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How about the Mets taking Omar Minaya onboard as the head of Baseball Operations? Can't say I'm going to complain about that, not one bit.

It's not clear what a "head of baseball operations" does, exactly, though Minaya is a great baseball mind, no doubt. We can only hope he helps limit the involvement of the Wilpons and the Superscouts in baseball decisions.

Again, I agree with most of what you say. Just a few thoughts:

1. I think the numbers cited to draw equality between Trach and Glavine bear another look. If you make the range for a great start over 55, Trach only has 2 in that category and Glavine has 6. I think at their best, Trach is a 3-4 and Glavine is a 2-3.

That said, one or both should have been dealt to a contender during the second half.

Rather than Varitek, I'd like to see the Mets make a serious effort to see if Jason Kendall could work here. He's two years younger than Varitek at 30, and those early 30s years are really crucial at the catcher position. The Pirates are eager to deal him because of contract $$$ and will throw money in or a better player. He logged another great season (.318/.401/.791) as of today, .306/379/.801 career, and he is a great defensive catcher.

His contract is high, 10-11-13 for 2005-2007, but ends in 2007 when he is still only 33 and can be expected to still be a prime starting catcher. If the Pirates would take a few kids we've never heard of and kick in 4 mil on each of those years, I'd love that deal.

RGJ -

Sure, and if you make the cutoff 53 instead of 55, Glavine and Trachsel both have 7 more great starts. I don't think Glavine is quite as mediocre as Trachsel, he just isn't much better. Glavine started the season strong, but has struggled more recently.

I like Jason Kendall, too, and I could see giving him $15-17 million over the next three years. Maybe the Pirates will take Jeff Keppinger back. Kendall walks enough for a catcher, and draws an absurd number of HBPs (177 in his nine-year career), which bad the OBP. His main downside as a an offensive player is that he just doesn't hit for any power (.070 ISO in 2004).

I could only see acquiring him if the Mets can find a taker for Piazza. I will not endorse Piazza playing first next season.

Three thoughts:

Kali should be the setup man.

I have no problem with Heilman being the fifth starter.

Danny is not playing again this year and won't be back next year.

Re: Kendall,

How many leadoff hitters can this hypothetical Mets' lineup support? One problem with this team is that we get very little out of traditional power positions, and don't make that deficiency up with a slugging shortstop or second baseman. Piazza was the x-factor for a while but is in such a decline I don't know what to pencil him in for. It would be nice to have a player of Kendall's talent; we just have more pressing needs to fill.

I dont know, I like strikeouts and detest walks as much as the next guy, but don't you think evaluating Glavine using game scores is a bit flawed?

why isnt danny playing any more this year-what did i miss?

[i]How many leadoff hitters can this hypothetical Mets' lineup support? [/i]

When one of them is Jose Reyes, at least 3.

If you have 3 or 4 high OBP/speed guys, I would have a problem putting three of them at the top, partiocularly if our "power" guys are going to be of dubious value like Piazza and Floyd.

I'd be very happy with Reyes, Matsui and Kendall in the first 3 slots, juggling them on who is showing more power or the higher OBP. And if one of them, say Matsui,. slumps, you toss him down the order. And when Reyes goes down as usual, your offense still has some run scorers.

I think Shea is, with a few exceptions, the place where power hitters go to die. We might be better off looking for speed/OBP/doubles in the gaps guys rather than the guy who hit 45 HRs somewhere 4 else and then hits 24 here and bats .225

[i]One problem with this team is that we get very little out of traditional power positions, and don't make that deficiency up with a slugging shortstop or second baseman.[/i]

I've been saying this for years. By way of example, we pay the greatest hitting catcher in history $15 million. But he would be a slightly above average right fielder or first baseman ,at leats the last few years. And then we put Timo Perex in right and Eric Valent at 1B, where you should have average power guys for average $$$.

Anytime you have a plus bat at a glove position --catcher shortstop, 2ns base, centerfield, it only averages out to a team benefit if you get at least average output out of the regular power positions at the corners.

