Daily Rant: 3/22/11

$18 million, that's what it cost to release Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo, 12 to Ollie and 6 to Louie. They now join Bobby Bonilla as the highest paid Mets, not wearing a Mets uniform. Without a doubt, the mistakes that Omar Minaya made with these contracts were hard to ignore and needed to be addressed immediately. And like the big contract flubs that Isaiah Thomas made with the Knicks, this was a no-brainer fixer-upper. Donnie Walsh and Sandy Alderson both have had to deal with their predecessor's errors. And so far, the purging has been mildly successful. The Mets, unlike the Knicks, are still a few years away from having enough financial freedom to make some moves to strengthen their roster. Even though right now things look a little bleak for the Knicks, in the long run, the Carmelo Anthony trade is a great thing for the team.  It takes a whole season for teammates to be comfortable with each other on and off the court, not 20 games. As for the Mets, well they have some youth, some unknowns, some veterans and some experiments on their roster this season, which in most fans' opinions, is better then having overpaid, underachieving players occupying roster spots.