because i’ve heard many people here and elsewhere state that holliday is the easy choice this winter mainly because he “only costs money” whereas someone like gonzalez will cost players.

however like you mentioned, acquiring holliday means locking ourselves in for 7-8 years at a rate of $17-20/yr. in my eyes a contract like that severely limits our roster flexibility going forward; basically, he becomes the last high level FA we could expect to sign until another one of the “stars” (beltran, wright, reyes, k-rod, santana) is gone.

so in a pretty tangible (though opposite) way holliday will cost us players too, the players we couldn’t sign as a result of paying him deep into the next decade. this means that beyond missing out on the elite 2011 pitching market, when superstars like hanley, pujols, prince, felix or haren potentially become FA’s in the next 2-3 years the Mets probably can’t be major players.

i’m not saying holliday is a terrible idea because he’s definitely a good bet to earn that contract but i don’t think it’s the no-brainer, “its just money” situation that people are characterizing. money is not quite as fungible an asset as people seem to think. like players, money is a commodity, one that can and does run out leaving a team that needs to bolster through FA out of luck.

Inside my mind is screaming (ARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH) Why why why why why why, the agony of it all. Serenity now.

Can’t they see his stats are misleading thanks to the power surge of Cards’ bats? I’m asking this question to myself since the Mets front office will not to keep myself sane.

Just want to bang my head against my desk and got back to happier times.

Thanks for letting me vent.

if we can dump Castillo?

In my mind he’s already set every Mets homer record. I think I need to temper my expectations a bit, but when was the last time the Mets had a prospect with his power potential?

than Lackey for $75 million.

he cant even catch a beer, and that was bigger and moving much slower than a baseball moves. Hardly bodes well for his defense.