I know I'm a bit late to this argument - it had a lot of steam when Carter's illness was first revealed.  And I know I'm not the first to put my two cents in - I was actually inspired to write this by this very well-written article by John Strubel from a little more than a week ago.

But I still feel like there's more to say.  So here I am.

First, the background.  The Mets have retired just one player's number - Tom Seaver's 41.  The other two?  Casey Stengel's 37 and Gil Hodges' 14 - the first manager in franchise history and the manager of the 1969 World Series winners.

I feel like Gary Carter has already been properly honored by the Mets - In August of 2001, he was elected to the team Hall of Fame, where he has a plaque with more than 20 other former Mets.

And there's a couple of approaches to this argument: a) Carter is sick, he should be honored while he is still with us - along the lines of 'you don't know what you have until it's gone', b) the 1986 Mets are the greatest in team history, and there is no player from that team honored with a retired number - Carter could be the one, and c) Carter is a Hall of Famer - that should be enough criteria to retire his number.

But that's part of the problem - there's not really any criteria for the Mets.  Some teams have specific guidelines for entry into their Hall of Fame or for having their numbers retired.  As far as I can tell, the Mets have nothing but decisions made by management.

And that's my biggest problem with the Mets retiring Gary Carter's number - especially right now.  If the Mets retired #8 this season, it would reek of a marketing move.  It would seem like a distraction from the performance of the team on the field, and the trades that will have either happened or be imminent.  (Sure, the Mets are playing well right now...but I'm not buying into the 2011 team.  But that's another story for another day.)  Further, the retirement ceremony would be a sellout at Citi Field - I guarantee it.  And among the people in the stands would be me - despite my vow to not spend any money on the team until I felt like they turned things right.  And that feels dirty to me.

It's almost like the Mets would be taking advantage of Carter's illness to turn a buck.  (Not to mention the fact that there were not many kind words directed towards Carter by the Mets in recent years until his illness was revealed...let alone thoughts about retiring his number.)

Gary Carter's 1985 and 1986 seasons with the Mets were excellent.  I still believe he should have been the MVP of the 1986 World Series (9 RBI in 7 games).  His 1987 was good.  But those seasons with the Mets aren't what made him a Hall of Famer.  If you are going to retire his number based on 2-plus good seasons (albeit including a World Series championship), there are many other Mets whose numbers belong on the left field wall.

If there is any pattern to the retiring of Mets numbers, it's the fact that they've recognized their managers.  Want to retire a number from those 1986 Mets? How about the man who kept that wild band together - Davey Johnson.  Of course, there's the problem of David Wright wearing his number 5...but either he won't be finishing the year with the Mets, or you have the good problem of retiring the number twice, a la the Yankees with number 8.

The Mets' number 8?  If you want to keep it off the current team out of respect, fine...but I don't think it merits permanent retirement.