I've decided that my outlook this year is to almost completely ignoring improving our lineup itself in any way and focus on improving our team's athleticism and fielding. Also I'm steering away from  negotiating for Jon Lackey.

So here's the Plan:

For our outfield: Obviously trade Francoeur, and start Pagan in rleft. After that I'd head after one of Mike Cameron or Mark Derosa; whichever one would jump at a 2 year, $16 million deal with  third year club option (based around Abreu's 2 year $19 million one). Worst case scenario we give it to Marlon Byrd. Backing up the outfield will be the immortal Endy Chavez, who will sign for 1 year at 1 million.

For first base: I'd be interested in just keeping a Daniel Murphy/Fernando Tatis platoon. They're both ample 1Bs and I still believe in Murph. It's a decent solution and cost effective as well.

For second base: Obviously find a taker for Luis. I don't really care who or for what. Let's just say Snyder because it seems like a reasonable solution for both teams. Then, I'd see if Placido Polanco would be interested a 2 year, $10-$12 million contract. If not then I'd look into Omar Infante or Jamey Carroll for a reduced price.

For shortstop: Obviously Jose will still be around, but we need to get an effective backup. My interest lies in Adam Everett.

For catcher: With Snyder, Santos and Thole I don't see the need to add any more players.

Starting pitchers: I'd obviously like to keep Santana and Pelfrey around in the rotation, but the other three spots are up for grabs, IMHO. I'd look into signing Randy Wolf, preferably for more money and less years than most other pitchers: 2 years, $24 million. After that I'd bring back Livan. Yeah, that's right. Can't argue with his 4.44 FIP. I'd sign him to a 1 year $1 million deal. I'd keep Maine and sign Brian Burris to a minor league deal.

For the Bullpen: I'd keep Rodriguez, Parnell, Green, Feliciano, Stokes, Nieve and Perez. I'd try and snag Paulino in a trade and then demote Nieve, but otherwise I think that core is perfectly fine.

The 25th man: Craig Counsell. Sign him. Not only is he hilarious to see hit, he ain't so bad either (.336 wOBA last year), plus, he's a masterfull 2B and 3B, with some decent experience at SS as well.

So our lineup would be:

SS Reyes

2B Polanco/Carroll/Infante

3B Wright

CF Beltran

LF Pagan

RF: Cameron/DeRosa/Byrd

1B Murphy/Tatis

C Snyder/Santos

(Pitcher)

Rotation:

Santana (3.60 FIP, 3.30 tRA)

Wolf (4.20 FIP, 4.30 tRA)

Pelfrey (4.30 FIP, 4.80 tRA)

Maine (4.50 FIP, 5.10 tRA)

Hernandez (4.50 FIP, 5.70 tRA)

Bullpen:

Rodriguez

Parnell

Green

Feliciano

Storks (or Socks, whoever's cheaper)

Nieve

Perez

Bench:

C Santos

1B/OF Tatis/Murphy

SS Everett

OF Chavez

IF Counsell

Waiting in the wings:

C Thole

OF Martinez

SP Niese

SP/RP Burris

SP/RP Figueroa

2B/SS Tejada

1B/OF Davis

RP Niesen

The community has spoken, and John Maine will be the starter Opening Day, and Jon Niese will be the odd man out and will hone his skill some more in AAA. The Mets (Community) still have $2.1 million free.


Our next step in the Community off-season is addressing the bullpen, which I will do in parts due to the fact that there will likely be 7 pitchers in the MLB bullpen.

How this will work is that I am going to assume that K-rod is our closer, and organize the bullpen into the following:

Closer - Francisco Rodriguez

Setup Man

Setup Man

MRP

MRP

LRP

and we will decided whether the other two spots will be dedicated to "Lefties" or just miscellaneous relievers.

