Couldn't have said it better, managing MP is actually atrocious on red mage right now. Like OP said, you always end up losing MP even if you make use of lucid dreaming on cooldown, this has to be changed.
Another pet peeve of mine regarding this topic is that aside from weakness, TP users have no drawbacks whatsoever whenever they die. Meanwhile casters are punished even more than before, it makes no sense whatsoever.