Is Minaya Getting Too Cocky With Derek Lowe?

By PATRICE EVANS

Updated 4:24 AM EST, Tue, Jan 6, 2009

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Mets General Manager Omar Minaya continues to play the free agent market like a high stakes poker hand, while Mets fans continue to hope and pray that no one calls his bluff.

Minaya's latest play is to stare extortionist-extraordinaire Scott Boras in the eyes and tell him he's not raising his offer for the starter that would cinch a perfectly executed off-season for the franchise.

Last week with rumors flying about the Mets going hard after Derek Lowe, surely no one could have expected Omar and the Mets to be sitting on a low-ball three years $36M offer one week later. But as Newsday reports, that is in fact the case.

Dating back to last off-season, Minaya has had three clutch acquisitions: the trade for Johan Santana, signing Francisco Rodriguez at a discount, and acquiring J.J. Putz. Each move was masterfully handled to maximize value, so it's tough to criticize his tactics. But this is one situation where you might concede a little money; after all, no one was predicting salaries to be this recessed at the start of the offseason. Kick the offer up to $40-45M and you'd still be well under the $70-80M a pitcher like Lowe would command in last year's economic climate. Refuse to budge, and you risk the guy refusing to ever sign with the Mets on principle.

Then again, Lowe brought much of this lack-of-leverage upon himself as well. By announcing his strenuous preference for joining an East Coast contending team, he tied his agent's hands. Minaya could already rule out most of the competition because both the Red Sox and Yankees have filled their available rotation slots, but he would have still had to worry about a team like the Dodgers or Brewers making an offer. Now because he knows Lowe needs his Google Earth location to be on the east coast, Minaya can rest assured that Lowe and Boras will come back to him before accepting any other offer.

The one wild card in the favor of Boras is that he represents the top two options for the Mets in Lowe and incumbent Oliver Perez. It's probably not enough to out leverage the absence of another East Coast major market team being in the mix, but as they say in baseball, and poker: it ain't over 'til it's over.