Right now, there are two setup men, so everyone in the poll will vote for their favorite candidate for the job and the Top 2 will have earned the job as the Community Setup Men. Options include:

Bobby Parnell: This young, in-house option is a player I'm sure we're all familiar with. As a rookie in 2009, his surface numbers don't look too hot: 4-8 record, 5.30 ERA, 4.69 BB/9 also. However, his numbers are deflated mainly due to his 8 starts, most of which ended up as atrocities. Parnell as a reliever posted a 3.46 ERA in 52 IP, striking out 43, and walking 23. In addition, his FIP finished comfortably under 4.00, and his tRA did as well. his GO/AO rate of 1.26 was also favorable, as was his 8 homers allowed in 88 IP. Even more in his favor is the fact that he had a .347 BABIP against. In terms of stuff, Parnell possesses a fastball that averages between 94 and 95 MPH, and a sharp slider to complement it. Occasionally he throws a changeup as well.

Sean Green: Green had an off year in his debut with the Mets, hitting three-year lows in FIP (4.42) and in tRA (4.55), however; Green's 2007 and 2008 speak very highly of him. In both of those years, he finished with his FIP under 3.80 and his tRAs were 4.34 and 3.97 respectively. His numbers were mainly altered due to a heightened walk rate from 2008, a career high 4.65 BB/9, and possibly because he's strayed away from his slider (used 18.9% in 2008, 7.1% in 2009) and the overuse of his curve (2.5% in 2008, 16.7% in 2009) perhaps this simple mistake will be easy to fix, and Green could return to his 2008 form, which would certainly be useful for the Metropolitans. Green isn't a gunslinger like Parnell, in fact his fastball for his career averages at only 89.1 MPH. Green gets by on groundballs generated by his sinking fastball and slider.

Jenrry Mejia: Who better to fill the setup role than this God of a man? He's got a mid-90s fastball with a ton of life, a very nice split-change and a curve that's coming along nicely. He dominated A+ ball at the ripe age of 19 and maybe a move to an MLB bullpen is the last step before he becomes our ace/closer. He's a groundball pitcher with a great mental makeup and its possible that from the bullpen his fastball could be even faster!

Kelvim Escobar: He's made exactly one appearance in the past two years, which is discouraging but may also make him willing to sign a 1 year, $2 million deal as a setup man. Escobar's always had killer stuff and he's looked alright in his recovery. Could be a very valuable guy to have in the bullpen and possibly a rotation replacement for any injured starters. His fastball in his only start of this year was averaging at a very encouraging 93.7 MPH. Escobar's deep repertoire consists of a fastball, curve, slider, changeup, splitter and cutter. Would be a bargain, but the Angels may very well re-sign him to be the #5 starter in their next rotation as they are losing Lackey.

I'm not sure of their availability but interesting targets may include Jose Arredondo and Chad Qualls, both of whom would command at least a few prospects in deals.

Sorry guys, there aren't many options I cant think of that would cost $2.1 million or less outside of the above. IF you have ideas, PLEASE post them in the comments section.

Congrats community! You have just signed John Lackey to a 5 year contract worth $80 million! Out of 75 votes, Lackey received 24 of them, with Joel Pineiro in a distant second place with 13. The community has $2.4 million left to spend for the rest of its positions, and a key issue is coming up!

Odds are, the Mets have a rotation of 5 people, and with Santana, Pelfrey, Perez and Lackey all but locks for their jobs, John Maine and Jon Niese are left to fight for the fifth spot in the rotation. This decision effects the Mets payroll for relief pitchers, catcher and first base indirectly as well, as payroll is becoming more and more finite.

So here are the options:

1. Start John Maine, start Niese in AAA - The advantage of this is that the Mets have John Maine in the rotation who is more of a guarantee than Niese, who hasn't had significant time in the MLB and is coming off of a big hamstring strain. Maine is a pretty solid pitcher who is pretty much a guarantee to get at least a  4.80 FIP and 5.30 tRA with the ability to bring it up to 4.10 and 4.30. Maine's issues are with injury (40 starts in past 2 years) and with some declining numbers (K/9 from 2007 to 2009: 8.48, 7.84, 6.09; tRA: 4.27, 4.90, 5.32) and also his troubles with command (nearly a walk every 2 innings). Niese would always be available to fill in for Maine if this is the chosen scenario. keeping Maine would subtract $0.3 million from the available payroll

2. Start Jon Niese, move John Maine to the bullpen - The advantage  here is that the Mets already have a solution to their ailing bullpen in house, and it also gives a good young pitcher a chance to start. John Maine always had trouble the second time through the order, and perhaps a move to the bullpen will help this and allow his high walk rate. It's the same hit to the payroll, and kills two birds with one stone. The question is, how much do you trust Niese?

