Jason Bay Is A Met?! Now What?: Moves The Mets Should Consider

Moves the Mets Need to Consider

            Jason Bay is a New York Met?! Great! Is he that one last piece to take the Mets over the top?  Absolutely not.  Lets face it, the Bay acquisition while significant, is not the only move that the Mets need to make to start righting the ship.  The Phillies, the Braves, and even the Washington Nationals have made upgrades to their roster as well.  Unless Ryan Howard eats Chase Utley and Roy Halladay has a Tiger Woods’ like scandal, the Mets cannot rest this off-season on what they've done.  They need to do more.  Here are some suggestions as to how the Mets should finish the rest of this off-season.

            Move #1: Sign a catcher.  This is the most obvious of the moves the Mets need to make because no Mets fan wants to see Henry Blanco or Chris Coste our 2010 opening day starters at catcher.  With a couple options available in the free agent market (Bengie Molina, Miguel Olivo, Rod Barajas, Yorvit Torrealba), a catcher with some pop in the bat is a must.  Molina is asking for three years and the Mets are only willing to go as far as two.  Molina is clearly the best out of these four, and the Mets should stand firm on two years because there isn’t much of a market for Molina.  If they feel that a deal with Molina cannot be had, they should probably then approach Olivo, who quietly had a nice year for the Kansas City Royals.

            Move #2: Add a proper long man to the bullpen.  Although most Met fans would agree there was an upgrade at closer this past season, the New York Met bullpen was still disappointing.  The only reason we’re not talking about it again this year is because the rest of the team was just as bad as well.  One of the greatest, most unheralded aspects of the 2006 New York Mets was the fact that they had Darren Oliver, a lefty reliever who could pitch multiple innings and put the fire out that the starters left out on the bases.  He kept the games close; he didn’t win games for you, he stopped the bleeding until the offense could come back around.  His defined role undoubtedly set a tone, and took pressure off of the other relievers. 

It is foolish to think that with all the prominent lefty hitters in the division (Howard, Utley, Ibanez, McCann, Dunn) it is insane to think that the Mets can afford to have Pedro Feliciano as the only lefty reliever.  If Oliver Perez gives up 6 runs in 2 innings, you need a guy to go out there and face the Phillies a couple times over and keep your team in the game.  A Noah Lowry, Shawn Estes, Eric Milton should be an acquisition the Mets ponder. 

            Move #3: Trade Luis Castillo, Brian Stokes, Angel Pagan, and Omir Santos to the Detroit Tigers for Carlos Guillen and prospects.  The Tigers have expressed interest in trading Carlos Guillen and now are looking for someone to bat leadoff now that Curtis Granderson is on the New York Yankees.  Luis Castillo, while not everyone’s favorite, is a .300 hitter who can get on base.  He cannot work for the Mets because even though he gets on base, he can’t move runners over like a #2 hitter, and the Mets have one of the best leadoff hitters in the game.  The Tigers have expressed interest in Stokes in the past as well, and this package gives the Tigers major league depth.  The signings of guys like Blanco, Coste, Ryota Igarashi, and Kelvim Escobar, make Stokes and Santos expendable. 

Guillen could provide a challenge to Daniel Murphy at First Base and a guy who has experience and can step in at 3B or LF and having a proven bat on the bench is a definite plus.  Guillen can play 2-3 times a week, keeping the workload off everyone, including himself, as he is battling injuries himself.  Moving Castillo opens up 2B for Orlando Hudson.  The combination of Guillen as a utility/platoon player and Hudson, the starting 2^nd Baseman could be had for about 7-8 million dollars. Trading Luis Castillo, Brian Stokes, Angel Pagan, and Omir Santos for Carlos Guillen and Orlando Hudson is a major upgrade any Mets fan would sign up for.

            Move #4: Sign more low risk high reward players.  The Kelvim Escobar signing was justified by management as being low risk/high reward because Escobar had shown true potential, and since he was coming off an injury, he was available very cheaply.  If Escobar provides 50-75% of the player he was in his prime, it will be deemed a highly successful move.  With the market out there, the Mets should inquire about players that were productive in their past, but are coming off injuries and are looking to play for a team to increase their value next off season.  Looking at the remaining free agents, the name that jumps off the page is Dmitiri Young.  He’s a career .280, switch-hitting first baseman with power that, if healthy, could definitely challenge Daniel Murphy for the job at first base.  If he can’t play the field, at least he’s a Matt Stairs like professional bat to come off the bench late in games, and at worst, he’s in the minors and not causing havoc on your roster like bringing back Carlos Delgado.

            Move #5: Sign Jon Garland.  I know it’s not the solution everyone is looking for (signing Joel Piniero, trading for Bronson Arroyo, Aaron Harang, or Carlos Zambrano) but the good outweighs the bad.  He’d give the Mets a guy that can eat 200 innings a year off an inconsistent pitching staff, and he’s got a great attitude, just ask Joe Torre.  He’s always pitched in hitters’ parks and moving to Citi Field might make him a serviceable investment considering all the other moves the Mets should be making.  Any true Mets fan would not deny that the Mets are hurting for depth in the rotation, and a proven guy like Garland should not be taken lightly.

            The beauty of the free agent market now, as apposed to a couple years ago, is that teams no longer have to make multi-year commitments at huge amounts of money.  Quick-fix trail solutions are available on the cheap and the Mets should try to really capitalize on this as much as possible.  They haven’t spent their money well in the past, but now the market has changed, so instead of depleting the farm system in trades, they can afford to try out a bunch of guys at a relatively inexpensive price.  Things are looking up for the Mets, but if they can make these moves, they can really put themselves in a position to climb closer to the Phillies, and put themselves in a position where next off-season they can officially start to mold themselves as true contenders in the National League.