Mets Offseason: Take 3

Alright, looks like it's time to reset the offseason considering the Mets lost two players who were believed to be their top targets with the recent signings of Bengie Molina with the Giants and the apparent Piniero deal with the Angels.

So what's the plan?

As far as pitching goes, the Mets need to be sniffing around Garland, Wang and Smoltz, while being aggressive on the Sheets front. Also, they need to keep the potential Arroyo deal ready to go should they miss out on any more free agents. The bottom line is they need a starting pitcher, or two, with one of those starters being able to transition to the pen, cough, cough, Smoltz. At this point unless the Mets have a trade laying around somewhere that no one has heard about those are the options. I'd be satisfied with any combination of two pitchers here, but would prefer Sheets, and his upside, bolstered by Smoltz and his versatility.

As far as catching goes, without Molina I'm not quite sure there's enough of an upgrade out there to warrant a signing. It might be worth it to let Santos and Thole compete to be the back-up or time split with Henry Blanco. The only exception in my mind is if the Mets can get Chris Snyder from Arizona, in a deal including Luis Castillo. But with the D'backs signing Kelly Johnson, and considering their earlier reported disinterest in Castillo, this seems like a long shot.

There are some nice depth options available in the outfield, especially now, with Arizona releasing Eric Byrnes. The Mets should be looking into Byrnes, Endy Chavez and Rocco Baldelli, who can all be serviceable options in CF to help out Pagan until Beltran returns. Then, should Beltran return and be proven healthy the Mets can re-visit moving Pagan, especially if he plays well and increases his value.

In the meantime, the Mets need to get their priorities straight and work on getting pitching help before addressing outfield depth and, lastly, catching.