What I would do with the New York Mets

This franchise is in a bit of a mess here right now. Stuck with a bunch of vets past their primes. Since it's fun to fool around with a team you have no emotional ties to, here's what I would do in an attempt to fix the New York Mets.

STARTING PITCHING
Problems are numerous in this area. Glavine was the only Met to get to 200 innings pitched this year. Oliver Perez and John Maine were pretty effective, but these guys are not front of the rotation pitchers. And Maine having never thrown a full season caught up to him in the second half. They're going to need to replace Glavine. And you cannot expect El Duque to keep getting people out. He's older than Fidel Castro. So here's what I do.

1. Sign Carlos Silva.
He's not great. Hard to say how well he'll do because he pitches to contact, isn't a big groundball pitcher, so he has a small margin for error. However, he's 29, will pitch around 200 innings and won't walk people. He gives up home runs, but at Shea you can knock down the number of gopher balls he'll give up. He usually gives up 20-25, so making half of his starts at Shea that could go down to about 15-20.

2. Trade for Cliff Lee if the deal is reasonable.
He still has some upside, and the Indians are apparently thinking of shipping him off. Lee going to the Yankees was a possibility but it would be at a high cost considering the fact that the Yankees are contenders. It's not the same situation for the Mets. They might get him cheap. If possible, try to trade Ruben Gotay (to play second base platoon with Cabrera, which could work well seeing as they are both switch hitters who have different natural sides) and Carlos Gomez (who they might see as a better option than 41 year old Kenny Lofton). If they want more, then fuck that.

So now the Mets rotation is:
SP Oliver Perez
SP Carlos Silva
SP John Maine
SP Pedro Martinez
SP Cliff Lee

Not great, but it'll do for now as the Mets can try to make a pitch for Santana in the 2008-2009 offseason. There really is no clear cut number one starter here, but of all of them, I'd put Perez one because he's the best of this group. Silva will pitch a good number of innings and they will likely be pretty effective, so he'll fill the two slot. Maine is a number 3 starter anyway, so this should be a good role for him. Pedro Martinez will probably be one of the best #4 starters in baseball. He's a six inning pitcher at this stage in his career, maybe get seven innings out of him if he has an extra day or two rest. Every once in a while you can have Duque start in his scheduled spot to give him that extra time. With Lee in the #5 slot, you don't have a whole lot to lose, and a fair amount to gain. If he sucks, put him in the bullpen and give Pelfrey another shot.

BULLPEN
This was a pretty big cause for concern this year. So here's what I do.

1. Sign David Riske
He's always been fairly reliable and just about anything is better than Guillermo Mota.

2. Sign Scott Linebrink
Another solid bullpen vet. Sign both Linebrink and Riske, then Heilman becomes expendable.

SECOND BASE
I would sign Tadahito Iguchi. Nevermind David Eckstein. Eckstein's been getting hurt a fair amount the past couple seasons and he would have to switch positions, not to mention Eckstein plain and simply just doesn't help the Mets. Iguchi has enough power to hit around 14-17 homers. He can hit around .275-.280 and OBP about .350, which is pretty solid. Defensively, he's not Robinson Cano or Aaron Hill, but he's decent. Try him for like 3 years, $15. AT THE ABSOLUTE MOST, $24 million. If he wants more than $8 million a year, then just re-sign Castillo. Castillo's defense is lesser and he has a good deal less power, but he can hit around .300 and OBP .370-.375. If the Mets re-sign Castillo, then I'd bat him leadoff and stick Reyes in the 2-slot.

FIRST BASE
Stuck with Carlos Delgado for now. He's turning 36 next year, and his prime's obviously behind him. However, you can still expect 25 homers out of him. There really isn't anything available aside from a trade for Mark Teixeira, and frankly the Mets don't have anything they can give up for him, especially considering the fact that as division rivals, the Braves would demand a lot.

CATCHER
Torrealba was the Mets' target, but that deal went into the toilet. Not necessarily the worst thing in the world, he's terrible. There's nothing out there now that Posada's back where he belongs. Since just about anything other than Barajas is better than Lo Duca, the Mets could try to work out a deal with Michael Barrett. I know, not great, but there's nothing else out there, unless you want Rod Barajas's career .288 OBP. Barrett's had several years of hitting 16 homers (and not simply due to Wrigley, he has legit power). He's been bad throwing runners out the past two seasons and overall for his career he's about 23% successful, but Lo Duca wasn't exactly much better this past season, and Barrett's going to provide a good deal more on offense than Lo Duca would. You could also give Lieberthal a chance, too if you'd like.

RIGHT FIELD
Decline Shawn Green's option. Just let Milledge play right field for now. I hate the guy, but he's put up solid minor league numbers at a young age, and he had a decent run with this Mets this year (.786 OPS). He'll do what Shawn Green could or probably better, and Green would cost about 20 times as much. Save the money, then when Pedro's contract's up at the end of the year, there'll be a good amount of money for the Mets to try and land Santana. The Yankees now have A-Rod back for the $275 million deal, so the Yankees might be less willing to spill another ton of money into signing Santana, especially if the Wang-Hughes-Kennedy-Chamberlain rotation turns out well.

So there's my attempt at fixing the New York Mets up a little bit. My main goal for the Mets here is to try and stay somewhat competitive while shredding some salary. Dump Shawn Green, sign either Iguchi or Castillo who are both pretty good players and hopefully won't cost too much, sign Barrett or Lieberthal for a short-term deal (Lieberthal might be more likely for a short deal), sign Silva (a pretty good AL starter who will probably be very good in the NL), trade for Cliff Lee (since you're not really giving up anything important), sign Riske and Linebrink to pitch in the bullpen, etc. I think this will keep the team somewhat competitive. Also, you don't make any retarded long-term signings and fuck yourself anymore. If you decline Green's option, there's $10 million freed up. After 2008, you're done with Pedro and Delgado (around $30 million). That's $40 million free in a year you can try to sign Santana. They might not be able to, which is not the end of the world, because they still have $40 million to play with. After 2009, you're done with Wagner (another $11 million). There's a lot of money to play with now. Plus, after 2008, you can try to trade Milledge (and hell, maybe even Reyes too) for some better pitching. Right now, the Mets should be looking to sign guys to deals no longer than 3 years and they should not be big name, high salary types. Then, you ride out the rest of these dead weight contracts to free up money. Then, SPEND IT WISELY for once.