Luis Castillo

It's gone on for weeks now. What was a four-man competition that was supposed to be cut down by March 14 has now swelled to five men and is no closer to a conclusion.

Mets manager Terry Collins trots a different second baseman out every game, gives him two or three at-bats and then replaces him with another candidate for one or two at-bats.

On and on we go, and where it stops, nobody knows—not even Collins himself.

With less than three weeks before the New York Mets' Opening Day, the battle for second base rages on, and it appears that the two leading candidates emerging are the much maligned Luis Castillo and the resilient, but still learning, Daniel Murphy.

I'll start with Murphy.

When speaking about the competition for second base, New York Mets Manager Terry Collins said he wants to reduce the number of candidates by March 14.

Right now, the Mets have four players—Luis Castillo, Brad Emaus, Daniel Murphy and Justin Turner—trying to win a job as the Mets' starting second baseman.

Mets fans have wanted Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo off the team for a long time now.  They might get their wish very soon.  With all the negativity swirling around the Mets ownership with the Bernie Madoff situation, the team might be desperate to give the fan base something to be happy about.

New York Mets fans have been begging for Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez to be shipped out of Queens for a while now.  Both aging players have two of the worst contracts in the league, clearly not living up to their worth, and it will be almost impossible for the Mets to find a team that would take them in a trade.  That leaves the Mets with one option: cut both players.

Earlier today, New York Mets GM Sandy Alderson sat down with ESPN's Adam Rubin and addressed several of the issues surrounding the team heading into 2011.

Rubin is an excellent Mets writer and definitely asked the questions fans are most concerned about. Alderson, to his credit, answered all of them fairly well, but left a lot to the interpretation of the fans.

Despite the gripes of New York Mets fans, Luis Castillo will at the very least be in spring training this season vying for the starting second base job that he once possessed.

He no longer has the range of his younger self and has also lost a step or two on the base paths.

But the one thing about Castillo to keep in mind is that he is owed a ton of money in the final year of his contract. Omar Minaya signed Castillo to a four-year deal after the 2007 season.

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.

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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...

With the Winter Meetings in full swing, teams are scrambling to find pieces to add. The New York Mets held nothing back in telling fans that they wouldn't be big players in free agency, but would be bringing back players.