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According to the Boston Globe, Derek Lowe declined the Mets initial offer of 3 years $36 million ($12 per year).  Lowe was reportedly looking for a 5 year/ $90 million dollar offer.  It will most likely take the Mets adding a 4th year and upping the ante to around $13 a year to get this done. 

However, if for some reason the Mets fail to land Lowe, they are still interested in pursuing Oliver Perez, Randy Wolf and Jon Garland. Out of those 3 options, I like Garland the best.  In my opinion, Perez is a head case who will end up costing the most out of the 3 and performing under expectations.  I don’t believe he has to right team mentality.   However, he is a guy who has won 15 games in the past and struck out over 200 in a season before.  There is HUGE upside if he can screw his head on straight, but I doubt he will reach it.

Wolf, hmmm… I don’t know why the Mets are so high on him, unless it’s purely about money.  Here is a guy who hasn’t pitched 200 innings in a season since 2003 (190 this past season).  In addition, he hasn’t had an ERA under 4 since 2002.  He is basically a guy who you can only count on for 20 starts a year.  He is a good 5th option if they are looking for a veteran who they can supplament until Niese is ready around the All Star Break.

Garland, lets start off by pointing out he is a 2 time 18 game winner.  He also gives you about 200 IP per season (196 this past season) but over 200 the previous 4.  He doesn’t give you great ERA, in fact he is consistantly over 4.00, however what he will do is give you 32 starts a year, and throw strikes (approx. 55 BBs a year).   The most alarming stat about him is his HR allowed, but this number may be reduced if he was pitching to NL hitter in Citifield (already deemed a pitchers park).

 It would be interesting to see what happens, but I wouldn’t hate a Lowe/Garland combo either, but I suppose that is wishful thinking.

What do you guys think?

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