Here is Sam Page's offseason outline and the highlights below:

The major moves:

Sign Matt Holliday to a 6/$110 Million contract, starting salary $17MM

Trade Bobby Parnell and Wilmer Flores to the Rays for Carlos Peña

Sign Rich Harden to a 1-year/$10 million contract with incentives and a mutual option for a second season

Trade Jeff Francoeur to the Cubs for Mike Fontenot.

The minor moves:

Sign Carl Pavano 1 year/$6 million dollar contract

Sign Kiko Calero 2 years/$5 million dollar contract

Sign Greg Zaun 1 year/$800,000

Sign Endy Chavez 1 year/$1.5 million

Sign Shawn Hill 1 year/$400K

Sign Mike Sweeney 1 year/$600K

Sign Kelvim Escobar to a 1 year contract with incentives/max value $2.5 million

Trade Luis Castillo to the Royals for virtually nothing--I'd bet they'd take him

My take:

I like the Holliday signing.  I like the Fontenot for Castillo swap a lot.  and I like the Pavano, Everett and Escobar ideas.  I would also advocate for a short term deal for either Harden or Bedard if either are possible... that remains to be seen.  Otherwise, I'm not sure why the Mets would want to take on Carlos Pena for 1 year, though maybe they could let him walk and get a draft pick...?  As far as Mike Sweeney goes, I'd prefer to see the Mets go after Garrett Atkins and I doubt that Zaun is going to get out of Tampa... they're likely to re-sign him for a year.  So without Zaun there will still be the matter of catcher to address.

and I want no part of Angel Pagan as the starting RFer next year... that has disaster written all over it.  I think Pagan is a guy you package with Castillo in order to get something useful in return.

Agreed on Pena.

I've always liked him and actually wanted the Mets to take a flyer a few years back (before he busted out), but I'm not sure why you trade prospects for a 1yr rental? If you do that, you might as well plan on resigning Pena and package Davis for SP.

Seaver wrote: Harden? No. Guy is brittle and won't pitch through pain. Same for Bedard, cut from same mold.

Atkins is washed up. He couldn't even hit in COL.

Pena? Do the Mets need another strikeout machine?

Holliday.......how many players could they get instead for that salary?

need big LF bat one way or the other.

Seaver wrote:

Holliday.......how many players could they get instead for that salary?

None, that can provide the middle of the order production the Mets need to add.

they couldn't get a notch down OF and a Catcher for that?  Holliday doesn't put the Mets in the playoffs.

Any plan that has Thole as the starting C and Castillo gone is not realistic imo, unfortunately. (I understand that's not what the author was going for.)

I like the Harden, Pavano, Calero ideas.
I do not like trading for Pena when Johnson and LaRoche are available, probably for short term deals. His is bench is not good offensively. Perez should be starting.

Seaver wrote:

they couldn't get a notch down OF and a Catcher for that?  Holliday doesn't put the Mets in the playoffs.

but he is much more than a 1 year solution.

Seaver wrote:

they couldn't get a notch down OF and a Catcher for that?  Holliday doesn't put the Mets in the playoffs.

Holliday isn't getting as much as it's made out to be.  I wouldn't anticipate the annual average of his contract being more than $18 million.  Bay is probably going to get $16 million a year (for fewer years), IMO.  For the better player there really isn't that much of a difference.

You're right that Holliday doesn't put the Mets in the playoffs by himself.  Neither does a notch below OF'er and a catcher by themselves.  However, Holliday gives the Mets a player who is in his prime who they can build with for the long term.  That's why I am in favor of signing him.  Not so much because I think he puts them over the top but because he provides a long term solution to two needs the Mets have.

That plan is a nice thought if you want to finish 3rd... BTW who in there right mind would bring Pavano back to new york ? That pitching staff has Pavano as the #2

xmulderx wrote:

That plan is a nice thought if you want to finish 3rd... BTW who in there right mind would bring Pavano back to new york ? That pitching staff has Pavano as the #2

I think the #2 slot would fall to Harden.

DuffyDyer wrote:

 

xmulderx wrote:

That plan is a nice thought if you want to finish 3rd... BTW who in there right mind would bring Pavano back to new york ? That pitching staff has Pavano as the #2

I think the #2 slot would fall to Harden.

Not much of a step up there...  you still have Santana and a bunch of question marks.  I don't think that would be good enough anyway you slice it.  I would not mind Harden, but you need a solid arm behind johan aswell.

Seaver wrote:

they couldn't get a notch down OF and a Catcher for that?  Holliday doesn't put the Mets in the playoffs.

Nothing we do this winter guarantees a playoff spot.  Holliday gives us a chance to compete in 2010 (if things break right) and is young enough (and good enough) to be a core player for the next 4-6 seasons.

I think people are almost looking at Holliday as a given to be a Met.  I think that is a huge mistake...

Walnutz15 wrote: What I can't get over: why anyone seems to think that Josh Thole as the 2010 Opening Day catcher is the best route for this organization to go.

Just another of the "Daniel Murphy: 2008" mistakes that this team has made through the years, based on a smaller than small sample.

Dude should be with the rest of the Bisons at Triple-A next year. Looking at it from a perspective that sees Thole, Davis, F-Martinez, Evans, Duda, Holt, Niese, etc. there with him -- you figure that Buffalo starts to look alot different than it did last year (depending on whether or not they make a trade this off-season.)

Might actually get them playing well together, and hungrier to get to the Major League-level - instead of forcing unfinished products into the starting lineup to struggle.

you're absolutely correct.  and any off-season plan that addresses catcher as an afterthought is going to be doomed to failure, imo.

xmulderx wrote:

I think people are almost looking at Holliday as a given to be a Met.  I think that is a huge mistake...

no one is doing anything more than speculating.

DuffyDyer wrote:

 

xmulderx wrote:

I think people are almost looking at Holliday as a given to be a Met.  I think that is a huge mistake...

no one is doing anything more than speculating.

Yeah, but every plan I see includes Holliday... Where is the outside the box thinking with a big trade.  Where is the plan if you don't get Holliday.. ya know ?

Seaver wrote: I don't see why he would come to NY if STL makes a credible offer.

With Pujols and Carpenter due to be Free Agents in the near future, I can't see the Cardinals putting up an offer that can compete with one of the big market clubs. 

I'd bet the house the Holliday doesn't end up back with the Cardinals.  Whether he ends up with the Mets, I have no idea.  But it's very likely that he'll end up with a big market club, IMO (Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Angels).