Talking Points: What The New York Mets Should Do in The Off-Season

As a lifelong New York Mets fan, one thing I have plenty of experience with is looking forward to next season. Many years, this process starts in early summer once the team is too far back in the standings to care about the current season. This season was interesting until the very end, and it was followed by me not even thinking about baseball for at least a week. Well enough time has now passed so I am back to discuss the Mets chance at redemption next season.

OBVIOUS MOVES

All of the speculation at this time seems to point in the direction that the Mets will pick up Carlos Delgado's option for next season. Although this would not have been even a thought in June, it is now a forgone conclusion based on his MVP caliber performance in the second half of the season. The Mets should still make sure they have a qualified back-up to platoon or replace Delgado in case of injury or if the second half surge was a fluke.

The Mets need to make sure they get rid of all of their aging dead weight. Moises Alou and Pedro Martinez have each had great careers, but as free agents they are not worth re-signing due to either injuries or ineffectiveness. Luis Castillo belongs in this category as well, but its a little more complicated. The Mets signed a 4 year contract with Castillo prior to the 2008 season, which seems about as smart as bringing back Roberto Alomar for a second stint. General Manager Omar Minaya should hope for a trade similar to Kaz Matsui or Guillermo Mota, when nothing is expected in return as long as some team is willing to take them.

QUESTIONABLE MOVES

Anyone who knew anything about baseball this season knew that the Mets' bullpen was atrocious. There were no players that were reliable and once Billy Wagner went down for the season, Manager Jerry Manuel was forced to mix and match to piece together every out at the end of games. This leads to the Mets most important goal in the off-season is to get a quality closer to anchor the bullpen. Many fans are weary of signing Francisco Rodriguez due to his high WHIP and amount of blown saves. However, he is only 26 years old and had the same amount of blown saves as Billy Wagner in 35 less opportunities. Yes he will come very overpriced, but since neither Mariano Rivera or Jonathon Papelbon will be available this off-season, the Mets do not have a better choice. If the Mets choose to take the less expensive route towards someone like Brian Fuentes, I only hope they use that money towards another useful position.

Probably the most questionable choice the Mets will have to make is whether or not to re-sign Oliver Perez. As Ron Darling once said, "Oliver Perez is the type of pitcher that gets a GM fired." He has shown he could become a great pitcher and has had periods of dominance over his career with the Mets and even the Pirates. Unfortunately he has also had stretches where he could not locate the strike zone and when he did the pitches were left high and ended up in the outfield bleachers. On one side, Perez led the majors in walks this season. On the other hand, he had a .158 batting average against lefties. Despite his inconsistencies, Ollie pitched almost 200 innings that will be hard to replace, especially if the Mets do not feel that John Niese can have an important role next year. Once again, Perez is only 26 and has a lot of years ahead of him. He can become a good pitcher if he could listen to advice from his coaches and veteran teammates and stay focused.

REACH MOVES

These ideas are not likely and let's face it, never going to happen. But they would be fun to imagine. One idea is to trade Carlos Beltran. He is one of the highest paid players in Major League Baseball, yet he has not shown the dominance that should come with this paycheck. With only a .280 career average and one season of 40 home runs, he is not the slugger or even base stealer the Mets expected when they signed him. He is a better than average player getting star credit, and they should try to get value for him before he starts to decline in performance. Last off-season, the Marlins traded Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis for six players from Detroit Tigers. "Addition by subtraction" caused their record to improve and they have quality prospects for the future of the franchise. I'm sure there is some team that will accept Carlos Beltran for some major league ready players that could fill-in as well as top prospects.

Next season the Mets should give more responsibility to their young pitchers. John Niese, Bobby Parnell, and Eddie Kunz all showed signs of talent during their short stints in the majors last season. It is no secret the Mets need bullpen help, so why not use the minor leagues to help them. Many teams use starting pitching prospects in the bullpen during their early career (Pedro Martinez, Johan Santana, Joba Chamberlain). If they are not quite ready to be full time starting pitchers, perhaps they can perfect a few of their pitches while being used for only one inning at a time.

Many of these ideas are debatable and a few of them might sound outrageous. Feel free to post your opinion on any of these topics and more about the Mets in this upcoming off-season.