Over the past five seasons, the New York Mets have underachieved as much as any team in baseball.
This year, despite owning the second-highest payroll in the majors, they have suffered more injuries to key players than any team in recent memory. General manager Omar Minaya can be blamed for many of the team’s former meltdowns and poor execution down the stretch, but injuries are simply out of his control.
Now, as the Mets sit 10 1/2 games behind the Phillies in the NL East and 6 1/2 games behind the Rockies for the wild card, just three days before the trade deadline, Minaya and Co. must decide if they are buyers or sellers. The decision may depend on the health of some of their regulars, which doesn’t look good, Metsblog.com reports.
According to the site, Carlos Beltran’s bone bruise isn’t getting any better, and the Mets’ center fielder needs at least another MRI before thinking about returning to the club.
Carlos Delgado, Billy Wagner and perhaps J.J. Putz won’t be back until August. Jose Reyes may be able to start a rehab stint next week, but there are no guarantees.
As if there’s time to spare. The Mets have 64 games remaining in ’09, and sit in eighth place in the NL wild-card race. That’s not very promising, considering the several millions of dollars and dozens of potential home runs, RBIs and stolen bases lined up at the team doctor’s door.
With such a miniscule chance at reaching October, it is tough to conceive that the Mets would actually be looking to upgrade their roster – more specifically their starting rotation – before Friday’s deadline. But because of the current market, it might behoove them to do so.
Assuming the Mets miss the ’09 playoffs, they will undoubtedly be looking to shore up their roster prior to 2010. The only problem is, there may not be very many options this winter. Depending on teams’ offseason decisions regarding certain player options, Jarrod Washburn and John Lackey may be the best available free-agent pitchers available. But with names like Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Ian Snell, Jon Garland and Zack Duke cluttering the trade waves (all of whom could be kept through at least 2010), perhaps the push toward the future begins now for Minaya’s Mets.
Deadline buyers’ sights are typically of the short-sighted variety. But in this economic climate, “typical” doesn’t always exist. The Mets could take advantage of such a screwy situation.
