With three-fifths of the Mets starting rotation gone, the rumblings and rumors have begun. Mike Pelfrey and Johan Santana have been doing their part, but many feel that they are just not enough for the Mets to contend.
Jerry Manuel has been on and off the hot seat, the lineup has been up and down, and the bullpen has begun to wear down from being overused.
With all these issues, even GM Omar Minaya’s job security is on the line, so it would be wise to do whatever possible to save his job and keep the Mets from another disappointing season.
One move will not automatically change the Mets into contenders, but it will help dramatically.
Roy Oswalt has asked to be traded, and with the Mariners struggling and underachieving, people are wondering when they will throw in the towel and become sellers.
So with Oswalt available and the potential of Cliff Lee becoming available, let’s look at some of the pros and cons of both players.
Despite the Astros having a horrible season and despite his record at 2-6, Roy Oswalt is having a good year. He has a 2.66 ERA with 60 strikeouts.
His overall record is 139-76 with a career ERA of 3.21 and 1,533 strikeouts. He has pitched in the playoffs twice and once in the World Series.
The downside to Oswalt is he will turn 33 in August and has had a history of back issues and is under a big multi-year contract with a no-trade clause.
With Cliff Lee, he pitched great last year with the Phillies, especially in the playoffs and the World Series, shutting down the Yankees in Game One. He’s a former Cy Young winner who is younger than Oswalt. He turns 32 in August.
In Seattle, he hasn’t done as well as he could because of how poorly his team is playing, but if he came back to the National League, it would most likely help his numbers.
The downside with Lee is if you trade for him, it’s going to be a rental, meaning you will only have him for a few months because his contract is up at the end of this year.
A reason why that might not be too much of a risk for the Mets is that it will be an opportunity to get back at the Phillies for trading him to the Mariners in the first place.
If the Mets acquire Roy Oswalt and they fail this year, it wouldn’t be too bad because they will have him under contract next year.
With Lee, they would have to try hard to sign him before the year is through which may be likely because he’s been wanting to sign a long term deal.
He wants to settle down, so if he gets traded he may not want to sign elsewhere because that would mean he would have to go through that whole process of adjusting and moving.
The next question would be, what would the Mets have to give up in order to acquire one of those players?
If the Astros are not willing to eat any of Oswalt’s salary, that could help the Mets with the price of prospects, they wouldn’t have to give up as much.
With Lee, the Mariners gave up a lot to get him, so they are going to want to try their best to get back what they gave up in value.
But their best bet is to get a deal done as soon as possible because if they wait until it’s too close to the trade deadline, they may lose out and wind up like the Twins when they traded Santana.
Being that Lee will just be a rental, that doesn’t help the Mariners with their demands.
Who knows what the Mets are willing to do though? There are rumblings that Omar Minaya is telling executives that he deals with the fact that he doesn’t have the room to take on any salary.
Also with the Mets as of late, they hold on to their prospects and tend to think too much of them.
You would think that if Omar were trying to save his job or if he was really trying to save the season, then he would go out and get both regardless of who they had to give up.
The only one that should be an untouchable is Ike Davis; everyone else should be expendable. When you have the opportunity to have a rotation that consists of Santana, Pelfrey, and possibly Lee/Oswalt or even both, and you have the resources, then you should do whatever you can to make sure that happens.
But these are the Mets; the way things have been going with how the organization is being run, don’t expect too much.
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