“I would lean toward Kerry Wood. I know you can’t – not after the myriad of injuries and arm woes that he has suffered throughout his career. But no one was throwing the ball better at the end of the year than Wood (well, maybe Brad Lidge). He seemed to keep getting stronger. Yes, he did blow 6 saves – K-Rod blew 7. Wood gave up just 54 hits in 66 innings – and actually K-Rod was better – the same amount of hits in 68 innings pitched. But the strikeout-to-walk ratio was an eye-opener – Wood had 84 K’s and just 18 walks – Rodriguez, using his changeup more, registered 77 strikeouts with 34 walks. Look, 62 saves in a season is nothing to sneeze at – neither is an average of 48 1/2 saves over the last 4 seasons.

The Mets have fundamental reservations on both these guys – as they do with Brian Fuentes as well – but maybe Fuentes provides a solid middle ground to walk on. He made half of what K-Rod made in salary in 2008, so he fits more economically in the three year window that the Mets would prefer to deal in. Fuentes is 33 – 7 years older than Rodriguez – but he had a very solid season, pitching to a 2.73 ERA in 67 games. He yielded just 47 hits in 63 innings – converted 30 of 34 save opportunities – and had a very impressive strikeout-to-walk ratio, almost 4-1 (82-22). His walks have decreased in each of the last four seasons, and over those 4 years, he’s averaged only 50 hits allowed in 66 innings. Pretty good.”

Closer is first up on the list, but what the Mets should be concentrating on after that is what the Cubs have already done – bring in some closer-types as 8th inning guys to shorten the game. Kevin Gregg was a great pickup for the Cubbies, albeit at the high price of Jose Ceda which really helps the Marlins as well. Gregg blew 9 saves, had knee problems, is really not a closer, but I think will flourish in a primary setup role for Carlos Marmol now that Wood is gone. Huston Street – now with Colorado after the Matt Holliday trade to Oakland – would be a great addition for the Mets in a similiar setup role. The Mets have to try and shorten the game while also changing the makeup and the style of their bullpen arms to avoid another repeat of 08 and 07 as well. Arizona free-agent reliever Juan Cruz is another arm the Mets should keep an eye on.”

Lineup
1. Reyes
2. Murphy (LF)
3. Wright
4. Teixeira
5. Beltran
6. Church
7. Molina
8. Castillo

Starting Pitchers
1. Santana
2. Pelf
3. Maine
4. Perez
5. Sonnanstine/ Jackson

Relief
Closer- K-Rod
SU- Cruz or Beimel

K-Rod= +11 mil
Teixeira= +21 mil
Delgado & Heilman for Jackson/Sonnanstine= – 13 mil
Perez= 10 mil
Minor players and Shoenweiss for Molina= + 3 mil

Thats adding 32 million to the payroll. Not including losing Alou’s, el duque and pedro’s contract. Thats not adding that much salary. But it is making the team so much better.

One of the main reasons I come here is to get a feel for the rumors and grumblings going on. This may not give me facts, but it does give me an indication of the perception of the populace as to what may happen. If I want the cold, hard, facts, I’ll go to Mets.com as they’ll surely report anything that actually does happen.

Matt’s just letting us know what he’s heard, and when something actually happens, I’m sure he’ll post.

I still see your point though, and I guess one way to alleviate frustration would be to flag posts like this as “Rumor.” and then allow filtering for those who want only the straight dope.

If you read Matt’s post about Street from yesterday, he offers zero evidence that the Rockies are looking to unload street and that they like Heilman.

Come to think of it, that post is 100% speculation, with no supporting evidence whatsoever. This is borderline irresponsible, and no better than a WFAN caller giving one of those “hows about we trade (blank) for Jake Peavy” proposals.