The Mets need a right-handed power hitter. There’s no doubt about that. The Mets ranked 22nd in baseball in home runs and 23rd in slugging percentage, and that’s with Scott Hairston, who will likely not return next year, in the lineup. Finding (and acquiring) these players will be a difficult task, especially with the Mets budget already limited. Sandy Alderson will likely re-sign David Wright, which will bring the payroll to or even over the $100 million budget, so unless the Mets somehow dump Jason Bay or Johan Santana, they will have to search the free agent bargain bin for what they need.

This season was a major disappointment when it comes to the Mets outfield. Jason Bay didn’t bounce back (if anyone expected him to), Kirk Nieuwenhuis showed promise early but faded towards mid-season, and Lucas Duda made us think about whether he really is an everyday player.At minimum, two new outfielders have to be brought in to right the ship.

One player who would fit perfectly into the Met roster is Jonny Gomes. Gomes, who will be 32 at the end of the month, had a great season in a platoon role for the Oakland A’s this season. In 99 games (333 plate appearances) Gomes hit 18 home runs and had a .262/.377/.491 slash line. He has been a part-time outfielder for most of his career, but has averaged 17 home runs per season since 2005.

Gomes would bring pop to the lineup, as well as the ability to hit left-handed pitching. The Mets as a team had a meager .675 OPS against lefties last season, 26th in the majors. This season, Gomes had a .299/.413/.561 batting line in 196 plate appearances against left-handed pitching. He and Mike Baxter could combine for a very effective platoon role in left field. Combined, they could probably hit close to 25 home runs. They also both have high walk rates and high on-base percentages.

The only concern about Gomes is his range in the field. He has never put up great numbers in either left or right field. However, having the fleet-footed Andres Torres could make Gomes’ defense bearable, like Carlos Beltran did when he was a Met.

Gomes would definitely be in the Mets price range. Last offseason, he signed a one-year deal worth about $1 million coming off a down season. He will be looking for a multi-year deal this winter, but will be much cheaper than most of the other options out there. If I were Sandy Alderson, I’d get on the phone right now with Gomes because there’s no better fit in the free agent market right now than him.

First, I’m going to lay down the basics. I’m not a member of the Omar Minaya is the anti-Christ camp or Sandy Alderson is a demi-God amongst us mere peons camp or any camp if at that. I want, as I hope most fans want, to once again be in the winning camp. I don’t necessarily subscribe to a particular ideology such as Sabermetrics, but that doesn’t mean I’m adverse to the organization using every tool it can to find and classify talent.

I’m not tied at the hip or obsessed with one or two particular statistics. I still believe in the power of a good, experienced scout with a discerning eye for talent. Those worlds must co-exist in order to remain competitive; regardless the size of the market the team is in.

Recently Sandy Alderson made some comments – which of course some regarded as controversial – regarding next year’s potential payroll saying essentially that it will be between $100 to $110 million dollars. This year’s payroll of $145 million includes the $18 million owed to the combined contracts of Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez and the $18 million owed to Carlos Beltran.

On the face of it, hearing that probably leaves little wiggle room to re-sign Jose Reyes, fix the bullpen and any of the remaining issues with this team.

What I’d love to know is has anyone taken into account that Alderson doesn’t have to or better yet shouldn’t reveal what the team is or isn’t willing to spend next year, especially considering that Reyes is a free agent?

Saying the team is willing to spend for argument sake, $200 million, would only make Reyes and just about any agent salivate and rightfully so. There’s an art to negotiating. If you’ve bought any big ticket items such as a car or a home, you’d know what I’m saying.

Would you go into a dealership and tell the car dealer that you’re a millionaire with almost unlimited resources? Would you then expect the dealer to offer you the most affordable deal possible? Alderson has to balance keeping the fan base from losing faith along with keeping ownerships’ true maximum limits close to the hip.

It just annoys me that each time anyone in the organization speaks, talk radio and the blogosphere, cherry picks what they want to hear or what fits their pre-conceived ideas or agenda.

Other than hopefully resigning Jose Reyes to a competitive offer – somewhere between $14 to $18 million a year for 5 years with perhaps a mutual option – the crop of free agents next year is woefully bleak.

