INDIANAPOLIS — At the close of a relatively quiet winter meetings, the New York Mets on Thursday finally revealed their Plan A to revive their franchise by making offers to leftfielder Jason Bay and catcher Bengie Molina.

As promised that same morning, Omar Minaya delivered the two offers shortly after leaving for the airport, two baseball officials familiar with the situation confirmed, with Bay receiving a four-year offer worth roughly $65 million and Molina expected to get a two-year package in the $10-$12 million range.
Finally, the Mets have shown their hand. After targeting upgrades to the starting rotation, Minaya, at least initially, has switched gears to the offensive side, which he had hinted on Wednesday that he might do. With skyrocketing salaries for free-agent pitchers that included the Brewers’ three-year, $29.75-million deal with Randy Wolf, the Mets are now seeking to add punch to their lineup and have put on hold their pursuit of John Lackey.
Where the market will go for Bay is unclear. Scott Boras, the agent for competing leftfielder Matt Holliday, took a number of shots at Bay during a 35-minute briefing with reporters on Wednesday. Boras talked about how Holliday is more of a line-drive hitter, a better defender and a more athletic player overall.
But the Mets prefer Bay for all the reasons he is unlike Holliday. They believe his pull-style of hitting is well suited to Citi Field, they think he might better handle a spacious leftfield and, of course, there is the price tag.
With Boras pushing to get Holliday a deal similar to the eight-year, $180-million contract that client Mark Teixeira received from the Yankees last December, that’s a little rich for the Mets — even after Boras described them as a “juggernaut economically” during his impromptu news conference.
Remember, Bay already turned down a four-year, $60-million offer from the Red Sox on the eve of free agency and it’s likely that the Mets may need to add a fifth year to finish the job.
The market could still be developing. Working in the Mets’ favor is that the Angels appear to have pulled themselves out of the running for Bay and the Red Sox have yet to have a defined role in the bidding. Bay, 31, batted .267 with 36 home runs and 119 RBIs in 151 games for Boston last season.
With a disgruntled fan base, and season-ticket renewals proceeding at a glacial pace, ownership understands this winter requires something more than tinkering with the roster. Combine that with Minaya’s track record of big-ticket acquisitions during his five-year tenure as general manager and it would appear the Mets’ mission is an obvious one.
“All I can tell Mets fans is that in the past, every year that I’ve been here, we’ve gone after players,” Minaya said yesterday morning. “If there’s a player that we feel there’s a need, every year, I think we’ve done the best we can to address those needs, and we’re going to continue do so.”
When the franchise needed to be resurrected after the dismal 2004 season, Minaya had the green light to spend a combined $172 million on Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran. In 2005, he signed Billy Wagner and traded for Carlos Delgado and Paul Lo Duca. That spurred three seasons of relative prosperity, if only one playoff berth, before Minaya spent again last winter with $37.5 million for Francisco Rodriguez.
Notes & quotes: The Mets picked righthander Carlos Monasterio at the No. 7 spot in the Rule 5 draft and then traded him to the Dodgers about 45 minutes later for cash considerations. A scout from a competing team said his club was high on Monasterio, and tried to move up to get him, suggesting that sending him to L.A. was maybe part of a future deal . . . The Mets will be among the teams in attendance next week to watch Cuban lefthander Aroldis Chapman throw a bullpen session in Houston . . . Minaya also is trying to sign Japanese lefthander Ryoto Igarashi for the bullpen. Igarashi, 30, had a 3.19 ERA in 56 games for the Yakult Swallows last season. He struck out 44 in 53 2/3 innings.