David Wright

    Just when you think you've seen it all, almost every season a player on the New York Mets makes headlines for a surprising off-the-field issue.  The multitude of inappropriate actions and embarrassing behavior by the team feels more like a soap opera than a professional baseball organization.

    While the New York Yankees perennially grace the cover of local newspapers for winning championships, the Mets created news over the years with locker-room brawls, drug scandals and throwing fireworks into a crowd of fans.

It's always sunny in Philadelphia recently, but the prediction in New York is stormy weather for the foreseeable future. There are a lot of holes in the Mets organization, and the fans are sick of being rained on, over and over again. This list encapsulates the top nine ten players, theoretically an entire team, that the Mets need to replace during the 2011 season.

Begin Slideshow

The New York Mets cleaned house at the top of the organization with the firing of Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya at the end of the 2010 season.  Bringing in Sandy Alderson and Terry Collins were the proper first steps to take towards bringing the franchise back to respectability, but there are many holes to fill in the roster before the Mets can become contenders again.

With the 2011 season right around the corner, here are 10 moves that the Mets can make to take steps in the right direction.

The Mets now have to contend with the quartet of pitching that is the Phillies. Not to mention a young Atlanta team that seeks revenge. Florida? We'll see. And then, there are the up and coming Nationals, with a hot new pitcher, albeit hurt, a catcher quickly gaining attention, and a multi million dollar Jason Werth deal. Not to mention Nyger Morgan, who brings his quirky optimism, but also isn't afraid to charge the mound. Count on them in the not-so-near future. So what do the Mets need to do to contend? Well...

The Mets have had more than their fair share of ridicule inside and outside of New York.  As fans, we should hope that 2011 should be the year that the organization and fan base gain some respect, instead of pity from the baseball and sports worlds.

The off-season free agency frenzy has already begun, and so far we’ve seen only a handful of players switch teams. Dan Uggla was dealt to the Braves, Javier Vazquez returned to the NL, and Victor Martinez joined fellow countryman Miguel Cabrera in Detroit.

While unsigned free agents Cliff Lee, Adrian Beltre and Carl Crawford will make great impacts for their new teams, we can’t forget that there is more than one way to improve your team.

The MLB Winter Meetings take place next Monday through Thursday and with a new regime in place, you'd figure a big trade will be made or at least attempted. After all, it's long overdue that the Mets part ways with a member or two of their "core." Why it's called that is confusing since the Mets have never won a pennant with those players.

When the New York Mets take the field to open the 2011 season, their roster will be relatively unchanged from 2010. They let Hisanori Takahashi leave for free agency, showed interest in SP Chris Young, and had Pedro Feliciano close to declining arbitration, but other than that the Mets don't have much going on.

So if the Mets aren't going to do much this offseason, what could make the difference for them in 2011?

Terry Collins has been selected as the new manager of the New York Mets, a source confirmed to MLB.com on Sunday evening.

He wasn't my first choice to replace Jerry Manuel, but I'll support him and trust that Sandy Alderson and Co. have made the right decision.

Now the Mets have a manager for the 2011 season, there's work to be done and Collins will have a busy offseason.

Jacoby Ellsbury had an injury-shortened season for the Boston Red Sox after he collided with the freight train otherwise known as third basemen Adrian Beltre and fractured four ribs on April 11. He appeared in only 18 games, hitting .192 and stealing seven bases after leading the AL with 70 steals in 2009.