WE know how this ends for Carlos Delgado with the Mets. We might not know the exact date or the exact term, be it designated for assignment or outright release, but we see the bread crumbs now heading toward the exit.
First, Delgado was dropped in the lineup. Last night he did not start against a righty, Braves rookie Jair Jurrjens. Willie Randolph publicly tries to minimize the relevance of such maneuvers. What else can he do?
His first baseman makes $16 million, and his employer isn’t quite ready to dine on that contract. Nevertheless, Randolph’s actions toward Delgado are going to speak louder than his words. And his words should not exactly comfort Delgado.
Given a direct chance to support Delgado yesterday, Randolph provided the kind of lukewarm endorsement you would expect Hillary Clinton to give Barack Obama.
“I can’t predict what he will do [statistically],” Randolph said. “I have confidence he will get going and have a decent year for us.”
Now imagine those tepid words said with the same enthusiasm you would supply reading the ingredients in toothpaste, and you get the full picture.
The Mets cannot pretend what is going on with Delgado is a blip, because blips don’t last a year and a month. There was always a rate of exchange with Delgado – accept the poor defense get 35 homers and 110 RBIs. But the defense is worse than ever, and the offense would be unacceptable for a middle infielder in 1968.
On a night when Shea fans again were in open hate with the home team, Delgado felt their wrath after a ninth-inning pinch-hit strikeout. He was hardly the lone culprit. The Mets managed two hits. Atlanta won 6-3.
It is hard to imagine the Mets offense ever taking off if Delgado continues on this path: one homer, nine RBIs and a .555 OPS, the second worst among 28 qualifying first basemen (Pittsburgh’s Adam LaRoche is at .429). At this point, Delgado’s 24 homers and .781 OPS that so appalled the organization and Mets fans last year would be a godsend.
Nevertheless, with Delgado two months shy of his 36th birthday, we should expect regression rather than rebound. That the Mets did not protect themselves for this contingency off of Delgado’s plummeting 2007 is a real blemish for Omar Minaya. Nobody on the roster is a full-time answer.
Mike Carp is tearing up Double-A. But three scouts said the 21-year-old lefty thumper said is not ready for the majors. “I like him,” one scout said. “But he is a level-to-level guy who is going to have to do Triple-A, as well, because he has a lot still to learn.”
If the Mets had a real internal answer, Delgado’s leash would be even shorter. They need an outside solution (Baltimore’s Kevin Millar?).
In reality, players such as Delgado are becoming extinct in the majors. Fading, aging sluggers Barry Bonds, Mike Piazza and Sammy Sosa did not get jobs, and the Blue Jays just fired Frank Thomas. If the Mets and Yankees did not have sizeable investments, Delgado and Jason Giambi might be unemployed, too, though Giambi has begun to show signs of life that have yet to touch Delgado in 2008.
The contract only will protect Delgado for so long. The Mets have championship designs, and in the past 25 years, just one champion has had a regular first baseman older than 32 (the 2001 Diamondbacks with 37-year-old Mark Grace).
It is hard to see these Mets fulfilling their quest with such minimal first base output, which is why it is hard to see Delgado holding his job all year.