» Chone Figgins

I wrote on facebook: “Congratulations to the most spoiled fans in the world, however… Thank you…Becasue I hate the Phillies with a Passion” to which a Yankee friend replied, “But Dan, they’re are 3rd graders who haven’t seen this yet” to which I replied but there are 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th and 12th graders that have.

Oh and I forgot to congratulate the Phillies and their fans 2 seasons ago – for their desire to have us hate them and take them seriously… Well done. Seriously though. Well done.

The Mets have a sundry of needs that Omar Minaya or whomever else assumes GM needs to attend to: mainly c, 1b, 2b, lf, and sp. I say 2b because it seems they are attempting to trade Luis Castillo and then potentially offer a deal to Orlando Hudson, which scares me if the Mets have to provide another multi year deal to an aging 2nd baseman who was benched for Ronnie Belliard during the (p)lay-offs. I’ll stop assuming our prospects pan out and offer a scenario that lands the Mets a 1b,2b,lf,and sp. I also won’t propose trading 15 tier 3 prospects for 4 mlb all stars.

Trade 1) NYM-Jankees: Carlos Beltran(cf), Wilmer Flores/Reese Havens/Ruben Tejada (preferably the later middle infield prospect), Urbina/Moviel/Familia(sp prospect) for Robinson Cano(2b) and Phil Hughes(sp).

* I know the Yankees could have had Beltran for just cash prior to him signing with the Mets, but this provides the Yankees with an every day (when healthy) offensive centerfielder and then they can sign Chone Figgins or Orlando Hudson for 2b and use Flores/Havens/Tejada at ss or 2b when that contract or Jeter’s career is over.

Trade 2) NYM-Brewers: Ike Davis(1b prospect), Fernando Martinez (of prospect), Mike Pelfrey(sp), Brad Holt (sp prospect) for Prince Fielder(1b).Maybe Angel Pagan(of) &/or Daniel Murphy(if-of) can also be involved in the deal for Carlos Gomez (cf) otherwise the Mets CF will come by way of free agency…

Trade 3) NYM-Cubs: The already infinitely proposed deal (except straight up with cash consideration coming the Mets way), Luis Castillo(2b) for Milton Bradley(lf)

Mets 2010 Free Agent signings: Mike Cameron(cf) if Carlos Gomez isn’t involved in the Brewers deal, Randy Wolf(sp), and Erik Bedard or Ben Sheets(sp) contingent on health reports and monetary demands.

*I haven’t added monetary figures to this scenario but if you include the salary subtractions of Delgado, Wagner, Putz, Schneider, Sheffield, Tatis, and Cora the Mets would have a payroll at 10-15 million less than last year ( and that takes into account salary and arbitration raises). The Mets Lineup and Rotation (depth) would look as follows:

1-Jose Reyes/ss

2-David Wright/3b

3-Robinson Cano/2b

4-Prince Fielder/1b

5-Milton Bradley/lf

6-Jeff Franceour/rf

7-Mike Cameron/cf

8-Santos/Thole/Free Agent Catcher

1-Johan Santana

2-Randy Wolf

3-Erik Bedard/Ben Sheets/John Maine

4-Phil Hughes

5-Oliver Perez/Jon Niese

6-Misch/Stoner/Nieve/Figueroa/Mejia

That’s an AL East competitor even, but so are the Phillies. The Mets must match up to them lineup spot by lineup spot and rotation slot by rotation slot.

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I’ve been slightly unprofessional offering a sundry of random trade offers the Mets should at least attend to (all of them being interesting but completely unrealistic). Some could realistically happen if it were proposed by the actual GM’s, such as Beltran + SP prospect for Matt Cain or the Farm for Nick Markakis or Prince Fielder, however I don’t think any big trades will occur this season, because as you’ve already been hearing, many of the Mets prospects are seasons away from the majors (Jenrry Mejia/sp; Brad Holt/sp; Wilmer Flores/if; Reese Havens/Ruben Tejada/mi; Jefry Marte/3b). I think all 6 are MLB talent, but all 6 are under or well under 23 years of age. The most interesting unrealistic trade I’ve recently thought about is: Matt Cain & Pablo Sandoval for Carlos Beltran, Fernando Martinez, Daniel Murphy, Tejada/Havens/Flores-mi or Marte/Lutz-3b, and Niese/Mejia/Holt-sp. The Mets would have to use Angel Pagan every day at CF so this is somewhat unrealistic, but maybe we could trade back for Carlos Gomez to man CF at CITI Field along with Pagan. He shouldn’t cost too much (maybe a MI/3b prospect not in the Cain & Sandoval deal). Again, this is highly unlikely because both Cain and Sandoval are fantastic and cheap.

