Personally, I don't care how much money they offer Zito or spend on him as a free agent; after all, the Mets are not my father's business, and I'm not all that concerned with their profitability.

In terms of giving up prospects, it gets a little trickier.

The Mets are headed for the playoffs -- do they have even one reliable starter at this point?

All the talk about Lastings Milledge -- Have any of us really seen enough of the guy or are any of us really astute enough to judge whether or not he's a "can't miss" player?

I'm always reminded of Alex Ochoa and, more recently, Alex Escobar - two more guys who "couldn't miss" being stars.

The Mets have a chance to win it all this season.

Next year, Pedro, Glavine and Delgado will all be a year older, so who knows?

Zito isn't Roger Clemens or Johann Santana or Roy Halladay or Chris Carpenter or any of the "elite" starting pitchers in baseball, but he could be what the Mets need this year to win a World Series.

On that basis, if I were a Mets fan, I'd trade for a guy like him if I could, and if I had to give up a top prospect I would.