In watching today's mlb coverage of the winter meetings, the question came up, "which direction should Mets go in?" following the David Wright press conference. While not privy to the team's spending restrictions, I agree with those readers who opine that the Mets should get Justin Upton (under contract for 3 more years) at all costs. I believe that they should then go out and sign Stephen Drew to play SS since any package would be sure to include Ruben Tejada. It's been mentioned that the Mets do not want to offer Scott Hairston a two year contract. This would make it hard to recommend any OF FA signing (there are still many available that could prove productive). That leaves Duda/Baxter/Valdespin/Kirk N. (perhaps AZ will take one for Upton?). They must also add a FA catcher (they could do worse than Jesus Flores imo). On the pitching side, the Mets need a healthy return of Gee, Santana, and Niese to the rotation, and Harvey must have continued success on the mlb level. Dickey remains the wild card; if the Mets hold out, they can sign him closer to a two year/$20 million price tag than the $30 million he is reportedly asking for. If someone offers the moon, they should trade him. The bullpen remains their achilles heel. This will also be difficult improve via free agency based on recent FA signings. The joke remains that the Mets should go to Costco for their bullpen shopping since they need to buy in bulk! Their performance last year however, was not a laughing matter. This team will not finish ahead of Washington/Atlanta/Philadelpia. The Mets seem destined for a fourth place finish no matter what they do. However they could be competitive building a strong nucleus and continuing to improve the farm system for the future.