Free agents

Shea Hey Kids
As I mentioned in an earlier post, the free agent market is very underwhelming yet the Mets needs are real so they must trade. Minaya seems to agree: "Minaya said the price for free agents in general and the lack of appealing options is going to force teams to look at trades to solve a few issues. With that being the case, Minaya is actively working trade possibilities to see about starting pitching."

As I also mentioned, the Mets need to move quickly because the Phillies new GM, Pat Gillick, has quite a winning track record also, and is rumored to be moving strongly on Soriano. Make no mistake, with Gillick at the helm the Phillies will be doing all they can to compete with Mets.

I still like the idea of going after Gagne (assuming he passes a medical exam). Then we have the flexibility to package some combination of Wagner, Heilman, Milledge, Valentin, and Green for either a starter, 2nd basemen, or outfielder.

It's also worth pointing out that except for Wright and Reyes (and hopefully Milledge), I doubt anyone's #s in the lineup are going to be as good or better than this year. Lo Duca had an unusually strong 2nd half compared to last 4 years. Beltran had a career year for HR, RBI, and OBP. Delgado might be able to sustain his #s for one more year, but I doubt he'll exceed them. So it would be nice to replace Floyd and get a solid hitter in 6 spot.