here are the prime candidates for trades as I see it right now…

Santana – We all thought if Santana came out looking good it might be just what the doctor ordered and allow us to trade him at the deadline for a bushel of Kids before he gets hurt again and allow us to get out from under the 30+Mil due him the next two years of his Contract. Anyone here that has decided to change thier stance there? It may be a mistake considering how important he is to our rotation and being in the race will play in that decision but that just goes to show how many people were wrong about how far away this team was when they were supporting Payroll and All Star roster decimation now doesn’t it?

Familia – They are unsure if he is starter or pen (ala mejia) and is a potential key piece in any big buy trade we make given his BA prospect status everyone thinks is gods gift to trade value.

Gee – I love the guy but if they go for an Ace he is low man on the totem pole and most likely to lose his rotation spot next year when Harvey comes up. (even if we don’t trade for an ace)

Mejia – See Familia! Not the BA darling Familia is but much closer to being an MLB player than Familia at this point.

Havens/Satin/Kazmar/Navarro (plus some AA IFs I won’t name here) – Murphy is our 2B folks Live with it, and only a complete collapse of Tejada’s bat on his return will we need any of these guys and there is still Valdespin who I doubt they will trade anytime soon considering his versatility. (Lutz is probably safe until Wright gets resolved.)

Hefner – If he pitches as well as he did last night he would be a decent piece in a multiplayer deal for any Pitching.

Torres and Ramirez – Both have been busts so far but they could be used as filler in any deals made. (Hairston is safe until Bay is sorted out. We need his RH Bat in the Lineup options)

On the Longshot Candidates:
Niese – So far that contract is probably scaring Sandy just a bit, I think it will be ok but you can get a lot for a guy locked up as long as Niese and his near yet inconsistent promise.

Bay – Not because they want to keep him but because they probably have no choice in the matter. Being hurt sure isn’t going to change that and even if he comes back hot it won’t be enough to change anyone’s mind about wanting him.

Wright – I admit I thought Wright would be traded for sure and it may still happen but Sandy seems to be backtracking from the “can’t Have more than Two big contracts on your Payroll” speech he used to give when Wright’s name and trade was mentioned in the same sentence.

Duda – He’s not been the Duda we all fell in love with last year and lets face it he was never going to be a gold glove RFer. He has been pulled late in games for a defensive replacement usually due to moving Kirk to his slot after one of the other OFers comes in to pinch hit. But he would still be a nice piece to any potential trades we could make…

And I hardly even touched or looked at what we have in A and AA ball…

There seems to be plenty of talent we could be buyers with and even if not for a big name could make lots of deals to move talent where there is a glut for guys where there is a weakness.

SO I can see lots of potential deals in the near future.

Francesa is going into rip mode on his Yanks play of late today and you have to belive that if there is 1 thing that will irritate Yankee fans off is to talk up the Mets in ripping the Yanks. I can imagine Yankee fans lighting up the board calling in to Mike.

On another note AnthonyDiComo tweeted the following: Thursday’s Triple-A Buffalo game will air live on MLB Network at 10:30 a.m., with Chris Young pitching and Josh Thole catching. #Mets

But, we gotta give guys like Ike and Duda time to get going and figure out MLB pitching…

Bay and Torres are the Vets and they get a long rope to figure it out.

I do wonder how long until Baxter, Johnson, Kirk and Hairston get exposed. Kirk is young and he K’s way too much to keep such a high BA and the other three are who they are for a reason.

How nice would it be to play Kirk in CF everyday and have Platoon teams of Duda/Baxter vs LH pitchers and Bay/Hairstion vs LH pitchers? That means Torres has to go.

For Bay’s sake, he better be 100% healthy and play as many of minor league games as he can before he comes back. If Bay is taking time away from Kirk and Baxter, and he’s not performing, he’s gonna get killed.

We all remember Strawberry, Hernandez, and Carter and revere them.
But it was many of those ROLE players and platoon guys who made that team as good as it was!

Dykstra, backman, Wilson (Hello Buckner), Mitchel all were big reasons why we seemd to win as many games as we did.
It is after all a team sport and you have to play everyone to keep them fresh and on top of thier game!

as to the roster shuffling, there is still a bit of time, but IMO nickeas should go down instead of Johnson, but I don’t expect it to happen.

I would drop Torres for Bay

For Tejada? That can be interesting but it needs to be Cedeno (is he even helathy? Time for the DL!) Or Omar back to the minors.

Tricky part is, not knowing when the individual guys are coming back. So there could be a lot of moving parts.

and, options (as in, who can be sent down without losing them) will have a big part in the decision making.

when everyone is back, I would like to see (Assuming Bay is strting, though it would really be a platoon, and Kirk is in CF) a bench of:

Johnson, Baxter, Hairston, and 1 each of (rotino/turner) and (cedeno/Omar).

odd men out then are Nickeas and Torres.plus the losers of the 1 each of competition.

though honestly, might as well platoon baxter and hairston instead of bay and baxter. Then you can keep Rotino if bay is gone!

Best option is to have a high-end everyday “star” at a position, but if you don’t have that, then better off mixing in 2 guys with complementary strengths/weaknesses to make a combined productive guy, than it is to stick a mediocre guy out there every day.

6 Months ago some were talking about how little talent we had and so many holes (not you mind you) and now we are struggling with having too many guys and not enough positions to play them all!

Says one thing to me…Time to start making trades!

That was a tough error on Baxter…the ball was under the padding and Baxter couldn’t get his glove into that notch. The only way to stop the ball was to use his bare hand or his foot. both go against instincts are are difficult to do because the ball tends to skip around a lot in that part of the field.

Baxter and Hairston have done great saving their jobs. Obviously, Rottino goes when Bay comes back.

I wonder what will happen when/if Turner and Tejada are both ready? I see one too many guys on the roster. I wonder who gets dumped, Turner, Cedeno or Torres?

Neither Cedeno or Torres can hit, but both play D…Turner is by far the better hitter and a nice guy coming off the bench. But I think we can send Turner down without losing him, I think we’d have to trade or release Cedeno or Torres.

When is Egbert going to pitch? It seems like we’re wasting a spot in the pen if we’re not going to use him.

1969 World Series Winner
1B Kranepool/Clendenon
2B Boswell/Weiss
3B Garrett/Charles
RF Shamsky/Swoboda

1986 World Series Winner
2B Backman/Teufel
SS Santana/Elster/Mitchell (not a true platoon though)
CF Dykstra/ Wilson
CL McDowell/Orosco

Would appear that the two WS winners we have, all heavily used the Platoon and got everyone on the team in games which is pretty much what Collins has done since he got here!

Instead of overpaying because there are no good options on the market for a big name guy, and also clogging up LF for 4 years when most of your best hiting prospects project to be out there, you can always fill in for a year with a couple guys with big platoon splits, and get a 2 headed LF that can out perform (or at least equal) the 1 headed every day guy, leaving the money to be invested elsewhere (such as pitching).

First MLB win and First MLB HR.

The guy currently has a 2.0 SLG! LOL

AT least this time the Rain gave him what the game before it took away!