New York Mets Roll Into All Star Break and Second Half

The New York Mets are on some kind of roll lately, winning nine straight games and pulling within a half game of the Phillies.  The Amazings go into the unofficial end of the first half of the season with a winning record, 51- 44, and they are now 17 and 9 under new manager Jerry Manuel. 

With all these good things going on for the Mets, they now find themselves in a little dilemma, do they buy or try to sell at the all star break?

Sitting seven games over .500 and only a half game out of first place in the division, the Mets can certainly not sell.  First off, who would they sell if they did? 

You can certainly get a lot for Wright and Reyes, but they are the future of the franchise, so they won't be going anywhere for a long time.  You can think about trading Beltran or Santana, but after you start thinking about it you can soon forget it, those two players were brought here to help win, and you certainly won't get enough value back for them, unless you can somehow pull off a young outfielder like Carlos Gomez and a stud young pitcher like Scott Kazmir you can't possibly trade either of them. 

You can trade a Wagner, Heilman, or Delgado, but are you really going to get enough back for them? It might be better to keep them and make a run at the playoffs. 

Mike Pelfrey shouldn't even be talked about in trades and anyone who ask for him should be hung up on, the kid is finally coming into his own and having him with Santana and Maine for years to come could be very devastating to teams in the National League East and the rest of the league. 

So, the Mets can't sell, they shouldn't because they are still in this thing, and basically have nothing to give up that they can get greater value for.

The Mets can certainly think about trading for some more talent, and Omar Minaya can work the phones like crazy.  Though, if you aren't trading Pelfrey, or young prospect Fernando Martinez, then the Mets don't have enough to go out and get a big bat to really put them over the top. 

I would love to see Adam Dunn, Carlos Lee, or Matt Holliday, but the Mets don't have enough in the farm system that other teams really like other then those two players which should really be untouchable. 

So, the Mets are going to have to get creative to try and find power and ability without giving up a lot of talent.  Omar Minaya has had his ups and downs but if he can somehow figure out a way to get a left fielder with some pop into Shea this year, then well he would earn his paycheck and more. 

One guy I do not want to see playing left field for the Mets is Barry Bonds.  The guy is not a sure thing up at the plate anymore and might be worse then Alou in the field, not to mention all the attention he will bring, and that is something the Mets do not need going into the second half after riding a nine game win streak into the second half.

Omar and Manuel need to sit down during this days off and try to really think what they need to make this run to the division title and playoffs complete.  They are so close, and should not think about unloading contracts or players for prospects and financial space. 

The Mets need to think about a player or two that might not be as big as Holliday or Dunn, but can help take pressure off guys like Tatis and Easley.  After the inconsistently  for the first couple months and the way Willie was fired, the Mets are back on track with this nine game winning streak. 

The thing is the season's only half over now, now comes the second half, which last year, they went into it being dominant and came out of it being a bunch of chokers.  Hopefully this year they will come out of the second half as the most dominant team, not only in division, not only in National league, but all of Baseball and give Shea Stadium one last good memory.