Mets Slowing Down on Derek Lowe in a Potentially Dangerous Game of Chicken

The Mets, however much they've improved the bullpen, still need a high end starting pitcher if they hope to make a serious run at the division over the course of a season. With the market drying up for starting pitchers, the Mets are in a good spot to pluck Derek Lowe at a reasonable price just as they did with Francisco Rodriguez.

The Mets and Lowe were seemingly close to a deal, but now reports out of Queens have the two sides slowing down just a bit. Now this doesn't mean that the Mets aren't going to wind up signing Lowe. It could just mean that the two sides didn't want to get into heavy negotiations during the holiday season (duh). The Mets are doing their diligence in reading the market and the economy, and they're going to make sure that they get Lowe at their price. After all, it worked with K-Rod.

But it didn't work back in 2004 with Vladimir Guerrero, when the Mets saw the market briefly dry up for him and responded by offering a cheap incentive laden deal ... only to see the Angels swoop in with a more respectable offer to lure him to Los Angeles (of, umm ... Anaheim.) The Mets, with that knowledge, had better read this right with Lowe or risk having to either overpay Oliver Perez (because you know Scott Boras attempt to take advantage of the Mets if they miss out on Lowe), or resort to a lower tier option such as Randy Wolf to fill out the rotation.