A Mets-Less October Has Begun. Now Here's How We Fix It...

Plain and simple, this October sucks.

The Phillies are in it and we're not. My only consolation is that October baseball will not occur anywhere in New York... but it's still not much.

So instead of focusing on what we're not doing, I'm going to focus on what we should be doing in the off-season in order of priority.

Number one: Sign Jerry Manuel... NOW.

I firmly believe that the Mets' success since the departure of Willie Randolph isn't coincidental. Jerry Manuel didn't garner a 55-38 record by coincidence. Without the injuries sustained, who knows what else he could have done?

Number two: Get a corner outfielder with a big bat.

While Manny Ramirez is the obvious preference, there are a few other names out there whose market is also competitive, but if snatched up before Manny, might cost less. Examples of those players are Raul Ibanez and Carl Crawford.

The addition of any big-bat outfielder would immensely help out our run scoring, which was often an issue. I mean, how does Pelfrey lose TWO games to the Nationals 1-0 when he pitches eight innings?

Simple, lack of a solid six spot. Think of it this way...

Wright is batting third, Beltran fourth, and Delgado fifth. Two out of the three make it on base in the fourth inning, so there's one out and two on. Up to bat, in the sixth spot, is...?

Luis Castillo, Ryan Church, Fernando Tatis, Nick Evans, Ramon Martinez, or Damion Easley.

See what I mean? It's a crap shoot and most of the time, it comes up snake-eyes.

Number three: Bring some light into the bullpen of darkness.

This means that only Joe Smith, Bobby Parnell, Luis Ayala, and Brian Stokes remain, with Nelson Figueroa staying on in the case of long relief.

We're going to have to try and snap up Fuentes or K-Rod. There's really no way around it. We had 29 blown games, many of them coming in the late innings of the game. Billy Wagner blew seven saves this year, in which the Mets were 3-4. The rest of the bullpen blew 22, many coming long after Billy was injured.

I know that signing either Brian Fuentes or Francisco Rodriguez isn't like throwing a .300 hitter in the lineup, but it will help in our total revamping of the bullpen.

Huston Street is also a trade possibility.

That being said, wave bye bye to Scotty and Heilman. Throw Muniz, Feliciano, Sanchez, and everyone else out of the bus window too. Better yet, throw them off of the plane and see where they land. I'll personally drive them to the airport.

Speaking of which... 

Number four: GET RID OF CASTILLO!

Here's a guy every Mets fan would be more than willing to drive to the airport. Really, he'd have a whole cavalcade of us behind him.

You know it's bad when a guy steps up to the plate with an out and a man on third and you think, "Can we just send him back to the dugout and give up an out? I'd really like to spare myself the torture of watching him bat."

That is Luis Castillo to a tee.

Don't get me wrong, I feel for the man. Well, for his knees anyway. I know what it's like to have really crappy knees and find yourself limited. It sucks.

And while I can no longer run for long periods of time, I can still swing a baseball bat in pickup games with my friends at the local recreation center or elementary school fields in my hometown during the summer.

Point being... I can still swing a bat... and not look at every single pitch that comes my way as though it were a shooting star. Why can't you?

Number five: Convert Daniel Murphy into a permanent second baseman.

Reese Havens and Wilmer Flores, both natural shortstops who will be converted to other positions, namely second base, are at least three years, minimum, from being major league ready, aka: on the 40-man roster.

In the meantime, I'd forget about platooning in left field. That's where the big bat acquisition will play. Nick Evans is excellent trade bait right now for our bullpen and Murphy is also a natural infielder.

I only have two issues with trading Evans. One of which is that he might be valuable in '10, if Delgado doesn't have a good season in '09, to play first. The second is that it will destroy his best friend, Daniel Murphy's, psyche and he'll need counseling after his departure.

Although, Carlos Gomez was traded away from his good friend, Jose Reyes, and best man, Moises Alou, and seems to be doing just fine. Then again, so does Reyes.

Moises was just a ticking time bomb and we all kind of knew that.

I think that Murphy is a very smart, patient hitter for a young man. As is constantly discussed, he is very "cerebral" and that is definitely something we need. Perhaps, he is slowly being molded into a player-type similar to D-Wright in that he plays smart ball, never showboats, and appreciates the shot he has.

The true test will be come in Winter for Mr. Murphy, when he goes to the south to play winter ball. I look forward to seeing how he adjusts to second base.

Number six: Re-sign Oliver Perez

I know this is kind of low on the totem pole of priority, but there are quite a few options out there besides Ollie, if he should leave.

There's Sheets, there's Sabathia (I know, I know), and a few other arms too.

In the end, though, I do believe that Ollie will return. However, Sheets is probably the other likely acquisition in his absence.

A solid fourth starter, not necessarily a number four starter, but just one of four in our arsenal, is key. Most dominant teams have an ace, a solid two-starter, a three-spot who will likely be the ace of the future, a fourth starter who rarely goes beyond six innings, and a fifth, unstable starter.

Clearly, Johan is our ace. Ollie/Sheets would be number two. Pelfrey is shaping up to be the ace of the future, while John Maine is definitely a possible four. Then that leaves five for the development of a rookie, like Jon Niese, or a second chance for a guy like Brandon Knight or Nelson Figueroa or even a tryout for Bobby Parnell.

Solidifying a two-spot is quite key.

Number seven: A catcher that can actually hit.

Yeah, Lo Duca, I'm talking about you. In your few years in Flushing, you didn't do anything but throw temper tantrums and your pads. Then you came back into your home state and verbally ripped it apart. If you're going to pull a Manny Ramirez, at least have the talent to pull it off.

And don't be a minor leaguer that made it back to the 40-man roster because of injuries.

Brian Schneider, you're a nice guy. And you block the plate well on wild pitches. But to see you start off the year on fire, batting .300, and see you end in September with a .257 average killed me.

But Mr. Castro, Big Ramon... your .245 average helped him.

Plus, between the two of you and your injuries, I had to suffer through Robinson Cancel for many months... and that wasn't fair.

Maybe a catcher COULD fill that sixth spot. But, taking a look at the names on the free agency list, which boasts Jason Varitek (who is unlikely, at best, to leave Boston) and Toby Hall as its top signees up for grabs, the likeliness of this is quite small.

So as I patiently (yeah, right) wait for Omar Minaya to do my bidding, I will watch the Rays/White Sox games and Brewers/Philles games and pray that Uncle Cliffy leads his team to victory, while Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Jayson Werth... okay, the whole Phillies team, self-destructs and gets humiliated by the Brewers.

Let's go Tampa and Milwaukee!