Sanity now, sanity now, sanity now....

Sanity now, championships later. This trade deadline is shaping up to be one of the quietest ones that I can remember. GMs have taken their crazy pills and are asking ridiculously high prices to extort some desperate teams and extract more value for players than they should really be able to get. Deals are funny though. A player may be worth a top tier prospect to one team, but not to another. What another team assesses as their need may prioritize a player and make him more valuable, while another team may view a player as a nice luxury, but not a necessity. No team is perfect and everyone can stand to improve, but sometimes teams just go with what they have and take their chances after sizing up the competition.

Enter the Mets. Look around the East. Every team has major problems. If the price is not right, staying the course makes sense for a team that is not sizably better or even a sure bet after adding a player. However, if you can get a fair price on a player, the scales can be tipped in a tightly packed NL East with one guy. However, is Alfonso Soriano that player? No one doubts he is talented, but what the Mets need is a run producing, RBI-machine like Carlos Lee or Manny Ramirez. They need a guy that will cleanup the bases when there are guys on there and drive in 120 runs. For all his homers, Soriano has topped 100 RBIs once. Carlos Delgado was that guy. Does having Alfonso Soriano on the team make it better? Yes, but at what cost and how much better?

"John's asking for the moon right now, from everybody who asks," the official said. "But I'd be willing to bet he'll lower his sights. I bet that will come down by Sunday. Why would they keep him? They've got a ready replacement (in hot prospect Ian Kinsler), and they've got to get more pitching. I think they're serious. They're just trying to bring in as many teams as they can."

"They don't want to move him," said an official of one interested team. "I don't think they have any interest in dealing him unless they crush you on the trade."

This is what is great about the rumor mill. You can get contradicting opinions from two people and they both seem logical. Many people seem to think prospects are just that. Not a sure thing by any means and when an opportunity presents itself to get a talented player in return for prospects, you do it. However, Soriano is not a leading man. He is not the guy that will put this team on his back and go. He is a complimentary player that needs big guns in the lineup with him and the Mets problem right now is that they have too many of those players right now. To many supporting players and not that one start like Miguel Tejada. Carlos Beltran was supposed to be that guy, but I am having my doubts if he will ever be.

It's not that trading certain players like Scott Kazmir and Lastings Milledge should not be done, but who are you getting back? Are you getting the right guy back? Alfonso Soriano is not that guy. The Mets would ink him to a long term deal if they acquired him and eat up a lot of salary on a guy that I am skeptical of being worth every penny. Miguel Tejada he is not and I think the Mets would be looking towards him to be their Tejada. Also, I have no idea which of the two sides of the fence I'm on. The side where the sources say Hart is not motivated to deal his slugger or the side that says they are trying to dump. I can tell you this though, he will not be cheap if he gets dealt and that I am rather certain of that. Hart traded A-Rod for Soriano and Arias and basically admitted that overpaying for A-Rod was a horrible idea and huge mistake. The Rangers cannot trade Soriano for anything less than a superb package because by transitive properties, whatever they get in return for Alfonso, they basically traded A-Rod for in addition to Arias. GMs do not like to look stupid and Hart is no different. I just do not see a match in terms of the Rangers being a good trade partner and Omar should stay the course and pass on Soriano.
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Minor update:

• Norfolk vs. Toledo was postponed.
  
• Altoona beat Binghamton 4-1. Lastings Milledge went 2 for 5 with a stolen base and Mike Jacobs went 2 for 3 with two doubles, a walk, and the B-Mets only RBI.
  
• St. Lucie beat the Tampa Yankees 1-0. Wilson Batista went 2 for 3 with a run scored, a triple, and a walk and Grant Psomas went 2 for 3 with a double. Jerrod Riggan picked up the win after one inning of relief and he has not given up a run in ten innings between the GCL Mets and the St. Lucie Mets.
  
• Delmarva beat Hagerstown 8-7. Carlos Gomez went 2 for 6 with a run scored and his 46th stolen base of the year.
  
• Batvia beat Brooklyn 4-3. Nick Evans went 0 for 3 with a run scored and a walk.
  
• Kingsport beat Bristol 10-5. Sean Henry went 2 for 3 with a run scored, a homer, and three RBIs.
  
• The GCL Mets took on the GCL Marlins in a doubleheader. In game one, the Marlins beat the Mets 2-1. In game two, the Mets won 12-4. Brahiam Maldonado went 2 for 4 with two runs scored, a double and an RBI. Leivi Ventura went 3 for 4 with two runs scored, a double and an RBI.
  
• The VSL Mets beat the VSL Orioles 6-5.

According to Tom Verducci, Manny Ramirez is unhappy in Boston and requested a trade. Though there is virtually no shot the Red Sox trade him in season, how about Cliff Floyd and Mike Cameron in the off season? Despite all his antics, he is one player that could undoubtedly help the Mets.

"I think he wants a urinal out in the scoreboard," Francona said, a reference to when Ramirez walked through the door in the Green Monster during a visit to the mound by pitching coach Dave Wallace last week. He was still there as Wade Miller was preparing to throw a pitch, only to emerge at the last second, smiling.

From the NYPost:

The chairman of the Japanese baseball players' union, Atsuya Furuta, was quoted in yesterday's Daily Yomiuri saying that his players "will not take part" in the World Baseball Classic. Furuta said his players were against a tournament interfering with their season preparation in March and also with major league baseball and its union dominating the event.

Here he goes again. The more I think about it, the more I think this will be a disaster.

From Newsday:

The Mets signed three more draft picks as left-hander Jon Niese (seventh round), infielder Matt Anderson (31) and right-hander Will Jostock (49) agreed to deals. The Mets have signed 29 of their 48 picks but only 11 of the first 20.

The Mets did have a chance at the end. Gerald Williams reached on an infield single with two outs in the ninth off closer Brian Fuentes and scored on a double by Jose Reyes.

But Mike Cameron struck out looking. It was his fourth strikeout of the game, three of them on pitches called by Lance Barksdale.

"Bad day at the office. Let's just say I disagreed on some of those pitches," said Cameron, who struck out looking with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh inning. In all, he left five men on base.

I love Cammy, but he is not a two hitter. Your two hole hitter should be a contact hitter and Cammy should be batting 6th or 7th in a lineup. That is in a perfect world though and the Mets are making due with the pieces they have. Cammy’s date at the plate combined with a Mets error to put the Mets away. On top of that, scoring six runs in two games at Coors is unacceptable.



From 3.5 games out and riding a high a few days ago, they are now five games out after losing the first two baseball's worst team before heading to play baseball's second hottest team, the Houston Astros. Of course, after the Mets spit the bit in this series, they will rebound to play well enough again to invariably get our hopes up. This team direly needs a dose of consistency if they play to keep making noise in this division.

David Wright lifted his batting average to .300 for the first time since June 10 while extending his hitting streak to 14 games. "It means nothing if you don't win," he said.