MY ONLY ‘BONE’ WITH YOUR POST IS YOUR OPENING ‘TUDE ASSUMING IOMPROVEMENTS CAN ONLY BE ANTICIPATED WITH LARGE INCREASES IN PAYROLL. IT’S UMLIKELY WE’LL SEE THAT TYPE OF INCREASE AS ALDERSON HAS ALREADY LOWERED PAYROLL EXPECTATIONS FROM 120M NEIGHBORHOOD TO 110 OR 100 ‘HOOD. PRESUMING WE INK REYES BACK @ 20-22M PER I ASSUME AN OPENING DAY POTENTIAL ACTIVE ROSTER OF:
1A SANTANA
1B PELFREY?
1C NIESE
1D DICKEY
1E GEE
2A THOLE
2B NICKEAS( OR ANOTHER LOW COST #2C
3 DAVIS
4A MURPHY(LHH)
4B TEJADA (RHH) MIDDLE INFIELD B/U TURNER
5 WRIGHT CORNER INFIELD B/U EVANS
6 REYES
7 BAY
8 PAGAN? OR PRIDIE
9 DUDA
CL PARNELL
IF I MAX THE POTENTIAL SALARIES INVOLVED BY ADJUSTING MLB MINIMUM FROM 415K TO 425K AS WELL AS CONSIDERING A HIGH ACCEPTED ARBI AWARD OF 5M EACH FOR PAGAN,PELFREY. GUESTIMATING 22M ON REYES, THE OVERALL PAYROLL THE ABOVE REPRESENTS IS APPROXIMATELY 95.5M LEAVING ENOUGH TO RECONSTITUTE THE BULLPEN,BENCH WHILE ACCOMODATING SOME WAREHOUSED OPTIONS IN BUFFALO.
PETEY THERE ARE 2 WORDS THAT PEOPLE USE RATHER FREELY & THEY ARE COMPETE & CONTEND.
FOR THE SAKE OF CLARIFICATION I DEFINE THOSE WORDS VERY DIFFERENTLY FROM ONE ANOTHER AS…

TO CONTEND: TO BE VIABLE AS A POTENTIAL DIVISION CHAMPION

TO COMPETE” TO BE VIABLE AS A POTENTIAL WILDCARD aka SECOND PLACE FINISH WITYHIN DIV.

IN MY ESTIMATION THE METS WILL NOT BE CONTENDERS IN 2012 WITH LONGSHOT ODDS AS A COMPETITOR ASSUMING HEALTH ISSUES ARE SEVERELY CURTAILED FROM RECENT TRENDS.

AS I SEE IT THIS TEAM IS ON A PATH TOWARDS HEATED COMPETITIVENESS IN 2013 LEADING TO TRUE VIABILITY AS A CONTENDER IN 2014. MUCH IN THE SAME WAY ’84 & ’85 LED TO ’86. IMO, THE CONTENDER STATUS OF AA & AAA WILL PRECEED VIABILITY OF CONTENTION @ MLB LEVEL

First of all, things haven’t been that competitive in New York City either. Part of the problem, in both cases, in New York City and in Buffalo, has been the lack of productivity in the player development system. As a result, we’ve had to rely heavily on six-year minor league free agents, non-tendered Major League players to fill in in places where the system has not consistently produced players. Part of that, is attributable to the free agents that we’ve signed and given up so many #1 draft picks and that sort of thing. I see that changing. The teams in big markets that are successful year in and year out, participate in the free agent market, but they’re also very good at player development. There’s no reason we can’t be in both of those markets. … We have to do it with balance. Clearly, we have to put a little more emphasis and be a little more aggressive with respect to the player development system.

… As I look at this year, I see three positive developments. One is that the players we have in the system, in a number of cases, have stepped up and re-established themselves. And can see players emerging at the higher levels. So for example, we have Jordany Valdespin here. Now I can see a player like Reese Havens, there are others in Binghamton, that I would expect would be here [in Buffalo] next year that are of Major caliber potential. Matt Harvey. Familia. We’ve got some quality people coming.

I think secondly, we acquired a kid named Zack Wheeler from San Francisco. One player. I think it does reflect a desire on our part to emphasize quality over quantity. There were other options that we had in that trade scenario, that we pursued in order to have an option, but this was clearly something that we prefered.

Thirdly, the draft this year, I think is going to turn out to be a good one in part because we had established a strategy going in. We were able to draft quality college pitching, lots of high school pitching, and a number of high school position players, but it was a more aggressive approach to high-end potential than it was to players who have a higher likelihood of making it, but not as high a ceiling.