"And the hits just keep on comin'..."

This was my afternoon on December 14:
3:58 PM - Text from Josh - "There goes Lackey..."
4:02 PM - Response - "I have a worse one...Halladay to the Phils."

And then this morning I heard a report that the Cardinals offered Matt Holliday an 8 year contract, which means there is no way the Mets will somehow steal Holliday away. I'm actually okay with that, because Scott Boras is ridiculous and Matt Holliday is not Mark Teixeira by any stretch of the imagination. I always felt Holliday was a long shot to come to the Mets anyway.

Back to the pitchers - honestly, I'm not that upset about the Lackey situation. I think Boston is overpaying him. Doc Halladay though... that one stings. Rumor has it that the Jays offered the Mets a trade that would have sent Jose Reyes, John Maine, and prospects to Toronto. I'm not ready to give up on Reyes yet, so I'm okay with the fact that we didn't pull the trigger on that deal. But the Phillies? That's the part I can't handle. Toronto couldn't find a way to send Halladay to the AL West?

And this is where I get nervous. As much as I want the Mets do something, ANYTHING, I also know that we have a tendency to make stupid decisions and offer people ridiculous contracts. Out of the second tier pitchers, the only one I was really interested in was Randy Wolf. Thanks to him and the Brewers, every other pitcher in the market is looking to get more than he is probably worth. Pitching is my biggest concern for next season... and right now, it is not looking good. Now that Chien Ming Wang is on the market, I've been hearing some rumors about the Mets pursuing him. I don't know how I feel about that yet, but I wouldn't be upset if we worked out a contract with him. The only other pitcher I'd really consider right now is Jason Marquis.

Hopefully the reports are true that the Mets are now the only team seriously interested in Jason Bay, since the Red Sox signed Lackey and the Mariners are involved in the Doc Halladay trade (not to mention stealing Chone Figgins. They'd better win the freakin' World Series in 2010 for all the stress they're causing me). If we come away with Bay, Wang and/or Marquis, I would be all right with it. It's obviously not the way we all envisioned filling in the holes, but at least it's something.