3. Start Niese, trade Maine away - The principle to this is the same as #2. It's that Niese should be entrusted a rotation spot for possibly the entire year. The difference between this and #2 is that the Mets get rid of Maine, a solid pitcher who could have been beneficial in multiple ways, and instead free up $2.7 million of the payroll to perhaps add a catcher, 1B, RP or a bench player or two. In return, the Mets could see a decent return in prospects or perhaps another player who could be beneficial. If you vote for this option, PLEASE provide a possible team to take him and/or possible players in return

4. Start John Maine, move Niese to the bullpen

The community has spoken! By a 12% margin, the community has chose to start Angel Pagan in right, and has traded Jeff Francoeur, who was able to net us two solid prospects from the Royals organization. Jeff, we wish you luck. Also with a decent chunk of the vote was B.J. Upton, who received 15% of the vote to Francoeur's 27% and Pagan's 39. Our team budget has actually increased to a healthy $18.4 million, and another big issue has come up!

You know the rules guys, you MUST stay within (or slightly above I guess) the budget, and you might want to make sure we fill every position as well! Now let's get down to business. Now due to the fact that we have 5 rotation spots, there will be a lot of options, so it is possible that your favorite rotation will not be up there. If this is the case, please vote for "Other" and elaborate YOUR plan for the rotation. If the "Other " column is filled significantly, I'll restructure the poll, although I think I have a decent grasp at what the community wants.

It seems quite apparent that Oliver Perez and Johan Santana are going to be Mets for this year at least. Perez has an untradable contract and Santana is here to stay, and his recent elbow trouble may mean he is untradable as well (unless of course you want to trade either of them and eat their salary, althought it'll still be tough to find a taker). The rest is really up for grabs. Fighting for spots in the rotation are John Maine, Jon Niese and Mike Pelfrey mainly, and a darkhorse is Bradley Holt. Although there are 5 legitimate competitiors, some Mets fans think that they are not enough, and we need some new blood in the system.

The options for the rotation are certainly intriguing this year. Some guys outside of the organization include:

Roy Halladay. Roy has been one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball over the past 5 years. He has a fail-safe repertoire and brilliant stamina to stay in the game. He's a top notch talent, with the numbers to back him up. In 2009, his FIP was 3.06 and his tRA was 3.71. In 2008, his FIP was 3.03 and his FIP 3.61. He is awesome. From 2005 to this year, Halladay has racked up a 30.4 WAR, 14.7 of that in the past 2 years. In layman's terms, he's absolutely brilliant. Halladay is quite the pricy pitcher though, as he is not a free agent. The Red Sox needed to offer 5 of their top 10 prospects and their deal was still rejected. 2010 is his last year under contract and he'll earn $15.75 million for that year. After that, he's making Arab money. We're talking $25 million a year over 7 years here my friend, and if I were him I'd settle for nothing less. In terms of trade cost, it'll likely cost Fernando Martinez, Jenrry Mejia, Brad Holt AND Jon Niese, especially knowing what the BoSox offered. He'll be 33 years old in 2010. But, the guy is good, and we all know it. So, are you willing to pay the price?

John Lackey. John Lackey certainly is less of an investment than Halladay, but that's because he's not as good of a pitcher.  At his worst, Lackey is Mike Pelfrey. 2008 was by far his worst  season since 2003, in which he had a 4.53 FIP, 5.32 tRA and 2.0 WAR. This certainly isn't bad, but one may ask, what's his upside? His upside at this point is something like what Johan Santana did for us in 2009, only better. Lackey posted a 3.73 FIP in 09 which was slightly better than Santana's 3.79, however his tRA of 4.47 was worse than Johan's 3.79 (no, not a typo). Where Lackey REALLY beat Johan was in the WAR department. Johan's 2.8 WAR was significantly less than Lackey's 3.9, partially because Johan was out 20 innings or so longer. Lackey has pretty much recovered from his injury (he's back at his career averages in just about everything, in fact his fastball is a tick higher), but it hurt his value significantly. Instead of seeking a deal similar to CC Sabathia's, he's now looking for something closer to A.J. Burnett. In a full season with the Mets, Lackey should be as good as Santana has been if not better (Although not quite Roy Halladay). So, are you willing to give Lackey a 5 year, $80-90 million deal?

