Serious Bullpen Help!

With an outstanding top 3 in the rotation - Santana, Pelfrey and Maine - and 4th and 5th starters at a dime a dozen these days, is it worthwhile for the Mets to make serious offers for both Fuentes and K-rod?



Brian Fuentes is probably going to ask for about 25 to 30 million dollars over 4 years, while K-rod will go about 42 million for 4 years (or 50 million over 5 years). Realistically, that is probably the entire off season budget for the Mets this year and spending essentially the entire budget on the pen is definitely a risk; however, what are the other Met needs?

Let's go around the field and see where the needs may be. The Mets are firm at 1st, SS and 3rd (duh!) and obviously in CF as well. There are no big money catchers on the market right now, so whatever is left on the scrap heap is not worth replacing Brian Schneider for.

Second base is an issue, but the Mets owe so much poorly spent money to Luis Castillo that buying another second baseman (most likely Orlando Hudson) is very unlikely.

At the other offensive positions, there are pretty solid internal options available. Ryan Church could be slid back into right field assuming his noggin feels okay. Daniel Murphy should be starting in left - he looks to be a fantastic hitter, who kind of reminds of a young Chase Utley at the plate.

With regard to the bench, Nick Evans is a scrappy guy, Ramon Castro is a solid back up catcher, Fernando Tatis - if he hits like last year - is quite the hay maker, Endy Chavez is a fabulous defensive player and no one should forget about Angel Pagan coming off injury. That is a solid group off the bench!

The bottom line is that on paper this team looks pretty solid until the bullpen comes into the game. SO FIX IT!

Will this happen? The answer is probably not because there are a number of teams with bullpen needs, and the likelihood of the Mets landing the top 2 candidates (Kerry Wood is 3rd and injury prone) is low. But, it is definitely something the Mets are probably thinking about.



One non-baseball related factor is the Citi Field sponsorship. There is all this talk about whether the Mets should be morally obligated to release Citi Group from the 20 year contract to free up cash for the troubled bank. If that release occurs, the Mets may feel very uncomfortable spending much money this off season.

Yaros