Mets fans are so used to seeing their team make the wrong move and getting the wrong results that, justifiably, they view every move the organization makes or fails to make with a suspicious and paranoid eye.

One easily understands why the Mets’ fans, having been tempted over the last several weeks with visions of Carlos Delgado, would be disappointed by the specter of the slap-hitting Doug Mientkiewicz manning first base in Flushing instead. The idea of Delgado winning an MVP award while leading the Florida Marlins past an expensively retooled Mets team and into October must be vivid to anyone who recalls such free-agent sins of omission as Vladimir Guerrero and Alex Rodriguez.

Whether because they chose not to outbid the Marlins or because he simply refused to come to New York, though, not signing Delgado was the right move. While Mientkiewicz has as much chance of winning an MVP award this year as you do, he is a perfectly reasonable substitute. By acquiring him and making a few other little-noted moves in the past few days, General Manager Omar Minaya put the last touches on an incredibly impressive off-season and solidified his team’s status as a contender.

Yesterday’s trade of minor-league prospect Ian Bladergroen to the Red Sox for Mientkiewicz isn’t a great move because of whom the Mets’ new first baseman is so much as who he isn’t. The hydra-like monstrosity he’s replacing at first base, an unholy combination of Mike Piazza and a cast of dozens (does anyone remember Shane Spencer’s start at first?) created 73 runs last year; the major league average for the position was 102. So just with the bat, the Mets’ first basemen cost the team around three wins last year.

Furthermore, as anyone unfortunate enough to have seen more than a handful of games will attest, their hitting was much the better of their misadventures. No defensive statistic can quite describe what it is to see Piazza play first. One doesn’t hold it against him – he was put in a bad situation – but a conservative guess would be that he cost the team five runs in the field, and his peers were none too good themselves. You now have a composite first baseman that cost the team something around four wins compared to the average.

Doug Mientkiewicz is as unexceptional as they get at the position, all told. The OPS of all major league first basemen last year was .832; in his two best seasons, Mientkiewicz’s OPS has been right about .840, and given park effects, he’s probably a good bet to give the Mets something around his career mark of .767. He’s also a good bet to provide legitimate Gold Glove defense at first, which would bring his value right back up to the average. That league-average performance should not be underestimated – the difference between what Piazza, Jason Phillips, et al provided and what the Mets can expect from Mientkiewicz is comparable to replacing Cliff Floyd with Manny Ramirez.

Would Delgado have brought still greater rewards this year? Of course; rather than an improvement of around four wins, he would have represented one of more like seven. But it’s important to note that the difference between Delgado and Mientkiewicz is less than that between Mientkiewicz and the Mets’ horrendous committee of first sackers in 2004.

What’s more, Mientkiewicz requires no commitment, whereas the 32-year-old Delgado will be paid like a franchise player through his age-36 season, when he is unlikely to be worth his salary. Acquiring Mientkiewicz instead of Delgado preserves flexibility for the future and doesn’t damage the Mets this year the way simply letting the first-base situation fester would have. Whether or not the decision was made for him, Minaya ultimately deserves credit for making the right call, as he would have deserved the blame had he blown his competitors away and signed Delgado to an ill-advised deal.

It’s to be hoped he makes the right calls elsewhere as well, as he has so far this winter. For one, Minaya should heed the wise counsel of all those who implore him not to trade for Sammy Sosa. Expensive, declining, poor defensively, and a bad fit for Shea Stadium, which is toughest on right-handed power hitters, Sosa doesn’t make much sense for this team.

Much the same can be said of another Chicago outfielder, Magglio Ordonez. Slow, at an age when his best seasons are likely in the past, and facing mysterious health issues, Ordonez seems to offer nothing Cliff Floyd doesn’t. Like Sosa, he’s also a poor fit for Shea. More importantly, Carlos Beltran and Mike Cameron already give the Mets two stud outfielders, while Victor Diaz is an intriguing reserve to fill in for Floyd’s inevitable missed time. Ordonez, like Sosa, is a solution in search of a problem.

All Minaya needs to do is to continue with the minor tweaks he has been making. Signing Miguel Cairo was a fine move – as a credible starting second baseman, he provides insurance should further injuries to Jose Reyes force Kaz Matsui to play shortstop for any extended time.

Cairo is exactly the sort of bench player the Mets have been missing in recent years, someone who doesn’t badly damage the team’s chances of winning anytime he takes the field. Not only is this a huge improvement over the likes of Joe McEwing and Wilson Delgado, Mets utility infielders who have in recent years performed below the level of random Triple-A journeymen, it is critical that the Mets have such a player given Reyes’s dubious health.

Signing former closer Roberto Hernandez was wise as well. While he’s barely an average pitcher anymore, it’s well worth the effort to see if pitching coach Rick Peterson can massage some quality innings out of him. Moves of this nature often separate a contender from an also-ran, and it’s good to see that there’s more to Minaya’s approach than simply writing (or declining to write) large checks for superstar talent. Further tweaks – taking advantage of the Cubs’ dissatisfaction with flame throwing head case Kyle Farnsworth, for instance, or taking a flyer on erstwhile Red Sox closer Byung-Hyun Kim – could pay rewards while still leaving some money in the pocketbook for unforeseen midseason contingencies.

It will take more than this to assure shell-shocked Mets fans that management sometimes knows what it’s doing. But Minaya is on the path to convincing them.