OK, so it's a little early to be putting together my Christmas wish list. But, since day one of the offseason began two days ago for the Mets, maybe it's not that early. Here are four things I'd request from the Mets.
1. From Willie: Please, please, please set the tone early on that focus and discipline and professionalism at the plate are required, not optional. I think the Mets cost themselves a lot of runs this year by showing complete disinterest at the plate when they stepped up with 2 outs and no RISP. That's basically wasting 9 outs a game, or 1/3 of your chances. I watched a lot of Sox and Yanks games, and it seems to me that in most cases regardless of the situation (up 5 runs, down 5 runs, 1st inning or 9th inning), those teams always came to the plate looking to get a hit with 2 outs. They mounted a lot of rallies that way. After all, it only takes a double and single, or walk + SB + single to score a run. Not that outrageous to conceive. The Mets, by contrast, had a "well this inning is basically over so let's just hurry up and get this at bat over so I can get back to the dugout" look in their eyes whenever they came to the plate with 2 outs and no RISP. Even if you score no runs, it's still a good opportunity to drive up pitch count - which is something the Sox and Yanks excelled at, but Mets were not good at. So, I'd like to see Willie bench players early in the season if they consistently show a lack of focus.
2. From Omar: Dump Scho and Sele. Hold on to Mota, b/c players off the 'roids can often turn it around the following year. We should have a good sense of whether or not Mota fits this mold by April or May.
3. From Omar: Trade or do not re-sign at least some of the following players: Glavine, Delgado, Duque, and Green. Dump some salary here to make room for request #4.
4. Pick up a #1 pitcher, preferably Santana. If not, look to trade with Indians, Dodgers, Pads, Sox (red or white), or A's. Then, consider a rotation of: new pitcher / Pedro / Maine / Perez / Pelfrey, and move Duque to the pen. Even though you will be overpaying for a reliever, he will be phenomenal: he can eat up a ton of innings, and baffle hitters along the way.
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Just for fun, can you imagine inserting Vlad Guerrero into our lineup over the past three seasons? We missed him by one year: if Minaya had left the Expos after the '03 season (same year as Vlad's FA) and re-joined the Mets then, I'd have to guess with better-than-even odds that he would have gotten Vlad to sign with Mets. His career seasonal averages: .325 / .391 / .579 / 37 HRs / 119 RBIs / 105 R / only 74 Ks. Wow. I guarantee we would have made WS last year and been in playoffs this year.
But he had a bad back.
And A-Rod wanted special treatment.
That's true. Vlad did have those down years where he only went .307/.377/34/108 or .330/.426/25/79.
Not to mention after he missed games in '03 he followed up with that "horrific" '04 of 156 games, .337/.391/39/126.
Atrocious numbers. I can barely stand to look at them. Good thing we dodged that bullet.
And, Vlad had a bad back.
As for your four point list
1. Yes.
2. Sele is gone. Scho won't be unless the steroid incident turns into a violation of MLB policy. He's signed to a 3 year contract, I believe, and was close enough to borderline-effective in limited circumstances (LHP vs LHH) during the last 2 months of the year that, that Omar will take Queen's advice.
3. just some guesses, but here they are:
Glavine- gone. Delgado- here. Duque- gone. Green- gone.
Of course which of the players you named actually should be exited from the building by his head is dependent upon who is available in the FA market and via trade.
4. Go get Santana. Make it happen.
Santana/Pedro/Maine/Perez/Pelf will work fine, with Duque to spot start (if he's here), or else Humber to ride the Nawlins Express.
One flaw in the previous post is that we probably don't have Pelf and Humber if we have Santana. But don't worry, I think we can hold onto Brian Lawrence for the right price.
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