I find it laughable that fans who love to insinuate that Alderson’s supporters treat him like a god yet it’s his vehement detractors who are the one’s that apparently want to see him turn water into wine with the coming class of free agents.

Let’s break this down. You’re Sandy Alderson. You have to re-tool the Mets. You inherited a .500 team so obviously you’re one or two moves away from reaching the promised land. Sound foolish yet? No? Well here is where it gets real fun. Here is the talent pool you get to dive in. First let’s consider for argument sake that there are a few positions we can pass on that are set for 2012.

First and third base are set. Hopefully short. Thole will be back. Bay and Duda seem to be the two outfielders guaranteed to be back next year, if for strikingly different reasons. The rotation should consist of Santana, Dickey, Gee, Niese and as much as it kills me to say, Pelfrey, even though there’s a chance Pelfrey may be non-tendered.

The bullpen is a hot mess with Beato and Parnell the most obvious candidates set to return. I can only envision Justin Turner, Daniel Murphy, Scott Hairston and Ruben Tejada returning to the bench. Where does all of this lead us? Well, I just mentioned 16 players out of a 25 man roster. Now who would you fill the rest of the roster out with from this list?

CATCHER

Rod Barajas (36)

Josh Bard (34)

Henry Blanco (40)

Ramon Castro (36)

Ryan Doumit (31) – $7.25MM club option for 2012, $8.25MM club option for ’13 with a $500K buyout

Ramon Hernandez (36)

Jason Kendall (38)

Gerald Laird (32)

Jose Molina (36)

Yadier Molina (29) – $7MM club option with a $750K buyout

Dioner Navarro (28)

Ivan Rodriguez (40)

Brian Schneider (35)

Kelly Shoppach (29) – $3.2MM club option with a $300K buyout

Chris Snyder (31) – $6.75MM club option with a $750K buyout

Matt Treanor (36)

Jason Varitek (40)

SECOND BASE

Alfredo Amezaga (34)

Clint Barmes (33)

Willie Bloomquist (34) – $1.1MM mutual option with a $150K buyout

Orlando Cabrera (37)

Robinson Cano (29) – $14MM club option with a $2MM buyout

Jamey Carroll (37)

Alex Cora (36)

Craig Counsell (41)

Mark Ellis (35)

Jerry Hairston Jr. (36)

Bill Hall (32) – $4MM mutual option with a $250K buyout

Aaron Hill (30) – $8MM club option for 2012 and $8MM club option for ’13

Omar Infante (30)

Kelly Johnson (30)

Adam Kennedy (36)

Felipe Lopez (32)

Jose Lopez (28)

Aaron Miles (35)

Brandon Phillips (31) – $12MM club option with a $1MM buyout

CENTERFIELD

Rick Ankiel (32)

Carlos Beltran (35)

Willie Bloomquist (34) – $1.1MM mutual option with a $150K buyout

Mike Cameron (39)

Coco Crisp (32)

David DeJesus (32)

Scott Hairston (32)

Andruw Jones (35)

Nate McLouth (30) – $10.65MM club option with a $1.25MM buyout

Corey Patterson (32)

Cody Ross (31)

Grady Sizemore (29) – $8.5MM club option with a $500K buyout

STARTING PITCHERS

Erik Bedard (33)

Mark Buehrle (33)

Chris Capuano (33)

Chris Carpenter (37) – $15MM club option with a $1MM buyout

Bruce Chen (35)

Bartolo Colon (39)

Aaron Cook (33) – $11MM mutual option with a $500K buyout

Kyle Davies (28)

Doug Davis (36)

Ryan Dempster (35) – $14MM player option, no buyout

Zach Duke (29) – $5.5MM club option with a $750K buyout

Jeff Francis (30)

Freddy Garcia (36)

Jon Garland (32) – $8MM club option with a $500K buyout

Aaron Harang (34) – $5MM mutual option with a $500K buyout

Rich Harden (30)

Livan Hernandez (37)

Hisashi Iwakuma (31)

Edwin Jackson (28)

Kenshin Kawakami (37)

Scott Kazmir (28) – $13.5MM club option with a $2.5MM buyout

Hiroki Kuroda (37)

