More on the Mets

I highly recommend Joe Sheehan's breakdown of the Mets' problems and Willie Randolph's responsibility for those problems.($) The short answer: Willie can be blamed somewhat for mishandling the Mets' bullpen and for Jose Reyes reaching a plateau as a good player, but not a great one. Willie cannot be blamed for the facts that: (1) the Mets have sunk a quarter of their payroll into Pedro Martinez, Carlos Delgado, and Moises Alou while getting nothing in return; and (2) the Mets' farm system has not produced prospects to cover for those spots. Those are both Omar Minaya issues. Perhaps Minaya isn't the genius he was portrayed to be when he, gasp, paid more money than anyone else in baseball to land players and thus assembled a roster of very good players who were mostly about to enter the decline phases of their careers.

Sheehan also makes a logical suggestion that, if it came true, would be the 100% wet dream for ESPN: Barry Bonds in left field for the Mets.