Sometimes desperate times make us think desperate thoughts. Last night as I watched Johan Santana serve up a change-up to Ryan Braun that, frankly, I could have hit, and then watch the ball and a bunch of Brewers bounce all over the field and across the plate four times, my disbelief turned into realism. I started to think, is Santana the ace he was in April and May or is this worst stretch of his career a sign of things to come? I started to think that maybe we should do the unthinkable—trade him and start blowing up this whole team.
Before you start throwing things at me, hear me out. I know we’re only a few games out of first place in a suddenly mediocre division, but it’s almost looking like we WILL have to win the division to make the playoffs, because in the wild card race, the Mets are looking up at the Marlins, Cardinals, Cubs, Giants and Rockies. And let’s face it, we are not better than the Phillies. Two September collapses have given way to a season that’s a few losses away from being a complete disaster; K-Rod and Putz being the only real moves Omar Minaya made this past winter. What I’m saying is, it doesn’t look like this group is going to get it done, no matter who we have coming off the disabled list.
This Mets team is getting old, and we’re getting old waiting for them to bring us another championship, or even playoff appearance.
Is it really all that extreme to start thinking like those Marlins teams that had fire sales? What kind of prospects can we get for Santana, Wright, Beltran, Reyes, Church, Castillo, Sheffield, Putz and even K-Rod? How much worse can we do by trotting out Martinez, Murphy, Evans and Santos every day?
I’m just sick of the overpriced and underachieving product this team puts on the field. Injuries are a fact of life, but little league blunders night after night by a major league team shouldn’t be.
