Kaz Crap-sui

Tom Glavine pitches eight innings and gives up one earned run, which was questionable in the first place, and still gets a no decision. At this point, Glavine has to be wondering what he has to do to actually record a victory. He has a 6-3 record, which is nice, but it should be a lot better than that. In my opinion, Tom Glavine is a hall of famer even if he does not win another game again. However, winning 300 games is something that is very important to him. Unless he gets traded to team that is willing to actually score runs when he pitches, he has virtually no shot to do it as New York Met. Maybe that is just my pessimism after a horrifying loss in which the Mets managed to lose it in glorious fashion getting the best of me.

Kaz had one of his worst games in the field to date. He tallied another error, but should have had two errors easily. Hometown scoring to give a hit to the Twins spared him of extending his lead on errors over the rest of the league. Kaz also had a shot to put the game away in the fifth inning, but with two outs and two on, he did not come through. I am trying to cut him some slack, but he just is not a good fielding shortstop. Tonight’s play basically sealed his fate for moving to second base next year. He is just not a big league shortstop. When you have team that does not score runs, you have to find a way to not give them to the other team. It was simply and ugly, ugly game. Most pitchers that face the Mets come away looking like Cy Young candidates. By no means am I taking anything away from Brad Radke, but the Mets are not exactly terrorizing opposing pitchers.

Howe still has not figured it out. I'm not saying if Moreno had been in we would not have lost, because Stanton did what he had to do last night. However, when there was two people warming up in the latter innings, it was the gruesome two-some Stanton and Weathers. Moreno was not even a remote option in his mind at this point. It would be nice to see that he is even considered when a game is on the line, but I have feeling my wishes are going to continue to be ignored.

Now the Mets are below .500. This is something that is going to happen time and time again. A few wins to put you over, and loss to put you back. Two steps forward, three steps back. Until the Mets figure out how to put four runs a game across the plate, the fans are going to be relegated to games of this nature for the remainder of the year. Lucky us.

Now that I am completely fed up the Mets inability to score runs, I cannot help but think about Carlos Beltran. I am not saying he will be the savior, but this current product and their lack of punch in the lineup is getting old really quick. With the lack of interest in Beltran, he may be able to get picked up for a relative bargain. Would the Mets be the favorites to win the NL East with him? Absolutely not, but it may make the games easier to watch and actually help Glavine chalk up a few victories. The main prospects in our system can remain intact with Duquette being able to build a solid package to send over to the Royals. Here is my half cocked idea. The Royals want to move Joe Randa and Carlos Beltran and get some major league ready talent back. That basically leaves three holes that the Royals want to get filled with these trades. They want to fill second base, third base, and center field. Ty Wigginton is guy who does not figure into the Mets plans for 2005. With Todd Zeile playing a good third base, and David Wright's ever looming presence, Ty is definitely expendable (as suggested by metsblog.com). The way he is playing right now, is basically as good as he will get. He will never be a .300 guy with 20+ homers, but he has the tools to be solid player all around. The fact that he now plays second base as well as third raises his stock. Trading Ty Wigginton should be an option right now. In addition to Wiggie, Duquette can throw in Victor Diaz. His recent resurgence with the bat makes him an attractive piece as well. While he may not be the best second baseman, he can play second base and a corner outfield spot. That gives the Royals some room to either get rid of Joe Randa for more pieces to their future and use Wiggie at third and Diaz at second base or keep Randa and use Wiggie at second and Diaz in left field. The Royals can them bring David DeJesus back up and use him in center for the time being, which would round out their position players. Diaz and Wiggie are just the start, I am by no means suggesting that will do it alone. The Royals bullpen is in a sad state of affairs, so Royce Ring or Tyler Yates may be a nice piece to add to the deal, or give them their choice of Redman, Duncan, Jacobs, Brazel, Keppel, Griffiths or Heilman. Remember, the Royals will trade Beltran, that is a foregone conclusion. They will have to accept some offer at some point. They want major league ready talent, Wiggie, Diaz, and Yates or Ring can step in right away with another B prospect thrown like Jacobs to possibly be their catcher by mid-2005 or they can take Keppel as another arm in the stable. You may be thinking I'm nuts, but the bidding war that the Royals had hoped for has not materialized. The best deal that is rumored to be on the table is Xavier Nady, Sean Burroughs, and Terrance long for Randa and Beltran. The deal that I proposed still leaves them with Randa to deal for some other talent so they will walk away with more players than the Padres will give them. I guess it depends on whether you think a third baseman that has not hit over 10 home runs in 260 major league games, combined with Xavier Nady, and Long is better than a package that has some potential upside. Maybe it is crazy talk, but right now, the Royals are not being inundated with options. It does not hurt to make a pitch that does not include one of your four top prospects and see what happens. Afterall, even if you give up a lot of mid-level talent, you still get to offer Beltran arbitration and get a 1st round pick and a sandwich pick to whomever signs him next year if he declines to accept it. Wright was a sandwich pick and if the Mets had one this year, they could have picked up Huston Street, so sandwich picks are potentially very useful. Trading a few minor leaguers for Beltran may not be the worst idea in the world, especially since he does not technically walk without the Mets getting anything in return.

*David Wright continues to smash the cover of the ball. He went 2 for 5 with another homerun and three RBIs. He now has 10 homeruns, 38 RBIs, and a .352 average to top it all off. I think he has this level figured out. It just amazes me that the Mets continue to struggle offensively, and they refuse to bring him up to AAA to see if he can handle that level of competition. There is a remote possibility he can contribute to the major league club this year, but I am assuming that will not be explored. Things that make sense are always not in the forefront of Met management's minds.

*Justin Huber hit his fifth homerun and drove home another three last night for Binghamton. He is now batting a respectable .274 and is officially on a tear.