2009 Free agents at key positions

[Vic Sage]

Catchers - Castro/Schneider under contract

First basemen - Delgado's option likely to be exercised

Second basemen - Castillo may be moved/dumped, so I like Orlando Hudson from amongst the following:
Willie Bloomquist (31)
Jamey Carroll (35) - $2.5MM club option for '09 with a $0.15MM buyout
Craig Counsell (38)
Ray Durham (37)
Damion Easley (39)
David Eckstein (34)
Mark Ellis (32)
Mark Grudzielanek (39)
Jerry Hairston Jr. (33)
Orlando Hudson (31)
Tadahito Iguchi (34)
Jeff Kent (41)
Felipe Lopez (29)
Mark Loretta (37)
Nick Punto (31)

shortstops - i think we're okay here

thirdbasemen - ditto

centerfielders - double ditto

Left fielders - Other than Murphy, how about Dunn?
Moises Alou (42)
Garret Anderson (37) - $14MM club option for '09 with a $3MM buyout
Milton Bradley (31)
Emil Brown (34)
Pat Burrell (32)
Carl Crawford (27) - $8.25MM club option for '09 with a $2.5MM buyout
Adam Dunn (29)
Cliff Floyd (36) - $2.75MM club option for '09 with a $0.25MM buyout
Luis Gonzalez (41)
Jerry Hairston Jr. (33)
Raul Ibanez (37)
Gabe Kapler (33)
Kevin Mench (31)
Jason Michaels (33) - $2.6MM club option for '09
Craig Monroe (32)
Greg Norton (36)
Jay Payton (36)
Wily Mo Pena (27) - $5MM club option or $2MM player option for '09
Manny Ramirez (37)
Juan Rivera (30)
Fernando Tatis (34)

Right fielders - Does Church keep the full-time job, or do we consider:
Bobby Abreu (35)
Casey Blake (35)
Cliff Floyd (36) - $2.75MM club option for '09 with a $0.25MM buyout
Brian Giles (38) - $9MM club option for '09 with a $3MM buyout
Ken Griffey Jr. (39) - $16.5MM club option for '09 with a $4MM buyout
Vladimir Guerrero (33) - $15MM club option for '09 with a $3MM buyout
Gabe Kapler (33)
Jason Michaels (33) - $2.6MM club option for '09
Fernando Tatis (34)
Brad Wilkerson (32)

Starting pitchers - if we let Pedro and Perez go, how about Lowe, Dempster and/or Garland? Or do we go for the gold and go for CC?
Kris Benson (33)
A.J. Burnett (32) - can opt out after '08 season
Paul Byrd (38)
Roger Clemens (46)
Matt Clement (33)
Bartolo Colon (36)
Ryan Dempster (32)
Shawn Estes (36)
Josh Fogg (32)
Freddy Garcia (33)
Jon Garland (29)
Tom Glavine (43)
Mike Hampton (36)
Mark Hendrickson (35)
Livan Hernandez (34)
Orlando Hernandez (43)
Jason Jennings (30)
Randy Johnson (45)
John Lackey (30) - $9MM club option for '09 with a $0.5MM buyout
Jon Lieber (39)
Braden Looper (34)
Rodrigo Lopez (33) - club option for '09
Derek Lowe (36)
Greg Maddux (43)
Pedro Martinez (37)
Sergio Mitre (28)
Jamie Moyer (46)
Mark Mulder (31) - $11MM club option for '09 with a $1.5MM buyout
Mike Mussina (40)
Carl Pavano (33) - $13MM club option for '09 with a $1.95MM buyout
Brad Penny (31) - $8.75MM club option for '09 with a $2MM buyout
Odalis Perez (32)
Oliver Perez (27)
Andy Pettitte (37)
Sidney Ponson (32)
Mark Prior (27)
Kenny Rogers (44)
Glendon Rusch (34)
C.C. Sabathia (28)
Curt Schilling (42)
Ben Sheets (30)
John Smoltz (42)
Tim Wakefield (42) - perpetual $4MM club option
Kip Wells (32)
Randy Wolf (32)

Closers - we'll be paying Wags $10.5k next year, so how much more do way pay to Fuentes or K-Rod?
Brian Fuentes (33)
Eric Gagne (33)
Eddie Guardado (38)
Trevor Hoffman (41)
Jason Isringhausen (36)
Brandon Lyon (29)
Francisco Rodriguez (27)
Salomon Torres (37) - $3.75MM club option for '09 with a $0.3MM buyout
Kerry Wood (32)

