Free Agency: The Mets sure need to get busy

The Mets never fail to surprise me. Never.

In an offseason where they quite clearly need to have an organizational overhaul, there first order of business is to triumphantly announce a 10 percent ticket discount for the 2010 season.

That's not all though. They then proceed to fire or reassign two guys who had very little to do with the team's failures.

Getting rid of your first base coach and bullpen coach is such a meaningless, low blow.

Have the balls to make changes. Fire Jerry Manuel or get rid of your hitting coach. Heck, even get someone to move the outfield walls 40ft closer to home plate.

Omar should never be allowed to start a new three-year contract either. Listen up Wilpon—don't shift the blame. Get someone who can move this team in the right direction.

As good as a team's backroom staff is, you need players to succeed. With the Mets having depth problems at almost every position, maybe the first place to start is free agency.

Here's a look at who could be up for grabs.

Backstop Woes

Remember this guy? A guy who not even the Montreal Orphans-turned-Washington Natinals wanted.

Stand up Brian Schneider—your time has loooong gone.

There are 18 catchers whose contracts expire at the end of this season.

The bad news for the Mets is that all of them are over the age of 30 and that the majority of them are useless.

The list includes guys with club options—like Ramon Hernandez and Gregg Zaun—and catchers with options as a player, such as Jason Varitek.

The Mets have no need whatsoever to resign Schneider and I'm at a loss as to why we paid him $4.9million for each of the last two years.

We picked up the tab on the four-year, $16million deal the Nationals stupidly offered him in 2006 and here's what we received in '09:
59 games, three home runs, 24 RBI and a .218 batting average

He is a career .250 hitter and he only had half a dozen home runs in 129 games for the Nats the year before we picked him up. No wonder they snapped our hand off.

Imagine the reaction of the Nationals GM:
"You wanna pick up a $10million contract for a 30-year-old catcher with no pop, no speed, and a sub-standard arm? Hell yeah. Where do I sign?"

So, who is potentially available for 2010? Both Blue Jays catchers' (Rod Barajas and Michael Barrett) contracts are up and the worst two Molina brothers are also free agents.

Pudge Rodriguez shouldn't have even been on a major league roster in 2009, and Mike Redmond hasn't seen regular playing time in a decade.

If you had to pick one—and I need to reiterate IF—then Miguel Olivo offers some power. You won't get 130 games out of him, but he could fill the gap.

But if you're having to go fish in the Royals' pond, that should give you an idea just how desperate you are.

In-house options include Omir Santos—a serviceable backup but with less offensive production than the Mets need, and 22-year-old Josh Towle who hits for a good average but is wholly unproved beyond AA ball.

If the Red Sox decide not to hang on to Victor Martinez, he could be a short-term fix to the Mets' backstop problems.

With no clear solution though, how about looking to snag Kurt Suzuki from Oakland? He is only 25 so there is still a little more room to develop, he hits for a little bit of power and average and he runs the bases pretty well.

He hit a career-high number of home runs and RBI this year and he has refined his eye at the plate. Even better, he's being paid peanuts. Would the A's let him go? Who knows.

But when the alternative is Brian Schneider, it can't hurt to ask.

Who's At First?

Ah, Carlos Delgado. I’m sure glad we exercised your option for 2009. $12million for that year alone, was it?

Money well spent. Take a bow, Omar.

The Mets should have cut their losses after 2008. If they had the 20-20 hindsight that we all have today, maybe they would have.

For once, I'm only joking. I'm a big Delgado fan, and—although we won't—we should do everything in our power to keep him.

Nobody was to know that he would be shut down with hip surgery, and if you took a look at the rest of his time with the Mets you will see that he has been very useful. Invaluable, some might even say.

Delgado almost certainly won’t be returning to Citi Field in 2010, so what are the Mets’ options?

It’s hard to replace a guy who hit 100 home runs in his three healthy years at the club, but first base is a position you need to get production from.

Unless you’re the Yankees and stacked in your middle infield spots, there’s a good chance that you need someone with a power stroke at first.

Daniel Murphy was the most popular of the five men the Mets started there in 2009 and he did an admirable stand-in job.

But if you’re looking for stellar offensive numbers, he’s probably not your man. He's a guy you need on your roster, but I don't think he's the best option.

Sure, the free agent pool includes guys like Chad Tracy, Aubrey Huff, Rich Aurillia and Eric Hinske, but why not take a stab at a Russell Branyan or Hank Blaylock?

Yes, it’s radical, but this is what is called for. Branyan started swinging for the fences until he went down with a herniated disk, and for all the talk about his low contact numbers, he can hit the ball a mile.

Okay, okay, Branyan probably isn’t the answer.

So what about Blalock? Shoulder problems are a concern, but he’s only 28 years old. He could have 30 bombs and a .280 average. I’d take that out of someone who will be overlooked going into 2010.

Or, just don't let Delgado go!

The Mets have no depth at first and neither, apparently, does the free agent market.

If Omar is intent on staying at the club he needs to get on that phone and trade, trade, trade.

I'm sure there's a million players we could get for Anderson Hernandez and Tim Redding.

Yup. Daniel Murphy it is. Unless of course the Padres wanna send Adrian Gonzalez our way.

Ditch the Dead Weight

David Eckstein, Omar Infante, Ronnie Belliard and Mark Loretta will all probably be looking for new homes in 2010.

As will Adam Kennedy, Orlando Hudson and Placido Polanco.

Okay, maybe not Polanco. I would take him if he was available in the spring—he is an elite contact hitter with a really good glove. People forget that he is just two seasons removed from an All Star selection, silver slugger award and golden glove.

