Heading into this offseason, Sandy Alderson was bound to make some changes to the Mets’ roster.

Even with a limited supply of funds, how long can a team deal with mediocrity before making a change?

That same limited supply of funds virtually made it hard to think the Mets would pursue free agents, so Alderson came out and said that he’d be creative in exploring trade possibilities.

We’re only in late November, and already it seems the Mets are changing their course. ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin recently reported that Mets don’t expect to be making trades and will instead sign free agents.

So basically Alderson made one claim, now he’s making another claim, and by the time the Winter Meetings roll around, there may be a completely different story.

Pretty confusing, huh?

Luckily, it’s not even December yet, and the Mets right now are solely focused on contract negotiations with David Wright and R.A. Dickey. And rightfully so, since they are two huge pieces to the puzzle, even if that puzzle means trading one or both for younger talent.

So if Alderson sticks to his guns this times and says he will pursue free agents, let’s see who he might be talking about.

The Mets seem content heading into the season with a starting pitching rotation of Dickey (assuming he’s here), Johan Santana, Jon Niese, Matt Harvey and Dillon Gee. They may bring in a few insurance arms, but that’s looking pretty set.

As for the infield, Ike Davis, Daniel Murphy, Ruben Tejada and Wright (assuming he’s here) are likely the starters.

The bullpen this year will probably be a combination of what we have (Bobby Parnell, Jenrry Mejia, Jeurys Familia and Josh Edgin) and some cheap options that the Mets hope can produce.

So likely we’ve been saying all along, the Mets will look for help in the outfield and at catcher. And preferably, the Mets seek a right-handed hitter at both those positions.

At catcher, the really only viable options that the Mets can afford are Kelly Shoppach, Miguel Olivo or Chris Snyder. Mike Napoli is way out of their price range, and the rest of the crop of catchers has seen better days.

In terms of outfielders, Scott Hairston is looking more and more like a possibility to return, especially now that B.J. Upton signed with the Braves. It’s not like the Mets were in on Upton, but now the market for right-handed hitting outfielders may pick up.

An intriguing name could be Matt Diaz as part of a left or right field platoon with Mike Baxter. Diaz crushes left-handed pitching and especially Mets’ lefties over the years.

Ryan Raburn or Juan Rivera would come cheap and could also be platoon partners.

The bigger names in the outfield like Cody Ross and Delmon Young (more of a DH anyway) are likely seeking multi-year deals, and the Mets are likely to stay away there.

No one really knows how the rest of this offseason will play out. It would be nice as fans to have some sort of clear path on the direction of the team, but I guess that’s just the nature of the business these days.

The first priority is to take care of the Wright and Dickey situations, however they might play out, and then worry about the rest of the roster.

How would Upton look as a Met?

The trade deadline came and went without Arizona moving their best player who is still a couple of weeks shy of 25 years old. That shouldn’t surprise anyone. But the real surprise is that a player like Justin Upton was actually available. Upton went number one overall back in the unreal 2005 draft, ahead of Ryan Zimmerman, MVP Ryan Braun, Troy Tulowitzki, likely MVP Andrew McCutchen, Jay Bruce and Jacoby Ellsbury. By the way, those last three players were taken after the Mets drafted Mike Pelfrey. But at least the Mets have a shot to make up for that now.

Upton came up at 19 and took a couple years to start producing. Trout and Harper didn’t set the world on fire in their first seasons either. But once he did he became a top asset in baseball. Starting from his breakout 2009 to this season Upton’s OPS has been: .899 , .799, .898, .765. Obviously this is a special talent, but he’s also still putting it together. However he’s also signed until 2015, so he has time to work with coaches and figure it out before he cashes in on a big free agency pay day. For his career he hasn’t hit as well away as he has at home, but his OBP is always high. So yeah he will hit better in Chase Field, who doesn’t? I’ll still take a guy who hits .275 if he can still produce a .850+ OPS. And he’s a power/speed guy. Guys like that are perfect in CitiField. Upton also has the power to clear the Citi fences. If you look at this chart here, you’ll see Upton’s homers clear Citi’s dimensions.

What’s another great selling point is that Justin, and his brother B.J., are friends with David Wright. They grew up playing AAU ball together. Imagine a 2013 lineup that features both Upton brothers and Wright. A group of friends playing ball every day, keeping each other in check, and providing the Mets with some star power. B.J. is a free agent and always has had untapped potential, the lights of Broadway could bring the best out of him. And even if it’s only Justin the Mets go for, Wright finally gets some protection behind him again.

