Bengie Molina (Photo above from NY Times) has decided to accept a one year offer for $4.5 million from the Giants instead of coming to the Mets.You have to assume the Mets offer was a little more than what Molina settled for, but at the most the Mets offer was probably a team option for a second year. Molina started out looking for a three year deal and then was trying to squeeze the Mets for two years guaranteed.

While I think Molina would have been an asset on this team, I agree in the Mets holding their ground. I think the Mets learned from the horrible contract they gave Luis Castilllo  and the backlash and the pain they have suffered since that signing. As such the organization doesn’t have the appetite for multi-year deals for aging veterans any more a la Moises Alou, Luis Castillo. THANKFULLY!

I’m not sure if the Mets will go out and get another catcher. Otherwise we’re looking at Omir and Henry Blanco aka “Hank White”! Until of course Josh Thole is ready.

That being said, do the Mets now look to make that off season splash by siginng Ben Sheets? Giving their fans something positive heading into spring training and for ticket sales? Good question, supposedly Sheets looked good in his audtion for interested teams, which included the Mets.

I think at this point the Mets should probably make the move for Sheets. The problem is you know it’s only a matter of time before he gets hurt again. In a perfect world the Mets would go out and get Sheets and Pineiro and maybe move Maine to the pen, but nothing this organization has done so far points to them signing two more significant players this off season. Sheets obviously has the bigger up side but Pineiro offers greater stability. Meanwhile, Matt Cerrone at MetsBlog also says to keep an eye out for the Mets and rumors linked to John Smoltz as a possible set up man.

Notes: Jeff Francoeur and Pedro Feliciano avoided abritration signing one-year $5 and $2.9 million dollar deals respectively. Sean Green as well signed a one year deal. Angel Pagan requested $1.8 million and was offered $1.275 million from the Mets when arbitration figures were exchanged today.