When Willie Randolph has Rick Peterson make a call to the bullpen, it has become a vicious game of "Choose Your Poison."

It’s like playing "Russian Roulette" with six bullets in your six shooter.

"Omar Minaya and Willie Randolph have to assume the blame." That is what Ed Coleman from WFAN had to say.

It was a poorly constructed bullpen that began when Omar Minaya decided to give Guillermo Mota the contract that should have gone to Chad Bradford.

It continued when the Mets dispatched the third best pitching prospect in their system, Brian Bannister, to the Kansas City Royals for the erratic Ambiorix Burgos. While Bannister is now among the top ten starters in the American League, Burgos and his unorthodox delivery is now out until 2009 after Tommy John surgery.

The bullpen was dealt a devastating blow when the Mets top two relief prospects, Royce Ring and Heath Bell, were traded to the San Diego Padres for flops, Jon Adkins and Ben Johnson. 

Even highly touted Matt Lindstrom was traded to the Marlins for the disappointing Jason Vargas.

Heath Bell is now one of the premier setup men in the league, while Brian Bannister has become the unequivocal ace of his team

Because of the way the bullpen was ravaged by Minaya, he was forced to pitch 21 year old Joe Smith for over 50 innings this season, leading to a sore arm and placement on the Disabled List this week.

The Yankees had Joba Rules for their prized prospect, but we had "blow the kid’s arm out" rules for Joe Smith.

Willie Randolph has refused to define any roles all year for the bullpen and thought it would be cool to just pick and choose relievers in random situations all year long until they became so disoriented that not one of them understands their role on the team.

His constant obsession with pitch counts on the starters, severely ravaged a bullpen that has become overworked and ineffective.

Now Omar and Willie are left with the prospect of a post season dangling by a thread, and a bullpen that has not one pitcher who can be relied upon.

The Mets traded their top pitching prospects at the time, and got absolutely no benefit for them in 2007, and yet they refused to part with any prospects for a chance to obtain any relief for the disaster that has become the Mets bullpen.

The Mets need this bullpen to not only save ballgames, but now they must save the team’s post season aspirations as well.