His $4.6million salary doesn't make him much cheaper than Castillo, although at 33 years young, I not sure he can still command the money he would have if his contract had expired a year or so ago.

Hudson and Kennedy are both decent enough ballplayers, but with the exception of a slight power upgrade, neither offers significantly more than Castillo.

Which is strange, because Castillo offers very little. My gran has a better power swing that he does. And she could do while baking me cookies.

As a Mets fan, I want to see Luis Castillo given the boot, so if it is free agency where we end up looking for a replacement, then so be it.

He is a really poor replacement for Jose Reyes at the top of the Mets order, and he never provided the spark a lot of people hoped he would.

He is notoriously difficult to strike out, but he is also at his slap-happy offensive best when he is aggressive at the plate. It's hard to work a walk when you come up hacking.

It's a vicious circle for Castillo and unfortunately his 2009 season will be remembered for booting A-Rod's game-winning pop-up.

Unlike Delgado who a clubhouse leader, I wouldn't be sad to see Castillo leave the Mets. The problem will be finding a team dumb enough to pick up the last two years of his $6million-a-year contract.

To think, we even paid him a bonus to sign with us. Now we should be looking to pay someone to take him off our hands.

Assuming we don't like the look of an Orlando Hudson or can't lure a Placido Polanco, here's another option.

I like Kelly Johnson at the Braves.

He had to fight Prado for playing time after coming back off the DL, but he has a nice speed-power combination that could fit in the Mets' lineup well.
Having a good left-handed bat in the lower half of the order would be a nice get, assuming Jose can stay healthy long enough to anchor the top.

Will Reyes be at short in 2010?

With Jose Reyes returning to short, the left side of the Mets infield might actually be feared again.

No Alex Cora (a free agent himself), no Anderson Hernandez and certainly no Wilson Valdez.

Should the unthinkable happen though, and Jose isn't ready to go on Opening Day, who could be floating around this offseason?

Miguel Tejada and Orlando Cabrera are the headline names of shortstops whose contracts are expiring, but don't expect the Mets to test those waters.

Reyes is coming into the fourth and final year of a $23.25million deal which will see him earn a base $9million for the 2010-11 campaign.

They have an $11million option for the 2011 season, so look for the Mets to grab another short-term fix if Jose isn't ready to start the year running.

Bobby Crosby and Adam Everett are pretty much no-gos, Khalil Green has all sorts of injury doubts and Jack Wilson is, well, Jack Wilson.

Is Marcos Scutaro the best next option? Sadly, the answer may be yes.

Fear not, Jose WILL be playing in 2010.

Safe at Third

It's finally nice to get to a position where I don't have to care about.

David Wright is the heartbeat of the Mets franchise and there is no need to consider free agent options.

Wright's contract is good until 2012, with a club option for one more season in 2013. He will be making $10million, $14million, and $15million over the next three years and this is money that I know will yield a dividend.

For what it's worth, the third basemen who may look to test the market this winter include Adrian Beltre, Troy Glaus and Chone Figgins.

Adventures in the Outfield

With the exception of Carlos Beltran, the Mets outfield is a mess. And that is when Beltran is healthy.

The Mets have rotated Angel Pagan, Cory Sullivan, and Fernando Tatis in left field this year, even throwing Nick Evans in there to replace Gary Sheffield.

Right field was a little more certain after sending Ryan Church to the Braves for Jeff Francoeur.

If the Mets are inclined to spend whatever money Bernie Madoff hasn't cost them, then outfield is the place I would probably have them start.

Bobby Abreu, Jason Bay, Johnny Damon, Jermaine Dye, Vlad Guerrero and Matt Holliday all see their contracts expiring soon.

With Holliday earning $13.5million this year, he could prove to be a very expensive short-term rental for the St Louis Cardinals, depending on what he can fetch in the winter.

The Mets had the second highest payroll in 2009 and there is every reason to believe they will be within the top three spenders next year too.

Do to Mets have the cash to get Holliday? I'm sure they do.

Do they have the pieces to trade for a player with the caliber of Holliday? If you assume that Wright and Johan Santana are completely off limits, absolutely not.

Taking the Mound

The Mets rotation is a mess. Okay, you could make that statement for almost any position, but it is especially true for the Mets hurlers.

Luckily, the free agent pool is stacked with a few marquee names.

On the down side, I'm sure none of them would choose to come to the Mets if they were seriously considering playing ball in New York.

Free agent names include Josh Beckett, Rich Harden, John Lackey, Cliff Lee and Brandon Webb.

However, the Diamondbacks have an option to resign Webb, the Phillies have an option to resign Lee, and the Red Sox have an option to keep Beckett.

All of a sudden, it's not so rosy.

Still, if Johan is your ace, you don't necessarily need a Cy Young contender as your number two.

Other free agents include Jason Marquis, Andy Petitte and Ben Sheets. Any one of those could theoretically pitch for the Mets, as unlikely as it may be in practice.

After Johan—who will earn between $20million and $25million between 2010 and 2013 with a club option for 2014—there is little to like in the Mets' two-through-five spots.

Mike Pelfrey does not have the stuff to over-match any major league batter, and you can only weep when you remember than Oliver Perez will be earning a cool $12million for each of the next two years.

I believe John Maine is also a free agent for the 2010 season—although he could be worth a $2million lotto ticket—and Misch will likely be sent down of dropped completely.

At the very least we need a one-two-three that can compete. We can live with an Average Joe in the fourth or fifth spot , but only if we have studs at the top.

Citi Field is massive—we don't need flamethrowers or extreme ground ball pitchers.

All we need is a couple of guys who can take the mound every fifth day, throw strikes, pitch six or seven innings and give the offense a chance to win.

Is that too much to ask for?