A possible trade that does make some sense: Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors (http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/09/discussion-milton-bradley-for-oliver-perez.html) discusses a Cubs-Mets swap of Milton Bradley and Oliver Perez – both disappointing and costly. As per Tim Dierkes post, Joel Sherman of the New York Post (http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/hardball/up_yanks_postseason_al_mvp_bradley_OGXQ3Gwj8DrsvfRTrOZGXN) also wonders if Carlos Zambrano & Luis Castillo could switch sides. It’s an interesting idea. The Mets could get their #2 starter they need in Zambrano and an OF in Bradley if they don’t think Angel Pagan & Prospect Ike Davis (who has mainly played 1b) could play every day. If the Mets are willing to take on all the money, I don’t see why the Cubs wouldn’t trade Zambrano & Bradley straight up for Perez & Castillo, but maybe the Mets would have to offer up a 2nd/3rd tier prospect in addition. Zambrano’s a good quality SP, but if we take on Bradley’s entire salary that’s 28ish million per year coming the Mets way and only 18 million per year going the Cubs way. This gives the Cubs lee-way to resign Rich Harden/sp & Reed Johnson/of.  If the Mets were to pull the trigger on this, they would then need a 2b (Chone Figgins preferably – I’d rather sign him to 3-4 years at 11-12mm per than Orlando Hudson for 8-9mm per year for 2 years I think). The Mets would use Anderson Hernandez at MI to back up Reyes and Castillo/Figgins/Hudson then. Our rotation after this would look like Santana; Zambrano; Pelfrey; Maine/Parnell; Niese/Figueroa/Nieve. I still think we need one more consistent starter for the rotation. According to Rotoworld (http://www.rotoworld.com/Content/playerpages/player_main.aspx?sport=MLB&id=3044), Jeff Francoeur says Jason Marquis would love to pitch for the Mets. To me, he does epitomize a consistent #3 starter.

So if the Mets pulled the Cubs trade, signed Figgins, and Marquis that’s about 30-34mm in additions to the team. Carlos Delgado, Billy Wanger, JJ Putz, Gary Sheffield, Fernando Tatis, Alex Cora, and Brian Schneider ‘leaving’ for free agency takes about 33mm off the books, so I think it’s only fair with a new stadium, that the Mets allow for such additions.

This provides a 2010 lineup of:

1-      Chone Figgins; Anderson Hernandez/mi

2-      Jose Reyes; Anderson Hernandez/mi

3-      David Wright/3b

4-      Carlos Beltran; Angel Pagan/cf

5-      Jeff Francoeur; Milton Bradley; Pagan/rf

6-      Milton Bradley; Angel Pagan; Murphy/Davis/lf

7-      Daniel Murphy; Ike Davis/1b

8-      Josh Thole; Omir Santos/c

& a 2010 Rotation of:

1-      Johan Santana

2-      Carlos Zambrano

3-      Jason Marquis

4-      Mike Pelfrey

5-      John Maine; Bobby Parnell; Jon Niese

6-      Fernando Nieve; Nelson Figueroa

A Decent 2010 Bench of:

c- Omir Santos; Josh Thole

1b/of- Nick Evans; Ike Davis; Daniel Murphy

mi- Anderson Hernandez

of – Angel Pagan; Milton Bradley

of – Jeremy Reed; Cory Sullivan

& a 2010 Bullpen of:

K-rod

Bobby Parnell; John Maine

Pedro Feliciano

Brian Stokes

Carlos Muniz

Sean Green

Takahashi/RP Prospect/FA LHP

*Roster Notes: Figgins-Reyes-Wright is pretty good infield obp and speed for Beltran-Francoeur-Bradley to drive in, and I think Daniel Murphy & Ike Davis can man 1b while Josh Thole and Omir Santos can man C well enough for the 2010 Mets to more than compete with a deeper 5 man rotation with Zambrano & Marquis while a hopefully healthier John Maine and a hopefully better Mike Pelfrey depict a better number 4&5 starter than a 2&3 starter.