The question everybody asks is whether the Mets WILL sign Manny Ramirez, and to this point the answer remains no. We've said and written it a million times -- Omar Minaya likes the guy, thinks he'd be a perfect fit, but ownership doesn't want him on the team. It's why they didn't trade for him in July, when he was practically free, and it's why they say they're not going to sign him now.

But the question that doesn't seem to be asked nearly as often is whether the Mets SHOULD sign Manny Ramirez. The answer to that one is: Of course they should.

Everybody's favorite Mets blogger, Matt Cerrone, was musing on this issue this morning and concluded with this thought:

"...if this continues to drag out, and there is a chance of ramirez signing a one-year deal, the Mets have to get involved...they have to..."

Cerrone is a fan, and even Mets fans remain ever-hopeful. But sadly for him, the thing for which he's hoping -- that if a right-handed Hall of Fame hitter who plays a corner outfield spot falls into their lap the Mets snatch him -- isn't likely to happen.

And that's a shame, for the Mets. And short-sighted.

Ramirez is a perfect fit for the Mets. Perfect. Right now, their plan for left field is a platoon of Daniel Murphy and Fernando Tatis, which means they're counting on a couple of two-month wonders to stretch their 2008 magic over a full 2009. Not necessarily a terrible plan, except they also have a question mark in right field. And second base. And really, first base, when you look at the past two years of Carlos Delgado and wonder which guy is going to show up.

The Mets can talk all they want about how happy they are with their offense, but the fact is Nick Evans was batting fifth and playing left field in the must-win final game of 2008, and there's a pretty good chance that, had Manny Ramirez been there, they'd have made the postseason.

If the questions about Ramirez are questions of character, hustle and desire, then he's earned them. Everybody watched him flake out time and again in Boston. It's well-documented that he dogged his way out of there in July, and anybody who'd do that comes with plenty of baggage and question marks. But to let those question marks overwhelm the benefit that Ramirez would bring is simply short-sighted.

In July of 2008, when Ramirez had supposedly stopped trying because he wanted the Red Sox to trade him, he batted .347 with a .473 on-base percentage and a .587 slugging percentage. Yes, those numbers jumped to otherworldly levels once he was dealt to the Dodgers and got happy and comfortable hitting against weak National League pitching. But there was nothing wrong with those numbers. At the time of the trade, Ramirez was a .299 hitter with 20 home runs and 68 RBI in 100 games. If that's the way he hits when he's not trying, you could do a lot worse than to have a player like that on your team.

A scout I talked to last week said this about Manny Ramirez: "All you hear is about all the problems the Red Sox had with Manny. Well, it looks to me like they did a lot of winning with Manny. I know a lot of teams that would have traded their problems for Boston's over the past five or six years."

It's not as if the Mets have some kind of delicate clubhouse chemistry Ramirez would upset here. The best thing you can say about the Mets' clubhouse is that it's businesslike. Guys go their own way. There are cliques. There are people who like each other and people who don't. It's not 25 guys who go out to dinner together every night. It's not the rolling frat party that was chronicled in Sports Illustrated in 2006, when Paul Lo Duca, Cliff Floyd and Pedro Martinez were such dominant personalities and Delgado was the quiet leader to whom everybody gravitated.

At this point, it's not a room that would be especially upset by the arrival of a flaky superstar. There are quite a few players in there, in fact, who might not mind adding a guy who would draw as much media attention to himself and away from them as Ramirez would.

Plus, Ramirez isn't going to come to New York and dog it. Even if he did, he'd still produce more than a Murphy/Tatis combo is likely to produce, but he won't. He is driven, friends say, to get to 600 home runs (he has 527). He likes that he's building a Hall of Fame resume and wants to add to it. He has two World Series rings, which is half as many as the entire current Mets 40-man roster has. He was the sole reason the Dodgers were able to muscle up and win the NL West last year, and as such he represents the biggest mistake the Mets made in 2008.

They shouldn't make it again, and the shame is that it looks as if they will.

Ramirez's price is dropping by the second. Mark Teixeira's signing with the Yankees eliminated the Yankees as a potential Ramirez suitor. The Red Sox never were one. The Angels and Nationals say they're out. The Dodgers haven't offered more than $45 million for two years, and nobody else has yet offered a penny.

Whoever signs Manny Ramirez is actually going to end up getting a good deal, considering the deal he's probably going to get and the quality of hitter he is. If a deal like that fell in the Mets' laps, as Cerrone said, they'd have to go for it. They'd have to.

Cerrone and his fellow Mets fans should hope the team changes its mind, and comes around to his way of thinking. Because Manny as a 2009 Met is too good an idea to pass up.