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Mets thought taking chance on Alou was worth it

Mark Herrmann

July 11, 2008

Here is where we all jump on the Mets and make fun of them for putting so much faith in a guy who turned 42 last week and wasn't so healthy when he was 41 - or 25, for that matter.

This is when we all rip them for putting so many chips on Moises Alou, when we all could have told the Mets that a day like yesterday was coming - when the club announced he has a torn hamstring that needs surgery, a day when it became obvious Alou won't play again.

Now is the time for everyone to say "Told you so" and mention that the Mets put a lot of eggs in a broken basket.

Step right up and chide the Mets. You're absolutely right. But who really can blame them?

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The Mets thought it was worth rolling the dice because they couldn't get what Alou gave from anybody else. So it came up snake eyes. Fact is, Alou was good enough to make anybody want to give him one last shot.

"If they criticized the fact they gave him one more year after he posted the numbers that he did, I don't want to call them stupid, but I must say it's a little bit radical not to think about taking a chance on a guy who posted a 30-game hitting streak, hit .340," said Pedro Martinez, a friend and teammate in Montreal in the 1990s. "Why not? If he wanted to play another year, why not give him a chance?"

Alou was one Met who didn't collapse down the stretch in 2007. He was at his strongest and best when his failing team needed him most. He did indeed hit in 30 consecutive games from Aug. 23 through Sept. 26. And he did bat .342 and was a steady head in a shaken clubhouse. The Mets are going to miss the bat that was hitting .347 this year.

"I'm very saddened by that news. If there was a player that I wished I had the opportunity to manage, it's Moises," said Jerry Manuel, who took over as manager June 17, one week after Alou's last appearance.

Manuel is as close to Alou as anyone connected with the Mets, having coached him for five years with the Expos and one with the Marlins before last season with the Mets.

"His dad taught me baseball," Manuel said, referring to Felipe Alou, his boss in Montreal and the one probably most responsible for Manuel becoming a manager. "It would be quite a rewarding experience to repay him in a fashion to match what he did for me. I still hope to do so."

Of course, the Mets knew Alou played in only 87 games last year, and only 98 the year before that, and none in 1991 and 1999. They just wanted to squeeze whatever was left because clutch hitters and big run producers aren't found around every corner, as the Mets will learn now.

General manager Omar Minaya said there is no greater urgency today to get a corner outfielder, which is another way of telling trading partners, "Don't try to rob me." He was asked about signing Barry Bonds and said he will stick with the guy he has now, Fernando Tatis, who had the deciding home run yesterday in the Mets' sixth consecutive win, 7-3 over the Giants at Shea Stadium.

Trading for the supposedly available good-hitting outfielders - Matt Holliday, Xavier Nady, Jason Bay, Raul Ibañez - likely would mean dealing prospects the Mets don't have. No wonder they wanted a guy who has a .303 lifetime average, 332 home runs and 1,287 RBIs.

"He's a great professional. He produces runs and he doesn't try to hit home runs," said Mets executive Tony Bernazard, who remembers Alou as a 14-year-old basketball enthusiast, two years shy of taking up baseball seriously. "He's very hard to replace, but we have to do it."

Now isn't the time for a second-guess, but rather a last look at someone who hit .321 in his lone World Series.

"He brings a demeanor that you're not going to find in many players, and that's probably why he's hurt today," Martinez said of the player who tore his hamstring diving for a catch Wednesday. "He just doesn't know how to slow down and give you half of what he has. It's all go or nothing."

Now, sad to say, it's nothing. Lots of luck replacing him. "You don't realize what a great player and great teammate he is," Billy Wagner said. "Without the injuries, he's a Hall of Famer."

Moises Alou, a Hall of Famer? "For me," Manuel said, "he is."