The Mets outfield and short term solutions.

        I hate to be blunt, but the Mets outfield in 2012 was God awful. Andres Torres proved to be an incompetent center fielder offensively, Lucas Duda struggled to keep his job in right field and was eventually demoted, and don't get me started on Jason Bay and his albatross of a contract. Kirk Nieuwenhuis came up and started off well, but soon looked loss at the plate with an alarming amount of strikeouts. This turned the outfield into a spot where platoon players such as Mike Baxter, Scott Hairston and Jordany Valdespin regularly patrolled. The Mets outfield is by far their most glaring weakness and there are numerous short term options that should be considered.

        As we all know the Mets have little money to spend on players not named David Wright, R.A Dickey and possibly Kelly Shoppach, so Sandy Alderson needs to pick up cost efficient players that can produce at a decent level. This means guys like Josh Hamilton, Michael Bourn,  Melky Cabrera, BJ Upton, Nick Swisher, and Shane Victorino will not don the orange and blue come next year. The Mets need a right handed bat with speed and power to play center field well. Upton fits the position, but again, he will command more money than the Mets can dish out. I would have liked the Mets to trade for Diamondbacks center Fielder Chris Young who also fits this need, but Billy Beane of the A's already pulled the trigger and picked up Young for Oakland. Some names who I feel can fit short term for the Mets are Cody Ross, a trade for Shin Soo Choo, or taking a chance with the oft injured center fielder Grady Sizemore. Barring a trade, Nieuwenhuis will most likely start for the Mets in center field, Lucas Duda in right field, and a big fat question mark in left, and don't say Jason Bay, he's run his course in Flushing.

        For the Mets, outfield options are far and few between, and unless Sandy Alderson can shell a little bit of money or trade for a competent outfielder, the outfield will remain a glaring problem that will only hurt the Mets chances of being a contender. This vulnerability must be addressed in some way, and yet again it falls on Sandy Alderson to make a smart decision for the franchise to bring some respectability back to this "Snake bitten" franchise.

The pros and cons of trading R.A Dickey.

        Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson faces a tough decision in the upcoming offseason: Whether to keep R.A Dickey for the future, or simply trading him away for prospects to help the team down the road.


        Let's start off with the pros. First off, Dickey is coming off a 20 win, Cy Young Award caliber season. His value couldn't be any higher and plenty of contending teams will take notice. The Mets don't seem to be able to seriously contend in 2013 so trading Dickey while his value is so high seems like a reasonable idea to entertain. Dickey also has an option for next year for only 5 million, which gives the Mets an opportunity to attain players of better value if they do decide to trade him since the option is a bargain for a team. If Alderson decides to trade Dickey, he will be asking for top prospects or Major League ready talent which teams who are serious in acquiring Dickey will surely be able to part with. This gives the Mets future impact players who will be built around, and also gives them financial flexibility to attend to the largest priority the Mets have this offseason, signing David Wright to a long term deal.


        Now let's go over the cons. R.A Dickey is a fan favorite, and if he gets dealt to another team, the fans will obviously be very upset by the deal and can hurt attendance numbers at Citi Field and the confidence level of the fan base. Mets fans have been told to wait patiently for a contending team, and with a playoff drought of 6 years, accompanied with trading Dickey will send the fans a message to wait longer, and plain and simple, the fans are tired of waiting. Also, the Mets starting rotation is their largest strength, with Dickey, Jon Niese, Johan Santana, Dillon Gee, rookie sensation Matt Harvey, and top prospect Zack Wheeler waiting in the wings. Many fans feel this rotation can make the Mets competitive and dealing Dickey will hurt their chances of making a 2013 run at the Wild Card, and less likely the NL East division. Dickey being traded also hurts the extension talks with David Wright. Wright wants to remain a Met, but he also wants to win. Trading Dickey could send Wright the message that the Mets aren't in a position to win in the foreseeable future and hurt the chances That Wright is extended, which would be a catastrophe for the franchise. Mets fans would love to extend Dickey to a long term deal, and the possibility of trading him is not something fans would like to hear.


        All in all, this upcoming decision will play a large role in establishing which direction the Mets are heading. Whether they will focus on the future, or prepared to contend is yet to be seen. The R.A Dickey situation will play a huge factor for the Mets franchise, and Sandy Alderson needs to make a decision.