Off Season Primer

I’m sure everyone and their grandmother is going to say how they would overhaul this New York Met team, and I have my own ideas. However, I’m going to present everyone with the choices facing the Mets this coming off season before I do. I’ll lay out the key free agents this upcoming off season and for the next two off seasons in some cases since that definitely relates to Mets needing to be pursuants of certain players this year. I’ll be giving my solution to the problems in the near future.

The Outfield

The Skinny
As for the current players on the Met roster, the only given in the outfield next year is Mike Cameron. Cliff Floyd has seemingly fallen out of favor with the front office and they have lost patience with his inability to stay on the field and his inability to keep his comments to himself. There does not seem to be much light at the end of the tunnel in terms of the Mets having a desire to keep Cliffy. Richard Hidalgo looked like a slam dunk to bring back in July, but a dismal August and a horrendous September have cast a doubt on whether the team wants to bring him back. Recently Victor Diaz has hit into contention for a corner outfield spot with his limited action in September.

Free Agency:
Carlos Beltran, Magglio Ordonez, JD Drew, Juan Gonzalez, Jermaine Dye, Danny Bautista, Moises Alou, Steve Finley, and Jeromy Burnitz

Free Agency post 2005 season:
Jose Guillen, Johnny Damon, Carlos Lee, Sammy Sosa, Preston Wilson, Juan Pierre, Shawn Green, Larry Walker, and Brian Giles

Free Agency post 2006 season:
Melvin Mora, Trot Nixon, Shannon Stewart, Torii Hunter, Gary Sheffield, Luis Gonzalez, Chipper Jones, Jim Edmonds, and Barry Bonds

Reinforcements:
As far as the minor leagues, the best talent is at least two years away in Lastings Milledge and Ambiorix Concepcion and two years is being very generous. Outside of those two, there are no impact players to salivate over.

The Infield

The Skinny
The infield is a rare area of stability for the Mets. This presents the Mets with the most givens with Wright at the hot corner, Reyes at SS, Matsui at 2B, and Piazza at catcher. First base is going to be a big question mark despite the fact that Jason Phillips, Eric Valent, and Cliff Floyd can all play first. I may be part of the minority, but I’m for the Mets keeping Piazza. The numbers he’ll be putting up will not be worth his $15 million that he’ll be getting, but when you sign stars to mega contracts, the last year or two will most likely see a drop off in numbers. Just a fact of life, father time catches up. Once you put the salary aside, Piazza will still put up better numbers than just about every catcher out there. Phillips and Wilson will be there to spell him when he needs it. If he can give 125 to 130 games, I’m ok with that. However, with the trade speculation swirling around Piazza and him being a focal point of the off season, we’ll look at options at catcher and first base.

Catcher
Free Agency:
Jason Varitek, Sandy Alomar Jr, Tim Laker, Kelly Stinnett, Damian Miller, John Flaherty, Dan Wilson, Brook Fordyce, Gregg Zaun, Greg Myers, Brent Mayne, Todd Hundley, Todd Pratt, and Mike Matheny

Free Agency post 2005 season:
Benito Santiago, Eli Marrero, Eddie Perez, Charles Johnson, Brad Ausmus, and Ramon Hernandez

Reinforcements:
Outside of Mike Jacobs, nobody is even remotely close to the majors. All the top catchers in the system, Yunir Garcia, Aaron Hathaway, and 19 year old Jesus Flores, are at least three years away, most likely more. As for Jacobs, he basically missed the entire 2004 due to injury and will need the entire 2005 to get back on track. Even when he gets healthy, he’s sub par defensively and not regarded as a suitable major league starter down the road. He may end up playing first base in the long run.

First Base
Free Agency:
Carlos Delgado, Tino Martinez , Richie Sexson, and J.T. Snow (who has a team option that may not exercised)

Free Agency post 2005 season:
Kevin Millar, Paul Konerko, Dmitri Young, Doug Mientkiewicz, and Sean Casey

Free Agency post 2006 season:
Derrek Lee, Jeff Bagwell, and Phil Nevin

Reinforcements:
The Mets do not have much in terms first base that is close to making a major league impact. Craig Brazell is the closest in the entire Mets system but he may be better suited to go back to AAA and work at being a 1B/COF power hitting lefty off the bench. I think he has value, but not at 1B full time. After Craig, Brett Harper is the closest player but he will be 24 years old next July and may very well be at AA for most of the season in ‘05. He may fall into the arena as Craig Brazell but the CIF version since he plays 1B and 3B. The best prospect at first base is Ian Bladegroen and he has not played a day above low A ball and is about three years away. Don’t look down on the farm to solve your 1B problem.

