… and like you said it will never happen.

There is no way we trade both Francoeur and Castillo while they still have something resembling value.

Out of curiosity, what would your thoughts on bringing back Delgado cheaply to play first for one year, instead of trading for Pena?

1. Dont you think Bedard brings more upside (more IP as well) than Harden? His price should also be slightly lower
2. Completely agree with Castillo – we should definitely trade him now to some stupid GM(Moore, Hendry) who will assume the salary and get a guy like Fontenot, Kennedy or Everett (Iwamura was my first choice)
3. Disagree about 1B, I think you are too hard on Murphy considering how cheap he is and that he is so young. Keep in mind a lot of prospects struggle early, that doesnt mean .700OPS is his true ability…Going forward I see him being a plus defender and .800+OPS with strong on base skills. Also with Davis so close, I’d rather go the FA way, esp. since there are so many cheap and effective stop gap options – LaRoche, Nick Johnson etc.
I think going with Murphy/Evans + LaRoche/Johnson will be more cost effective than trading for Pena.
4. I like the idea of going with Niese, but dont give up on Maine already – he should be the default back end starter. But depth is never bad, we should def. pickup few guys like Hill

I can’t agree with trading a top prospect and Parnell for a one year rental. Flores and Parnell combined should still give a lot more surplus value than Pena. The Mets need to move away from a win-now philosophy; it’s too costly for the long term. The only justification would be if you really think the Mets have a short-term window for winning.

I think Carlos Pena is a fantastic idea at 1b. He should still be in his prime for several years, and he doesn’t keep the Mets from doing anything else they need to do.

You have no hustle and heart in RF.

“Wilmer Flores makes up the difference in value; he’s the kind of super-athletic shortstop prospect the Rays love to hoard”

Wilmer Flores is not very athletic. He is often described as Miguel Cabrera when talking about athletic make-up, which means he his sort of athletic. Think third, first and LF, not Carlos Gomez, nor F-mart.

Omar won’t trade for Pena because of his batting average and because he strikes out a lot. Sigh.

isn’t pena a more expensive version of dunn? so i can continue dreaming about a gonzalez playing 1b for the mets. Yes if the royals are stupid enough to take castillo , then do it, but sign hudson rather than a sub .250 hitter. I also want to give thole a chance next year but i know their going to sign b molina and why is everyone so gung ho on holliday (if the wilpons sign him there will be no money left to sign the pitching the mets will need over the next 2 years : doc holliday) I agree with you on Harden and pavano ,but for less money and more incentives and calero would be a good move and I like bringing back endy and everett ( a big defensive upgrade. ) The one trade i would make is misch and pagan to the nats for morgan (+50sb and a .300 ba)
2010 mets line up reyes ss/morgan lf/wright 3b/pena or dunn 1b/ beltran cf/ francouer rf/ hudson 2b/molina/thole c

/starting slow clap

Omar: That is a lucid, intelligent, well thought out offseason plan. Overruled

… after we’ve suckered, I mean, after KC agreed to take Castillo for nothing.

I am not too crazy about having Ollie in the Bullpen. His BB could be deadly out of the bullpen. If you use him for mop-up then he causes les damage, but you will be paying $11M for a mop-up work.

You are better off giving Ollie every opportunity to improve from the tail end of the rotation. If he improves, you can at least trade him. No one will want to trade for a $11M Darren Oliver.

Upon further reflection, Ollie starting out in the bullpen is really is unrealistic. If he absolutely fails by mid-way to the tail end of the season, then you can consider him in a mop-up role. Again, only after you have given yourself every chance for an improvement.

the cubbies would take perez and his 12M contract off our hands if the mets were willing to take bradley/ if he’s happy he can put up offense numbers similiar to beltran’s

First make sure to try to trade for Gonzo. Filthy 1b, and Davis can go to RF when he comes up if we don’t include him in a trade for Gonzo. Pena has not played a full season yet in the majors and is a few years older that Gonzo and more expensive. Try to trade Castillo to the Rays just for his contract being cleaned off our hands. Sign O-Dog to a 3yr $12m deal. After he is gone Reese Havens can take over 2b. Hope Crawford becomes a FA and sign him for LF at 5yrs $60m, don’t waste money Holliday. That is half the value of Holliday and a much better player for Citi, if we can get him. Then our offense is complete. Keep Frenchie for RF and Pagan off the bench. Then try to sign Barajas, if Jays don’t resign him to platoon w Santos or Thole. Possible lineup of Reyes, Crawford, Beltran, Gonzo, Wright, Frenchie, Hudson, Barajas. Then if King Felix is made available, make every resource available to trade for him. He is our amazing no.2 who is really a no.1. Otherwise I like the signing of Harden, but also sign Bedard to a similar deal. Possible rotation of Santana, Felix, Pelf and combo of(Maine, Niese, Perez) Then for bullpen, i agree with Escobar, then also go with Lyon as SU, Beimel, Feliciano, Green, K-Rod and Redding or Figgy. Then for Bench I like Robb Qunilan’s versatility, Pagan, Thole, Everett and Podsednik. Payroll would be more expensive, but it would be really worth it. That swizzle would be the shizzle. Mets would have no problem winning games then. Division would be ours, fourth to first baby.