The best part is the Diamondbacks reportedly aren’t looking for prospects, they want players that can contribute now. So the Mets can hold onto Wheeler/Harvey and be able to make a deal for Upton. Justin isn’t having that great of a year, but he’s been hot lately going .283/.391/.435 the last 30 days. Sometimes you just have a bad start or a bad year.

Verdict: Players of Upton’s caliber don’t come around too many trade blocks. Make a deal for Upton that allows you to hold onto Wheeler/Harvey, send along Duda/Flores plus other pieces that are ready to help Arizona compete. Work with him and watch Upton blossom into that stud player everyone expected him to be. By not surrendering tons of key prospects you can take a shot here and not set your franchise back. And by taking this shot here you have a chance to land a 20/20 threat and a positive future for the franchise.

To see the full effects of the changes made in the off-season by Omar we must first take a quick look at the 2004 New York Mets. In 2004 the Mets GM was Jim Duquette, the manager was Art Howe, and the team finished 4th in the NL East with a 71-91 record.

Opening Day Lineup: Kaz Matsui (SS), Ricky Gutierrez (2B), Cliff Floyd (LF), Mike Piazza (C), Mike Cameron (CF), Jason Phillips (1B), Karim Garcia (RF), Ty Wigginton (3B), and had Tom Glavine on the mound.

Season Finale Lineup: Jose Reyes (SS), Kaz Matsui (2B), David Wright (3B), Piazza (1B), Cameron (CF), Eric Valent (LF), Victor Diaz (RF), and Todd Zeile (C).

List of Pitchers to Make a Start on the Team: Tom Glavine (33), Steve Trachsel (33), Al Leiter (30), Jae Seo (21), Matt Ginter (14), Kris Benson (11), Tyler Yates (7), Aaron Heilman (5), Victor Zambrano (3), James Baldwin (2), Scott Erickson (2), Dan Wheeler (1).

List of Pitchers to Make a Relief Appearance (min. 5): Mike Stanton (83), Braden Looper (71), Ricky Bottalico (60), John Franco (52), Orber Moreno (33), David Weather (32), Dan Wheeler (31), Pedro Feliciano (22), Heath Bell (17), Mike DeJean (17), Bartolome Fortunato (15), Tyler Yates (14), Jose Parra (13), Vic Darensbourg (5).

Offensive Leaders (min. 150 at-bats): AVG – D. Wright (.293); SLG – D. Wright (.525), OBP – M. Piazza (.362), HR – M. Cameron (30), RBI – M. Cameron (76), SB – M. Cameron (22), R – M. Cameron (76).

Pitching Leaders (min 50 IP): IP – T. Glavine (212.1), ERA – B. Looper (2.70), W – S. Trachsel (12), L – T. Glavine (14), SV –  B. Looper (29), SO – S. Trachsel & A. Leiter (117), CG/SHO – K. Benson & T. Glavine (1)

Wow. If there is one word to sum up this team it would be sorry—despite the fact they had a payroll of $96.7 million. The team was cluttered with aging veterans and marginal role players, while the starting rotation was being anchored by a 39-year-old on his last leg and a 33-year-old No. 5 starter who was known more for his ability to make a game last forever above all else.

If I was to point out any bright spots I would say the bullpen looks like it wasn’t awful and by the end of the year things looked pretty exciting with the emergence of two young kids named Reyes and Wright, who you may have heard of.

Other than those two, it looks like is Omar did not have much to work with when taking over this team. Duquette had shipped away the team’s top prospect for a bad pitcher(the Mets were just six games back of the division lead at the time), the outfield was a mess outside of Cameron, there were questions about where Piazza could play defensively, and the starting rotation needed help in the worst way possible.

