Can the New York Mets Finally Make a Meaningful Deadline Deal?

As is always true around this time of year, the news feeds are full of trade rumors saying this player is going to that team, etc.  The Mets have found themselves in the middle of these talks for the past few years, but seem to be keeping quiet this season.  Maybe they feel like they're too far out already. 

Maybe I agree with them. 

There were some rumors that the Blue Jays offered up Roy Halladay, the stud that most of this year's rumors have been swirling around, for four of the Mets top prospects, but those rumors were squashed by the Mets organization.

If the offer were actually on the table, I felt that it was a mistake for the Mets not to jump on it, but there's no point in discussing it any further.

The truth is, except for what has been an emergency situation, the Mets have made a lot of noise, but not a lot of trades at the trade deadline in recent history.

Their just missing the World Series three seasons ago, followed by their major and minor collapses in the two seasons following leads one to wonder what may have been if the Mets actually pulled the trigger some of the deals that were discussed.

In 2008 at the deadline, the Mets were a game behind the first place Phillies, and a half game ahead of the third place Marlins. 

It was a three-team race up to this point, and the Mets had kept pace well.  Damion Easley was filling in for an injured Luis Castillo at 2B on most days, and was doing a great job.  Fernando Tatis was on fire at the plate playing left field. 

There were no glaring holes on the team that needed to be filled.  There were plenty of note worthy players available, including Jason Bay from the Pirates, and the player he was later traded for, Manny Ramirez.  It seemed that Mets GM Omar Minaya was very interested in Ramirez, but in the end was unable to make an offer good enough for the Red Sox. 

In a press conference following the end of talks between the Mets and the Red Sox, Minaya said, "What Boston was looking for we couldn't provide—a major league ready outfielder."

This lack of a major league ready outfielder in the farm system is pretty evident this year, with the Mets playing numerous different players in left field, and getting little to no success out of all of them. 

Minaya was also playing a waiting game regarding Pedro Martinez, Oliver Perez, and Carlos Delgado, who had options to leave the team at the end of the season, and wasn't in a rush to make any deal, claiming he saw no wisdom in picking up a rental player.

In 2007, the Mets bullpen was its Achille's Heel all season, and come trade deadline time, the teams main agenda was finding someone to bridge the gap between the starting pitchers and the closer, Billy Wagner.  The attention shifted approaching the break, to fill a void created by an injury, as Jose Valentin. 

The Mets were lucky enough to pick up their current second baseman, Luis Castillo for relative peanuts, giving up minor league players Drew Butera and Dustin Martin.  This shift in focus for a short period of time seemed to close the window on the Mets picking up the a reliever, although they were in the hunt for Eric Gagne up to the last minute. 

Just because the Mets didn't land anyone doesn't mean other teams didn't make deals for relievers, with Gagne, Octavio Dotel, Scott Linebrink, Scott Proctor, and Royce Ring all changing teams before the deadline. 

A major hurdle that ended talks on a lot of deals, was Omar Minaya's refusal to include top prospects Lastings Millidge, Fernando Martinez, and Carlos Gomez in any deals. 

Looking back, considering Martinez is the only one of the three left in the organization, trading them away for a reliever to strengthen the bullpen that was almost soley responsible for the greatest regular season collapse in Major League history may have been a good idea.

2006 was, in my opinion, the Mets best chance at a World Series title since the late '80s.

The Mets had one of the best teams in baseball.  They were 14 games up from the second place Phillies at the deadline, and were able to clinch the division in the middle of September with a 14.5 game lead and 12 games remaining.  The Mets were strong on all fronts, having an impressive line up and the best bullpen ERA in baseball. 

The top of the rotation was the only thing, in a lot of people's eyes, that could have been considered a weakness.  The team was majorly involved in talks to make a three team trade involving the Astros and Orioles that would land the Mets Roy Oswalt for Lastings Millidge. 

Talks were really heating up until one of the Mets bullpen stars, Duaner Sanchez went down with a freak injury following a car accident.  Suddenly the focus shifted to replacing Sanchez, and the Mets were forced to trade one of my favorite players that season, Xavier Nady to the Pirates for Roberto Hernandez and Oliver Perez. 

Losing Nady meant the Mets were going to be relying on Millidge to split time at one of the corner outfield spots, making trading him away an impossibility. 

Not having an extra starting pitcher in the rotation really hurt the team in the playoffs with Orlando Hernandez going down with an injury that kept him out for the rest of the post season.

Think about adding a pitcher of Roy Oswalt's caliber to the rotation to pitch two games in the NLCS instead of a guy like Steve Trachsel or John Maine in his rookie season.

It's easy to make these decisions looking back in hindsight.  The challenge comes when deciding to pull the trigger not knowing what's going to happen.  What will the Mets try and do this season?  Only time will tell.