Mets reward mediocrity

Remember that bold statement the New York Mets were supposed to make this season, in the wake of last September's historic collapse? Well, they made it.

They told you to pay no attention to anything team owner Fred Wilpon might say during his annual spring-training address in Port St. Lucie, especially when he's talking tough about his expectations of playing meaningful baseball into late October.

They told you to laugh off any of Carlos Beltran's silly ramblings about the Mets being the team to beat in the National League East.

They told you they're satisfied with being an also-ran, with leaving their fans frustrated and disappointed, with fielding an overpaid and underachieving team that possesses plenty of talent but no heart, no grit, no character.

Because when it comes to these Mets, their actions speak so much louder than their words.

And, according to media reports out of New York, they've done this: They've given general manager Omar Minaya four more years -- a reward for what he has given Mets fans the past four years.

Which was? One playoff appearance, a much anticipated trip to the League Championship Series, where the heavily favored Mets lost Game 7 at Shea to the St. Louis Cardinals.

That was it.

That's all Minaya has been able to deliver, despite spending $460 million of Wilpon's money on a collection of tin men who failed to produce when it mattered most.

One October tease.

Two years ago.

Followed by two miserable Septembers in which the Mets choked away a comfortable lead in the NL East with 17 games to go.

But that was good enough.

Good enough to for Minaya to keep his job. Good enough to get him a four-year extension.

And that tells you something, too. It tells you that Minaya is held to a different standard than the managers who work for him -- and that Minaya is above blame when things go wrong.

Remember Willie Randolph? The manager Minaya hired? The manager Minaya fired in June, when the Mets were 34-35 and the season was slipping away? How was any of this more his fault than Minaya's? When the Mets imploded last September, they did so on both men's watch. And both men were on duty when the Mets stumbled out of the gate this season.

But only Randolph lost his job.

He was replaced by Jerry Manuel, who stepped in and guided the Mets to a 55-38 record.

So Minaya made the right call.

But he made it too late.

The Mets fell one game shy of tying the Milwaukee Brewers for the NL wild card, which begs the question: What if Minaya had made the move sooner?

What if Minaya had realized as far back as last October that Randolph wasn't the manager the Mets needed to get past the emotional wreckage of last September? None of that mattered.

It didn't matter that Minaya did nothing to bolster a bullpen everyone knew was unreliable.

It didn't matter that the Mets -- with their season on the line, after what happened last year -- showed so little fight on the final weekend at Shea, where they scored a paltry five runs in losing two of three games to the Florida Marlins, who were playing for nothing more than pride and paychecks.

It didn't matter that Minaya, operating with a league-high payroll of $138 million, put together another team that brought Wilpon no playoff return on his investment.

Heck, it didn't matter that the Mets had Minaya under contract through 2009 and didn't need to do anything until next year.

The Mets made a statement.

They've rewarded Minaya for the past four years by giving him four more. They've told you that playing meaningful baseball in September is good enough.

They've said October is optional.

(Ray McNulty is sports columnist for Scripps Treasure Coast (Fla.) Newspapers, The Stuart News, Fort Pierce Tribune and Vero Beach Press Journal. Contact him at ray.mcnulty@scripps.com or on the Web at www.tcpalm.com.)