The Starting Rotation

The Skinny
The starting rotation may look exactly like it did for the three weeks in July and August. Glavine, Trachsel, and Zambrano are on contract for 2005 and Benson is expected to resign with the Mets as well and Leiter has expressed his interest to come back. Interestingly enough, this is most pitching deep off season in as long as I can remember and the Mets will may not benefit from it unless they make some moves or let Leiter walk.

Free Agency:
Pedro Martinez, Derek Lowe, Brad Radke, Jaret Wright, Ismael Valdez, Matt Clement, Carl Pavano, Roger Clemens, Odalis Perez – L, Russ Ortiz, Eric Milton, Kevin Millwood, David Wells, Matt Morris, Chris Carpenter, and Daisuke Matsuzaka (who should be coming over from Japan)

Free Agency post 2005 season:
Ramon Ortiz, Jason Johnson, Brian Anderson – L, Joe Mays, Kevin Brown, Tim Hudson, Kenny Rogers – L, Jamie Moyer – L, Randy Johnson – L, and Jeff Weaver

Free Agency post 2006 season:
Kelvim Escobar, Sidney Ponson, Mark Buehrle – L, Mike Mussina, Barry Zito – L, Joel Pineiro, Ryan Franklin, Chan Ho Park, Miguel Batista, Kerry Wood,Greg Maddux, Andy Pettitte – L, and Randy Wolf – L

Reinforcements:
Starting pitching is still the Mets strong point in the minor league system. In 2005, they will have Aaron Heilman, Jae Seo, and Keith Ginter to step into the rotation if needed and Bobby Keppel should be ready late 2005 as well. Past them Yusmeiro Petit, Phil Humber (if the ever signs), and Alay Soler could all be ready by late 2005 / early 2006. Depth is not a concern in the rotation and they will and should have people ready to step in at any time. We know that Seo is a decent 4th or 5th starter and Aaron Heilman is starting to turn some heads.

The Bullpen

The Skinny
If the Mets did nothing, they would have a full pen for opening day 2005. It may not be a good one, but it would be full. Heath Bell, Pedro Feliciano, Bartolome Fortunato, Matt Ginter, Braden Looper, Orber Moreno, Jose Parra, Grant Roberts, Mike Stanton, and Tyler Yates are all under contract for next season. They also have Mike DeJean, Ricky Bottalico, and Scott Strickland who will be free agents, but will most likely be considered candidates to return. The Mets finally have some young, hard throwing relievers to stick in the pen. There will need to be changes, but they have a solid foundation to pull pieces from.

Free Agency:
Troy Percival, Curtis Leskanic, Scott Williamson, Mike Myers – L, Bob Wickman, Rick White, Ugueth Urbina (team option), Ron Villone – L, John Smoltz (team option), Antonio Alfonseca, Kent Mercker – L, Steve Reed, Jeff Fassero – L, Dave Burba, Billy Koch, Chad Fox, Armando Benitez, David Weathers, Dan Miceli, BJ Ryan, Paul Shuey, Mike DeJean, Ricky Bottalico, Jose Lima, Rheal Cormier – L, Billy Wagner – L, Felix Rodriguez, Jose Mesa, Roberto Hernandez (team option), Todd Jones, Rob Nen, Trevor Hoffman (team option), and Steve Kline – L

Free Agency post 2005 season:
Buddy Groom – L, Scott Sullivan (team option), Tom Gordon, Ricardo Rincon – L, Mike Remlinger – L, Danny Graves (mutual option), Darren Dreifort, and Tim Worrell

Reinforcements:
Much of what was down on the farm made an appearance on the major league squad in 2004. The only ones on the horizon are lefty Blake McGinley, PJ Bevis, and possibly lefty Royce Ring. None of them are really close to being major league ready, but a few guys who helped out the major league club 2004 will find themselves back at AAA ready to jump up to help the major league club when needed.

The Bench

The Skinny
This is an area that the Mets need to add a bit more power into. Eric Valent has been solid off of the bench and has provided some pop and some flexibility being that he plays 1B and both COF spots. Outside of him, the only bench players on contract and guaranteed to be on the roster (barring trade and being released of course) are Jason Phillips, Vance Wilson, and Joe McEwing. Outside of them, you have a Craig Brazell, Danny Garica, and Jeff Keppinger who will be looking to stay out of AAA by landing a backup role on the major league squad. There are just too many free agent possibilities to list out, but there are really not many 3b options and it seems the Mets will be in need of a CIF that is up for the job. The Mets can solve the middle infield in house and there are plenty of outfield options available to stick in the outfield.