Things are bad and getting worse. The Mets finally get some offense, but the magic ends for Fernando Nieve. After seeing opponents regularly take advantage of Met mistakes, Brewer third baseman Casey McGehee drops a pop and the Mets capitalize with two runs. But unlike Luis Castillo, McGehee redeems himself with a grand slam.
At least Trevor Hoffman didn’t get walked with the bases loaded tonight.
Now the Mets are in third place, and the calls will doubtless rise for the Mets to trade for help at any cost. Bobby Parnell gave up two more runs, raising his ERA to 5.22. Maybe he is not so untouchable after all. But maybe the Indians would not have wanted him for Mark DeRosa at this rate.
But I am glad they did not trade Parnell or anyone else of potential value for DeRosa. One decent player will not turn the Mets around. Unfortunately, they need a lot more than that.
The Mets are now 9-17 in June. With Beltran in the lineup this month, they were still only 6-10. Certainly the Mets are much better off with Beltran than without him, but the current lineup is so weak that even adding a star will not sufficiently improve things.
The Cardinals were willing to trade Chris Perez, who was supposed to be their closer of the future, for DeRosa because they thought they were one piece away. But the Mets are several pieces away. At this rate, they might need to trade for someone just to finish over .500. And that is not worth mortgaging the future.
If the Mets are going to approach the trading deadline as if they are a contender, they need to start playing like a contender first.
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