I understand we're not looking to be major contenders this very season but you can't possibly put out a Duda-Nieuwenhuis-Baxter outfield, right?? I'm very happy with the trade (providing it does indeed go through) but this still concerns me, especially with the Phillies "intensifying their pursuit" of Ross. What else is there?

im actually auditioning next week. wml!

scott hairston and cheap scrub free agents. they almost have to sign hairston now. at least they seem to be getting $ from toronto to defray bucks salary which should help sign hairston. i expect to see a lot of platooning in OF.

We might as well save the money at this point. Considering we wouldnt give Dickey that extra 6 million he was asking for we probably need every dollar for next season when there are legit options available. I still have doubts we spend even then.

Common question amongst mets fans, hopefully Sandy is doing some thing to help as we and anyone else who looks at the mets roster can quickly observe that help is needed.

I'm strongly in the 'who cares' camp.

You're right, we're not competing this year so it's basically meaningless. Now next season, if this FO can finally spend some money, this could be a near-complete team.

I feel in any given season any team can surprise and be more competitive than the so called experts etc... think, why can't the mets compete for a playoff spot this coming season. The mets have a pretty decent pitching staff (even without dickey), they have quality at 3b/1b/ and are ok at SS/2b, the question mark remains at catcher (maybe if the deal goes through it's the rookie from the jays). If Sandy can go and get some outfield help as well as bullpen help this team could be pretty competitive, if not and they choose to do little/nothing we will have to watch a team flounder there way through another season. It's really time for the Wilpons to step up and invest in the club (the Outfield in particular) and get this team winning again, enough just feeling good at getting to .500 this team needs help, the wilpons need to step up and get them that help to bring mets fans back to citi field and provide a quality baseball team once again.

If the Cubs are willing to pay all but 10 million owed to Alphonso Soriano over the next 2 years why not take a chance on him or a similar payroll arrangement for Wells. Maybe another 5 million dollar gap fill like Ross.

Forget the outfield. Who's going to pitch? We now have a huge hole in the rotation. When Dickey started we were as good as any team in Baseball. We were as bad as any team when he didn't. We now have one...count 'em...one proven, healthy, major league starter. That's Niese. He's a good pitcher, but no #1. We are going to be awful for the next 7 years.

Don't believe that? Look up what happened to us after we traded Tom Seaver for prospects. Our rotation is now...

1-Niese
2-Santana...who's arm is attached by duct tape. He's a 5 inning pitcher who will most likely
break down at some point.
3-Gee... Recovering from a medical condition and nothing special anyway.
4-Harvey...Who knows. My guess, and it's only a guess, is 8-15 with an ERA just under 4.
Could be better. Could be worse.
5-??? Mejia? Familia? Both stink. Wheeler in July? Maybe, but what's he going to do? He
is just another suspect who didn't look all that great in AAA last year. Just a big question
mark.

We stink

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bMn0DquGBA

Let's not forget our bullpen is a joke.

"Forget the outfield. Who's going to pitch?"

Well, if we kept him we'd be asking "who's going to catch? Thole?!?!?!?!?".

I believe (imo) it's easier to find a fair to middling SP than a quality catcher. The hope is that D'Arnaud will be that catcher.

Sometimes you have to roll the dice, but at least we got someone who is as close to can't-miss as possible.

"Who In The World Is Playing The OF??"

I remember asking myself this very same question in the playoffs in 99 and 00.

I'm not saying we are a playoff team, but it does seem we are focusing more on strong putching and infield offense/defense. Now that we are (tentatively) adding TDA who supposedly can not only catch, but hit as well, this team going into 2014 and beyond is looking more and more like the skeleton of the 99 and 00 teams as opposed to the offensive juggernaut that was the 2006 team.

Let's not forget our bullpen is a joke

Bingo

The bullpen was also played a huge role in a lot of the losses don't know the exact numbers but its a lot of games that they blew

I'll play, sign me up.

I wouldn't even have an issue with platooning if they were players worth platooning. Ideally, you'd have Hairston and Duda in one spot but we're at a point where you have to play them both full time, assuming we even bring back Hairston. But there's not anyone else in the bottom tier even worth taking a flier on.

The thing about it is we have ZERO outfielders a good major league team would be comfortable with playing full time. Can they really sign THREE solid to good options next offseason? I feel like it's probably a wise idea to bring in ONE you can count on for at least a couple of years right now.

"We were as bad as any team when he didn't. We now have one...count 'em...one proven, healthy, major league starter. That's Niese. He's a good pitcher, but no #1. We are going to be awful for the next 7 years."

But this is a pretty harsh and pessimistic view of the rotation. We did rank 11th in the majors in starter ERA so it wasn't just Dickey. Niese was good, Santana was good for half the year, Harvey was great, and Gee is about average. There are certainly question marks with all of them but it's not TOO big a stretch to say the rotation could still be above average or even good.

As far as the future, if Wheeler and Harvey are what we expect, we absolutely won't be awful for the next seven years. Again, they may very well not be but it's not as if the potential isn't there.

Yea, that's something that should absolutely be addressed. There's no reason why we can't afford a couple of decent relievers, at least based on what they tell us about the payroll.