I’d like it a bit more if Brain Socks weren’t so cavalierly tossed aside like he was Jeremy Reed.

I do not think this is a very realistic plan. For starters, some of the projected WARs seem a tad optimistic. Harden’s 4.0 and Wright’s 7.0 jump out in this regard. Fontenot’s 2.5 in only 500 PAs seems high as well. Additionally, projecting 400 combined innings from Harden, Pavano and Shawn Hill seems a tad optimistic, as does projecting 600 PAs each from Beltran and Reyes. Endy Chavez will have to start the year on the DL and there’s an outside chance he never plays again. Expecting 350 PAs from him is overly optimistic, and expecting him to have the speed/range to post 1 WAR in half a season after that injury is also optimistic. Besides that, just eyeballing your projections, I’d guess you haven’t regressed these player’s past performances very much. That’s essential, and it’s especially important if you’re going to add up those WAR numbers to predict the whole team’s performance.
And the transactions that result in this roster seem even more far-fetched. First, Holliday will get more than 6/110. He’s a better player than Teixeira, the Red Sox and Yankees both have LF needs, and he’s represented by Boras. No way he gets less than what Soriano got. I’d say 7/140 is the starting point. Secondly, the Rays are trying to compete right now. They are not going to trade their firstbaseman for a middle reliever and an A-ball shortstop. If the Pirates or somebody like that had Pena, maybe they make that trade, but not the Rays. They’ve got Brignac and Rodriguez right behind Bartlett, and Tim Beckham in the low minors. They simply will not trade Pena for that package. The Cubs are not trading Fontenot for Francouer unless the Mets kick in (a lot of) money. The Cubs already have Jake Fox, who is just as good (if not better) than Francouer. They’d nontender Fontenot before they’d trade him for Francouer, and if he’s nontendered, you’re not going to get him for 500K. I doubt you get Calero or Zaun at those prices either. In fact, there’s a good chance the Rays will exercise Zaun’s option. And not even the Royals will take Castillo’s contract. For one thing, 2b is one of the few positions where they actually have a decent option (Callaspo). Besides that, they’ve got plenty of MI depth (Getz, Bloomquist, Betancourt, Aviles).
On an ideological level, it’s kind of insane that you want to follow ’09 by stacking the 2010 roster with Chavez, Sweeney, Everett, Pavano, Harden, Shawn Hill, and Kelvim Escobar, not to mention the injury concerns lingering for Beltran, Reyes, Carlos Pena, Maine, Santana, Pelfrey, Rodriguez, and Ollie.

SAM, good work however, you must not bring all these injury prone guys, like SWEENEY and Hill and the like. I LOVE 1b PENA< and Harden and Pavano, did anyone see Pavano
v Yankees in playoffs, quite good…if posssssible please move OLLIE and Castillo……
By eating some MADOFF $$$$$$ that was’nt lost…. Arizona SD LA TEXAS HOUSTON
would jump on OLLIE let him be their headache…AND please STOP STOP ALL THIS
METS DON’T SPEND mONEY$$$ remember the alomar, bonilla, ordonez give away
sweepstakes, mets paid their salaries to go away…let’s do it again for at least Perez
and to lesser extent Castillo…BYRD< POLANCO<Johnson,Cora,Everett,THOME make
alot of sense..CALERO is scary…why not try GONZALEZ/SORIANO weaken the Braves
at the same time…METS need to pick up as many as ten or12 major leaguers real ones
not the AAAA guys on 2009 team. AGREE or NOT?? Let’s say 3 type A and 3
type B plus non tendered and other F/A’s..LET’s GO METS< let’s go OMAR!!! DO IT>>>>>
Explore a trade for Michael YOUNG Texas 6 yrs 80 mill…pick that guy up…another
Paul Molitor with glove type….tejada, ollie (pick up some cash say 6 mill) plus Holt..
Perfect….What do you think MET NATION???? I can’t stand another awful year….
I’ll go into hibernation like when TOM SEAVER was traded…….really…I agree with epoc
no way can we go for all the injury guys….no way trade flores he could be REYES’
replacement….any deal for flores gotta have top line all-star hanley ramirez, or
star in the makng Justin Upton.. etc..okay enough…for a rental no big prospects to give
away….this roster needs big changes in all areas..f/a to return possibly CORA.

I loved this:

“With the largest payroll in the National League, why not try and fill all the team’s holes with at least players who are average or better at their position?”

But this fills me with dread:

“Carl Pavano…would solidify a rotation with a lot injury risk.”

Say what? Pavano has been not incredibly shitty or hurt or simply awol for ONE of the last FIVE years (and in which one year he was merely… not very good, FanGraphs overestimation of his value aside). Pavano is high-risk, low upside. Then you want to add Rich Harden who, if you’re lucky, will repeat his last two seasons and give you 25 starts. These are the two additions to a rotation desperate for two very, very durable starters.

It’s just not enough, Sam. Even if you get lucky you’re only going to get 25 very good starts from Harden, and 30 or so from Pavano with an ERA over 5.00. That’s a far cry from your approach with the position players. Extend that excellent work to the pitching staff and this would be the cream of the crop.