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Preparing for life after Piazza in Flushing

The Mets are about to dismiss Mike Piazza's big contract and one-time big bat. His seven-year deal is expiring. That leaves the Mets with a lot of money and the need to find a run-producing menace.

There will be options. Huge-name options. But many of those starry players will be available on the trade market for a reason: They have flaws that their current teams have become leery of. Here are five of those players, and the pros and cons the Mets should be weighing as they wade into the winter:

CARLOS DELGADO

Pros: There is talk that the Marlins are going to face significant financial issues, and that they might have to deal the remaining three years at $47.5 million left on his contract. As opposed to most of his Marlin teammates, he excelled in the stretch; a fact made more positive because this was his first real pennant race. Playing in a big, NL ballpark did not deter him.

Cons: He is just an adequate defender. The biggest issue really is whether he has any desire to play in New York. The Mets were in the bidding until the end last offseason and, if they had signed him, they just might have won the NL East. But a feeling grew out of those negotiations that Delgado was just using the Mets to get the dollars up in Florida.

Will Omar Minaya resume his pursuit of Ramirez? (AP)

Fenway Park at about 4 p.m. on Sunday just might be the most interesting sports place of all of 2005.

Maybe it is just me that finds this staggering, if so forgive the indulgence. But Mike Piazza had 18 homers in 99 hits this year. Which means an automatic 18 runs. That leaves another 81 hits plus 40 walks plus two hit by pitches plus whatever number of times that he reached via error or the back end of a force play. Yet he had just 39 runs in all. Only two other players in history (Charles Johnson in both 1997 and '98, and Willie McCovey in 1975) had seasons in which they produced 18 or more homers, 40 or more walks and 100 or more hits and scored 45 or fewer runs.

There are moments when Robinson Cano or Chien-Ming Wang or Bubba Crosby or Aaron Small does something big in pinstripes and I wonder, who stole the damn Yankees.

Is Mike Jacobs the answer behind the plate in 2006? (AP)

If Mike Jacobs can catch at all, the Mets might have a pretty good offensive advantage at that position moving forward.

If you had not noticed, the best pitcher in the AL in the second half goes by the name of Jose Contreras: 10-2, 3.02 ERA.

What is Willie Randolph's infatuation with Miguel Cairo about?

Matt Lawton is a worse outfielder than Manny Ramirez.

Anderson Hernandez (13 at-bats, no hits, five strikeouts) did not exactly pull a Mike Jacobs upon his arrival, now did he?

Tom Glavine had permitted one homer in his last nine road starts. Hideki Matsui had not hit a road homer since July 24.

If Aaron Heilman and Roberto Hernandez were sharing closer duties, say, starting in mid-August, would the Mets still be vying for a playoff spot?

Take a bow Bernie Williams for a job well done.