As we enter into the last remaining hours of 2010, let’s take a quick look at where the Mets are this offseason and what still remains to be done.
To begin, the Mets have yet to fulfill their three most pressing needs and they are:
- Acquiring a starting pitcher for the rotation.
- Acquiring a left-handed reliever to replace Pedro Feliciano in the bullpen.
- Acquiring a fourth outfielder.
Regarding the starting pitcher, the Mets had shown some interest in Freddy Garcia, Chris Young, Jeff Francis and Brandon Webb. The latter has since come off the market after signing with the Texas Rangers. No offers have been made to the remaining three and the Mets have been adamant that they will take their time and hope that their asking prices will come down as January wears on. That said, rumors abound that Jeff Francis may be close to making a decision.
The Mets have been rumored to be interested in several relievers including the very pricey Brian Fuentes which I find very hard to believe, as well as relievers Joe Beimel and, Chad Qualls. Those last two have been bandied about by MetsBlog as far as having some sort of Mets connection or interest, but I haven’t seen this confirmed by any other mainstream site. I mention them only because they’ve now been injected into the web dialog, but take it with a grain of salt as you should all blog sourced rumors.
Absolutely no real rumors regarding a possible fourth outfielder at this time.
From what’s been circulating, the Mets still have about $5-8 million dollars to spend, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they will.
I kind of get the feeling that all three areas of need could eventually be filled internally from within the organization.
There has been talk that Pat Misch could become the Mets’ fifth starter, Michael O’Connor could become Feliciano’s replacement, and Nick Evans could become the fourth outfielder. But as I said, it’s just talk and speculation that is currently circulating in the Mets blogosphere right now.
To date, the Mets have signed C Ronny Paulino, RHP Boof Bonser and RHP D.J. Carrasco to major league deals, and also signed LHP Michael O’Connor to a minor league deal. They selected IF Brad Emaus and RHP Beato in the Rule 5 Draft, and traded LHP Michael Antonini for SS Chin-lung Hu from the Dodgers.
Players who ended last season with the Mets and will not be returning include Hisanori Takahashi, Sean Green, Elmer Dessens, Raul Valdes, John Maine, Chris Carter, Mike Hessman, Pedro Feliciano and Henry Blanco.
Anyhow, that’s where the Mets stand right now.
I wish all of you a very Happy New Year in 2011.
