Kuzul

This just in: The New York Mets are unwatchable on days that Matt Harvey isn’t pitching.

Terry Collins is working with a lineup that, on any given night, has six or seven automatic outs sprinkled in among a couple of major league hitters. David Wright and Co.—though this is no fault of the captain’s—are 28th in the league in hitting and last in on-base percentage, a part of the game that Collins and Sandy Alderson have attempted to make of paramount importance.

His pitching staff, outside of the aforementioned phenom and the sporadic, solid Jonathon Niese start, has been abysmal. The team is 7-2 in games started by Harvey, and 9-22 in others. Outside of Harvey, everyone has been serving up a nice buffet of batting practice and gopher balls.

No team in baseball swoons like the Mets swoon. Their slides are a perfect storm of anemic hitting and pathetic pitching.

But, just as all teams do every summer, the Mets have an opportunity to make improvements at the trade deadline. The team has sat idly by as the deadline has come and gone these last few seasons. Even a marginal improvement is necessary this time around.

While it may be two months before the trade deadline, it’s never too early for speculation. Here are four possible trades the Mets could make in late July.

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The New York Mets are less than two weeks into spring training 2013, but it isn’t too early to tell which players are set to outperform others down in Port St. Lucie.

Over the next month, Terry Collins and Sandy Alderson will have to make decisions on tough roster moves and position battles. The manager and the general manager will need to find a blend of experienced veterans who can mesh well with the variety of prospects the Mets have at their disposal.

The Mets still have some split-squad games to get through, and probably a few more tune-ups against some college teams before spring training is actually in full swing. As the spring progresses, the team and fanbase will be enlightened as to who the top prospects in the system actually are.

But for now, we’ll play the guessing game. Here you can find the Mets prospects destined to have a great spring.

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General manager Sandy Alderson and the New York Mets have been taking a lot of flak lately for the absence of major league talent on the roster as the organization forges on with its painstaking rebuilding period.

Fans on all platforms are arguing that this team isn’t heading in the right direction and won’t be any better off in a few years than it was in recent memory. But Alderson and the front office have a counter-argument in the form of the prospects in the minor league system—most notable the pitching prospects.

Alderson has a slew of young arms at his proposal. And while many of them aren’t live arms, they will be in the near future.

The San Francisco Giants showed the league that pitching is paramount in the quest to win the World Series, and the Mets are following that formula. Pitching will be the Mets’ strong point for the better part of the next decade, especially when the spacious dimensions of Citi Field are taken into account. 

Obviously, some pitching prospects have a higher upside than others. Which pitching prospects on the Mets have the highest upside? We’ll determine that here.

Matt Harvey

One could argue that Matt Harvey is no longer a prospect after making his debut against the Arizona Diamondbacks on July 26. The truth is that this kid has made less than a third of a season’s worth of starts (10), and there is plenty still left to the imagination.

As he showed at Chase Field when he punched out 11 D’Backs in just 5.1 innings on the hill, Harvey has the potential for greatness. He was the first of the New York Mets trio of young pitching prospects to reach the majors and did well to shatter the notion that the Mets were in for another Generation-K-like scenario.

Harvey’s plusses far outweigh his minuses, and his upside starts with his size. At 6’4″, 225 pounds, Harvey figures into the Mets’ future plans as a workhorse starter—a guy who can take the field every fifth day and rack up seven-plus effective innings.

The 23-year-old righty posted a 10.6 K/nine innings last season but proved to be raw at times. According to Fangraphs.com, he threw his fastball nearly two-thirds of the time. With a full spring training under his belt, Harvey’s newfound polish should show itself when he begins to incorporate his slider, curveball and change up more often into his repertoire. 

His upside is high—very, very high—but he’ll need to show better command of all of his pitches down the line. Last season, Harvey issued a free pass in every game and walked three or more in 60 percent of his starts.

Harvey is tailored almost perfectly to Citi Field’s cavernous outfield. During the month of August, in which he made five starts, Harvey either struck out the hitter (31) or induced a fly ball (54) 85 times compared to just 29 induced grounders.

The strange thing is that he allowed three of his five homers at home and the other two at Petco Park, a field that rivals Citi Field in size. It could just be bad luck, but a larger sample size will help determine if it is.

Either way, Mets fans should be elated that the organization developed a prospect that burst onto the scene the way Harvey did.

Zack Wheeler

While Harvey is teetering on either side of the “prospect line,” Zack Wheeler is firmly supplanted as one of the top prospects in all of Major League Baseball. His skill set and physical tools are so rare and valuable that MLB.com ranked him as the fourth-best pitching prospect in the league, and eighth-best overall.

