day one of "danny baseball"

the mets are lying down and playing dead tonight. their lineup is pathetic including wright, beltran and francoeur. we won't know what's with wright until next year. francoeur can contribute but he has to hit with power. he's hitting over .300 but he's become another singles hitter with a low obp. he had 7 early hr's and lots of rbi for the mets but now he's just hitting singles and not hitting in the clutch.

don't blame anything on castillo. bring him back next year. the mets shouldn't waste their time on finding another 2nd basemen and trying to trade castillo. and daniel murphy is showing something. he had 2 hits against tommy hanson. murphy is going to be a .300 hitter in this league for many years. he must, however, improve defensively and become more versatile. he must be able to move around the infield from 1st to 2nd and to 3rd. that's what he should be doing this winter. my prediction - if the mets give him a shot, in 2 years he will be hitting .300 with 15 hr's and 80 rbi. he can do it for the mets or somebody else. let's keep him.

next year? omar - don't try to fix everything. you don't have to start from scratch but you need a 2-3 year plan that will improve the team each year. we don't need a huge 1st baseman next year. ike davis will hopefully be there in '11 so let murphy play their in '10. like i said above castillo should be our 2nd baseman next year. then reyes and wright in the infield.

the outfield and the pitching is where omar has to improve the team. trading beltran should be explored only if you get a great return for him. but penciling him into cf is a good move. francoeur will continue to be an enigma his whole career. as much as i like him (he seems like such a good guy and a team leader), i don't see him being more disciplined at the plate and if he doesn't hit 20+ hr's he is not the answer. pagan isn't a long term answer but next year he might be an outfield option. what other choices are there? i can't see matt holliday coming here. who else is there? what about trading for carlos lee? we only commit to 2 years at $18m each year. would the astros dump his salary? maybe and if so i'd take him.

nobody knows who the hidden surprises will be next year. that's a crapshoot so good luck in guessing. carlos lee, carlos beltran and ??? in the outfield. maybe that would work.

the more i think about it, carlos lee makes sense!

what about pitching. i don't have the answer or a good idea right now. we start with johan, pelfrey, maine, perez and niese. that doesn't sound too good. the mets won't go into the season with 4 question mark starters. it's not impossible that pelfrey ends up back in the minors and perez cannot make the rotation. especially on a non-championship caliber team, niese should be in the rotation.

so that would leave room for 1 or 2 new starters. can we get one stud? is lackey worth derek lowe money? trade for zambrano ($54m for 3 years)or oswalt ($30m for 2 years)? sign marquis, washburn, bedard, davis, harden, looper, brett myers, brandon webb?

from this list above i'd like to see the mets explore oswalt, bedard, harden myers and webb. you have to find the cheap guys who might work out. trading for oswalt - maybe - at that money the cost in prospects should be minimal. the others are free agents.

the mets have to cut payroll, however. you can't go into next season with a $150m payroll with no flexibility to increase it as the season progresses. with certain arbitration commitments assume the mets start with a $105 m payroll. if you add lee, oswalt and another pitcher you're at $138m. they can't do much more than that. that's why murphy, castillo, pagan and some others must be a part of the 2-3 year plan to improve each year.

there will be more coming on the mets and baseball in general.