What You See is What You Get

By Jack Flynn
Posted Wednesday, July 30, 2008

T-D minus 36 hours and counting.

The Major League Baseball trade deadline is drawing near, and Mets general manager Omar Minaya’s window to import additional parts for the 2008 stretch run is rapidly beginning to close. When the clock strikes 4:00 on Thursday afternoon, a critical juncture in the season will have passed – the ability for general managers to make a trade without all parties involved having to clear waivers first.

Impatient Mets fans, of course, are clamoring for their general manager to do something, anything, to fortify the team for what is shaping up to be a three-team race in the National League East. Fans can be forgiven for thinking that Minaya has to bring in a reliever or a corner outfielder to strengthen the Mets’ roster to guarantee playoff baseball in October.

The problem is that in today’s game, with three different pennant races for division crowns and a wild card up for grabs for the losers, only the very worst teams in baseball end up playing the role of sellers as the trade deadline approaches. More teams end up fighting for fewer available players, and teams without a cache of prospects in their minor leagues usually end up going home empty-handed.

That’s why 2008 is shaping up to be a dud for Mets fans expecting a deadline deal – there are precious few options remaining for a team with a nearly barren farm system and no inclination to trade major league talent to fill their holes.

This doesn’t stop the dreamers from dreaming, of course. I had to laugh on Tuesday afternoon when, on the road for a mid-afternoon drive, a radio talkie was insisting that the Mets simply had to add Colorado Rockies’ reliever Brian Fuentes to their bullpen. This despite the fact that there isn’t a team in baseball that couldn’t use more relief pitching, and Fuentes is generally considered the best reliever on the market.

It’s a sentiment that Met fans across the city would surely echo – until they stopped to think about what the Mets have to offer Colorado in exchange. The Rockies would surely take outfielder Fernando Martinez in exchange for Fuentes, but the Mets aren’t about to give up the last blue-chip prospect in their entire system for a pending free agent set-up man. Colorado would probably be less enthused about a deal including starter Jon Niese, but there’s no indication the Mets are willing to give up the best pitching prospect in their minor-league system either.

Other than those two players, the Mets have very little to offer prospective trading partners. Unless Rockies’ GM Dan O’Dowd takes momentary leave of his senses and accepts a passel of B-level prospects for Fuentes, the Mets will easily be outbid by a team with a deeper farm system.

(This assumes the Rockies will even move Fuentes; despite being 12 games under .500, the Rockies are incredibly still in shouting distance of first place in the National League West. Mediocre teams – and their fans – are too often seduced into believing that a .500 record or a 6.5 game deficit means they are nevertheless playoff contenders, and end up acting accordingly in the trade market.)

It’s the same story for every other potential trade target; once you get past Martinez, Niese and maybe Double-A reliever Eddie Kunz, there’s not much else for the Mets to offer selling teams. Two other players believed to be objects of New York’s affections – Xavier Nady and Casey Blake – were already shipped out last week, before the Mets could attempt to make a competitive offer.

At this point in time, Raul Ibanez, the Seattle outfielder in the final year of his contract, seems to have the best chance of being a Met on August 1. Ibanez is 36 and playing well for a Mariners team going absolutely nowhere in the American League West. A mortal lock to put up a .350 OBP and a batting average between .280 and .300, media reports have suggested that the Manhattan native Ibanez would welcome playing in New York down the stretch.

The Ibanez rumors have had staying power in the last seven to 10 days, but that seems to have more to do with the Mets needing Ibanez than the Mariners wanting Met prospects. Don’t be surprised if he is still in a Mariners’ uniform on Thursday night.

Are there any other outfield options? Forget about pie-in-the-sky whisperings about Boston Red Sox slugger Manny Ramirez – Boston won’t trade him without significant major league talent coming in exchange. Manny has become Minaya’s “white whale” in recent years, but any Ramirez trade would necessitate at least one more non-contending team and there just doesn’t seem to be enough time to put something together. Even if the Mets got a team like the Pirates to include someone like Jason Bay in the trade, who on earth could the Mets possibly offer those teams to make it worth their while?

The San Diego Padres have an intriguing option in Brian Giles, but talks seem to be going nowhere as well. Giles would like very nice in a Mets’ lineup nestled between Jose Reyes and David Wright, and it’s hard to imagine why Padres’ GM Kevin Towers wouldn’t want to trade a late 30s corner outfielder with a $9-million option for 2009, but no team seems particularly close to striking a deal.

Maybe next year, if some of the intriguing prospects in the lower levels of the Mets’ farm system start garnering national attention, they’ll have the horses to make an important deadline deal. But when it comes to the 2008 Mets – what you see is very likely what you’re going to get.