Anthony, my colleague, recently suggested a few ways to improve the Mets by subtraction. I’m going to flip things around and suggest a few ways to improve the Mets by addition.

First, let me say that this Mets team is not as bad as its record. This team has enough talent to win the same 88 games it won last year. indeed Baseball Prospectus’s PECOTA-adjusted projections still had us winning 90 games before last night’s win, despite the 23-26 start, and the meager +1 run differential. There are a few reasons for this. We’ve played a tough schedule so far, with 27 road games and 23 home games, mostly against tough teams. We’ve gotten unlucky. I know everyone likes to attribute all the outs on the basepaths, the mistakes in the field, and the balls hit right into the defense on a lack of focus. Of course some of it is lack of focus. But a lot of it is luck. BP says we’ve been the second-unluckiest team in the NL so far (the Rockies are first), and that with normal luck our record should’ve been 25.4-23.6 going into last night’s contest. I doubt fans would be so panicky if we were over .500 right now. Also, we’re just not this bad. All of our regulars are hitting below their projected OPS with two exceptions. Oddly enough, one exception is Jose Reyes, who has come on at the plate lately. The other overachiever is, of course, Ryan Church. No one else has hit as well as they were expected to. Not only that, John Maine is our only starting pitcher who is overachieving. The rest of the rotation has underperformed relative to where they were projected. If just a handful of the underachievers could get their act together, the team will start to look a lot better.

Now that that caveat’s out of the way, it must be said that of course every team can improve, and certainly the Mets should try to better themselves over the next year. Here are two approaches they could take.

In a dream world, the Mets will look to build a team the way a certain Floridian franchise out of Tampa has—by stocking up with young talent, never taking on a bad contract, and locking up their superstars for many years at cost. With that philosophy in mind, here are three money-saving measures the Mets could possibly take to improve the franchise.

1) Hire minor leaguers to perform big league roles for low salaries. In the future, instead of spending millions on the likes of Jorge Sosa, Marlon Anderson, Matt Wise, and Scott Schoeneweis, the Mets should promote their most competent AAA players to do the same thing at one-third the cost or less. Honestly, how much worse could our best AAA guys be than these “proven” veterans? (Yes, I know Schoeneweis is pitching well this year, but his performance last season alone makes his contract laughable.) We could save a bunch of money this way with basically no loss in expected production, and with far more upside. Who knows, one of the AAA guys may actually turn out to be good! (See Ludwick, Ryan.)

2) Sucker a general manager into trading away young talent for some of our crusty veterans. This can be done. Giants GM Brian Sabean, for example, is known to overvalue veterans and undervalue young talent, so much so that he was rumored to be shopping phenom Tim Lincecum this offseason. Even Sabean isn’t dumb enough to part with Lincecum now, but Omar Minaya still might be able to pry away Matt Cain or Jonathan Sanchez for one of our expendable old dudes. Either Cain or Sanchez would give us a great young pitcher at cost, and Sabean just might be foolish enough to trade one of them. If he isn’t, there are other GMs around to hoodwink. It’s worth a try.

3) Draft Cutter Dykstra. The upcoming minor league draft is hugely important for our franchise, and I think drafting Son of Nails would be a great PR move with little downside. It would get the fans excited, and having an excited fan base would allievate a lot of the Mets’ headaches right now. Also Cutter is a top-tier prospect who projects to be a legitimate first or second rounder, and no one really knows how these picks are going to turn out anyway. Let’s gamble on a Dykstra with one of our three picks in the top 33 this June.

Of course, since the Mets are the Mets, and Omar is Omar, they probably won’t go the cost-effective route. Instead, they’ll probably try to spend, spend, spend in the offseason to create the team that will pay the most immediate dividends. Fine. Here are three strong options in the 2008 free agent class if you want to go on a buying spree.

Pat Burrell. This Met-killer has been underrated by Phillies fans (and their management, who tried to trade him) for years. He has a solid 855 career OPS, and he hasn’t posted an OPS lower than 890 since 2004. Yes he plays in a hitters’ park, but he’s still managed an 1106 OPS in 85 road at-bats during his current season (which has been a career one, to this point). If the Phillies don’t want him, the Mets should scoop him up. He’d be an ideal fit in left field.

Adam Dunn. Another beast of a player who’s underrated by his front office. The Reds were supposedly trying to trade Dunn as recently as last season. They’re going to try hard to trade him at this year’s deadline if the Reds are out of contention (which they certainly might be). Dunn is an even better hitter than Burrell, with a career 902 OPS. He’s hit 40 or more homers in four straight seasons, and is still only 28. If the Reds shop him, the Mets should be major players for Dunn. To say we need a first baseman is an understatement, and Dunn has logged plenty of games over there.

Mark Teixiera. He’ll probably be the best free agent available this winter, and that fact, combined with Scott Boras’s negotiating power, probably means he’ll be the toughest to get. Expect the Yankees to break the bank on this guy. But if they don’t, the Mets should try to swoop in and steal him. Teixiera has the same career OPS as Dunn and is the same age, but Teixiera is a significantly better fielder by most accounts, and wouldn’t cost prospects (just money). He’d be an amazing fit for the Mets, if he’s attainable at all.

Some of these ideas may not work, but I firmly believe a few of them could. The good news is that it’s not an either-or situation. The Mets could look for places to cut cost in-house, while at the same time spending in the free agent arena. They can be smart and rich at the same time!

It’s time for the Mets to try something different–to get people talking, to take the pressure off the slumping regulars, and to prove that they won’t overpay for the same mediocre veterans time and time again. Let’s get creative, Omar. Your job may depend on it.

On his ESPN.com Insider blog Buster Olney writes that Johan Santana might be “Showing signs of decline”.

