Ok, so i've been watching the playoffs and I gotta say those darn Rockies look good. I don't think we would've been able to beat them even if we made it into October. I'm calling it right now, the World Series match up will be Boston and Colorado, Sox will take it in 6.

On to more pressing matters, the Mets of 2008. I've got a lot of players on my wish list for opening day.

(I'm not foolish enough to believe the lineup will look anything like this but i gotta dream.)

---

Batting:

1st - Carlos Beltran (OF/Switch Hitter)

2nd - Luis Castillo (2nd base/Switch Hitter) -- sign for 4 million/yr

3rd - David Wright (3rd Base/Right Hand)

4th - Alex Rodriguez (Short Stop/Right Hand) -- sign for 50 million over 2 years + added incentives

5th - Adam Dunn (1st base/Left Hand) -- sign for 55 million over 4 years

6th - Aaron Rowand (OF/Right Hand) -- sign for 25 million over 4 years

7th - Moise Alou/Endy Chavez or Carlos Gomez (Platooning OF) -- Alou re-sign for 4.5 million/yr

8th - Paul Lo Duca (Catcher/Right Hand) -- re-sign for 2-3 million/yr

9th - Pitcher

Pitching Rotation:

1 - Johan Santana (Left Hand) -- by trade with multi-yr offer starting in '09 and assume 8 million of his '08 Twins contract

2 - Pedro Martinez (Right Hand)

3 - Dontrelle Willis (Left Hand) -- by trade and we assume his 6.5 million/yr contract

4 - John Maine (Right Hand)

5 - Oliver Perez (Left Hand)

Bullpen:

Orlando Hernandez LR (Right Hand)

David Riske MR (Right Hand) -- sign for 5 million/over 2 yrs

Joe Smith MR (Right Hand)

Scott Schoenenweiss MR (Left Hand)

Philip Humber MR (Right Hand)

Pedro Feliciano MR/SU (Left Hand)

Fransisco Cordero CL (Right Hand) -- sign for 21 million/over 3 years

Bench:

Ruben Gotay (Infield/Switch Hitter)

Endy Chavez(LH) or Carlos Gomez(RH) (Outfield)

Marlon Anderson (Infield/Outfield/Left Hand) -- re-sign for 900K/yr

Damien Easley (Infield/Outfield/Right Hand) -- re-sign for 700K/yr

Ramon Castro (Catcher/Right Hand) -- re-sign for 1.5 milliion/yr

Trades:

Mets' Jose Reyes(SS) / Mike Pelfrey(SP) / Carlos Delgado(DH) for Twins' Johan Santana(SP) -- we will have to assume 7 million of Delgado's '08 contract

Mets' Billy Wagner(CL/MR/SU) / Lastings Milledge(OF) / Aaron Heilman(SP/MR) for Marlins' Dontrelle Willis(SP) -- we will have to assume 4 million of Wagner's '08 contract

We also need to try to find a team to take Mota off our hands.

---

I'm well aware that our salary expenses would be crazy but who knows, A-rod was a Mets fan as a kid and he would regain his position, so maybe he'd take a deal in the upper-to-mid 20 million range with incentives. If you subtract contracts(some but not all because we'll still have to pay traded players) such as Delgado and Wagner thats enough for him right there. Plus Shawn Green's $10mil contract is finished, so there is some more money open. Santana will also demand big bucks to solidify a trade, but we can work on a deal so he stays cheap this season and when '09 rolls around we'll pay him top dollar, at that point Pedro Martinez will part ways with us and free up lots of cash. By my calculation for the 2008 Mets' payroll it would be $135 million in active roster and traded contracts. Still much less than the '07 Yankees and Red Sox.

I definitely think some of the players on my list are in the Mets grasp. I know Omar will have his work cut out for him this off season, but if they just boost their talent pool even a few percentage points and sign those leader-type players, we could be unstoppable next year.

---

---

Well, throughout this season I looked at this Mets team differently than most of my friends and other fans I've come in contact with.  It was easy for most to see this Mets roster and assume it was built to win but I felt that they were missing something from the start.  The bullpen was weaker, we didn't have an ace stopper and the bats lacked a true definitive leader for the beginning half of the season.  Now I don't want to be all negative about the team I love and I will say this year had a lot of successes with it's failures.  

Successes:

David Wright has finally taken the role of leader and captain which the Mets truly needed.  In the beginning of the season he was struggling with his place on the team and was in a slump hitting.  Somewhere within the last half of the 162 games, he stepped up and decided even though he is only 24 years old, he is a leader and a legitimate 3-slot hitter.  He is fast, strong and intelligent about the game and will come into next season as our true captain and hopefully help focus the Mets to another winning season and post-season.

John Maine is a great 2-3rd day starter and has some ace quality when his team needs him the most.  If the Mets can acquire a true 1st day ace in the off-season, the pressure will be off him and he will evolve even further.  I think he will be a key component to next years rotation.