Aaron Harang. Over 2009 there's been a lot of talk of the Reds looking to rid themselves of Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo, as they are looking to cut budget and rely on younger and cheaper pitchers such as Johnny Cueto, Homer Bailey, Micah Owings and Kip Wells. The Reds probably aren't too enthusiastic about the fact that their ace's ERA hasn't dipped below 4 since 2007. However, I'd welcome Harang with open arms. He's a good strikeout pitcher who allows a lot of fly balls. And where's the perfect place for pitchers like him? Citifield. The balls that were once homers will now be caught in right on the track by Angel Pagan. Matt Holliday will have no trouble calling off Beltran 20 feet in front of the wall for what was once a homer in the Great American Ballpark. Considering he'd be a bit of a salary dump, I'm assuming trading for the Harangutan would be quite easy, as he should only cost a few lower-level prospects. He has 1 year of commitment left on his contract worth $12.5 million, and has a club option for $12.75 million for 2010. It's hard to say no to. In 2009, Harang posted an FIP of 4.14. Very solid. It should go down even more in Shea...er, Chitifield.

Joel Pineiro. Pineiro presents another interesting option. He's coming off of a fantastic year, the first decent one he's had since 2005. Pineiro will be only 31 in 2010, so he may be looking for 3 years at $30 million, especially coming after his briliant 2009 where his BB/9 was just 1.14, and his FIP was 3.27. Pineiro's year may have been a legitimate breakthrough. He's been using his fastball WAYYY more than usual and it appears to have gotten him significantly more ground balls. What I like about Pineiro is his low walk percentage which is always a plus, and that he gained success with a .293 BABIP. What I don't like about Pineiro is his ridiculously low K rate, high home run tendencies, and decreasing fastball velocity (2009 was the lowest it's ever been at 89 MPH). If Pineiro's new approach (or move to the NL) was the reason for his success, he should be a welcome guest at Citifield. If not, he could be an Ollie-sized mistake.

Rich Harden. Harden is an oft-injured pitcher who probably considers himself successful for pitching 150 innings, but there are benefits to signing him. Harden has never signed anything past his arbitration contract, so the market for him should be interesting. No team will be willing to give him a huge contract as he hasn't pitched 150 innings since 2004, but it's hard to simply ignore his talent. He should be able to get two years out of a team, and maybe $8 million or so per year. At this value, he could be a very nice grab from the market. In years where he's pitcher over 120 innings, he's actually brought significant value to his team: (2004: 4.5 WAR, 2005: 3.9 WAR, 2008: 4.4 WAR, 2009: 1.8 WAR). He's also a ridiculous strikeout pitcher. Of course, with his injury risk, the Mets should have a good backup plan in mind if they sign him.

Jon Garland. It's pretty easy to summarize Garland: Mediocre, but healthy and consistant. If for some reason the Dodgers decline his option (doubtful), he'll likely look for a 2 or 3 year deal at $8 million per.

Justin Duchsherer. Fantastic in 2008, injuries ended him early, clinical depression had him out 2009. He is healthy, but he may not have the Empire State of Mind.

Erik Bedard. Bedard is also a pitcher who's had his bouts with injuries over the past couple of years, but his name isn't quite synonymous with the word yet. However, there's a lot going against Bedard right now. His torn labrum means that his return will be mid- to late- 2010, and the surgery is going to be a big one. Bedard isn't much of a solution that will go into effect Opening Day and he may not even make much impact in 2010, but he could be a buy-low contract worth nothing. Bedard is two years older than Harden, and has at least gotten 80 innings out of the years he's been injured for long periods of time. A one year, $3 million deal may be enough to land the lefty, but a 2 year deal worth $3 million the first year and $5 million the second would be enough to land the lefty automatically. His numbers are actually a bit better than Harden's, but both are rather unique cases.  He doesn't seem to want to pitch in New York.