Rodrigo Lopez (36)

Paul Maholm (30) – $9.75MM club option with a $750K buyout

Jason Marquis (33)

Kevin Millwood (37)

Sergio Mitre (31)

Roy Oswalt (34) – $16MM mutual option with a $2MM buyout

Brad Penny (34)

Oliver Perez (30)

Joel Pineiro (33)

C.C. Sabathia (31) – may opt out of remaining four years, $92MM

Javier Vazquez (35)

Adam Wainwright (30) – $10MM vesting option for ’12, $12MM for ’13

Tim Wakefield (45)

Chien-Ming Wang (32)

Brandon Webb (33)

Dontrelle Willis (30)

C.J. Wilson (31)

Chris Young (33)

CLOSERS

Heath Bell (34)

Jonathan Broxton (28)

Matt Capps (28)

Francisco Cordero (37) – $12MM club option with a $1MM buyout

Frank Francisco (32)

Brad Lidge (35) – $12.5MM club option with a $1.5MM buyout

Joe Nathan (37) – $12.5MM club option with a $2MM buyout

Jonathan Papelbon (31)

Jon Rauch (33) – $3.75MM club option with a $250K buyout

Francisco Rodriguez (30)

Rafael Soriano (32) – $11MM player option or a $1.5MM buyout

Jose Valverde (34) – $9MM club option, no buyout

RIGHT HANDED RELIEVERS

Luis Ayala (34)

Danys Baez (34)

Miguel Batista (41)

Shawn Camp (36)

Todd Coffey (31)

Juan Cruz (31)

Octavio Dotel (38) – $3.75MM club option with a $750K buyout

Chad Durbin (34)

Kyle Farnsworth (36) – $3.3MM club option with a $650K buyout

Jason Frasor (34) – $3.75MM club option

LaTroy Hawkins (37)

Aaron Heilman (33)

Ryota Igarashi (33)

Jason Isringhausen (39)

Scott Linebrink (35)

Mike MacDougal (35)

Ryan Madson (31)

Guillermo Mota (38)

Ramon Ortiz (39)

Micah Owings (29)

Vicente Padilla (34)

Joel Peralta (36)

Chad Qualls (33) – $6MM club option with a $1.5MM buyout

Jon Rauch (33) – $3.75MM club option with a $250K buyout

Fernando Rodney (35)

Takashi Saito (42)

Yoshinori Tateyama (36) – $1MM club option

Dan Wheeler (34) – $3MM club option with no buyout; vests with 65 appearances in 2011

Kerry Wood (35)

Jamey Wright (37)

Michael Wuertz (33) – $3.25MM club option with a $250K buyout

Joel Zumaya (27)

LEFT HANDED RELIEVERS

Jeremy Affeldt (33) – $5MM club option with a $500K buyout

Tim Byrdak (38)

Mike Gonzalez (34)

John Grabow (33)

Javier Lopez (34)

Damaso Marte (37) – $4MM club option with a $250K buyout

Hideki Okajima (36) – can opt for free agency

Darren Oliver (41)

Arthur Rhodes (41) – $4MM club option with a $200K buyout; vests with 62 appearances

J.C. Romero (36)

George Sherrill (35)

Brian Tallet (34)

Now I know some of you out there think that the Mets can retool via the free agent pool alone. But seriously, look at the age and price of most of the players out there. You’re either going to have to pay a premium for older veterans and take a huge risk on them physically breaking down or scrape from the bottom of the barrel. At some point, whether you replace Rod Barajas with Ronny Paulino with a Ramon Hernandez, you’re simply shuffling the chairs on the deck of the Titanic.

I’m not against Alderson spending the Wilpon’s money but on who, how long and for what reason are the three questions I would ask. Ask yourself as a logical Met fan. Put aside the conspiracy theories, the personalities, whatever pre-conceived view you have of the Wilpons and Alderson and think of what will help this team in the short and long term.

Don’t tell me how Alderson is the Anti-Christ or Omar was really a god. Tell me with that list of names, who in there will take the Mets to the next level and move this team from a .500 ballclub at its best, to an actual contender?