By all accounts, Wheeler had one of the best seasons of any minor league starting pitcher in 2012. He went 12-8 in 25 starts, posted a 3.26 ERA across two levels of play, struck out 148 batters in 149 innings and shot up 20 spots on MLB.com’s rankings from pre-2012 to pre-2013.

His bread and butter is undoubtedly going to be his two-seam fastball. He doesn’t have any issues rearing back and burning it in somewhere around the mid-90s. It bites hard into right-handed hitters and gets the lefties flailing at it running away. His two-seamer doesn’t just show late movement, but constant, increasing tail as it approaches the plate.

There have been some questions regarding his mechanics and how his motion could put extra stress on his arm. Although he is just as tall as Harvey, Wheeler weighs about 40 pounds less.  Combine his wiry frame with less than ideal mechanics and you’ve got a recipe for a franchise-demoralizing disaster. 

 Until then, some Mets fans won’t enjoy watching his wiry right arm snap 100 times a game, but he’s just 22 years old, meaning that he should fill out significantly in the future.

Wheeler’s main strength is that he’s ahead of the curve. He’s so young, but more often than not shows that he has the stuff to be a top-tier starter in this league.

The sky’s the limit with this kid.

Noah Syndergaard

Ah, Noah Syndergaard—the 20-year-old righty that everybody has heard so much about but nobody really knows anything about.

He was a bit of an ancillary piece in the R.A. Dickey to Toronto trade, but he’s anything but a secondary player. Travis d’Arnaud took the cake as the prized possession of that swap, but Syndergaard has the potential to be special.

Wheeler and Harvey get the credit for being power pitchers and missing bats, but Syndergaard will be looked at as the real power guy as he gets closer to the big league club. He started 19 games last season (plus eight relief appearances), threw 103.2 innings and whiffed 122 opposing batters with the Lansing Lugnuts (Single-A).

Syndergaard‘s older counterparts on this list have dealt and are dealing with control issues, but the former first-round pick hasn’t been plagued by the like. He walked just 31 batters to finish with a K/BB ration of nearly four and posted a 1.08 WHIP in 2012.

His fastball comes in more or less around the mid-90s, which is impressive for a guy who is nearly six months removed from his teenage years, but it’s his breaking ball that makes the difference. His fastball is a plus pitch, and will remain so if all goes according to plan, but it’s the presence of a solid breaking pitch that can change up the speed and throw off hitters’ rhythm.

At 6’5″, Syndergaard is going to be throwing down on hitters. He should pack on some bulk to his 200-pound frame as he climbs through the ranks—and with that bulk, more velocity will come.

If things go well for Syndergaard, Wheeler and Harvey, Mets fans won’t be complaining about this rebuilding period come 2015.

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New York Mets general manager Sandy Alderson poked fun at his disaster of an outfield during the offseason. The New York Daily News’ John Harper tweeted the following after Alderson failed to reel in center fielder Michael Bourn:

Mets’ people kept telling me Alderson wouldn’t have been making jokes about OF if he wasn’t sure he’d get a good one. So much for that.

— John Harper (@NYDNHarper) February 12, 2013

Forget the fact that Alderson‘s cavalier attitude toward acquiring an above-average outfielder this winter doesn’t look great in the eyes of the fanbase. Forget that the only remaining free agent worth signing had his pick of two clubs at the same salary and job security and chose to play with the Cleveland Indians over the Mets. Forget the fact that the fans have been looking to the future for the better part of the last decade.

But it’s unforgettable that the New York Mets will be working with any miscellaneous three from a group consisting of Lucas Duda, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Mike Baxter, Brian Bixler, Andrew Brown, Collin Cowgill, Jordany Valdespin, Matt den Dekker and whoever creeps up from the minor leagues from now until September.

Alderson‘s Mets are devoid of a proven, major league caliber outfielder who can play on a daily basis. Bourn was Sandy’s final chance to have something to hang his hat on this offseason, but he spent too much time dawdling over whether Bourn was worth a No. 11 pick.

Arguments can be made for both sides.

Bourn‘s main asset is speed. He’s 30 years old with plenty of speed to get by on, but would the Mets be happy paying him $12 million with four more years of mileage in 2016?

But $12 million per year can easily be construed as a bargain in today’s MLB. At that price, Bourn will slide in between Shane Victorino—who signed a three-year, $39 million deal with the Boston Red Sox this season—and Jacoby Ellsbury, who will make $9 million in the last year of his contract (via spotrac.com).

This year’s outfield class has evaporated, and next year’s isn’t particularly attractive either.

