DALLAS -- The heck with raising the mound. Clearly, the Colorado Rockies are expecting baseball to lower Denver.
There are many people walking this great Earth who once thought no pitcher in his right mind would ever head for Colorado voluntarily. Now two have done it in the same week.
We've talked personally in our day with both Mike Hampton and Denny Neagle. They always seemed to be reasonably sane -- that Neagle train-whistle thing notwithstanding.
But now here they are, a mile high. What a world.
If Neagle's five-year, $51.5-million deal earlier in the week was the warm-up act for the winter meetings, then Hampton's record eight-year, $121-million blockbuster was the gentlemen-start-your-engines eruption this annual blabathon needed.
It rocked the sprawling lobby of the Wyndham Anatole hotel like an 8.1 quake on the Richter Scale. It started the dominoes toppling all over the baseball universe. And it made the view of the offseason landscape look remarkably more vivid than it looked 24 hours ago.
Now that Hampton is out of the way, it's safe for Kevin Appier to ask the Mets for three years, $30 million and almost look like a bargain.
Now that Hampton is out of the way, the Dodgers can try to outwrestle the Cubs, Mets, Cardinals and (seriously) the Rockies to finish off what once looked like their inevitable five-year, $55-million arrangement with Darren (39-45 Lifetime) Dreifort.
Now that Hampton is out of the way, Rockies GM Dan O'Dowd can turn his attention to shopping Pedro Astacio, a guy he seems almost determined to trade, for reasons that never have become too clear.
And now that Hampton is out of the way, there might finally be hope for Tier Three free-agent starters like Hideo Nomo, Steve Trachsel and Bobby Jones to escape the unemployment lines.
But analyzing all that is the easy part in assessing this crazy sport. The hard part is trying to figure out what all this means for two heavily affected parties.
One is where it leaves the Mets, a World Series team now officially trying to cope with life after their co-ace.
The other is what it means for baseball itself, a sport that hasn't seen a contract this long for a pitcher in almost a quarter-century (since the legendary Wayne Garland signed for 10 years in 1977) -- and has never seen a contract this humongous ever.
But let's start with the Mets.
For weeks now, reports have kept surfacing that Hampton didn't plan to return to New York. But the Mets never saw it coming -- until the last couple of days, at least.
"These things tend to go back and forth," said GM Steve Phillips. "We had our doubts. Then we started to feel better. But then we had some of our players try to call Mike. And either they didn't get him, or they didn't get a return phone call. And I think that means something. When a guy doesn't call back his teammates from last year, I think you could say it's an indication he's considering other offers fairly strongly."
Turns out, though, that Hampton was doing more than merely considering that Colorado offer. He was envisioning himself atop a Rocky Mountain peak, breathing the crispest air in America, humming a John Denver tune.
Phillips admitted that as much as Hampton made a successful adjustment to New York, he knew that if these negotiations turned into a quality-of-life duel, Hampton wasn't a good bet to pick Northern Boulevard over Pikes Peak.
"But we were hoping," Phillips said, "that being part of a team that went to the World Series would play a big part in his priorities."
And maybe it might have. But if there was ever a shot at that, Hampton's friends say the Mets' one real opportunity to take advantage came in the two weeks after the World Series, when the Mets had exclusive rights to negotiate with him.
Instead of riding that World Series euphoria and putting on a full-court press, though, they merely offered just the same six-year, $72-million deal Hampton had rejected in spring training. Hampton and agent Mark Rodgers gonged it again, of course. And it's probable the Mets never had a chance from that moment on.
"If they'd just made a real offer then," said one friend of Hampton, "we'll never know what might have happened. But there's a certain feeling that comes from being in the World Series with a club. And the Mets never tried to capitalize on that feeling."
But when Phillips was asked Friday if, in retrospect, he wished he'd been more aggressive in his pursuit of Hampton during that period, his reply was a firm: "No."
"They made it clear," the GM said, "that unless we were going to do something extraordinary or out of the ordinary, there wasn't really a reason to start putting numbers out there. So we waited until the market defined itself. Unless we were willing to supercede the market, or expand the market, it just made sense to wait."
Asked if Hampton and Rodgers made it clear that a historic contract is what would have been required, Phillips intimated he was given the strong impression that the deal would have to exceed that of Kevin Brown -- "and that wasn't a place I was prepared to go," he said.
Obviously, however, the Rockies -- not to mention their accountants -- were prepared. And this week, they went there and beyond.
So where does this leave the Mets?
"There are other pitchers out there to pursue," Phillips said.
They offered arbitration to Bobby Jones, so he remains on their radar screen. They've been negotiating with Appier, so he's still a possibility. They've talked about David Cone. They've explored trades for Astacio, Dustin Hermanson and Jose Lima, among others. And there are always the likes of Trachsel, Pat Hentgen and Kent Bottenfield, still roaming the free-agent streets.
So the Mets will eventually come up with two more starters. They just won't be two starters as good as the guy they lost to Colorado. What may be more likely, ultimately, is that they'll try to upgrade their offense -- with a deal for an outfielder (Johnny Damon? Matt Lawton? Jose Cruz?)
"We'll consider our options, both on the free-agent market and in potential trades," Phillips said. "There are interesting names out there on both fronts."
Whatever names they come up with, though, it now looks as if it might have been the Mets, not the Yankees, that were the 2000 World Series team facing the prospect of its last hurrah.
The more global question, however, is whether Hampton's contract sets a dangerous precedent that all future free-agent aces need to match or break. Eight years seems like an insane length of contract to award to anyone -- let alone a pitcher, let alone a pitcher who will spend half his time in Coors Field.
But then again, maybe Hampton's a unique case: 28 years old, great athlete, never been hurt, just hitting his stride.
"If it's ever going to happen," said Indians assistant GM Mark Shapiro, who once worked with O'Dowd in Cleveland, "it's going to happen with a guy like that, who's young, with a very dependable makeup and no history of injury.
"You have to remember," Shapiro went on, "that the front office that did this is one of the most intelligent and one of the best in the game. I'm sure a lot of thought went into this move. I'm sure they looked at this guy as someone who could help -- and help for a long time."
To which the shell-shocked world of baseball can only reply with two words: He'd better.
Winter meetings rumblings
The Red Sox are believed to have hiked their offer to Manny Ramirez to eight years, $148 million in an attempt to get Ramirez wrapped up in a hurry. But they've also intimated to agent Jeff Moorad that if Ramirez doesn't respond quickly, they may move onto other things.
The Indians appeared to be on the verge of signing Ken Caminiti to a one-year, $6.5-million deal to play third base, first base and DH. Caminiti also has had offers from the Rangers, Brewers and Yankees.
Two Indians sources denied rumors sweeping the meetings that they had been talking with Colorado about trading Roberto Alomar for Astacio.
The Phillies are expected to announce the signing of Ricky Bottalico to a one-year contract, believed to be for $1.5 million, on Saturday.
The Red Sox and Mariners have talked about a trade that would send pitcher Brett Tomko to Boston. The Red Sox have been shopping outfielder Troy O'Leary, along with catcher Scott Hatteberg, but Seattle reportedly isn't interested in O'Leary and asked for Trot Nixon.
The Rockies are expected to announce the signing of Ron Gant to a one-year deal on Saturday.
The Mets have talked to Cleveland about trading left-hander Dennis Cook to the Indians.
Expect the Johnny Damon rumors to heat up when the Mets and Royals meet to kick around ideas Saturday.
Jayson Stark is a Senior Writer at ESPN.com.
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