When you don't you get a $100 million team with a perennial losing record. Sound familiar?

why isnt danny playing any more this year-what did i miss?

Doghouse duty.

Perhaps they simply favor Keppinger's glove.

IMHO the most important position the Mets need to fill is 1B. They need to find a gold glove caliber first baseman, if they are going with a plan of pitching AND defense. I mean someone's got to actually CATCH the ball being hurled across the infield by Wright, Reyes and Matsui, and it would be nice if the 1B could actually catch a ball that's in the dirt!

The Mets are going to have to use the FA/Non-tender pool of players to fill this position because they've got nobody if close to being capable in their system. Brazell might have some pop in his bat, but he's got a medicore glove at best. Snow won't come east, and the Mets should stop trying to LURE players that don't really want to come here.

I'd try to sign Tino for short money if you can't get the Rockies to trade Helton. Helton is the perfect fit for the Mets. He's a gold glove caliber 1B, with a contact, line drive hitter style. He's a lefty, so if Floyd is dealt(my hope) the Mets have got a replacement. Now before you go nuts about his contract, I'm sure the Mets can get the Rockies to kick in a small amount that would even out his deal to no more than $15-16M per year through year 2011. He'll be 37/38 in the final year of his deal, and the guy's had NO injury problems in his career.

Isn't Helton out right now with a bad back?

As far as Keppinger, you don't have to be paranoid to figure that the Mets will be desperate to show something for the July trades, with Benson unsigned and Zambrano in bed. I'd say Keppinger and Fortunato are a good bet to make the major league roster for that reason alone.

Helton hasn't been out, my bad, was thinking of someone else.

"We might be better off looking for speed/OBP/doubles in the gaps guys rather than the guy who hit 45 HRs somewhere 4 else and then hits 24 here and bats .225"

-RGJ

That's an interesting way to look at it. I really haven't given much thought to how Shea impacts the production of the offense, beyond mentally scaling down some numbers.

Park factors are big step toward understanding the idiosyncratic tendencies of particular ballparks, but I really wish I'd read more about the 'whys' that engender the numerical adjustments. It's nice to hear broadcasters say "His line-drive stroke will play well at Shea", and also easy to talk about the effect of the Green Monster at Fenway, but I wonder if there's a better way to look at the less obvious effects of dimensions, groundskeeping, wind, etc. that all factor in.

Knowing this club's blogosphere, I could probably just run a few archive searches and find it. In any case, it'd be nice to have those extra bits of information to find not only which players will perform a bit worse because of Shea, but if perhaps some will perform better.

My plan:
Trade Glavine to BOS for catching prospect Kelly Shoppach. Pay some of his contract. We get our catcher for 2006 and beyond.Piazza catches for one last season.
Let Leiter walk. i dont care for him.
Sign one or two of the following: Pavano, Clement or Lefty Odalis Perez. Try to trade for a lefty like Zito or Washburn if we cant sign a lefty.
SIgn Delgado for 2-3 years. Better yet, seek trade for Casey.
If PLAYING 2b is not cool with Matsui, trade him to ANA for Kennedy.
RF? roll dice with Diaz.
LF? sign Hidalgo to a reasonable 2-3 deal. i prefer Drew but he's not comming to NY.
Let France retire. Sign Villone as a middle-long relief lefty. not expecnsive. i like Kline but he'll stay in STL.