Ellsbury and Curtis Granderson—who will be 33 in 2014—are the top two center fielders in the 2014 class. The market for left fielders will resemble a vast wasteland of aging, washed-up talent. The crop of right fielders is marginally more attractive, with Corey Hart (32 in 2014), Hunter Pence (31 in 2014) and Nelson Cruz (33 in 2014) leading the way, barring contract extensions or otherwise (via mlbtraderumors.com).

That means the Mets have two options to re-build the outfield: wait until at least 2016 for prospect Brandon Nimmo to develop or make a trade that can yield an above-average starting outfielder.

But the Mets need trade bait to attract potential trade partners. That’s where Ike Davis comes in.

Before the tender sentiments start gushing and riots break out over the thought of trading a player who was the Mets’ most productive hitter in the second half of 2012, remember that this baseball is a business—and the Mets have been operating more like a business than a baseball team over the last five seasons.

Despite falling flat to start the season, Davis proved to be the anchor in the lineup after David Wright fell off his scorching pace following the All-Star break. Davis managed just five home runs and 21 RBI in April and May, but wound up finishing with 32 homers and 90 RBI.

Davis, a 25-year-old first baseman with home run power, gap power and respectable defense, would be worthy of a productive starting outfielder. While his presence in the lineup would be missed this season, a player that could serve as a replacement is being groomed in Port St. Lucie at the Mets’ spring training facility.

Wilmer Flores has been lauded for his ability to hit for power and average since he joined the Mets system as a 16-year-old neophyte from Valencia, Venezuela. The 21-year-old hit .300 with 18 homers and 75 RBI in St. Lucie (A+) and Binghamton (AA) last season—an exciting line for someone so young.

The problem is that Flores doesn’t have a position. He played shortstop in rookie ball, A-ball and high A-ball from 2008 to 2011 before moving to second base and third base in 2012, spending the majority of his time at the latter.

Flores is 6’3″ with a Miguel Cabrera-esque frame. Scouts within the organization presumably aren’t blind to this fact and have him concentrating on second and third base in spring training. Flores also notched seven games at first base last season, an extremely small amount, but a permanent transition to first wouldn’t be a bad idea if Alderson were to evaluate the league’s interest in Davis. 

Limited experience at first base would obviously be an obstacle for Flores, but the transition has been made before. His maximum potential at the plate won’t be fully realized until he polishes his skills, but he would offer similar power (once he matures), a higher average and less strikeouts than Davis.

Eliminating the massive shortcomings in the outfield should take precedent over retaining a first baseman with a power bat. Davis may be able to hit home runs and drive runners in, but his one spot in the lineup won’t compensate for the lack of production out of the last three spots in the lineup.

Six, seven and eight will be a black hole for the Mets. Factor in the pitcher’s spot and Terry Collins is going to have four automatic outs in the back end of his lineup.

No team can win like that.

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The question over whether the Tampa Bay Rays would be buyers or sellers leading up to the July 31 MLB non-waiver trade deadline hasn’t been definitively answered yet, but the organization just added a new player.

According to Tampa Bay Times‘ writer Joe Smith, the Rays have acquired some infield help from the Arizona Diamondbacks:

#Rays have acquired INF Ryan Roberts from Arizona for Double-A INF Tyler Bortnick. Roberts will be here tommorrow.

— Joe Smith (@TBTimesRays2) July 25, 2012

Joe Maddon and the Rays are 8.5 games behind the New York Yankees for first place in the American League East, but just 2.5 back of the Detroit Tigers and Oakland Athletics for the second wild-card spot.

While the Rays appear to be bringing in extra talent in hopes of making a late-season playoff push, the Diamondbacks and general manager Kevin Towers haven’t given much indication as to which direction they are headed.

Roberts was designated for assignment (via The Tampa Bay Times) and comes to Tampa looking for a fresh start in a new league.

Arizona is just six games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West and 4.5 behind the Atlanta Braves, who hold the second wild-card spot in the NL.

Roberts is a little more than halfway through his one-year deal worth just over $2 million. Through 83 games played, the 31-year-old third baseman has hit .250 with six home runs and 34 RBI.

Tyler Bortnick was hitting .253 with four homers and 48 RBI through 95 games with Tampa Bay Double-A affiliate the Montgomery Biscuits.

Apparently, the Rays were not satisfied with Jeff Keppinger and a slew of other players manning the hot corner while Evan Longoria is working his way back to the big league lineup after missing much of the season due to a torn left hamstring.

In 143 games last season, Roberts swatted 19 dingers and drove in 65 runs in Arizona. He also scored 86 runs and stole 18 bases, so there’s no doubt that he can bring some versatility to a Rays lineup that could surely use it.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com