An hour or so ago Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman said that the Mets were talking to John Lackey, Matt Holliday and Jason Bay “with renewed hopes to sign 1 of big 3.” This contrasts with the general consensus here in Indy -- especially among the New York writers -- that the Mets aren’t really players for any of those guys and that if they do anything this week it will be to sign Bengie Molina and eat a few nice catered meals.
Could that have changed? And if so, what could have “renewed those hopes?” A sudden change of budgetary heart on the part of the Wilpons? A sudden backtracking on the part of Lackey’s people regarding their desire for the five or six year deal that no one seems to want to give him? The Red Sox dropping out of the Jason Bay derby? Here’s a theory of my own: if the Mets are suddenly thinking bigger, it’s because the Yankees have been going hog wild (relatively speaking) this week, and they don’t want to get blown the hell off the back pages of the tabloids.
Whatever the case, any renewed push for one of the big three on the Mets’ part strikes me as a reactive move as opposed to one that was planned out ahead of time, because until this afternoon, all signs pointed to a relatively quiet Winter Meetings for the New York Mets.
