MLB Trade Deadline: Mets Don't Make Any Trades, Can They Compete as Is?

The trading deadline has come and gone, many teams made moves to either help their club or plan for the future, but the Mets though, stood pat.

It was a mild surprise, considering GM Omar Minaya said earlier that he wasn't reluctant to make a move.

Before tonight's game against the Diamondbacks, Minaya spoke on the non-move saying due to not wanting to part with certain prospects and the Mets positioning in the standings, the right move was to do nothing.

The latter reason doesn't make much sense. The Mets aren't totally out of the race and they probably aren't going to get better before the non-waiver trading deadline. If standings were a reason, then a move should've been made.

No matter what the thought process was, the bottom line is, the Mets are entering the season's final two months with the same roster as the first four months.

That raises the question, can the Mets compete with the roster they currently have? That can't be answered one way or another right now.

There are too many "ifs" in their starting lineup. If Carlos Beltran can get his knees back to 100 percent and hit with power. If Luis Castillo can give the Mets anything batting mostly eighth. If rookie first baseman Ike Davis can do more than just hit home runs.

If the Mets can get anything consistently out of Jeff Francoeur in Jason Bay's absence, and if Jason Bay will ever live up to his 2010 contract.

In the rotation, once again, "ifs" are the theme. After Johan Santana pitched lights out for the month of July, he took a step back in his last start, giving up six first-inning runs to the Cardinals.

Mike Pelfrey has been a total wreck lately. An awful stretch of starts with a decent one in between.

The starting rotation ifs lie in the hands of Jon Niese and R.A. Dickey. Can Niese continue a solid rookie season and can Dickey continue to dominate with his knuckleball?

Then you look at the bullpen. Every bullpen in Major League Baseball is filled with "ifs." Francisco Rodriguez has been shaky, although a little better of late. Bobby Parnell, who seemingly won the eighth inning role, blew up in tonight's Mets win. Pedro Feliciano hasn't been as dominant as in past seasons.

So after evaluating every angle of the team, nobody knows how well or bad the Mets will play in August and September.

Omar Minaya could have put an end to most speculation by upgrading a position or two. It would have at least made the Mets as strong as can be entering the stretch run.

He chose not to do it, and now the Mets and their fans will hope the "ifs" lead to wins.