You can drive yourself crazy trying to figure out ways for the Mets to get out of this free-fall into oblivion and putting the organization back on the right track. The ideas and opinions are countless. I can’t really tell you what the Mets are gonna do, but I do have a list of things I hope they don’t do. Here are the first two of the ten worst things the Mets can do this offseason.

# 10 Giving Mike Pelfrey A 4-Year Contract Extension

I like Pelfrey… I like him a lot… But all we really know about Pelf is how wildly inconsistent he really is. He can have a good game one day and then come back five days later and throw a stinker. He can have a solid season, and follow it up with a bad one.

Currently, he’s under Mets control for a further three years, and is set to go to arbitration this offseason. Let him. I’d rather take my chances and pay him the market value for pitchers at his level, than to lock him up and possibly overpay him for an excruciatingly bad season or worse yet, seasons. No thanks.

If Pelfrey has another season similar to this one or even better, we can talk extension a year from now. But for now let’s see if he can do what he hasn’t been able to do yet, that is throw back to back solid seasons.

# 9 Signing Free Agent Jayson Werth

For some strange reason, signing Werth to play right field has been gaining a lot of steam lately in the Mets blogosphere. We had an intense debate about it last week on Twitter and I felt I wanted to post some of the reasons why I believe it would be a terrible mistake.

First of all, much of this Jayson Werth hysteria centers around the premise that the Mets will trade Carlos Beltran, something that most of my readers know I am vehemently against. But that’s a topic for another rant. Let’s assume for the purpose of this post that there is an opening in right field.

I see Werth as a product of cozy Citizens Bank Park. He does have some home run pop in his bat, but no more than lets say a Jeff Francoeur or Ryan Church. His OBP has been impressive and in the .380 range as a Phillie, but just .330 before that.

At age 32, I don’t see him improving on his recent production, and with Werth playing half of his game in the vastness of Citi Field, it could be another recipe for disaster. Haven’t we already had enough of those?

Here is another thing to consider about Werth…

Last week, Werth fired his agent and hired Scott Boras as his new agent to handle his impending free agency. Perfect timing huh? Just like the career high .903 OPS he has posted this season…

Many surmise that Werth will command a contract similar to the one the Mets gave left fielder Jason Bay last offseason, that is a four-year $66 million dollar contract with an easily attainable $17 MM option. But Boras is already hinting that it will take a lot more,

“Jason Bay suffered in the marketplace because of a predisposition about his medical condition, creating questions. That does not exist with Werth. And with Bay you were talking about a left fielder who was definitely not in the class of a Gold Glove outfielder. Werth is a totally different type of player. He’s an athlete who can play center field, run, steal bases, be a Gold Glove type outfielder.”

After seeing how sour the Jason Bay foray went this season, even before the concussion, why would we want to delve into another potential land mine at the other corner outfield position? 

Furthermore, I believe this team has all the offensive talent it needs to compete in the NL East so long as everyone plays to their expectations and talent level while remaining healthy.