June 30, 2009, New York Mets trade inactivity story for Metro NY Newspaper
Minaya: Just sit tight
Mets’ GM content to ride out injuries, says it’s not time to panic
Brewers 10, Mets 6
Milwaukee beasted the Mets pitchers for 19 hits last night. Casey McGehee belted a grand slam off Brian Stokes in the sixth inning to put the game on ice for the Crew.
History tells us that Emperor Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Circumstances are not yet that drastic in Flushing, but it is certainly fair to wonder about the Mets’ inactivity in the free agent and trade markets.
After the Mets were swept by the Yankees over the weekend, it became painfully clear that Jerry Manuel’s patchwork lineup just isn’t going to cut it. With nine players on the disabled list, including a huge chunk of power and experience, the team desperately needs another bat and at least one other starting pitcher.
“You wish you were able to buy something that fit,” said general manager Omar Minaya before the Mets embarked on a seven-game road trip, which began last night. “We hope to continue to get good news with John Maine, and we hope to get good news with Oliver Perez. That in itself, with the bullpen, with Fernando Nieve pitching the way he is, Jerry is going to have some options to do some things.
“Right now, to me, the progress with the pitching staff, we’ll be able to make adjustments.”
Progress is apparently a subjective term. So much for that Nieve theory. The Mets’ call-up gave up three earned runs on 11 hits in just 3 1/3 innings last night against the Brewers. And that bullpen Minaya referred to was lit up for 13 earned runs in the last four games.
The scary part is, pitching isn’t even the Mets’ biggest problem.
Without Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado, the Mets possess about as much of a punch as a Care Bear. Washington first baseman Nick Johnson and 1B/OF Adam Dunn are rumored to be on the trading block, as is Oakland slugger Matt Holliday. All three would be upgrades — legitimate power bats that could protect David Wright, who had two strikeouts last night, in the lineup.
“It’s the position players. When you don’t have Reyes, when you don’t have Beltran, when you don’t have Delgado, those are three key components to the offense. To me that’s an area where we have to get them back,” said Minaya, clearly not hinting toward any type of trade.
Manuel stands by his GM — publicly at least — and warns of the dangers in playing into trade rumors.
“I think to some degree we all play general manager, but that’s a place I don’t want to be,” Manuel said. “I don’t want to play general manager. After it’s all said and done [it leaves you saying] you should have done this, you should have done that.’”
posted by Denis P. Gorman at 11:32 PM
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