Last year, seven different men played first base for the Mets – Doug Mientkiewicz, Chris Woodward, Mike Jacobs, Marlon Anderson, Jose Offerman, Miguel Cairo, and Brian Daubach. For those counting, that’s four second basemen, two first basemen, and one catcher. The assembled lot, in 576 at-bats, hit .227 BA/.303 OBA/.391 SLG, giving the Mets less offense from the position than any other team in the league. (National League first basemen as a whole hit .280/.361/.462.) Subtract the 98 at-bats in which Jacobs hit like Hank Greenberg, and Mets first basemen hit .213/.290/.332, a line reminiscent of Rey Ordonez in a bad year.

The difference between what the Mets got from first base last year and what the Marlins got from Carlos Delgado – whose .301/.399/.582 line marked him as one of the three or four best hitters in the league – was, taking defense into account, on the order of 80 runs, or about eight wins. Since the Mets finished six games out of the NL wild-card lead, it’s quite likely that had Delgado been prowling the middle of their lineup last year, they would have made the playoffs.

So, to state the obvious, trading for Delgado was a good move. Assuming he hits as he has every year since 1998 – not a given, since he’ll be 34 in June – the improvement for the Mets will be the equivalent of replacing Cliff Floyd with the 2004 edition of Barry Bonds. (Really. Delgado is that good, and the Mets’ first sackers were that bad last season.)

Remarkably, this isn’t even a case of general manager Omar Minaya throwing the team’s wallet around. The departures of Mientkiewicz, Woodward, Mike Piazza, Mike Cameron, Braden Looper, and Kazuhisa Ishii, plus the $4 million drop in Tom Glavine’s salary, leave around $29 million coming off the books even after rising paychecks for Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran are factored in. The Mets, after absorbing Delgado’s salary, will have raised payroll by only about $4 million if they throw $20 million per year at prized closer Billy Wagner, a catcher, and a second baseman.

This still leaves a few issues.

The first of these, Delgado’s rumored spat with Minaya’s assistant, Tony Bernazard, is an utter nonissue. The tiff supposedly came about because the cultured Delgado took offense at Bernazard addressing him in slangy Spanish while the Mets were courting him last year. It makes sense that Delgado would be offended – imagine negotiating a $50 million deal with someone who insisted on calling you “son” and “God” and kept saying “Word is bond” and talking about his set rolling deep – but who really cares? Star employees are not expected or required to get on with middle management in any business.

The second issue (per moronic yet irritatingly influential radio hosts Mike and the Mad Dog, anyway) is Delgado’s refusal to accept a trade to Los Angeles two years ago, when Delgado’s Blue Jays were out of the race and the Dodgers were in it. Someone needs to clue in Mike or the Mad Dog that 2003 was a flukish exception for both teams; the Blue Jays have been a more legitimate postseason contender than the Dodgers for more than a decade, and Delgado’s desire to stay in Toronto cannot be said by anyone who has any idea what he’s talking about to reflect poorly on his desire to play for a winner.

By far the most important issue, though, are the prospects the Mets gave up for Delgado: Jacobs and starter Yusmeiro Petit. There are two facets to this: First, whether the prospects are any good; second, whether Minaya should have given them up.

As to the first question, yes, the prospects are good, but not worryingly so. Petit has been the darling of statistically minded Mets fans for years. The overweight starter is reminiscent of Sid Fernandez, in that he barely breaks 90 with his fastball but racks up huge strikeout totals thanks to a deceptive delivery. This year, in 117 2/3 innings at Double-A, Petit struck out 130 batters and walked only 18 on his way to a 2.91 ERA – all at age 20!

There are problems, though. Many feel his deceptive delivery won’t work in the majors, and the five gopherballs he gave up in three Triple-A games, along with the 15 he gave up in his 21 Double-A starts, lead one to think there may be something to this. Petit has a chance to become a top-of-the-rotation starter, but will more likely be a no. 4 starter or a swingman, assuming he doesn’t get hurt (no sure bet for a 20-year-old).

Following his shocking debut with the big league squad last season, Jacobs is at the peak of his value. He profiles as a valuable bat off the bench, perhaps a good platoon first baseman, but players like this aren’t too hard to find.

The second question – whether Minaya should have parted with these youngsters – is a lot harder to answer. The Marlins, who are in the midst of a fire sale (though they refuse to call it that) had no leverage in the deal, and it’s not believed the Mets had any serious competition for Delgado. Considering they took on the vast bulk of his salary, it’s hard not to think the deal would have been done had Minaya offered Jacobs and a used athletic supporter. The biggest worry for the Marlins would be giving one of their best bats to a division rival, but since they don’t figure to contend anyway, one can forgive them.

On the other hand, it’s pretty hard for a contender to go wrong when trading for a true superstar at a position of need, even when giving up premium talent. The Mets gave up Preston Wilson for Mike Piazza, A.J. Burnett for Al Leiter, and Octavio Dotel for Mike Hampton. Does anyone regret those deals, which won the Mets a pennant?

Moreover, the Mets dealt Petit from a position of strength. In Philip Humber and Mike Pelfrey (who has yet to sign), the team has the top-rated college starters from each of the last two drafts; Brian Bannister, Gaby Hernandez, and mysterious Cuban Alay Soler give them further depth in right-handed pitching, to say nothing of the presence of five or six quality big league starters. Petit may turn into a great pitcher, but so might any of these others. In the meantime, Delgado by himself is enough to turn the team into the current favorite in the NL East, and a few more judicious moves could turn the Mets into the best team in baseball.

Sympathetic as I am to the complaints of Mets fans who don’t want to see their team become a Playstation team like the Yankees, it’s hard to fault Minaya for being aggressive in bringing true superstars to Flushing. This isn’t Steve Phillips bringing in Kevin Appier, Mo Vaughn, and Roger Cedeno. This is a reasonably good team being turned into a great one.

tmarchman@nysun.com