Rumors have it the Mets would be willing to sign Ryan Ludwick to a two-year deal, for whatever that’s worth. Ludwick hits right-handed, has power, and plays the outfield, so he’d fill a lot of the Mets’ most pressing needs. And he’s coming off a very nice year for the Reds.

But Ludwick is 34 and only one season removed from being essentially a replacement-level player. Twitter fellow and thinking baseball human Marc Normandin suggested Ludwick especially struggles in pitchers’ parks, which seems difficult to prove but would explain why he cratered upon joining the Padres and revived his career in Cincinnati. And it doesn’t speak well for the Mets’ pursuit of Ludwick unless they plan on bringing the walls in even further.

Moreover, Ludwick is the success story I typically trumpet when arguing on behalf of so-called Quad-A mashers, guys who always seem to destroy Minor League pitching but never get prolonged looks in the Majors. Ludwick didn’t settle into the Cardinals’ lineup until he was 28, and the Cardinals were the fifth organization for which he played.

So it seems to me that the Mets would be better served trying to identify the next Ryan Ludwick rather than committing two years’ worth of guaranteed money to the current Ryan Ludwick. Somewhere, almost certainly, there’s a guy the Mets can have for nearly nothing who can serve as an effective right-handed half of an outfield platoon in the Majors. Maybe he’s not likely to hit as well as Ludwick did in 2007, but it’s far from a safe bet Ludwick will, either.

With some quick searching, I found my horse: Andrew Brown. The 28-year-old Brown notched 112 unspectacular at-bats with the Rockies in 2012, then elected free agency last week after the Rockies removed him from their 40-man roster. Brown bats right-handed, has experience in all four corners, and has hit .296/.373/.551 over the last two seasons in Triple-A with a .314/.416/.564 line against lefties.

Brown’s presented here more as an archetype of what the Mets should be looking for than a specific guy the Mets should be signing, and for all I know there are 10 teams currently bidding for Andrew Brown’s services. But if Brown’s looking for Major League playing time, it’s hard to figure a better spot for an unproven righty-hitting corner outfielder than Queens right now.

Naturally, this all flies out the window if the Mets trade for Wil Myers and re-sign Scott Hairston.

A few items of note:

Alderson asks for Bradley and Bogaerts: Sandy Alderson produced a lot of Internet LOLs and incredulity when he asked the Red Sox for prospects Xander Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley, Jr. in a trade for R.A. Dickey. But if you’re going by what Dave Cameron reasoned through yesterday, that is exactly what Alderson should be requesting for Dickey. Per Jonathan Mayo, Boegarts and Bradley are the Sox’ No.1 and 3 prospects, respectively. Asking for that much at the beginning of negotiations hardly implies any sort of dark Mets conspiracy to keep Dickey drawing fans to Flushing in 2012. Alderson’s merely setting the bar high, as he absolutely should. If the Sox ultimately counter-offer with one of those two guys and a couple of slightly lesser (but closer to Major League ready) prospects, maybe there’s a deal to be made.

Wil Myers deemed “flavor of the moment:” This isn’t to target Andy Martino, merely the lines of thought expressed in his Tweet that seem somewhat common among Mets fans and media. Thing is, sometimes the flavor of the moment is really good. Has anyone had the seasonal Coffee and Doughnuts custard at Shake Shack? Outstanding.

More importantly, I don’t know that the Royals’ apparent willingness to move Myers should necessarily imply anything about his prospects. For one thing, the Royals are the team that signed Jeff Francoeur to a three-year contract, so it’s difficult to attribute much logical thinking to their front office. For another, if they’re really dangling him for pitching, they’re only doing the same thing a lot of us want the Mets to do: Trying to deal from an organizational strength to address an organizational weakness. If the Mets are taking calls on Dickey and Jon Niese, does that mean they’re down on Dickey and Niese? Sure doesn’t seem that way.

Scott Hairston deems his return to Mets “probable:” Good. Hairston’s return seemed unlikely as recently as a few weeks ago, when the Yankees were supposedly hot and heavy for the outfielder. But Hairston fits the Mets’ needs as well as anyone, and if he could be had on a reasonable deal, he should have no trouble finding the at-bats and playing time he’s looking for at Citi Field. Hairston was the Mets’ second best hitter last year, and he seems to hit awesome home runs at the awesomest times.

Nats sign Dan Haren for one year, $13 million: Oof. Seems like a strong move for the already pitching-rich Nationals. There are some red flags surrounding Haren — his struggles and diminished fastball velocity in 2012 first among them. But Haren was one of the best pitchers in the Majors just a couple years ago, and he still pitched like a quality back-of-the-rotation starter this season — which is all the Nats really need him to be. The deal’s not unlike the one Edwin Jackson signed last offseason, benefiting the team as the pitcher tries to prove he’s worth a multi-year contract the next year. Haren’s got more upside than Jackson, though, and a rotation of Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez, Jordan Zimmerman, Ross Detwiler and Haren makes the Nats appear the early favorites to repeat in the N.L. East.

Everyone wants Dickey: Jon Heyman reports that at least eight teams have contacted the Mets about R.A. Dickey. Of them, it’s hard to find great fits beyond the ones we most frequently talk about — the Royals, Red Sox and Blue Jays. But there might be something to be done with the Dodgers, who have a whole slew of moderately interesting players at positions the Mets need who crushed the ball in Triple-A last year. None of them is terribly young, though, and the Dodgers’ Triple-A home in Albuquerque might be the best hitting environment in affiliated baseball.

Me talking about all this stuff: I’m calling in to MetsBlog Radio at 12:15 p.m. ET to talk Winter Meetings and whatever else comes up. Check it out.

Yeah, I can’t believe I’m making it either: Bobby Wilson is a 29-year-old backup catcher recently non-tendered by the Blue Jays. His career OPS is below the Ordonez Line. He doesn’t hit for much power and he’s never stolen a base. His offensive upside is, to put it kindly, very limited.

But unlike nearly everybody not named David Wright on the Mets’ current roster, he can hit lefties a little. Wilson’s got a .770 career OPS in the split, showing far more patience and power against southpaws — though it’s a puny sample. He’s hardly Kelly Shoppach or Ronny Paulino, but by pretty much all accounts the Mets aren’t interested in returning either of those catchers. And Wilson has been, for his career, far better against left-handed pitching than switch-hitting Jarrod Saltalamacchia and right-handed Matt Treanor, both of whom have been much better against right-handed pitchers in their careers.

Wilson also comes with a stellar defensive reputation, and the numbers — what few we have on catcher defense — back it up. Despite logging only 501 2/3 innings behind the plate in 2012, he ranked 10th of 116 catchers on the Getting Blanked Catcher Defense Ratings . And Wilson has thrown out baserunners at a slightly above average rate for his career.

It’s not optimal, obviously. But optimally the Mets would have buckets of money to throw around and could have made a run at Mike Napoli without hamstringing themselves for the long haul. And this assumes Wilson won’t cost much this offseason, what with his being a non-tendered backup catcher with a career .593 OPS.

But a platoon of Wilson and Thole, if they could both muster their career norms in the corresponding platoon splits, would give the Mets about a .720 OPS from their catchers. That’d be enough to put them right around the middle of the pack in the National League.

Naturally, that requires Thole to bounce back a bit and Wilson to maintain his small-sample split against lefties. And, again, it’s not like Bobby Wilson is going to come to Flushing and turn into an All-Star. But it seems like a way better plan than giving up anything of value for Saltalamacchia or J.P. Arencibia, or signing Treanor.