Today I want to take a not so in-depth look at where the Mets stand in terms of making a deal.

I keep reading and hearing all these different trade rumors that are making less and less sense as we move closer to the trade deadline. All I hear is that we need to get Matt Holliday or Jermaine Dye or Carlos Lee or Roy Halladay, the list is endless. And while I’m the first one to say yes, any of those players would help the team, the real question is at what cost?

The Mets are clearly not in a position of strength where they can dictate their terms and go after who they want and pay what they want. The Mets might just be in the worst negotiating position of any team in baseball right now.

Every single team is looking to put the squeeze on us because of the unbelievable amount of injuries the team has sustained.

Every single team knows how hard up and desperate we are to add another starting pitcher to the rotation, or a power hitting outfielder to our lineup.

The truth of the matter is that Omar Minaya should have acted with haste as soon as it appeared Carlos Delgado would be out for a significant amount of time. He didn’t, and the injuries kept on coming. Now Omar will have to live with his decisions and indecision.

Compounding matters even further is that the Mets depth is so barren that you really have to wonder what the Mets realistically have to offer.

The Mets could have traded Daniel Murphy when he was batting .319, but now that he has been exposed as a no power, no speed, no defense infielder who is batting .238, his value has plummeted to almost nothing.

The jewel of the system, Fernando Martinez got a cup of coffee and only showed he was not major league ready and that power is also lacking from his game as evidenced by his minor league numbers.

Our once favored son, Nick Evans has fallen from grace and nobody refers to him as the first baseman of the future anymore.

Eddie Kunz (remember him?) has evaporated into thin air and his name is never even mentioned anymore.

All those once great bargaining chips have now entered into the Mets’ Twilight Zone. 

Even if the Mets were to make one blockbuster trade and find someone crazy enough to take any or all of those players off our hands for one great pitcher or hitter, do you really believe that plugging one hole out of a half dozen holes will help that much?

That great pitcher or great hitter needed to be added last off season when the price was right and the Mets weren’t so vulnerable.

Once again Minaya has put him self in the position of having to be reactive instead of proactive. He has become like the little dutch boy and the dam, using his fingers to plug any apparent leaks. The problem with managing a team that way is that eventually all the cracks become too many and soon after, the entire dam gives way to the mounting pressure and then all at once it crumbles into nothing.

Omar’s band-aid approach to general managing is seriously flawed, and despite his successes in acquiring Johan Santana and Carlos Beltran, there have been far more questionable moves.

Getting back to the original point, I don’t really understand what most Mets fans expect the team to do at the trade deadline. What exactly do we have to offer? I’ve heard the name Carlos Beltran mentioned a lot, but seriously, can the Mets afford to move their best player and get back equal value?

There are maybe just 2-3 teams that would even take on the $18 million dollars a year that Beltran gets, and I don’t think the Yankees, Angels and Red Sox will be handing over anyone from their major league roster while they are locked in their own divisional races. Unless of course you have the hots for Melky Cabrera, Gary Matthews or Juan Rivera. 

The Mets are in such turmoil and have become so unrecognizable that you can’t even figure out of they should be buyers or sellers at this point. Everything hinges on if Oliver Perez will come back and pitch effectively, or if Jose Reyes can regain the form that made him such a catalyst, or if Carlos Delgado can give the Mets another 10 homeruns before they pay the last installment of his $14 million dollar paycheck.

So scream all you want about Holliday, Halladay, DeRosa and Lee, but when you’re done please let me know exactly what we’re giving up, how it helps the other team, and how it will lead to a division title for us.