Randy Wolf. Sorry guys for forgetting him originally, but I'm adding him in before a lot of people get to voting. Wolf has had strong showings in the past 2 years despite bouncing around more than a super ball. The Padres took a chance on the lefty with a large injury history, even though he hadn't pitched for more than 20 starts in the three previous seasons before (although his numbers with the Dodgers in 2007 were promising). Wolf split the year between San Diego and Houston and finished posting a more than solid 4.17 FIP with a quite good 4.27 tRA, and also managed to get in 190 IP. The Mets passed over him to get Perez in the offseason, and look what's happened? Perez is wobbly and Wolf pitches 214 innings with a 3.96 FIP and 4.93 tRA. Miles above Perez. I don't know what kind fo contract he'll be looking for, as over the past 4 years he's been bouncing from Philly to LA to SD to Houston and back to LA. I'm sure he'd take the first 3 year contract he sees, but realistically a 2 year, $16-20 million contract is to be expected. He's a curveballer who, in terms of injuries, is all or nothing, which is the nature of the curveball. If healthy he should be a durable, great #2/3 starter. If he gets injured, he'll likely be on the 60 day DL.

Doug Davis. Davis has a reputation to be a solid, durable pitcher. He's had the fortune of a relatively stable career and would probably like to keep it that way. At 34 years old going into 2010 he probably could get a 2 year deal worth $14-15 million with a third year club option. Davis is a VERY hittable pitcher so a strong defense is necessary before acquiring him. Numbers-wise, he's had 9 years of being a regular in the rotation, and has exceeded 180 IP 6 times. Expecting a 4.40 FIP from him is reasonable, but also a high tRA (6.24 this year). I'd be wary of him, as I projected a significant drop in value for this year. His WAR has been on a steady decline since 2004.

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Congratulations community! You have just collectively sign Matt Holliday to a 5-year, $100 million deal! The harsh competition with the Orioles to lock up this baby paid off. You still have about $15 million in the bank to fill in other positions with! Out of the 70 votes, Holliday netted 34 of them, while far away in second but still with a strong showing was B.J. Upton, with 13.

So, now what? Now, we move on to Right Field. My original plan was to do the outfield positions together, but found it quite impossible to organize. So let's view our options for right field.

The first option is rather obvious. It's to go with what we already have in right with Jeff Francoeur. Francoeur had a salary of $3.4 million last year and it's likely to rise to $3.7-$3.8 this year. Pagan cost about $0.5 million last year and should remain at that number. So let's look at what we are getting for the money. The disadvantages of Francoeur are quite apparent. He swings at everything in front of his face. Lore tells that one time Jeff Francoeur went to a fancy Italian restaurant, and ordered the salad. When the waiter was moving to put it down, Francoeur took a bat and swung at it as it crossed his face. This approach has led him wOBAs of .337, .286 and and .313 over the past three years, which is wabout as well if not worse than Murphy's 2009. What's worse is that Francoeur has been a below average fielder for the past two seasons, with UZRs of -4.7 and -7.8 in 2008 and 2009 respectively. However, there IS a reason to keep him, and that's the fact hat he is 25 and with the Mets hit for a .311/.338/.498 line, and that certainly is useful. If Francoeur can keep this production up, he is worth it. If not.... **shudders**

All of the other options include trading or non-tendering Jeff Francoeur. A possible trade candidate would be the KC Royals, who are likely getting rid of Mark Teahen and don't give a rats-ass about OBP, wOBA or UZR.

These options include:

Simply starting Angel Pagan in right. Pagan is a brilliant defensive right fielder who has a career 18.7 UZR/150 at the position in 278.2 innings. Pagan has also been improving every year at the plate, which is most evident this year with his .358 wOBA. In his time (88 games) Pagan has stolen 14 bases and proven time and time again that he is a worthy outfielder. He finished 2009 with 376 PAs and a 2.3 WAR, which kicks the crap out of a lot of 2009 Mets. His dollar value for this years performance is measured over at Fangraphs at $10.6 million this year. The downsie of starting Pagan is that he has never been a full-time regular before, but more positives include his low cost and that he's still only 29.

