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Mike Cameron was intrigued by the challenge of helping turn around the New York Mets. And the fact that the flight time between his home and family in Atlanta and Shea Stadium is under two hours played a major part.
The Gold Glove outfielder finalized his $19.5 million, three-year contract and was introduced by the Mets on Thursday as another piece of the team's defensive overhaul.
When general manager Jim Duquette set out to fix the Mets' leaky defense in the offseason, the first move was signing Japanese shortstop Kaz Matsui. The next target was Cameron, who won his second Gold Glove with Seattle last season, when he made just one error in his first 114 games.
The center fielder was looking for a four-year deal but Duquette had geography on his side.
``It's the right coast,'' said Cameron, whose previous stops in Chicago, Cincinnati and Seattle took him far from home and family in Atlanta. ``It's 1 hour, 36 minutes away.''
That played in Duquette's favor.
``The lure of the
East Coast and playing near family outweighed the need for a fourth year,''
the GM said. So the fourth year will be at the Mets' option.
Cameron's defense made him a priority for Duquette.
``I remember a number of games last year when balls dropped that Cameron would catch,'' he said. ``That has a snowball effect on pitching.''
Maybe that's why Tom Glavine made a number of recruiting calls to Cameron, who also heard from pitchers Al Leiter and John Franco.
Cameron began thinking about the Mets midway through last season. He knew all about their struggles in a 95-loss, last-place season.
Cameron was not deterred by chats he had with ex-Mets Rey Sanchez and Armando Benitez, who wound up with the Mariners after unhappy stays in New York.
``They told me their experiences,'' Cameron said, smiling broadly. ``The best judge is to judge for yourself. It's tough when you're losing. But this is an opportunity to win on baseball's biggest stage. The everyday environment of New York, I love it. It's the best stage in baseball.
``There will be some tough times. This is a game of failure. They didn't have fun here. I didn't see why. It should be exciting to play in New York.''
Cameron said he welcomed the challenge of being part of a turnaround. It is an experience he's had before -- Cincinnati improved by 19 games in his first year with the Reds and Seattle made a 12-game improvement after trading Ken Griffey Jr. for Cameron in 2000.
AP - Dec 18, 3:10 pm EST
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The center fielder said he thought injuries to Mike Piazza and Cliff Floyd had
hindered the Mets last season.
``With those guys healthy for a full season and some of the additions they've made, I feel it will be a quick turnaround,'' he said.
Cameron, 30, hit .253 with 18 home runs, 31 doubles, 76 RBIs and 17 stolen bases for Seattle last season.
He has shown power, twice hitting 25 home runs in a season. He also was the 13th player in major league history to hit four home runs in a game, when he did that on May 2, 2002, at Chicago.
There also were 176 strikeouts two years ago and over 100 strikeouts every full season he's spent in the majors. The Mets are less concerned with that statistic than they are with his defensive consistency.
Asked to describe himself, Cameron grinned again.
``I'm a Gold Glover,'' he said. ``I've got confidence about what I can do with the glove.''
He gets a $3 million signing bonus, $4 million in 2004 and $6 million in each of the following two seasons. The Mets have a $7 million option for 2007 with a $500,000 buyout.