THE Mets went financially half-hearted after Vladimir Guerrero and not at all this time around after Alex Rodriguez. It is time to rectify that kind of docile behavior. It is time for a bold act. It is time to get the player who most profiles like Guerrero and who was traded for A-Rod.

It is time for the Mets to call the Rangers about Alfonso Soriano and, for the first time in too long, stop being the team being punched in the New York baseball fight.

As an AL assistant GM said yesterday, “What would it be like if Soriano hit 43 homers for the Mets and A-Rod hit 41 for the Yankees?”

The Mets will never know if they never ask about Soriano, and as of yesterday they hadn’t.

These Mets love to “monitor” situations and rarely act with boldness. This is no way for a team with a major market’s great resources to behave, especially not if they ever intend on competing with the Yanks for the hearts, minds and interests of this great, busy town.

The Mets have an opening in right field, and Karim Garcia and Shane Spencer are not the ex-Yankees they should be thinking of having fill it.

The Mets need to steal from the Yankee playbook here. You know why the Yanks have A-Rod today? Yes, because of the money and the philosophy to use it. But also because they never close their mind to possibilities. Because they are aggressive.

When Aaron Boone went down, the Yanks didn’t make a list of just Lambs. They thought of potential lions. They didn’t assume A-Rod would be unwilling to move to third, they pursued a response.

“At least we asked the question, at least we tried,” Yankee GM Brian Cashman said yesterday.

So the Mets must ask the question about Soriano, and try to change Texas’ answer if they don’t like it. The Rangers dealt A-Rod and gave the Yanks $67 million because they needed to cut payroll. At $5.4 million, Soriano is affordable to them this year, but at around $10 million next year, he probably won’t be. That is something the Mets need to reassert to Texas.

In their offensive-happy ballpark, the Rangers are always going to be able to develop and recruit hitters. They need pitching, lots of it. The Met system has that. It is something the Mets need to reassert to Texas.

Met GM Jim Duquette needs to be on the phone with counterpart John Hart today to say native Texan Scott Kazmir is available. The lefty is viewed among the majors’ 20 best prospects. It is a great start of a trade. Throw in Aaron Heilman and Royce Ring and it is darn attractive.

Texas might figure that holding onto Soriano until the trade deadline will create a bigger market. In elite pitching prospect Ervin Santana and a new owner craving Latin stars, the Angels have the way and the will to land Soriano. So might the Cubs, Mariners, Dodgers and Indians. The Red Sox have Pokey Reese at second, but not the pitching prospects for this endeavor.

So it must be the Mets who turn the A-Rod trade against the Yanks. The Mets know Soriano can play in New York. He is a righty hitter who excelled at Yankee Stadium, so even coming to pitcher-friendly Shea should not reduce him much, if at all. He would fit the mold of 30-steal athletes the Mets now crave. A lineup with Mike Piazza, Cliff Floyd, Jose Reyes, Kaz Matsui, Mike Cameron and Soriano would be among the NL’s best.

Would Kazmir be a tough asset to lose? Of course. But he is 20 and pitched in A-ball last year. He has a questionable makeup, according to an executive from another team, and the kind of delivery that raises worry about injury. “High risk, great reward,” the executive said.

There is no such risk with Soriano. He is great reward with an added benefit – that his acquisition would finally allow the Mets to spike one on the Yankees’ head.