Where do I start, well maybe the starting pitching...
Johan stands alone in front of four other guys who just can't figure it out.  He is the only guy on the team, I truly respect right now.  Well thats not true, I'm a big fan of Church, too.
Pelfrey looks like he may be getting better, but how effective can he really be...is he a 15 win type pitcher?  I don't know.
Maine is just getting beaten up, throwing too many pitches and not looking commanding on the mound.  I've been a huge fan of his since '06, but I'm thinking he may be more suited for the bullpen.  A lot of times he looks good for 3-4 innings and then shuts down.
Livan is what he is, a mediocre pitcher at best who will walk a bunch and give up a bunch of hits.  He will most likely be DFA'd soon.
Olly is awful!  I used to think he was going to pull it together and become a dominant lefty.  He is now 27 and has not done that, I don't think he will anymore.  He seems to only be great when we are playing our rivals and everyone is watching.  Maybe he needs to be locked up  and only set loose when we play the Phillies, Braves or the Yankees.
How is this going to get better, how can this problem be repaired???
I think it's time to give the kids the ball and let's see what they can do.  Neise and Parnell are intriguing and I think if we can't get it done with our rotation, lets start mixing it up.  Then if that doesn't work, we hopefully will trade for Peavy, Oswalt or Halladay.  I think it might be beneficial to sign Ben Sheets when he is rehabbed and ready to see action again.
It's funny, we finally fix our bullpen and the same starting rotation (sans pedro, add livan) that was adequate last season, looks bush league.
Pitching is definitely not the only problem...we can't hit in the clutch.
RISP!!!!  Where are you Wright?  Where are you Delgado? Where are you Beltran?
The only guy who is actually hitting with runners on base is Luis Castillo.  This is ridiculous, what is going on with this team!
All I see every day since the season opened are the bases loaded and then Wright comes up to bat and watches strike 3 fly by him without even swinging.  You can't hit the ball, if you don't swing!  Stop over thinking and just f'n swing the bat.
I hate it that every year, this team gets my hopes up and then squashes them.     

It's simple, Ben Sheets is a better pitcher than Oliver Perez.  He has command and nasty breaking stuff, unfortunately there is one huge risk factor...he can't stay healthy.  This is why Sheets isn't commanding 75 million over 5 years.  If he pitched over 200 innings, even just 2 of his last 5 years in the majors, he would be a golden goose. 

Oliver Perez is an intriguing character,  he's fiery and sometimes he looks unstoppable, but other times he looks like Wild Thing (before he got his glasses) in the movie Major League.  If Omar is considering going past his 3 year/30 mill deal that was already proposed, then Scott Boras is officially the anti-christ...how else could we explain the deception and the front office mind control.  I haven't even heard of another team making an offer to Perez, so why would Omar improve his.  It should be simple economics, amounting to supply and demand, if Perez is not in demand then why supply him with additional money.  When a product isn't selling well at Walmart, they don't raise the price and hope it does better, the price is reduced.

Omar, take note: Sign Ben Sheets to 2 years / 16 million guaranteed + 8 million in incentives.

After that, go get Orlando Hudson and take a page out of the Dodger's book and cut ties with Castillo like they cut ties with Andruw Jones.

Almost every Mets fan wishes they could sit in the GM's chair and make the big trades/aquisitions for their team.  I am no exception, so please excuse me while I try trivialize Omar Minyia's job.

Last year, I wrote a post on building a dream team Mets line-up.  As a result, I was lucky to receive some gem comments such as "What are you smoking?", "Were you licking a window, while you wrote this?" and my favorite "I hate you and wish we didn't share any common interests such as both being Mets fans!".  Anyway, I figured, since we ended the same way this year, I'd attempt a new roster idea. 

First disclaimer, as you can see below, I traded both Carloses because most important improvement for the team is a face lift to their core.  When it comes to Delgado, we must sell high and he is suited to play in the AL for the remainer of his career.  Of course, first we have to pick up his 12mil option and then trade him, though.  The Beltran trade is a beast of a different color because I wouldn't have considered it until the reports on Metsblog this past week about the Cubs interest.  Trading him makes perfect sense now, it frees up money and it hands the teams leadership to Wright and Reyes.

Please reference http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/10/offseason-out-8.html and http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2007/12/2009-mlb-free-a.html for more info on how I gauged available salary and who was available.

1 - Jose Reyes
2 - Milton Bradley (2 year/10 mm)
3 - David Wright
4 - Derek Lee
5 - Orlando Hudson (4 years/45 mm)
6 - Church (Arb from 2mm to 4mm)
7 - Schnieder
8 - Felix Pie

Bench - Ramon Castro, Endy Chavez, Daniel Murphy, Marlon Anderson, Argenis Reyes

SP - Johan Santana
SP - Mike Pelfrey
SP - John Maine (Arb from 400K to 4mm)
SP - Oliver Perez (4 year/55mm)
SP - Carl Pavano (1 yr/2 mm)

RP - Will Ohman (sign 2 year - 6 mm)
RP - Jeff Affeldt (sign 2 year to 9 mm)
RP - Brian Stokes
RP - Joe Smith
RP - Carlos Marmol
RP - Jon Rauch
CL - JJ Putz

Trades:
Delgado & Heilman to Mariners for JJ Putz
Beltran, Matt Carp & Pedro Feliciano to Chicago for Felix Pie, Derek Lee & Carlos Marmol
Castillo + part of the 18 mm left on his contract (maybe half?) & Schoenweis + 2.6 mm of his 3.6mm contract  to Arizona for Jon Raunch & Jamie D'Antona(or other minor league prospect)

We would be spending an additional 45 million a year on new salary but also we'll remove Beltran, Delgado, Schoenweis, Feliciano, Heilman and Castillo contracts which total somewhere around 35 million.  The additional annual salary cost would really be 10 million.

