Baseball Prospectus compares two of the Mets offseason acquisitions to the players they replaced and finds that the Mets probrobly could have kept what they had and got similar production, for far less money.

2006 VORPPlayer         Age      PECOTA       Actual        SalaryDelgado        34        37.1         12.3        $13,500,000Mike Jacobs    25        24.6         17.6           $327,000

2006 VORPPlayer        Age     PECOTA      Actual        BS        SalaryWagner        34        17.3        12.4         4        $10,500,000Looper        31         5.0        11.4         1         $3,500,000

Personally, I think Delgado's value is more than just what he has provided so far in offense. He has had a huge effect on Carlos Beltran and that is something you can't really put a price tag on. That is a butterfly effect that improves the entire lineup. Delgado cannot be expected to continue slumping for long and his numbers here are skewed from the black hole he currently resides.

As for Looper, you cannot possibly go into this season with Looper as your closer. The team's psyche would simply be unable to take that. I have no problem with the Mets going with Wagner, even if he's only a slight improvement over Looper in actual numbers.