Lennon's analysis: Mets' situation is not pretty

During the first week of September, in the midst of the whole Walter Reed episode, one Met posed a rhetorical question: What were Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo still doing on the major-league roster?

Beyond collecting a paycheck, nothing really, and that was the point. The mentality of keeping an overpaid player around, no matter how useless, not only hurt the Mets' chances to win on the field but damaged the psyche of the club.

So as the Mets look to interview candidates for their soon-to-be-vacant general manager position, they must be ready to swallow hard and get ready for some difficult truths about their wounded franchise.

For any potential GM, the first order of business will be to dump Perez and Castillo - total cost: $18 million - and figure out how to mend fences with Francisco Rodriguez and Carlos Beltran.

Even if the Mets are able to recoup more than $3 million from Rodriguez for missing the final month of the season, will K-Rod be OK with the team's efforts to void his contract?

The next GM also should be prepared to have little money to spend this offseason. The Mets, already at $130 million in payroll because of built-in raises for 2011, will lean heavily on youngsters to fill key spots.

Manager Jerry Manuel knows this better than anyone, and after watching the cracks develop in this year's team, he has a better understanding of what needs to be done to fix them. But Manuel won't be around to benefit from this winter's reconstruction.

"I kind of feel like it's close," Manuel said. "But obviously some things have to be added and some things have to be subtracted."

As far as additions go, the Mets are unlikely to be players for any of the big-name free agents this offseason, so scratch Cliff Lee, Carl Crawford and Japanese pitching phenom Yu Darvish off the list.

With Angel Pagan solidifying himself as an everyday centerfielder, maybe the next GM can get creative in swinging a deal for Beltran. But that probably won't happen until the 2011 season is under way because questions about his health linger.

Throw in Johan Santana's shaky status for next year after shoulder surgery - the Mets would be lucky to have him before the All-Star break - and the outlook becomes bleaker.

One Mets official expressed confidence that rounding up a list of candidates will not be difficult, but given the magnitude of the problem in Flushing, it's probably not suited for an assistant GM from somewhere else looking for the Mets' top position.

The Diamondbacks' Jerry DiPoto has Mets ties as a former pitcher for the organization, but he recently lost out on the Arizona GM job to Kevin Towers, who should have been the Mets' biggest priority.

Former Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes would bring some new energy and sabermetric appeal, but it's uncertain if he could handle running the whole show with the Mets.

The best option would be to hire a proven commodity such as John Hart, Sandy Alderson or Gerry Hunsicker and turn the entire baseball operation over to their experienced hand. That's uncharted territory for the Wilpons, who have not gone outside the organization for a GM without Mets ties since they hired Frank Cashen in 1980.

Cashen, of course, was the architect of the Mets' last world championship team in 1986, but ownership was patient enough to wait for his rebuilding process to pay off. These days, however, patience is in short supply as the Mets compete with the Yankees for attention and their attendance continues to drop.

Current general manager Omar Minaya said last month that the Mets aren't that far removed from being a contender again. The Wilpons probably agree, with the money they've spent on his behalf. But the Mets' problems aren't going to magically vanish with the departures of Manuel and Minaya, and a couple of new hires won't change that. Not in time for next season, anyway.