For those more interested in bulking up our lineup, options include Mark DeRosa and B.J. Upton (more info on them in the left field post).

Another more costly option would be Andruw Jones. Jones spent little time in the field in his 2009 term with the Rangers, but this was totally unjustified. In his limited time as a corner outfielder in Texas he performed quite well, and there is no reason to doubt that he could have a UZR of at least 20 in right. This is very attractive, as is his pop (.246 ISO in 2009, holla!). Downsides of Jones include that his contract could be $5 million per year or more. He should settle for nothing less considering he was making $14 million a year pretty much every year before, and that he has shown that he is still capable, if not as much as before. He is not young like Upton, but then again he is only a free agent.

On the FA market as well is Marlon Byrd. Byrd will likely cost $5-6 million per year after coming off of a season with 20 HR and a .280 BA. He'll be 32 come April 2010 and may look for 2-3 years. Byrd is a decent centerfielder but is great in the corners, with a career UZR/150 of 10.9 in left and 12.3 in right. Byrd over the past three years has posted wOBA's of .350, .370 and .345. His WARs have been 2.5, 3.5 and 2.3 in 2007 through 2009, respectively.

Jeremy Hermida is another option, he would likely be less costly but he is a miserable outfielder. He could be non-tendered by the Marlins. Hermida is known to have some very good skills and tools, and if he can put them together he could be a weapon in the lineup. Of course, if he isn't he's worth squat. We'll put his predicted contract at $2.5 million.

Available through trade is Milton Bradley, who is signed through the next two years. If traded the team receiving him will likely pay around $10 million over the next two years for him, and he may cost very little in a trade. The downside of Bradley is that he is injury prone and has a famous temper. The upside is that he is a good defender in right and center field, and has had WARs over 2 in every year from 2003 to 2009, with a 1.8 WAR in 2009. in 2008 it was 4.5, in 2003 it was 4.8. He is also an interesting option.

At this point, acquiring another player pretty much guarantees that the Mets are not in the running for John Lackey, so for all those who want Lackey keep that in mind. In fact, at this point it seems that any budget under $18 million won't be enough to land Lackey, and any budget under $15 million would definitely restrict us from landing Halladay in a trade.

We all have our plans of how the Mets should handle the off-season: Let's make a community plan, position by position, of how this should be done. We'll see if the solutions we all come up with are feasible.

Here's basically how it works:

The Mets have $35-$40 million to sepnd this off-season. Let's assume that they spend $30 million for this off-season. Make a plan about what you would do with this money to improve the team, and then position-by-position, vote for how you would handle this. For example:

If you want Jeff Francoeur in right, Matt Holliday in left, Nick Johnson at first, Luis Castillo at second, Jose Reyes at short, etc. etc., vote accordingly, and make sure it could be financially feasible (no one can predict the future, so ballpark it). What I do not want to happen is that for outfield signing Holliday is the #1 solution, Lackey as the #1 solution to starting pitching and Bay as the #1 solution at first. Obviously the Mets could not afford this. I want this to be realistic.

So let's view the options:

Starting left fielder:

The Most talked about option is Matt Holliday, who is great offensively and defensively. Knowing Scott Boras, his contract could be quite a doozy. Holliday is probably the biggest free agent on the market, and has been worth a big contract for each of the past four years. His WAR (Wins Above Replacement) have been 4.4, 7.9, 6.2 and 5.3 over 2006-2009 respectively, which is some of the best numbers in the game. Holliday's contract, in a conservative estimate, may end up at 5 years, $100 million. Would you be willing to spend the money?

Another possibility is B.J. Upton: Although he is a natural Centerfielder, most CFs have no problem moving to the corner, and excel most all of the time. The advantages of Upton are that he is young (25), fast, and he probably won't cost much (most like he'll cost like $5 million, it's his first arb-eligible year). He's a fantastic defender as well, and considering we have the worst defense in the game, literally, he could be a huge help. He has a huge upside (4.9 WAR last year) but a high downside as well (2.1 WAR this year, despite terrible offense). His biggest weakness is also a strength, and that is his weak offense, which may be alarming, but may mean that in a trade he wouldn't cost much. He's certainly not as good a player as Holliday, but at the possibility of his low cost....