Improvements

• Our offense would be built of solid average hitters who have some pop. We would have a hot-headed, fiery player like Bradley and a strong, out-spoken club house favorites like Lee and Hudson. 
• Our starting pitching stays close to the same as 2008, which was an area of sucess for the team.  The only difference is not resigning Pedro and instead taking a risk and picking up Carl Pavano.  His health will most likely scare off other suitors but we should be able to sign him for cheap and if he doesn't work out, we could promote Jon Niese or Bob Parnell from the minors.
• Our bullpen is the most different with JJ Putz taking the closer role, with the additions of two free agent lefties(Affeldt & Ohman), trades for two hard throwing righties (Marmol & Rauch) and keeping some of our strong performers from last year(Smith and Stokes).

Overall I just hope to see some good baseball in the first year at Citi field and I'm confident that Omar will provide us with that by making some smart moves this off-season.

As I flip through endless pages of Mets bashing in the sports sections and hear one WFAN radio personality after another complain, I'm not shocked or angry at my team.  I understood that we were not constructed with the necessary pieces to be a true contender going into this season and I'm proud that they played as well as they did.  Many will argue the influence a manager has on his team, some say they are just figure heads or mouth pieces, but Manuel was so much more.  He brought with him faith, his words were the truth, he was everything a good New York manager should be, he was a fighter.  I saw the way Beltran and Delgado played and spoke of him, there was a respect that Willie Randoph never earned from them.  I was a big fan of Randoph in '06, but I realized that going into this season he did not rally the troops. I could see the way he looked at his players with a kind of resentment and distrust carried over from the collapse. 

If you are a true Mets fan, you won't make your judgement on whether or not they made the playoffs.  You will look at the 10 game winning streaks, the come from behind victories and hustle that they had this year.  2008 was nothing like 2007, the only similarity was the outcome in the standings.  You must see the good things, like a veteran finding his stroke again, the young bats igniting the team and a legendary pitcher leading us every fifth day.  I'm excited for next year because I honestly see a team ready to grow and core group of guys ready to get to the next level. 

My hope for 2009 is simple, repair a blistered and tattered bullpen, this is not by spending tons of money on one player such as K-Rod.  I believe it can be achieved by finding young, gritty, unshakable warriors who aren't afraid to take the ball in the 7th inning with the bases loaded and a one run lead.  I hope to see more players on the team with strength of character as opposed to strength of statistics.  I have a feeling that a lot of new faces will be introduced to us next year as we enter Citi Field and I'm excited for that.  I will be cheering them as loud as ever because they are my team.  I'm proud to be a Mets fan and as a goodwill gesture to our division, I'm hoping that the Phillies make it all the way.  If not the Phillies, I hope the World Series is won by one of the very talented NL teams in hunt.  Thanks for your time and keep the faith, we'll get there.

Well, I've been wrong many times in the past about the Mets approach to personnel decisions. When the '08 season opened, I was convinced that they had the right offensive components to get through this year with a winning record...as it looks right now, thats not going to happen as perfectly as I thought.

One name comes to mind when I think of a reason why this Mets offense is being laughed at by the rest of the league, Delgado. Sorry, Carlos but you have become dead weight on the team. I knew back when he blew off the Mets to sign with the Marlins that he wasn't ever going to be hero here. He never wanted to be on this team and I think it's time to cut ties.

Ken Rosenthal had an interesting article a few weeks back, suggesting a trade between the Mets and Mariners, making a virtual swap of 1st basemen. Richie Sexson for Carlos Delgado. I think that could work well, they are both in their walk year and they both have the same stats this year and a similar salary. It would be similar to the Cardinal/Blue Jays 3rd basemen swap. Maybe a change of environment would do both of them good, plus Sexson is a fiery guy who might charge up the Mets. Delgado is an AL player and he did his best work when he played in those hitter friendly parks.

Another move that I think should be considered is Xavier Nady for Mike Pelfrey and Aaron Heilman. Almost like a reverse trade that sent Nady to Pittsburgh, back when the Mets got a struggling young starter and hard throwing reliever (Oli Perez and Roberto Hernandez). With Pedro coming back next week and Claudio Vargas or Nelson Figueroa slipped into the 5th starter role, we should be fine without Pelfrey. It is beginning to become more clear that Pelfrey can be an effective starter but may need to be in a less stressful environment than New York . The same can be said for Heilman. Aaron is a great pitcher but his confidence is shot and Mets' fans would mostly breathe a sign of relief seeing him traded. If the Bucs need a position player to seal that deal, maybe we should throw in Casanova or Tatis. Send 'em out while there value is still on the rise.

I know that trades can't completely fix a team, but the Mets need to mix it up. The only drawback I foresee is that some of the young Latin players will become upset at Delgado departure (who I'm sure serves as a mentor/player-coach). That will pass and I believe that even if the team can't turn it around, this sends a good message to Reyes/Castillo/Beltran, that they may be treated like royalty now, but could share the same fate if they don't perform.