New York Mets

With only 10 days until Opening Day, the Mets will have some tough decisions to make as they narrow their active roster down to 25.

They still have not named a starting second baseman, for one. There is uncertainty around whether Carlos Beltran will be starting the season in right field or on the disabled list. 

I think that about 90 percent of the roster is set in stone, so I will try to fill in the blanks and predict the 25 men who will make the final cut come April 1st.

Now that public enemies number one and two, Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo, have been shipped out, Mets fans will be ravenous for a new scapegoat to despise. Mets fans can be so harsh that if Mother Teresa was alive and she was invited to throw out the first pitch at Citi Field, we might boo her if she doesn’t paint the outside corner with 90 mph heat.

After months of speculation, the New York Mets finally released their erratic lefty Oliver Perez.

The release appeared inevitable at some point this off-season, but the Mets decided to give Perez an opportunity to prove himself during spring training.

Perez auditioned as both a starter and a left-handed specialist but failed to impress. The Mets will be on the hook for the $12 million he’s owed.

In the past few days, Sandy Alderson has made two decisions that New York Mets fans wanted the previous regime to make virtually all of last year. Bottom line: Cut Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez.

Oliver Perez is 29 years old. In 2004, with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Perez struck out 239 hitters in 196 innings. He had an ERA-plus of 145 and a WHIP of 1.153.

Much-maligned Omar Minaya, the former general manager of sports' most beloved team, the New York Mets, sent Xavier Nady to the Pirates at the trading deadline in 2006 in exchange for Perez and ancient relief pitcher Roberto Hernandez.

Perez pitched poorly in August and September, but the second round of the playoffs were a different story.

New York Mets (2010 record: 79-83)

The NY Mets had what is widely considered to be the worst offseason among all of Major League Baseball’s 30 clubs…maybe it was a case of “lesson learned.”

Led by 23-year-old David Wright and 22-year-old Jose Reyes, the Mets were one win away from the 2006 World Series. With young core players like Wright and Reyes, the Mets looked to have a very bright future, many feeling that they would make the playoffs for years to come.

However, one Yadier Molina home run and one wicked 12-6 Adam Wainwright curveball later, Carlos Beltran and the Mets went down looking. The Game 7 loss to the Cardinals in the NLCS was the last time New York played a playoff game.

One down and one to go for the New York Mets.

The Mets did the inevitable on Friday and cut second baseman Luis Castillo. New York will eat the remaining $6 million on Castillo’s contract.

As I was watching today's spring training game on SNY between the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves, Mets GM Sandy Alderson spent some time in the broadcast booth with Kevin Burkhardt and Keith Hernandez.

Alderson was asked by Hernandez about defense vs. offense at the second base position with the earlier release of Luis Castillo.

This morning when I woke up and went online I did not expect to see any major news regarding the Mets.  However, I was stunned when the headline on Metsblog read, “Mets release Luis Castillo.”  I thought this day would never come.  And then the thought hit me: Maybe this new front office does have a clue.