My Plan For The 2010 New York Mets

The New York Mets of 2009 are going through one of the more dismal seasons a team can have. Injuries, Injuries and injuries some more have destroyed the season which should have been special given the opening of a new stadium. 2009 has long been dead. 

First of all, most fans can agree that its time for Omar Minaya to go. However, given the fact that he received a 4 year contract extension last season, the probability of that happening is very low. But there are reports that the mets may reassign him to a lower level position in the front office to take him out of the spotlight, especially the news conferences, and promote John Ricco to GM, who currently serves as the assistant to the GM. As for the manager, I think that Jerry Manuel will stay to start next season because it doesnt make sense to fire just the manager. If you fire one, you have to fire the other as well.

Now as for the player transactions for 2010, the Mets have to do a lot with not a lot of money to spend. Early reports are suggesting that the mets will have about $30 million dollars to spend. Given the mets needs at LF, 1B, C, SP and the bullpen, it will be a very difficult task. What the mets have to do is build the team around speed, defense and pitching. That is the best way for them to take advantage of the spacious park at Citi Field. The mets are set next year at 3b-Wright, SS- Reyes, CF- Beltran, RF- Franceour, 2b- Castillo (if the mets can trade him that would be great but he'll most probably return). For left field, the mets need to target Carl Crawford. He fits the bill as being speedy and a great defender. He has a 10 million dollar option for next year which will probably be picked up by the Rays. There were rumors that the Rays were shopping both him and Kazmir around the deadline to clear their salary. Crawford will definitely cost a lot in terms of talent but he can hold down left field for the next 5 years at least. Crawford for F-Mart and Jenry Mejia and the mets take over all of Crawfords salary of 10million. Now the Mets have an outfield consisting of 3 players who are entering or in their primes for the next couple of years.

For 1st base, the mets will have to play the fre agent market and try to get a 1 year deal with either Nick Johnson or Adam Laroche, or sign Mark Derosa to like a 2 year 6 million dollar deal. The reason for this is because I dont think the mets should give up on Murphy just yet. If the mets can sign lets say Derosa, they can play him around 4  times a week at first (while Murphy plays the rest) and find Derosa 1 more start a week at 2nd base.

For Catcher, the mets have to hope that Josh Thole can show something during his call up so that he can platoon next season with Omir Santos.

The bench: A. Pagan (4th Outfielder), Santos/Thole (Catcher), Cory Sullivan/Jeremy Reed, Fernando Tatis, Derosa/Murphy (whoever is not starting at 1st).

Lineup: Reyes, Castillo, Crawford, Wright, Beltran, Francour, Murphy/Derosa/N.Johnson, Thole/Santos, Pitcher

With all that, the mets would have spend only about 14 million leaving 16 million for pitching.

Starting Pitching: The mets don't and won't trade any more prospects so they must sign a free agent pitcher. There are 2 possibilities. 1) The Mets signing John Lackey to a 4 year 52 million dollar deal or sign Rich Harden/Justin Duscherer (incentive laden contracts) AND a Doug Davis/Randy Wolf.

The Starting 5: Johan, Lackey, Pelfrey, Perez (because of his contract), Maine/Niese - because of the signing of Lackey, the mets can have a question mark at the number 5 spot. The 2nd option is: Johan, Pelfrey, Perez, Harden/Duscherer, Davis/Wolf: Since Harden/Duscherer are big question marks, the mets cant afford to have another question mark at the #5 to go along with the biggest question mark of all in Oliver Perez.

Bullpen: Decline the option on Putz and resign him to a 1 year, incentive laden contract (based on appearances). The bullpen is a crapshoot to find a good reliever you have to be lucky. But Putz, Feliciano, Stokes, Parnell and Krod is a nice foundation for a strong bullpen.

All in all, the mets would've traded for Crawford - 10 million
Signed Derosa/Nick Johnson for about 3-5 million per year
John Lackey for 13 million per, or Harden/Duscherer AND Davis/Wolf for about 15 million combined.
All in all, they would spend just under the 30 million which is the minimum they'll have availible to spend next offseason.