Desperate Times Call For Rickey Henderson

Rickey celebrates his record breaking stolen base at the Del Boca Vista Rec League
The Mets may have the best record in the NL East but it would seem that they are not willing to just stand pat and rest on their laurels. The reason I make such a suggestion is that the Mets just hired the venerable Rickey Henderson to serve as a batting coach (or possibly 1st base coach). Henderson's utility as a coach could be discussed ad nauseum and to blame the former hitting coach Rick Down for the Mets woeful performance at the plate seems a little suspect considering the players not performing up to par are an aging Delgado, a guy in Jose Valentine who had the year of his life last year and a bevy of aging outfielders including the formerly roided up Shawn Green. That just doesn't seem like the real story here, or at least the part worth thinking about. The real story is how Rickey's hiring came about. Rickey's negotiating tactics could best be described as unorthodox:

Rickey... on the answering machine of Padres' GM Kevin Towers

"Dude! This is Rickey! Representin' Rickey! Dude, you need an outfielder! You need to sign me!"

I can just picture Omar Minaya showing up to work on Tuesday morning to find this message on his answering machine:

"Omar! Rickey can help you guys. You can't hit. You old. You need Rickey! Let Rickey come in and run the show! Give Rickey a call. This is Rickey!"

A couple hours later Rickey was hired. He's still got it.