Middle relievers - this list makes our current bullpen actually look good, although Affeldt might be worth a look.
Jeremy Affeldt (30)
Luis Ayala (31)
Joe Beimel (32)
Joe Borowski (38)
Doug Brocail (42) - club option for '09
Shawn Chacon (31)
Juan Cruz (30)
Alan Embree (39) - $3MM club option for '09
Scott Eyre (37)
Kyle Farnsworth (33)
Casey Fossum (31)
Keith Foulke (35)
Tom Gordon (41) - $4.5MM club option for '09 with a $1MM buyout
LaTroy Hawkins (36)
Mark Hendrickson (35)
Matt Herges (39) - club option for '09
Bob Howry (35)
Jon Lieber (39)
Jason Johnson (35)
Damaso Marte (34) - $6MM club option for '09 with a $0.25MM buyout
Trever Miller (36) - $2MM club option for '09 with a $0.4MM buyout
Guillermo Mota (35)
Will Ohman (31)
Darren Oliver (38)
Chan Ho Park (36)
Horacio Ramirez (29)
Al Reyes (38)
Dennys Reyes (32)
Arthur Rhodes (39)
Juan Rincon (30)
Glendon Rusch (34)
Rudy Seanez (40)
Brian Shouse (40)
Russ Springer (40)
Mike Timlin (43)
Ron Villone (39)
David Weathers (39)
Kip Wells (32)
Matt Wise (33)
Jamey Wright (34)

MY PLAN:
- trade Castillo, Delgado, Schoenweise, Sanchez, Heilman for whatever bullpen help we can get and prospects
- sign Hudson, Dunn (for 1b), Lowe, Affeldt and Fuentes
- resign Tatis
- give Murphy, Niese and Parnell more playing time

ss/ Reyes
2b/ Hudson
3b/ Wright
1b/ Dunn
cf/ Beltran
rf/ Church
lf/ Murphy / Tatis
c/ Schnieder / Castro

Santana
Pelfrey
Maine
Lowe
Neise

Fuentes
Affeldt
Stokes
Smith
Feliciano
Parnell / Kunz
[long-man/spot starter]

[smg58]

The first question to ask, as has been discussed in another thread, is how much money are the Mets free to spend. Sure we'd all love Hudson, Dunn, C. C., and K-Rod to all come here, but the Mets might not have that kind of money to spend, and other teams just might want those guys too.

Mark Ellis played hurt all year, and if he gets past the shoulder surgery OK he could be an excellent bargain. (Keep in mind that Hudson is recovering from a significant injury as well.)

I'm comfortable with Murphy in left field, unless he turns out to be a solid defender at second base. I have my doubts, but Murph has already proved me wrong more than once.

I'd like Tatis back. I'd also like another righthanded bench bat, like maybe Juan Rivera if he comes cheap. I also wouldn't mind seeing Aguila or Val Pascucci get a chance, as I thought they both deserved one this year.

I like Lowe. His age notwithstanding, I think he'll be the best value of the starting pitchers (assuming the price for C. C. goes through the roof).

I wouldn't mind a one-year deal for a decent starter, so as not to rush Niese. Mlb.com suggested Paul Byrd might only get a one-year deal, for example, and I think he'd be a good fit for that price. But there's a good chance that there will be a number of guys still on the board in late January, so the key is to sit and wait (think Kyle Lohse from last year).

I think you have to get either K-Rod or Fuentes. I think Affeldt, a lefty set-up guy who can actually get righthanded batters out, would be a very good fit for this team as well.

I don't expect Dempster or Wood to leave Chicago, but I'd be open to getting them if they did become available.

[Centerfield]

Dempster is really intriguing. Last night aside, he has had a great year for the Cubs, but his past history gives no indication that 2008 wasn't a fluke.

It's hard not to be tempted to sign Manny Ramirez after watching what he does every fall.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Manny's HR last night was unbelieveable. 0-2 pitch I believe, took it off the ground and deep into the bleachers.

[metirish]

Were both home runs on 0-2 pitches? Darling was good last night , I think it was on the Manny home run he mentioned that the pitcher was getting tired and was liable to leave a pitch up and next pitch was up and then away.


Actually it was on the grand slam that Darling talked about it.

[Frayed Knot]

Loney's wasn't on 0-2, although he had Loney 0-2 a pitch or two earlier.
There were two outs in that situation also. It was like an '08 Mets inning: that's one where the pitcher almost *but not quite* gets out of the inning before disaster sets in. There was an error earlier in the inning to set it all up too.

When the lead announcer (Stockton?) said that the hurler made a "mistake" pitch to Manny both Darling & Gwynn immediately jumped in saying (in effect) 'that was no mistake - that was just Manny being Manny'