Mariners Make Offer to Silva

It looks as if the MetsToday-sponsored #1 free-agent target of the offseason is about to sign elsewhere.

While MetsBlog recently reported that Carlos Silva was offered a 3-year, $30M deal by the Kansas City Royals, Ken Rosenthal is also reporting that the Mariners have put a 4-year, $44M contract on the table.

Also per Rosenthal, by signing Silva, the Mariners would be halfway toward their goal of adding two starting pitchers — with Eric Bedard their other target.

Huh.

So the M’s were looking to get TWO starters, and have already made a substantial offer to one of them. The Mets are trying to get just one and are floundering.

If in fact Silva accepts the offer from Seattle, the Mets would be left to choose from Livan Hernandez and, um, no one — at least as far as healthy free agent starters go. If they’re OK with gambling on less healthy options, there is still Jon Lieber, Bartolo Colon, Jason Jennings, Mark Prior, and Freddy Garcia.

In my opinion, it’s time to make a huge push for Prior, and then settle for either Jennings or Colon as a backup option. If the Mets were desperate for a starter, it might not make sense to go after a questionable guy like Prior, but at this point, if they’re not getting an innings-eater such as Silva, then they may as well take a gamble on someone who has a high ceiling. After all, they always have Mike Pelfrey and Philip Humber to take the #5 spot if the gamble doesn’t pay off.