smg58

Bannister, Brian 5 Delgado, Carlos 10 Floyd, Cliff 0 Glavine, Tom 10 Heilman, Aaron 4 Hernandez, Orlando 2 Maine, John 6 Milledge, Lastings 8 Trachsel, Steve 2 Valentin, Jose 5

And they STILL can't find room for Ryan Freel in today's starting line-up. If Valentin tails off I'd be on the phone with them very quickly. They can obviously be had.

The Reds/Nats deal is the kind of trade I'd veto in the Fantasy League. Righty relievers with a 3.58 ERA in a pitchers' park are not difference makers. Clayton for Lopez is an enormous downgrade. I've always thought Kearns was overrated, but a lot of teams desired him in the offseason who probably assumed he wasn't available right now. So I guess the deals for Arroyo and Ross were more dumb luck than the Reds' GM knowing something the rest of us didn't.

As did I.

Edgy DC wrote: There also seems the notion that the Mets would rather not, with their cushy lead, create the turmoil of disrupting the pen to find a starter. Another case of fighting the fire with a containment strategy. Right. Besides Heilman, I think Oliver earned a shot at starting last night.

The Marlins have to be thinking that they're contenders in 07 if they stand pat. Their payroll would shoot up to what, $25M? Loria would need to be removed from the league if he refuses to handle that, especially if that means dealing his best pitcher to his team's primary competitor for next year. Willis is staying in Florida, Zito won't move until the offseason, please move on.

Florida got pounded yesterday too. We have a 10.5 game lead on some bad clubs. There's no reason to think like this right now. That being said, it would be nice if the Mets started playing better...

Zvon wrote: It could have been worse-Byrd was removed from the game earlier, but---AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW - that just sucked anal fudge. Of course it could be worse. You could own Wickman.

I'm worried that whoever wins in the NL will get swept again in the Series. The AL is smacking down the NL across the board, and it's certainly not just the Mets. I do think the Mets at least need another pitcher for when they get to the playoffs -- anybody worried about the playoffs not happening should look at how the rest of the division has been doing -- but Valentin has earned at least another month at second. I still think patience with Milledge will be heavily rewarded, but he goes down when Floyd is ready, which will hopefully be this weekend. As for which pitcher to look at, I don't know right now. I'm not sure why Barry Zito's name keeps popping up in rumors when the A's are in first place. He's not going anywhere.

OMG it's THAT John Gibbons? I'd never even made the connection. I got the sense yesterday that the Mets didn't have a scouting report on Janssen's pickoff move. First he nailed Reyes, and then he almost got somebody at second

A few major parts of the Sox 86 WS team -- and of course one major part for the Mets as well. Did Cal play any shortstop before he got to the bigs?

Has anybody heeard anything specific regarding Floyd? Heilman had better get his best suff back and FAST. Hopefully the Sanchez injury is not as bad as it looked last night, but it did not look good at all.

On the other hand, the team they just swept was the Pirates...

He's fact for now. I'm worried that he'll continue to play well for the next six weeks and then reality with strike hard immediately after the deadline. As it stands I'd keep the phone lines open about deals, but I'm in no hurry to make one.

Johnny Dickshot wrote: With our luck the Braves trade John Smoltz back to the Tigers in return for a young guy nobody ever heard of who summarily racks up a few hundred wins and saves and becomes the one constant in 11 or 12 consecutive title-winning teams. What's really disturbing is I could see that happening.

Elster88 wrote: The problem with Verducci's argument is we don't really know if Reyes scores so much because he is so fast or because we have some thumpers behind him in the order. I think it's more about his speed, and not Belgadight, but I don't know of a statistical way to prove it. He scored 99 last year, without Delgado and with Beltran and even Wright not hitting like this, while getting on base less often. This year, he's on pace for 139. I think you could argue that the 99 he scored last year had more to do with speed than anything else, but the 40 he's on pace to add have multiple sources. Also keep in mind that the important thing about OBP, especially from the guy getting the most plate appearances, is not so much what it adds to an individual's run total but to the team's as a whole. Runners get advanced, outs are avoided, rallies are prolonged, more AB's come with more guys on base.

That one's a mind-boggler, to be sure. His pitching so far would be equivalent to Milledge having something like an 1.100 OPS, and I can't imagine Milledge would return to Norfolk if he were doing that. How well did the guy have to pitch? The Angels are suffering from being too old at some spots and too young at others, but I just don't see how demoting a kid who's doing that well benefits the team either in the short term or long term.

I had to take Valentin. I think he's exceeding realistic expectations more than anybody else, although Sanchez and Chavez come close. I'm impressed by the spread in the votes, though.

Payton is in Oakland. Kenny Rogers is in Detroit. The NL West is wide open, so there's a chance we'll see Piazza or Benitez in October.

Nicely done. The O's have a decent lineup, but that rotation... Benson appears to be their ace, which tells you everything you need to know.

They've played both for and against the Mets in the postseason?

Even if the Mets do stumble a bit, I really don't see who in the NL East can make a run at them. We've seen how good the Phillies are. Atlanta can play a little better than they've been doing, but I see no eveidence that they can play a lot better. As for Florida, I figured they'd get better as the season wore on -- they have the second most total talent in the division. If they keep Cabrera and Willis, they'll be reasonably competitive the rest of the way.

Unless Monroe can't get healthy, I don't see any urgent need for Detroit to pick up Floyd. Yes their line-up is very righthanded, but who sits to make room for Floyd? I could see a three-team deal, but otherwise the only major leaguer I could see the Tigers parting with is Todd Jones, who wouldn't help the Mets as a setup guy. It wouldn't make sense for the Mets to get prospects, unless somebody who has a major league player the Mets could use would want the Tigers' prospects.

I've made all the same observations you have, will. I think it's natural that what you think is a fair offer will look pricey to somebody else, and vice versa. It's not always easy to figure out how everybody else values other players, especially the younger guys, plus I'm sure we all follow our own team's players more closely than we do the rest of the league (excluding Mets, obviously). People also tend to look to buy low, and grab guys when they think their value is down. I've gotten several offers for Mike Young, for example. None looked particularly good to me, but I look to buy low too so I don't take it personally. A lot of times I'll throw something out just to get a sense of a person's interest in dealing or acquiring a particular player; if they counter-offer, I know I'm warm. I've haggled with a few people, which is fun even if nothing comes of it. Yes, I do get the sense that some people don't follow along that closely (or in the case of Valadius, at all). But most people check in at least once a week. I have a pretty good idea at this point of who'll respond quickly and who won't. (PS the overwhelming majority of my trade offers have been rejected. Some of which -- i.e., potential deals several weeks ago that involved Ichiro or Liriano -- I am quite happy were rejected.)

Beltran has always been a streak hitter, with the streaks being of the phenomenal variety. He had one at exactly the right time down the strectch and through the playoffs in 04. Last year he simply didn't have one. I don't know if it's a good idea to read more into it than that. But if the current streak lasts long enough for Delgado and Floyd to get their averages back up, I really don't see the Mets losing this year.