I will be grading all of the moves individually on their long term value and then grading Omar on how well he did to help the Mets for the 2005 season alone. Now onto the off-season…

Off-Season Moves:

• The Mets changed the whole coaching staff (except Rick Peterson) and hired Willie Randolph, Manny Acta, Jerry Manuel, Sandy Alomar, Guy Conti, Rick Down, and Tom Nieto.
• Minaya declined the $10 million dollar option on Al Leiter.
• Signed Juan Padilla (league minimum).
• Re-signed Kris Benson to a three-year, $22.5 million contract.
• Traded Mike Stanton to the New York Yankees for Felix Heredia.
• Signed Mike DeJean to a one-year, $1.15 million contract.
• Signed Ramon Castro to a minor league contract.
• Signed a 33-year-old Pedro Martinez to a four-year, $53 million contract.
• Signed Chris Woodward to a two-year, $1.525 million contract.
• Traded Vance Wilson to the Detroit Tigers for Anderson Hernandez.
• Signed Marlon Anderson.
• Signed Miguel Cairo to a one-year, $900,000 contract.
• Singed Dae-Sung Koo to a one-year, $425,000 contract.
• Signed a 27-year-old Carlos Beltran to a seven-year and $119 million contract.
• Signed Roberto Hernandez to a one-year, $600,000 contract.
• Traded Ian Baldergroen to the Boston Red Sox for Doug Mientkiwicz and cash.
• Traded Jason Phillips to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Kaz Ishii.

Trades

The Good:

• Ian Baldergroen for Doug Mientkiwicz: After losing out on the Carlos Delgado sweepstakes the Mets were left with a hole at first base and Mientkiwicz was a respectable option because of his defensive wizadry. Although he wasn’t great with the Mets, and ultimately got replaced by a rookie Mike Jacobs, Mientkiwicz was a cheap stop gap for the Mets and Baldergroen never made it past HiA so it would be hard to consider this a loss.

The Bad:

• Mike Stanton for Felix Heredia: Stanton wasn’t very effective for the Yankees, but following his release and signing with the Nationals he was a very effective reliever, while Heredia made three appearances and then went on the disabled list for the rest of the year.

The Meh:

• Vance Wilson for Anderon Hernandez: Neither player made very many appearances for their new team and neither were very effective in those appearances.
• Jason Phillips for Kaz Ishii: Phillips posted a -0.9 WAR and Ishii posted a -0.2 WAR. So I guess technically the Mets got the lesser of two evils.

Grade: C+

Omar didn’t make any crippling trades, but also only made the Mets insignificantly better. Essentially a push.

Minor Free Agents

The Good:

• (Declining) Al Leiter: Leiter jumped over to the Marlins on a one-year $8 million dollar deal and turned into a complete bust. He was DFA in the middle of the year and picked up by the Yankees. Leiter wound up finishing the year 7-12 with a 6.13 ERA.
• Juan Padilla: Had an outstanding year in 2005 while playing for the league minimum, unfortunately he needed Tommy John surgery and never rebounded.
• Ramon Castro: Omar took a shot on the former top prospect who had some off the field issues, wasn’t expected to even make the team, and then he went on to become the Mets long time backup catcher.
• Marlon Anderson: Did a terrific job to hit over .300 as a pinch hitter. Anytime you can get that kind of production off the bench you take it.
• Miguel Cairo: If you go solely by the numbers his season was subpar. However, Cairo does so many things well for a ballclub that cannot be judged on a scoresheet.
• Dae-Sung Koo: Although he walked too many, he was a respectable lefty reliever and will forever be immortalized for the only hit and run scored in his career.
• Roberto Hernandez: No one expected anything from Hernandez and he went on to have one of the best years of his career at 40-years-old. Biggest shock/bargain of the season.

The Bad:

• Mike DeJean: The Mets tossed a million dollars his way and released him by June because of ineffectiveness.

The Meh:

• Kris Benson: His career with Mets only lasted through 2005, but the Mets were the recipients of Benson’s most effective seasons. If the Mets held onto beyond 2005, there is a great chance I would have in “the bad” section which made me unsure where to place this signing.
• Chris Woodward: His 2005 was very good, his 2006 not so good. Could say he earned every penny by being an average super utility man.

Grade: A-

2005 was a terrific year for Omar in finding role players. As the saying goes, you are only as strong as your weakest link so the ability to find contributing guys off the bench and in the bullpen cannot be overstated.

Blockbuster Moves

Pedro Martinez: This one is so hard for me too grade objectively. Pedro is my favorite player of all-time and from the minute he agreed to a deal he could do no wrong in my eyes.

Martinez delivered in 2005 and was one of the best pitchers in all of baseball. He carried that success over into 2006 and it wasn’t until that flukey incident against the Marlins when he was asked to go change his shirt because “his sleeves were too shiny” that he slipped in the dugout and injured his hip, which contributed to a series of injuries and Martinez making just 45 starts over the next two and a half years.

