Most things are looking up for the Metropolitans these days. By reeling off 10 wins in a row recently, the Mets have gotten themselves back into the thick of the NL East race. Carlos Delgado has rediscovered his stroke after a horrid start, the emergence of Mike Pelfrey and the re-emergence of Oliver Perez has solidified the rotation, and the bullpen is performing much better under new pitching coach Dan Warthen and the more adept bullpen management of new manager Jerry Manuel.

But the one place the Mets still have a gaping hole is in the outfield, where scrapheap find Fernando Tatis is manning right field and bench-player-at-best Endy Chavez has been pressed into fulltime service in left. This unfortunate situation has arisen due to the ailments of Moises Alou (which should have been foreseen), and the continuing concussion woes of Ryan Church (which the Mets badly exacerbated by rushing him back).

But regardless of the cause of the situation, something needs to be done, as the Mets can ill afford to miss out on offensive production from crucial corner spots in such a tight three-way race in the East. While it’s true that Church may eventually come back (possibly as soon as next week), and that Tatis may keep up his strong hitting (Alou on the other hand, is done for the year), the Mets can not afford to gamble on both of those things happening, and should go out and acquire a corner outfielder before the deadline.

Fortunately for the Mets, several of those appear to be available.

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So the Social Security set of Major League Baseball continues to rake it in.

On the heels of the Dodgers throwing $18.5 million for two years at old-for-his-age Nomar Garciaparra (a rickety 33), other teams continue to add past-their-prime stars to their rosters.

Greying Mike Mussina (38) re-upped with the Yankees for a slightly less than he was making before ($23 million for two years, as compared with $88.5 million over six).

The Mets have hired Moises Alou (40) for the year, paying him $8.5 million for his services at the plate and in left field. And in a formality, they declined their option on Tom Glavine (41), who is vacillating between staying in New York and going home to Atlanta. Earlier this year, they re-signed Orlando Hernandez (41) and Jose Valentin (37), and added Damion Easley (37) to their bench. Next to fellow benchwarmer Julio Franco, these veterans all look like mere pups. The first baseman (and 1990 All-Star Game MVP!) is 48.

The Reds signed lefty reliever Mike Stanton (39) to a $5 million, two-year deal with a $2.5 mill option for 2009. And, of course, the Tigers earlier gave up young pitching for 38-year old Gary Sheffield, while rumors continue to swirl around 42-year old Barry Bonds.

That makes the biggest deal to get finalized this offseason, Alfonso Soriano’s $136 million with the Cubs, also the youngest. The infielder-turned-outfielder is just a couple months shy of his 31st birthday and will be 39 when his deal with the Cubbies runs out. (Though, as Nick pointed out, he hits like he’s ten years younger, so maybe the Cubs were just confused. Or drunk.)