Both the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies have recently made trades to improve their ballclubs. The Braves acquired Alex Gonzalez and the Phillies picked up Roy Oswalt.

Even the Washington Nationals have made moves to improve their team for the future. The Nationals received Wilson Ramos for Matt Capps.

Of course, one would think that the New York Mets, who are still in playoff contention, would make a move to respond to their rivals’ moves.

This is exactly what the Mets did: The Mets announced that they had traded Mike Jacobs to the Toronto Blue Jays for a player to be named later. Right now, this trade cannot be named a total failure because we do not yet know who the PTBNL is, but it will most likely be just organizational filler.

With just hours until the trade deadline, the Mets need to decide if they are buyers or sellers. They cannot simply stand put.

The Mets have many players on their current roster that would be appealing to other teams.

If the Mets decide to be sellers, they should follow the Nationals’ example and look to move relievers. Potential players of interest to other teams include Bobby Parnell, Elmer Dessens, and Pedro Feliciano. All of these players could potentially bring back mid- to high-level prospects from a competitive team.

If the Mets decide to be buyers, they have a lot of top prospects that can bring back major league talent from other teams. Prospects that can be traded include Wilmer Flores, Josh Thole, Nick…(to read the rest of the article click on the link below)

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