How to Spend Money

I could sit here and rant about what a stupid move Omar Minaya made with Billy Wagner and how Chris Carter won't help us as we have about a kabajillion first baseman in our system who could play just as well as him (from what I've heard Carter is an exact clone of Nick Evans), but instead I am going to talk about how the Mets should spend their money this offseason.

So this year the payroll is about $140 million. I know there are websites where I can look up the exact number but I am feeling a bit lasy right now so I am not going to do that. But  I do know that the Mets can have a maximum payroll of about $160 million. So what are we going to do with that money? Well lets see, Carlos Delgado will be gone next year, so minus about 10 million we have about $30 million to spend during the winter months. I know that certain players will go to arbitration and get a salary increase but then again the Mets won't have to pay for certain players who are no longer on the Mets, like Marlon Anderson and Duaner Sanchez who were both released.

We will not be in need of an expensive free agent to replace Carlos Delgado as Daniel Murphy has filled that slot. We will however need a new power bat to replace Delgado, and since first base is a power position not being used for power, the Mets should use a non-power position for power. Let's see, we have Luis Castillo at second base and I don't think Micah Owings is available so scratch pitcher off the list. Let's take catcher.

Right now our catchers are Brian Scheider and Omir Santos. Schneider is a dismal hitter but an okay defensive catcher. Santos is a decent hitter and he calls a good game. He plays good defense. So forget about Schneider, he will be a free agent anyway. What catchers are good offensively?

• Joe Mauer is obviously not available for next year, the Twins are not going to trade him. However when he becomes a free agent Omar Minaya better sign him or else he should be fired.
• Brian McCann is probably the next best option, but duh, we can't have him either. Lets move on.
• Jorge Posada is good offensively but horrible defensively plus he is a Yankee for life so I doubt any Mets fans would want him.
• Victor Martinez is a terrific hitter but as a catcher he is not very good, more of a first baseman.
• Bengie Molina is a great option. He can hit about 15-20 home runs a year and he will be a free agent this offseason I believe. Also, I've heard he is not that better defensively and can call a decent game.

So Bengie Molina is our winner for catcher. This year he is earning $6 million but since his batting average is down from recent years and his strikeouts are up, he will probably take a pay cut. I am thinking he will probably go for around $4 million. So add Bengie Molina, now we have about $26 million left to spend.

We are also going to need a left fielder because ever since Daniel Murphy moved to first base we haven't had one. As I said earlier in the year, the Mets should trade for Carl Crawford but obviously that won't happen because Omar Minaya is an idiot. Hopefully the Rays don't pick up his option but they almost positively will. So to the two big left fielders on the market are Jason Bay (although I still think he will sign an extension with the Red Sox) and Matt Holliday. Manny Ramirez has a player option for $20 million next year which he has said he will pick up, although knowing Manny nothing is certain. Bobby Abreu will also be available this offseason, I really think he is a peerfect fit. Johnny Damon is also another really good fit for the Mets who will be a free agent. What is the problem with all of these guys? They are all Type A Free Agents, meaning if we sign them we must give up two first round draft picks. Now, when Delgado and Gary Sheffield leave, they are Type B free agents so we will get second round compensation for them but last year we signed the Type A Francicso Rodriguez so this year we really need to do a good draft. Plus, Bengie Molina is a Type A Free agent so if we get him, we really shouldn't touch any others.

NOTE: Since the Mets will most likely end up in the Bottom 15 this year, they only have to give up one first round pick and one second round pick for a Type A FA. For Type Bs, they have to give up one second round and one third round. 

So who can play left field but is not a Type A free agent? How about Scott Podsednik of the Chicago White Sox. He is a speedy guy who is good at getting on base. He is a perfect number 2 hitter to hit behind Jose Reyes and he can steal a lot of bases to go along with his good defense. This year he is making around $800k so I hopewe can sign him for around 1 million, but I'll go with $2 million to be safe. So check off Scott Podsednik, we now have around $24 million left to spend.

Also, we need two good starting pitchers.

If you want to bite the bullet with Type B free agents, Joel Piniero, Jarrod Washbrun, Andy Pettitte, Randy Wolf and Jason Marquis are all excellent choices. But for the sake of our draft picks, forget Type Bs. Justin Duchscherer and Washburn are both at the cusp though and if we are lucky they will fall out of Type B status. I can see it happening with both.

 If Type As and Bs are off limits, there really aren't many good options for starting pitcher. There are many guys with high upsides but lots of risk like Kelvim Escobar, John Smoltz, and Jason Schmidt, but frankly they aren't worth it. I wish the Mets would have kept Wagner to get his conpensation picks so they could be more aggressive with the free agency but like I said before Minaya is an idiot.

So what would I do? I would hope Duchscherer or Washburn fall off of Type B, and sign either one of them (if not both) if they do. Then I would try to sign Brett Myers. Myers has Cy Young stuff but he is coming off an injury. Plus he is a Phillie who most Mets fans despise with all their guts, but you know what, there aren't other options.

So since Duchscherer has been out all year, we should get him for about $3 million. Washburn is making $10 million this year, he is having a great year and will most likely not even be a Type B player in a horrible market. So I say we can sign him for about $16 million. And Myers is making $12 million this year, no way that happens again next year, I say we can sign him for maybe $9 million.

So let me do the math here....

 That would come out to $4 million over the budget I set. We probably won't be able to get Myers anyway so don't worry about that. Now obviously I mean HOPEFULLY Minaya will make a trade or two this winter so this will not be necessary. But we need a left fielder, bad, and we need two good starters really bad. A new catcher will also be necessary. I can see the Mets going after  Ramon Hernandez if his option is declined.

Anyway the Mets better have a very busy offseason or else Omar Minaya has got to go.