[Evil Vito]

I had a class canceled today and thus, a sudden influx of free time. So I went ahead and planned out what would be my dream offseason for the Mets.

With about $25 million available to spend for the 2009 season (probably more factoring in stadium naming rights and ticket prices going up), here's what I'd like to see:

1. Sign K-Rod: He's overrated, but I trust him a lot more than Brian Fuentes and I'm afraid of Wood. They are trying to give him 3 with 2 option years, but odds are they'll have to go 4 guaranteed. Either way, make it backloaded so it doesn't eat the offseason budget.

2. Sign Derek Lowe: I'm REALLY leery of giving another old pitcher a 4 year deal right after finally getting Pedro off the books, but he's been crafty and consistent, and will probably go for less than bringing back Oliver Perez due to not being young and left-handed.

3. Sign Joe Beimel: The lefty tandem of Scott Schoeneweis and Pedro Feliciano just didn't cut it last year. Beimel should certainly be an upgrade, I'm expecting he'll get a similar deal to what Jeremy Affeldt got from the Giants.

4. Trade Schoeneweis or Feliciano: Once you get Beimel, there's no point in having three lefty relievers. Try to trade one of the two other guys, take anything you can get in return. Schoeneweis had the better year last year of the two, but is much more expensive. Surely someone would be interested though.

5. Trade Aaron Heilman: Get him the fuck out, one way or another.

6.. Trade for Huston Street: I keep hearing two things - the Rockies want to trade Street and are one of the only teams still interested in Heilman. Supposedly, they would trade Heilman and make him a starter again, something Heilman's been begging for since 2006. If they really like him like I hear they do, I'm hoping maybe something like Heilman, Nick Evans, and change could get it done...if so, I'd jump at it.

6. Trade Luis Castillo: This is not gonna be easy, as Minaya's stupid contract means Castillo still has 3 more years to go. If he goes, it would certainly be as a part of a "crap for crap" swap, which is just fine with me.

7. Sign Orlando Hudson: Obviously, this can only happen if Castillo is traded. Hudson's deal would also most likely have to be backloaded in order to squeeze into the budget. I really like O-Dawg and supposedly he wants to be a Met...but it all depends on if Luis can be offloaded.

Doing all that would leave the team with:

C Brian Schneider/Ramon Castro
1B Carlos Delgado
2B Orlando Hudson
SS Jose Reyes
3B David Wright
LF Daniel Murphy/someone else to platoon with him (Angel Pagan maybe?)
CF Carlos Beltran
RF Ryan Church

LH Johan Santana
RH Derek Lowe
RH Mike Pelfrey
RH John Maine
LH Jonathon Niese

RH Francisco Rodriguez (Closer)
RH Huston Street
LH Joe Beimel
LH Pedro Feliciano or LH Scott Schoeneweis
RH Joe Smith
Then 2 of: RH Bobby Parnell, RH Eddie Kunz, RH Duaner Sanchez, RH Brian Stokes, or anyone else brought into Spring Training

Bench: Backup C, OF Endy Chavez, OF Angel Pagan, a utility infielder (possibly bring back Damion Easley), and someone else to fill in the last spot

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Do I see all of that happening? Nope, but I think it would be one hell of a team.