To me the answer is the OF without hesitation. Mets have enough talent in the organization to field both a decent rotation and a bullpen. First, the rotation could be Dickey, Santana, Niese, Harvey, and Gee. Back-up plans would be Mejia and McHugh to start with, and then Wheeler and Pelfrey (assuming he can be signed for a reasonable contract) later in the season. Relievers would be Francisco, Parnell, Edgin, and then some combination of McHugh, Mejia, Carson, Elvin Ramirez, Acosta, and Hefner. The bullpen could be decent, not overpowering. But probably just as good as what we would put out there by signing a few relievers for $3-5 million each … just look at what happened this year.

On the other hand, the organization has a bunch of players that profile more like back-ups than starters in the outfield. First, I would suggest signing Upton this offseason. That would give us a good CFer, a rightly bat, and some speed. His K rate is high for a leadoff hitter, but I’m hoping he can learn to be more selective with Hudgens’ tutelage. Then trade a couple of lower level pitching prospects (Tapia, DeGrom, Verrett) for an up and coming young player (righty bat). One example would be Toronto’s Moises Sierra. The last spot then goes to Nieuwenhuis. Back-ups would be Baxter and Hairston. Campbell, Lagares, Den Dekker would be AAA depth. No way should the Mets tender a contract to Torres. Any one of Nieuwenhuis, Den Dekker, Valdespin, or Lagares could probably provide similar or better production at about one-quarter of the cost. Then there is Duda. He’s not an outfielder. The dude should be up in NY now playing everyday (LF mostly and some 1B) to show case him for a trade this winter.

I think we can have a payroll under $100 million with this roster and take a big step forward towards fielding really competitive team in 2014 and beyond.

When players start talking about being a major leaguer as being their job, that represents a lack of motivation to win and compete as a unit. It’s an indication that it has all come down to only just the individual. If they were playing hard as a unit even with the mounting losses there would be no outrageous lack of executing the fundamentals.

And yet I also have to ask myself this – what happened to that new era of professionalism that Sandy Alderson was going to bring to the organization? This new front office was going to demand discipline not going to tolerate any lackadaisical effort by anyone, remember?

John, I see this all the time when it comes to Niese and it surprises me to see this from you. Nobody ever said Niese was going to be an ace or top rotation pitcher. Scouts never said it, and the even Mets never hyped him like that.

Expectations have been far to high for him and that’s a shame for Niese who busts his butt out there and always strives to improve with each performance. He has in fact developed very nicely and we should be happy to have a SOLID number three starter who gives this team a chance to win whenever he takes the mound and occasionally tosses in a jaw-dropping gem.

But I just read this from a NYTimes article, ” Ike Davis dismissed as absurd the idea that a group of players would give up on a season because the losses were mounting.

“This is our job,” he said. “We’re not going to go out there and not try hard, because the only way we make money is by trying hard.” ‘

It disturbs me to read Ike say that making money is the main motivation for players to play hard. What ever happened to professional pride and love of the game?

Ok they got squeezed by Madoff and had $40+ million tied up in Santana and Bay per for 2 years..now we can see the light at the end of their contracts, that money will free up after next year there should be some space to prudently spend to bring in talent this offseason. Their mini attempt at moneyball this season failed but, if they can start acting like real owners again, I can look back at this time period and the circumstances and forgive…That’s IF they return to trying to really bring a championship here, then I can forgive..

If they don’t intend to spend and stay status quo yea life will sux as a met fan going forward and they’re the biggest dcks ever,,,. Also, Sandy, you’re pretty bad at playing ‘moneyball’ I think only GM that can have me miss Omar..

But he would bring back a nice group of players. And it would give him an opportunity to thrive which he deserves.

I’d move Murph, Duda and Parnell.

I’d non-tender Torres and Pelf. I’d let Ramirez walk. Bay would be sent packing.

I’d move several players for Justin Upton and build around him.

Guys, I understood that Sandy was saying that our prospects are now coming along and that he was referring to an abundance of pitching strength that he could use in an attempt to get better hitting – it was admitted that our minor league system appears short of potential in that area but as we know our bullpen in shot and in the long term we need at least two more young arms in the rotation to go along with Gee, Neise and hopefully Harvey.

So I don’t know how wise it is trading some potentially good, young pitching prospects considering those many holes we already have.

He mentioned how he is still counting on Davis and Duda and of course we would be foolish to give up on them so soon. But the problem as we all know is that Sandy has to also spend real money to compliment the youth we have on the farm. He’s already watered down the quality of the team on the field with the acquisition of inexpensive players, none of which proved to be overlooked by others in terms of unique talent and under-valued in terms of financial bargains. All we got from cutting corners is the creation of a hole in center field, the lack of bench strength and a badly performing bullpen two years running.

It’s one thing wanting to get rid of players but it’s another thing not having others ready to replace them. So instead we have a vision, a five-year plan that is a more of a hope and one that, left on it’s own, would be unable to sustain the club.

Our starting pitching is our strength next year easily. Santana’ s basically in October he worked so hard to be ready I think we get 185 innings from him. RA solid 1/2 starter. Niese has really showed signs of being good other then his big inning blow up. Harvey looks battle tested..Gee McHugh Mejia and other depth compete.

Bullpen is dreadful. Despite Francisco’s recent troubles and rough spots, I thought he was ok when in rhythm and he is signed so should be back..otherwise almost starting from scratch, we can only hope Sandy 2nd attempt at building a bullpen works out better. Edgin and Parnell prob return if not traded.

The Josh Thole experiment is officially OVER. Maybe he backup but not even sure of that.

We have THE worst OF in baseball. Bay is done and I really thought he turn it around, he’ll def be cut. Torres has been big disappointment. I’m not sold at all on Kirk as everyday cf either. Duda I feel like has tons of potential but really is a 1b. Jordaney has too many leaks in his game. Baxter is solid 4/5 and ph. Ditto for Hairston but his season will earn him a real contract and playing time.

There are enough pieces in place to build a real team, I hope Sandy has some financial flexibility this off season or I’d expect to have about the same result next season..