Steve Phillips regrets one thing about the Mets' short-lived but highly publicized flirtation with Alex Rodriguez seven years ago. The former Mets GM is sorry the "24-plus-one" label assigned to A-Rod because of his agent's demands stuck with the superstar. After all, Phillips never had anything personally against A-Rod, only the contract provisions Scott Boras sought for his client. "To this day I feel badly about that," says Phillips, now an ESPN analyst. "He's got a lot more character than that label entails." Phillips, who didn't think devoting more than 25% of the Mets' payroll to one player made sense, doesn't think it's any smarter for the organization now. Not with Twins ace Johan Santana an impending free agent after next season, and the Mets having a far greater need for starting pitching. Not with Jose Reyes and David Wright already the faces of the organization, which makes paying a premium just to market the team around A-Rod unnecessary. And not with a position change required for one of the team's stars - even if Wright reiterated to the Daily News last week that he'd be willing to move to accommodate the megastar. "I'd assume if we were going to make a strong push to go after someone of that magnitude, they would approach me and say, 'Here's what we're thinking,'" Wright says, referring to the front office. "If they think it's best for the team, I'd absolutely be up for trying something else."