Should the Mets up the Ante on Lowe?

It is always fascinating to follow a Scott Boras negotiation. The first step is throwing out a number that seems ridiculous and allows the media to start to analyze the potential cost/benefit of the player. Next Boras will identify one team to start the dance with. The team typically makes a low offer and waits. Then comes the denial of the initial offer followed by the naming of the other teams that are interested. The other teams are never a random assortment but usually contain one main rival, at least one wild card team trying to make a splash and of course a mystery team. This gets the dance in full motion. Now it is up to the lead team to decide what to do; up their offer, hold pat, or throw out the name of another player they have interest in to try and reverse the bluff. Finally, the dance picks up speed and someone blinks. In the case of Mark Teixeira, the Yankees were the mystery team and Red Sox did not go all in. The Nationals and Orioles were the wild card teams used to drive the price up. Of course it is much easier for the Yankees to be the mystery team with their financial coffers because they always have the ability to blow away the competition.

What does this have to do with Derek Lowe? The Mets have entered the Boras dance floor and have yet to blink. The Phillies and Braves have been mentioned as potential suitors that may have surpassed the Mets bid of $12M for 3 years. Of course there is some mystery team that may turn out to be the Mets as a Boras negotiating ploy. Omar has stood pat on the surface. We fans have no idea what is going on behind the scenes but an educated guess seems to be that $14 M over 3 with some kind of option might get it done. The question is how bad does Omar want Lowe? There seemed to be a split verdict over pursuing Lowe or Ollie. Maybe the Mets have decided to try to get Lowe at bargain and if that does not work then move on Perez.

I have no idea what the Wilpons financial situation is but they seem pretty intent on staying around the $135-140 million level. Which by the way puts the Mets in pretty elite spending company. Personally, I am split on the Lowe - Perez quandry. If you could guarantee one of the two at a reasonable rate with some money left to do some more shopping then I would take either one. However, I think this will start to come to a conclusion fairly quickly, maybe in the next couple of days. Boras seems to wrap negotiations up fast after he has exhausted the market options for a player and move on to the next dance. I think next Sunday we will be talking about another roster spot.