Buddy of mine said the Mets have $45mil coming off the books in the form of Alou, Pedro and El Duque's contracts....that should free us up to make a move or two.

Obviously, the bullpen is top priority. A Fuentes 8th and K-Rod 9th would be sick, but in reality, we'll have to choose 1 of the 2. K-Rod's asking price will be very high, following his record-setting year. Omar might try to make a big splash by signing him anyway.

LF - Would be extremely hard to sign Manny, if we're going to pay for bullpen help as well. My guess is the Yankees will wind up overpaying for him. Manny IS a Scott Boras client after all.

We could take a flier on Raul Ibanez perhaps. He's hit 20+HR and had 100+RBI for 3 years straight. If we could sign him to a 1-2 year deal, that would be OK.

RF - I'm fine with Church staying there. Solid bat, solid glove.

2B - This x-mas list is getting long. Hopefully Argenis Reyes will step up. I've also heard rumors that Daniel Murphy might get a shot there.

SP - Would love to get another solid arm in the rotation, but again...I'm guessing the Yanks will pay an astronomical sum for Sabathia. I heard his starting offer was $200mil. Hard to pay him AND Johan and whoever else we sign for the bullpen/LF.