Another popular option is Carl Crawford. Crawford will be 28 in 2010, and will be in the final year of his contract. In all likelihood, due his very nice 2009, he may cost a boatload in prospects (think Martinez, Mejia AND others), and later in contract (think 5 years, $80-90 million). In downside and upside, he's slightly better than Upton, however his success in 2009 (5.2 WAR) has made him an attractive option. It seems more likely that the Rays are reluctant to trade Crawford over Upton. Crawford is both a skilled left fielder and center fielder. Very useful, but at a higher cost in talent and money combined than any of the afforementioned.

Here's another possibility: Jason Bay: Bay is a big hitter who can take a walk and has wheels. At 31 years old this is his first time on the free agent market. His predicted contract is 4 years, $60 million. Bay's monster bat produces almost every year (except for 2007), however his downside is that he simply cannot play the outfield position. Although early in his career he was a league-average outfielder, his UZRs over the past 3 years have been -11.5, -18.4, and -12.3. That's Gary Sheffield bad. This has brought his overall WAR to 0.1, 2.9 and 3.6 from 2007-2009 respectively. He costs more than Upton, but less than for Crawford and Holliday, and his value is somewhere in between.

Another option is Bobby Abreu, who would be a cheaper option, and can hold his own with the bat over anyone else here. However, the downside of having Abreu is that he is a defensive butcher in the outfield, and will likely seek a multi-year contract. While for the most part in his career his offense has sustained his lackluster ability in the outfield, in 2008 this was not the case, as his career worst -25.2 UZR was just about the worst outfielding anyone has ever seen, and brought his WAR down to 1.2. He'll liekly seek a 3 year deal, and the value, I'm guessing, would be around $20 million.

A similar option to Abreu is Mark DeRosa, who is lighter on the hitting side but a brilliant defender, who will likely seek a 2 year deal worth $14-16 million. His down year last year could hurt his stock, and he didn't seem to be worth much in trade value, as he was traded to the Indians from the Cubs for next to nothing, and was traded to the Cardinals for a solid Relief Pitching prospect.

Here's a fanpost on what Omar should do for pitching over at Amazin Avenue:

If Omar wants pitching, he needs to make a trade (by Original Poster)

because the only good free agent will be John Lackey. Now the Mets only have 3 trading pieces IMO. Jeffrey Marte who is blocked by David Wright, Ruben Tejada who is block by Jose Reyes and Angel Pagan whom make a perfect trading partner with… Toronto. Toronto needs young position player at 3B, SS, and CF because they don’t have any OF depth or left side infielders. But they have a ton of pitchers.

Halladay, Jesse Litch, Scot Richmond, Jansen, Marcum, and that other guy who is always hurt but is probably their most talented pitcher. From the left side they have Cecil, Romero and Rzepzinski ( also David Purcey). ALL of them are better than any of our pitchers not named Santana or Pelfrey. Our other good prospects should be considered untouchable(F!, Holt, Mejia, ike, Niewenheis, Flores and Havens).

Jesse Litch or Rzepzinski will be perfect

Response:

If I have to give up those three I want Halladay (by Responder)

You know what I'm sayin'

Response again:

Only ONE of those prospects for one of their pitchers. (by Original Poster

Good Grief.

The Wilpon's are "victims" of tough economic times and of the Bernie Madoff scandal. They are "strapped for cash" in the sense that they may need to actually CONSIDER stepping down from being MEGA RICH to only SUPER RICH. So, from the generosity of my heart, I am here to offer some suggestions to the Wilpon's of how to get the most value out of their junk. Sound familiar? This is just Cash for Clunkers, but with a Metsy twist! Keeping in tradition of catching propaganda-friendly names, I'm calling it Cuts & Keepers. It's just as obvious as it sounds, folks! I first suggest players that the Mets should cut, with reasons next to their names, and I then suggest some keepers! Yay!

(also, to qualify for this bargain, you have to be a Met by the end of September 2009, and your salary has to be under $5 million a year!)

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