So much for the “easy” part of the schedule. The Mets have now lost two of three to the Diamondbacks at home. In the wild card standings, the Mets are closer to the D-Backs (4 1/2 games ahead) than the wild card leaders, Colorado and San Francisco (7 1/2 behind).
The Pirates may have gutted their roster, but they are now only five games behind the Mets. And Pittsburgh just brought up Lastings Milledge!
At least Omar Minaya accepted reality and did not make any desperation moves at the trade deadline. White Sox GM Ken Williams can make a last-minute deal for Jake Peavy and be hailed for his stealth and daring.
Imagine if the Mets had traded for Peavy. The Mets are old hands at trading for pitchers who are damaged goods (Victor Zambrano, J.J. Putz), but Peavy won’t be making any surprise trips to the DL – he’s already there, and has been for almost two months. And he’s not due back until the end of August.
Not only is Peavy currently unable to pitch, but he also has $56 million remaining on his contract. And the White Sox are picking up all of it.
Naturally, Steve Phillips likes the Peavy deal. Trading for an injured superstar who has been out for a long time and is still owed tens of millions of dollars? Peavy could be the next Mo Vaughn!
Still, the White Sox now have a 28-year-old ace locked up for the next three years. And that $56M has a good chance of being money better spent than the $24M owed Oliver Perez, two and half months younger than Peavy, over the next two years.
But if Peavy had somehow ended up in New York (he did not appear to want to play here anyway), you just know it would have been a disaster.
Then again, an injured Peavy would have fit right in with the 2009 Mets.
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