Lastings Milledge and Carlos Gomez both proved themselves as not only great in the outfield but also ready to take their role in next years line up.  They are both young and need a lot of assistance in further development but they both impressed me. Even if one or both aren't starters next year, they will be very valuable on the bench.

Ramon Castro had another great year as our backup catcher and I believe he proved himself to become our everyday catcher next year, if he re-signs and if we are unable to acquire Pudge Rodriguez or Jorge Posada.

Young bullpen members such as Joe Smith, Carlos Muniz and Willie Collazo all look very promising for next year.  We will see a lot more of them next year and they will contribute, that is if we don't trade-up for more experienced arms in the bullpen.

Ruben Gotay made a real impact this year as our 2nd base stand-in before Castillo was acquired.  If he stays around he will only get better with age, lets hope he works harder on his defense in the off-season.

Points to work on next year:

The Mets front office needs to allow Willie Randolph to build his own coaching staff instead of picking them for him.  Ricky Henderson proved to be more of a liability than a leader as 1st base coach.  He played cards in the locker room, showed up late for practices and looked generally uncomfortable in his coaching role. 

Jose Reyes is not a veteran and is not a leader like David Wright.  I hope to see the coaching staff get on his case more and bench him when he doesn't hustle.  His second half of the season was atrocious and after he set his Mets stolen base record it seemed like he was constantly swinging for the fences instead of doing his job of getting on base by ground balls and slow rollers.

I am a huge Oliver Perez fan and I believe he has what it takes to become great but for now I think the pitching coach, who ever it may be next year, needs to put him in the bullpen for the beginning of the season to help him calm down and control his style.  In training him to become a high pressure pitcher, he will be forced to adopt a style that is more finesse and could keep healthier without blowing out his shoulder, like some other pitcher we know.

Aaron Heilman, Jorge Sosa and Scott Schoeneweis all have good arms and could've been a bigger help to us, but weren't.  Someone needs to find the root of the problem in the bullpen.  If it's coaching, than the Mets need to address that, if it's because the players are unsatisfied with their role on the team, then trades or pink slips need to be made.

The last improvement I can think of, is boasting player morale, I think we need another big personality in our dugout...maybe a trade for Dontrelle Willis?

Free agents that may be in blue and orange next year:

1st base or Left field: Adam Dunn

Re-sign 2nd baseman Luis Castillo

Re-sign left fielder Moises Alou, but have him in a pinch hitting role or platooning with another outfielder to keep him fresh

Re-sign catcher Ramon Castro or sign either Pudge Rodriguez or Jorge Posada

Sign pitchers Fransisco Cordero and David Riske

Sign starting pitchers Carlos Silva and Odalis Perez

Players who probably won't be in blue and orange next year:

Tom Glavine: This not because of his last start but because he's too hittable now, its about time he plays golf, does some announcing and writes his hall of fame acceptable speech.

Carlos Delgado: There is something about his performance this year that tells me he just won't be coming back.  I do like him as a player and veteran leader, but he wasn't meshing with the team this year.

Paul Lo Duca: We all know that he's not coming back already.

Shawn Green: If he doesn't retire, he should sign with an AL team to DH.

Guillermo Mota: Good riddance

Billy Wagner: I'm not as sure about him leaving as the rest but I think we'll trade him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In many ways this year was better for the Mets than 2006 because the young players now know they are vulnerable and may not be the future all-stars they thought they were.   We should see some more intensity and fire in the eyes of the 2008 team.  Look for Jose Reyes to re-focus quickly next season or he'll lose his lead-off spot with speedy Carlos Gomez lurking on the bench.  Also Willie Randolph will change his policy on naming a team captain and David Wright will be branded before opening day with that honor.
 

I'm what you might call a "constantly criticizing fan of the Mets".  I inherited the team from my father and if only he was a Yankees fan, maybe my life would be completely different.  Being a Mets fan is sort of like continuously walking up hill.  Even last year, when the Mets seemed unstoppable during the regular season, they were really just benefactors of a weak NL East and had some issues during the end of the season.  This year, the NL East is way more competitive because the Mets have an apparent Achilles heel called the bullpen.  Teams can just run up the starters' pitch count and by the 6th or 7th inning dominate the Mets.  

In the early part of the season, the Mets defense saved the bullpen from such painful outings as we saw this past week.  Now we all know that without a great defensive effort on the part of the Mets, they are no better than the Nationals or the Marlins.

All I really hope for in the last week of the regular season, is to see my Mets go out and play with confidence and heart.  I haven't seen much of either this whole season.  We all know Willy is a passive guy but if he wants to keep his job, he's got to fire his team up.  They need to stop the poor fielding and foolish two-out base stealing and finally make sure that their bullpen has it's defensive safety net once again.