Statistically speaking Martinez only earned $33.3 million of the $53 million based on sabermetrics. He had shoulder injuries before signing the contract and the Mets best competition for his services was a three-year $40.5 million offer from the Red Sox so they did overpay a little for him. For those reasons I cannot give Omar anything above a B for this signing.

As much as fans like to refute this idea, the signing of Pedro did have an affect on the culture of the Mets. When Beltran signed with the Mets there were reports that Pedro coming to the Mets (along with $117 million) influenced Beltran to go to the Mets and it increased the Mets’ presence with international free agent in the Dominican Republic. Anyone who was a Mets fan at this time cannot deny the excitement Martinez brought back to the franchise after a few down years the 2000 Subway Series. Mike Steffanos noted following the 2005 season, “Martinez proved to be worth every penny, putting fannies in the seats and creating a buzz every time he took the hill.” That cannot be stated enough.

He was a bit of a disappointment and his health could have had an effected on the outcome on a few heartbreaking memories from this era, but I just can’t bring myself to call the signing of Pedro a complete bust.

Over the four-year contract Martinez went 32–23 in 79 starts, with a 3.88 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP.

Grade: C+

Carlos Beltran: Things got off to a rocky start with Beltran in a Mets uniform. The reports said that he “allegedly” offered himself to the Yankees for a discount and settled for the Mets, which obviously did not sit well with fans. He then added on to the disdain with a mediocre season after being awarded all that money and it left a sour taste the mouth of the fans.

Beltran responded with one of the all-time great Mets seasons in 2006 that helped carry them all the way to the NLCS. Unfortunately Beltran will be remembered by all Mets fans for that flinch and freeze on an Adam Wainright curveball to end the season. It was a legacy defining moment, but outside of that moment Beltran’s Mets career was a success.

By the numbers he was worth $127.4 million so the Mets got their money’s worth out of him, despite Beltran battling with chronic injuries for the better part of two years. Ed Leyro did a marvelous job proving that Beltran was one of the best players in the history 0f the Mets franchise. Definitely worth the read to understand how great of a signing this was.

Beltran batted .280/.369/.500 with 149 homeruns, 550 RBIs, and 100 stolen bases over the seven years with the Mets, while earning five All-Star appearances, three Gold Gloves, and two Silver Sluggers.

Grade: A-

Summary/Overall

The Mets improved by 12 games in 2005 to finish with a record over .500 at 83-79. They finished 3rd in the NL East and were just six games back of the Wild Card. It was a dramatic turn around from 21 games back of the wild card in 2004.

Opening Day Lineup: Jose Reyes (SS), Kaz Matsui (2B), Carlos Beltran (CF), Mike Piazza (C), Cliff Floyd (LF), Doug Mientkiewicz (1B), David Wright (3B), Eric Valent (RF), and had Pedro Martinez on the mound.

List of Pitchers to Make a Start on the Team: Tom Glavine (33), Pedro Martinez (31), Kris Benson (28), Victor Zambrano (27), Kaz Ishii (16), Jae Seo (14), Aaron Heilman (7), Steve Trachsel (6).

List of Pitchers to Make a Relief Appearance (min. 5): Roberto Hernandez (67), Braden Looper (60), Aaron Heilman (46), Heath Bell (42), Dae-Sung Koo (33), Mike DeJean (28), Juan Padilla (24), Manny Aybar (22), Danny Graves (20), Royce Ring (15), Shingo Takatsu (9), Tim Hamulack (6), Mike Matthews (6).

Offensive Leaders (min. 150 at-bats): AVG - D. Wright (.306); SLG - D. Wright (.523), OBP - D. Wright (.388), HR - C. Floyd (34), RBI - D. Wright (102), SB - J. Reyes (60), R - D. Wright & J. Reyes (99).

Pitching Leaders (min 50 IP): IP - P. Martinez (217.0), ERA - R. Hernandez (2.58), W -P. Martinez (15), L - T. Glavine (13), SV -  B. Looper (28), SO - P. Martinez (208), CG - P. Martinez (4), SHO – P. Martinez, T. Glavine, & A. Heilman (1).

While Willie Randolph wore out his welcome fast, I don’t think he was necessarily a terrible manager and if there was one mistake I think Omar made with the coaching staff it was keeping Rick Peterson around. I am sorry, but I think he did more harm than good when he was trying to “fix” young pitchers.