I like some of the things you said but some of the things you brought up were crazy. Before glavine lost his two front teeth he was having a great season. Gerald Williams is over the hill. I would rather have Victor Diaz. Matt Morris? Are you for real? That kid went to high school about 30 minutes away from me, so I like him but his first inning numbers are horrible. Mets can't be down to start his games. Carl Pavano is a much better pitcher and Zito is on the trading block. Trachsel, Jae Seo, Heilman, and Ginter can all be traded. Floyd needs to go. Franco will be gone. McEwing is good insurance if Reyes or Matsui gets injured. Find an AL team to take Piazza. Have Wilson and Phillips at catcher. Get a first baseman and an OFer. Delgado? Sexson? Drew? Ordonez? Beltran? We probably won't get any big names... I like Hidalgo but he is streaky. He can stay for the right price. I would be much obliged if you write back to my email address what you thought. LAte

Mike -

You have to realize that the quotes (the text in the boxes) are from the Star Ledger articles. What follows the quotes are my responses. Of course Matt Morris is a bum, which is why I said:

"...He turned 30 this year, and his days as a useful big league pitcher may be behind him. I wouldn't touch him with a ten-foot pole..."

I'm not sure if you're implying that Glavine's car accident was the cause of his decline; I would find that hard to believe. Glavine struck out about one batter every two innings this season, which is terrible (41st out of 45 among NL pitchers). He is a #3 pitcher at best.

I would steer clear of Carl Pavano. Ditto Odalis Perez and Russ Ortiz. The Mets already have soft-tossers in Glavine and Steve Trachsel. I would focus on strikeout pitchers like Matt Clement and Jaret Wright.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I think the Mets should let Richard Hidalgo walk, unless they find a bigger bat at first base and can afford his streakiness and solid defense in right field.

I agree with you that Victor Diaz should be given a shot somewhere, and that Cliff Floyd should be traded. No team is going to take Mike Piazza, and I have no problem with him catching for the Mets in 2005.

As far as big name free agents, I would throw everything the Mets can muster at Carlos Beltran. He's a surer thing than Vlad Guerrero was last year, and Vlad was a pretty sure thing. Beltran brings better defense, better baserunning, better plate discipline, is a switch hitter, has no injury history, should I go on? The consensus is that he'll go to the Yankees, which is probably the case.

I've advocated J.D. Drew in the past, and still do, despite his injury history. He's still young and is very, very good.

I'm not too high on Ordonez, particularly with his injuries this season. Delgado is getting old, isn't much with the glove, and will be 34-35 before the Mets are contenders. Great bat, but the Mets should look elsewhere. Sexson is a nice hitter, but he'll be 30 in December.

Somepone said up above that McEwing is a great option next year to backup Reyes/Matsui. That chilled my blood. Any team that is going to start a season with Jose Reyes better have a backup SS that is a red chest hair away from being a full time major league player, both with the glove and the bat.That is not Joe McEwing now, if it ever was.

[i]According to Newsday, Benson and the Mets are getting closer on a three-year deal worth $21-$24 million, which is probably okay. With Zambrano likely to make in the $1-$2 million range at arbitration, the Mets can probably afford to go a million or so over market to keep Benson.[/i]

I disagree, and I will explain why.

With the Omar regime under way, the Mets have a clean slate not to be bound by the mistakes of the past. I'm not saying Benson was a mistake, but at this point the Mets must simply consider him another free agent pitcher, and, in fact, value him somewhat below other free agent pitchers, because should they other Benson arbitration, he would decline, and the Mets would pick up a draft pick.

If the choice is basically even on all accounts between Benson and another FA pitcher, the Mets should pick the other pitcher and collect the draft pick, rather than overpay for Benson.

It is simply bad business to feel your hand forced by the perception of a previous business mistake. Reality is: Kris Benson is a free agent pitcher now, one of a number that the Mets should be looking at -- what happened before is history.

I've taken that stance in the past, and agree with you to some extent. The Mets shouldn't sign Benson just to save face, but should sign him because they think he's a good pitcher who wants to pitch in New York. He's not very glamorous, but has shown good signs of late. I'm not particularly high on too many of the free agent pitchers (Morris, Perez, Pavano).

I agree that he should be offered arbitration if a deal can't be hammered out before the World Series ends, but he'll probably only be worth a 2nd rounder, and I'd certainly rather have Benson than Matt Morris and a 2nd round pick.

That said, I do agree that Benson shouldn't be signed to justify the trade that brought him here, but because (if) the Mets think he's a good pitcher.