i agree with some of that, some not so much.

apparently im the only one who has faith in dan murphy @ 2b. you back him up by resigning damion easley or a jerry hairston-type and if murphy really can’t cut it then you run a semi-platoon. i love hudson but i hate that we’d need to offer a big 4yr deal for the 2nd year in a row to a 2B. save the money and go with murphy.

i definitely agree with trading casitllo for eric byrnes. i then hope byrnes gets it going this year and i instantly trade him for valuable pitching and open a spot for fernando (tatis and martinez). if they won’t bite, you MUST go after milton bradley and see if he’ll take a 2 yr deal.

i agree about going after d. lowe, but not burnett who is always overrated because of his stuff. i’d target 1 of the following with 3 yr contracts, in this order: o. perez, lowe, dempster. then bring in a vet to battle niese, sergio mitre/randy wolf/brian moehler,etc

you’d have to resign ayala but i wouldn’t hate that as long as hes not the closer. i also lover the idea of juan cruz but i think a lot of teams will. no point in signing lyon and gregg as righty and lefty specialists when we already have smith and feliciano. but i agree that fuentes is a better option than k-rod, taking contracts into consideration. however, i feel we put together a package of heilman, parnell and evans or carp and try to get jj putz over here. trade schoeneweis for any kind of minor league arm, good or not.

no need for molina, schneider/castro were fine this year. they weren’t great but both were hurt. and honestly that wasn’t the problem with thsi team, no point in wasting more money.

Especially considering that 5 of the 6 current middle relievers are under the Mets control next year. Why sign Lyon as a LHP specialist when you have Feliciano and why trade for Gregg as a RHP specialist when you have Smith? They are both effective when limited to specialized roles. Who is taking Sanchez, Heilman, and Schoeneweis off your hands and what are you getting back? Schoeneweis is the only one I would dump. I would want some value in return for the others.

I’m not saying the bullpen doesn’t need an overhaul. I just don’t think that much change is likely given the contract status of the players that are here.

Bengie Molina drove in 95 runs this year and you’d almost certainly have to overpay to get him in a trade. Plus he’s older than either of the catchers we have. I’ll pass – robcast23 is right, we’re fine with Castro and Schneider (but I’d prefer to see Castro used more often).

Eric Byrnes sucks. He had a career year in 2007 (where the hell did 50 steals come from?) but that’s unlikely to happen again. A 33-year-old corner outfielder with a career OPS+ of 97 is a liability, not an asset. Bradley had a phenomenal year but he’s kind of a nutjob and played mostly DH so I’m not exactly sure how I feel about the idea.

Brandon Lyon would be a good pickup. His career splits are almost dead even (RHB .792 OPS, LHB .785 OPS) and his value is likely to be depressed because he had a down year in ERA and hits allowed, even though his K:BB numbers were fine. It looks like he was victimized by some bad luck – his BABIP against this season was .355, which seems high even though his line drive rate was a mediocre 22.3%. Could be had on the cheap, seems like a good “buy low” candidate.

i second the eric byrnes sucks motion. Keep this expensive gritty dunderhead away from my ballclub.

I don’t understand the love for Castro frankly. If you’re making the best of a bad situation fine, but if the mets can make a move here, they have to do it.

I don’t think Krod is the answer but i don’t know who is.

That pen looks waaaay to familiar to me. I disagree with Reg, Show, Heilman have to go, but I don’t need to see Pedreadful ever again and Stokes and Ayala can get thrown back on the junkpile. No need to settle for shit again. Smith could be kept if only to carry the little pink backpack. Otherwise, it’s audition time. Fool me once, fool me twice, but three times, Reg?

SP1: Johan Santana
SP2: CC Sabathia
SP3: Mike Pelfrey
SP4: John Maine
SP5: Jon Niese

‘Pen:
Brian Fuentes
Duaner Sanchez
Joe Smith
Pedro Feliciano
Aaron Heilman
Brian Stokes
(Keep plugging in random minor league relievers until you hit something. Someone from the 07 or 08 draft should skyrocket. I know this isn’t really the way to go about assembling a bullpen, but starters pitch over 200 innings. Santana+Sabathia makes me drool.)
 

Catcher: Mike Piazza Ramon Castro
First Base: Carlos Delgado
Second Base: Dan Murphy
Third Base: David Wright
Shortstop: Jose Reyes
Left Field: Barry Bonds Nick Evans
Center Field: Carlos Beltran
Right Field: Lastings Milledge Ryan Church

Bench:

Schneider
Aforementioned AAAA slugger
Endy Chavez
Luis Castillo

Do we really need radical changes? We needed Wagner to stay healthy. The only thing I should add to my list is more bullpen arms, but really, this team was fine minus a bad injury (Wags) and bad management (Ayala in every “high pressured” situation.)

I would absoluely love to add Nelson Cruz to our order. The Rangers don’t seem to be committed to his progression. If we could persuade them with Heilman, that would be awesome. He’s really good. Something clicked in 2008.

No, I really honestly did not make any gigantic changes.

i always like trying for the steal like we got with maine and nelson cruz is a definite steal candidate. but we’ve got to bring back some bullpen arms and i think i’d prefer to use heilman that way.

i dont like sabathia, we’ve reached capacity on 5+yr $100+mil contracts to pitchers. i was leary about santana’s, and thats santana! sabathia doesn’t have nearly the credentials santana does, not to mention the athleticism. i don’t make that move.

Was quoted in the Post yesterday as suggesting he would be interested in playing for the Mets, so take that for what it’s worth.

I think all here agree that if Daniel Murphy develops into a suitable, or even above-average MLB 2B, that’s HUGE for the organization. He won’t develop without playing time. He needs to face MLB pitching (which is obviously MUCH more challenging than AAA pitching) and learn to make adjustments on a regular basis.

He hasn’t shown any indication that he can’t hit one side well, although that may appear as his stats deviate with more playing time.

Either anoint him co-starter at 2B (with another guy who’s capable of starting at 2B around as well) or trade him to someone who will start him or send him to AAA where he’ll get regular PT.