Thinking back to my time as a fan during 2005, I was extremely excited by the future of the team. Omar did a terrific job during his first off-season to bring in marquee names to compliment the young, upcoming players already on the roster who were ready breakout. It was perfect timing to try and start something bigger.

The starting pitching was a major issue in 2004 and he went out and brought in a first ballot Hall of Fame pitcher who served as a Cy Young candidate in 2005.

Seeing the moves he made I think he deserves more credit for the Mets’ success in 2005 than I originally thought he would.

Grade: B+

It was a great off-season for the Mets franchise.

There is a possibility that the Mets could look to trade Mike Pelfrey. Yes, Pelfrey has struggled to begin the season, but that does not mean that he does not mean that he has lost that much trade value.

Last year, Pelfrey went 15-9 with a 3.66 ERA. However, it has become obvious through Pelfrey’s time in the Majors that he is not the number one or two starter that the Mets were expecting him to develop into.

Pelfrey has struggled this early on this season as he has gone 1-2 with a 7.23 ERA. Some of his issues can be chalked up to bad luck. He has a .356 BABIP this year, well above his career average of .310. In addition, he only has only left 58.8% of runners on base, which is off from his career average of 70.6%. The third thing that has caused Pelfrey’s struggles is the fact that he is only inducing ground balls 40.4% of the time. Compare this with his career average of 49% and it is easy to see some of the reasons for his struggles. If you take a deeper look at the numbers and look at Pelfrey’s 4.69 FIP, it is obvious that Pelfrey has been unlucky this year.

With that being said, Pelfrey is still nothing more than a good number three or number four starter. He is currently the number one pitcher on the Mets staff as a result of the injury to Johan Santana. This should be a sign of concern for the Mets since it is clear that Pelfrey should not be the rotation’s ace.

The team appears likely to enter a rebuilding stage after this year. They will need good, talented young players that can develop with the team. They way to acquire these players is through trades.

With the Mets likely to be sellers at the trade deadline, they will be looking to move pieces that have some value. If he can regain the form that he has shown in the past, then Pelfrey certainly has a decent amount of trade value.

Pelfrey is just 27 years old and will not be eligible for free agency until 2014. At the trade deadline, there will certainly be teams that are looking for help for the middle or back end of their rotation. Mike Pelfrey could be the answer for one of these teams. Pelfrey will not bring the Mets back an elite prospect, but he could net them one top 100 prospect in addition to another decent prospect or two.

If and when the rebuilding process starts, the Mets need to take a long, deep look at who can provide them with substantial value in the future. Jose Reyes and David Wright are players that can. Mike Pelfrey is a big question mark. As a result of this, he should be traded out of New York to bring back players who can help the team moving forward.

The irony was, last year, as Carlos Gomez scored the winning run in the Twins’ one-game-playoff victory against the Detroit Tigers, many wondered if the trade was more of a favorable one to the Twins than the Mets.  After all, the Twins were going to the American League Divisional Series, and the Mets were simply making reservations at their closest golf course.  I think most of us non-Johnny-Come-Lately fans know that the Twins winning the one-game playoff and making the divisional series in 2009 had more to do with Joe Mauer carrying the team on his back than Carlos Gomez who scored one *measly* (though important) run against the Tigers.

After all, on November 6, 2009, the Twins traded Gomez to the Milwaukee Brewers for shortstop J.J. Hardy. So far for 2010, Gomez has played in 49 games, has hit 5 HRs, 18 RBIs, and is sporting a line of .239/.280/.381. A player who is considered a “speedster”, Gomez has an incredibly low career OBP of .290.

This isn’t an article on Johan Santana or Carlos Gomez, however.  In fact, my inspiration for this post is something I overheard on WFAN as I was walking around Citi Field on Sunday afternoon.  Howie Rose was talking about the Johan Santana trade with the weekend opponent the Twins to see how the respective parties benefited from it.  I believe that although Santana is having a lackluster year thus far, the Mets have done just fine without the four parts the Mets traded for him, including Gomez who was the only position player involved in the trade, and three pitchers, Kevin Mulvey (R), Philip Humber (R) and Deolis Guerra (R).