“The Mets were asking around about that in spring training, about what his true [velocity] baseline was,” said one talent evaluator. “They were concerned.”

Said an AL scout who has seen Santana this month: “His stuff isn’t even close to what it was [with the Twins].”

The statistics Olney provides back up his arguement that something is different with Santana:

His ratio of strikeouts per nine innings over the last six seasons has been 11.38, 9.61, 10.46, 9.25, 9.44, 9.66. This year: 7.79.

Onley also adds:

As I wrote a lot about during the winter of Santana trade talks, rival talent evaluators saw a noticeable — not dramatic, but noticeable — decline in his stuff after his 17-strikeout performance against Texas on Aug. 19.

On to the possible replacements for Willie. Some people have brought up Gary Carter’s name. Gary Carter is the new coach of the Orange County Flyers of the independent professional Golden Baseball League. You can read more about Carter’s doings here.

I found this answer to a question posed to Manny Acta interesting. Especially since some think Acta is a candidate to replace Willie and how some think Willie should be more boisterous:

MLB.com: How do you stay patient? It’s amazing how you keep your cool.

Acta: I have very good control of my emotions. I’ve learned that through the years…If I throw a phone around or turn over the spread, the score is not going to change. I have done a lot of research and have data to prove it’s not going to work. If I yell and scream at guys, it’s not going to make them play harder. So I think I get the best out of those guys by earning their respect, treating them fair and keep showing them that I do have faith in them.

Yesterday, Neil Best, from Newsday’s blog Watchdog wrote about Billy Wagner’s interview with Michael Kay on 1050 ESPN radio. Kay tried to find out why Wagner thought his remarks from last week were being interpreted as racist by some:

“When things like that get thrown out there, that doesn’t hurt Billy Wagner,” Billy Wagner said, “that hurts Billy Wagner and his four kids and his wife and his foundation and his charities he does and the people around him, and to me that almost gives me the right to say, ‘You know what, I don’t have to talk to the media anymore if you’re going to mistreat me when I’m there every day.’ I don’t have to be there every day.”…Wow. But who exactly was it who called Wagner a racist, Mr. Kay wondered, as he had not heard anyone accuse Wagner of that? …Um . . . Skip Bayless

Best added:

SKIP BAYLESS?! Billy Wagner is fed up with the media and might close his colorful mouth because of something uttered by Skip Friggin’ Bayless?

There is plenty of enjoyment in Atlanta and Philly over the Mets recent misery. The guys over at The 700 Level.com go after David Wright:

Anyway, even the infallible David Wright is jumping on the suck train. Wright was doubled up at first base last night to end the game and the Mets fans don’t really know what to say.

The Atlanta fans who brought us the Mark Teixeria song are at it again. This time they set their sights on the guys who put together the Johan Santana song and Mets fans in general. Watch it if you must at MetsBlog.com

Non-Mets related but interesting from MLB.com:

Angels manager Mike Scioscia plans to meet with the team in Chicago when a three-game series opens Friday night to discuss Major League Baseball’s initiative to step up the game’s pace by implementing several rules designed to eliminate some dead time during games.

“Just clean up some things within the game,” Scioscia said of the effort to reduce the average time of game by a few minutes. “Umpires … will try to get pitchers to deliver within 12 seconds, get hitters in the batter’s box, trim down some time.

Today Jon Heyman of SI.com gives us a thorough break down of all the possibilities and probabilities of free agent to be Mark Teixeria. Heyman caps off his analysis with straight up odds. Where does he have our beloved Mets in the race for this no doubt highly coveted All-Star first baseman? Well, right behind the Yankees, who Heyman sees as the favorite. Heyman lists the Yankees at 3-2 and the Mets at 4-1 followed by Teixeria’s hometown Orioles at 8-1. Everyone else is 10-1 or worse. If you have any worries that Teixiera may have a problem coming to NY, forget it:

“I have family in New York.” (Teixeira’s sister Elizabeth Durastanti and her husband Nick live in Hoboken, N.J. and work in New York City.)…”I love it. I love coming here,” Teixeira said on a recent trip to New York. “I grew up in a big city. I went to college in a big city [Georgia Tech, in Atlanta]. I like having a lot of things to do.”

The fit, like Heyman points out is perfect for both NY teams so this could be a real battle between the Mets and Yankees for Teixiera’s services. If the Mets are players here this will be exciting watching this play out. Of course it’s not my money but this seems to be a no brainer for the Mets to go after him hard and I really hope they do. Heyman also writes that “Jeff Wilpon is said to have been a admirer of him for years.” Sounds good to me. Go gett’em Jeff.

SI.com Jon Heyman spoke with WFAN’s Mike and the Mad Dog:

Heyman spoke about the Carlos Delgado situation and sided with Delgado saying, “I don’t blame him, they (the fans) were beating on him all year so far.” “It’s tough to just forgive and forget that fast.”

Heyman was asked what Mets ownership thinks about all this?

Heyman said they are concerned, not that the fans don’t have the right but the negativity and the booing could scare off future free agents. Heyman said he thinks the Mets will go after Mark Texeira this off season. He added that the Mets are really only counting on Fernado Martinez from their farm system and they think that this situation could interfere with signing Texeira and other potential free agents.

Exactly, Heyman came across like he heard this stuff right from the horses mouth but whether he did or not, it’s common sense. Why would anyone want to “work” in an environment that reeks of negativity when there are other choices? Last time I checked the money is pretty good no matter where they land. Cmon fellow Mets fans lets make these guys feel welcome. You know, Root, Root, Root for the home team…

The Associated Press reports that the Braves and Mark Teixeira avoided arbitration, coming to terms on a $12.5 million, one-year contract.

Teixeira will be eligible for free agency at the end of the 2008 season.