I tend to agree with this. To me, it is far, far more irritating to lose Figueroa than to keep Jacobs. I have no problem using options as early-season decision-stallers, particularly when the decision is fairly minor (really, the difference between Jacobs and Carter over 4 weeks can’t be that big, particularly considering Carter’s own 1B defensive deficiencies). Over a long season, injuries tend to make decisions for you, and there’s no reason why the April 1 team has to be the June 15 team.

But there is a significant chance that the Mets will need 2-3 more arms in the rotation than they have right now—Maine is an injury risk, and Perez may be terrible again. Why would you decide to dump the asset that will inoculate you from those risks, when there were other ways to get around it (Green to minors, Mejia to minors)?

Something else I’ve been thinking of: regardless of whether they deserved it at the time, both Minaya and Manuel should have been fired last year, rather than being put on this proverbial “short leash,” based on the particular circumstances of this organization. The Mets have quite a few good young players who could really make a difference in 2011 and onward, but rushing them could stunt their development. The short leash really skews the incentives for Minaya and Manuel, like encouraging them to throw a 20-year old with an electric arm and 40 innings of high-minors experience in the bullpen in April. The organization’s best interests for the long-term required new management, or a longer guarantee to this management (which was not coming).