
And when Lowe signed with the Braves for four years at $60 million, the Mets focused on reuniting with Perez, who went 10-7 last year with a 4.22 ERA, but a major league-high 105 walks.