WASHINGTON -- Despite a dire need for bullpen help, assistant GM John Ricco said the Mets have no intention of overpaying.

"We're watching every day the same thing people are," Ricco said. "But you also can't fool yourself into thinking that there's one guy that is going to be the be-all and end-all solution to all of our problems. You can fall into that trap and make some big mistakes. It's one of the good things about having an experienced guy like Sandy [Alderson]. He's been down this road before."

As for balancing the present versus the future, the Mets seem to be tilted toward the latter.

"It's not even every day; we're constantly weighing both those things and having a lot of discussion about it," Ricco said. "But, at the end of the day, it's not completely in our control. There's the [other] teams. And they see the same thing. They know that, 'OK, we have to make a deal now.' So they're going to try to hold somebody over a barrel. And then it comes down to, 'Do we feel it's close enough that we can make that move?' And so far we haven't hit on it."

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