Kevin Mulvey is a former second round draft pick with the Mets, having signed on August 9, 2006.  Mulvey was later the “player to be named later” in a late-2009 deal the Twins consummated with the Arizona Diamondbacks, sending pitcher Jon Rauch to the Twins.  For the Diamondbacks, Mulvey is currently on the 40-man roster, having appeared in two games for them this season. His stats are abysmal, but he’s still young so he can certainly work out the kinks as he matures.

When the trade occurred, if there was someone I had to be “upset” about potentially losing was Philip Humber, an injury-prone prospect but had a lot of upside to counteract it.  At one point, I remember some rumblings that Humber could potentially have a higher ceiling than Mike Pelfrey, who was considered more “major league ready” than Humber was in 2007.  Perhaps most Mets fans remember Humber being underused towards the end of 2007, as he was thrust into a start in the last week of the season in critical games the Mets absolutely had to win.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see what Humber could have brought to the table, since he was traded to Minny for Santana just a few months after the season’s end.

Humber is another member of the “I Was Traded For Johan Santana and All I Have Is This Stupid T-Shirt” club, but is no longer affiliated with the Minnesota Twins.  You see, he was granted free agency after the 2009 season, and is now a Kansas City Royal.  However, on June 10, 2010, Humber was hit with a line drive while pitching in a game for the AAA Omaha Royals.  He was able to walk off the field on his own and was taken to the hospital for observation.  No other information has been found at this time on the extent of his injury.

Deolis Guerra is an interesting case, having never pitched a game in the major leagues of yet, still the last representative of the trade who is still involved in the Twins organization.  The 6’5″ righthander is working as a starter in the Twins AAA Rochester affiliate, but his stats are nondescript: 0-3, 6.84 ERA and 1.720 WHIP.  Yuck.  However, starting the year in AA New Britain, he was 1-3, 3.20 ERA and 1.207 WHIP.  A bit better, so perhaps he’s just green.  At barely 21 years old, I may have to agree.  We’ll have to keep our eye on him to see how he turns out, since the Twins found him valuable enough to keep him around.

It is perhaps too soon to analyze how well the Mets will make off with Johan Santana in their pitching rotation and not hanging onto the likes of Mulvey, Humber and Guerra.  The fact is, prospects are prospects for a reason: they stay that way for awhile and some pan out, some do not.  While we have the feel-good stories of Stephen Strasberg and “The Other” Mike Stanton, they are exceptions rather than the rule of break-out stars. These could also be cautionary tales of trading prospects before giving them a chance, in instances of half-year rentals or those without long-term contracts.

After missing most of the 2009 season with the St. Louis Cardinals following right shoulder surgery, Glaus says that he is now ready to return to the field and move from third base to first for Atlanta.

“I have no concerns about being able to go out there and play, I’ve been able to get myself this winter in the quality of shape I wasn’t able to the winter before. I foresee continuing on where I left off.”

Glaus is a four-time All-Star and the 2002 World Series MVP with the Anaheim Angels. The soon to be 34-year-old Glaus has played third base for most of his career. He said he placed a higher priority on signing with a competitive team than finding one that would keep him at third base.

“I think this affords me an opportunity to play on a team I think is very, very close to going back to the playoffs.” “I’ve been a fan of the organization for a long, long time.”

Glaus hit 27 homers with 99 RBIs for St. Louis in 2008 and had 30 or more homers in five of seven seasons from 2000 to 2006 with the Angels, Arizona and Toronto. He currently has 304 career homers.

The Braves are very eager to see Glaus provide at the plate in which he will add much needed power behind third baseman Chipper Jones and catcher Brian McCann. Last year the Atlanta Braves ranked 22nd in the major leagues with 149 homeruns.

Glaus has played at least 149 games in a season seven times in his career and in those seven seasons he averaged 36 homers, 100 RBIs and 94 runs.

With the Braves, Glaus is expected to replace first baseman Adam La Roche who became a free agent this off-season.

The Braves might view Glaus as a short term answer at first base while another talked about prospect, Freddie Freeman, progresses through the minor leagues.

The Atlanta Braves are really turning into a team that you can count on seeing in the post season. With the signing of Melky Cabrera earlier in the off-season, the Braves outfield is definitely up there.

General manager Frank Wren said that he doesn’t expect any more major moves this off season, which is good for the Mets because it looks like the Braves are snagging semi key free agents. I wouldn’t say that Troy Glaus is the answer to the Braves woes, but it could shape them as a powerful defensive and offensive team for the 2010 season.