At his blog for ESPN.com, Buster Olney cites three talent evaluators, or scouts, as saying that A’s GM Billy Beane loves Mets OF Lastings Milledge so much, he would make a Milledge-for-Barry Zito deal “right now.”…

In Olney’s opinion, the Mets should not trade Milledge for Zito, though he would understand if they did…

…i agree…my gut says to not make a move…the cushion they have built for themselves by winning so often so early allows the team to sit back and make a wise decision, as opposed to make a knee-jerk reaction that could hurt the team for years to come…

…for what it’s worth, the buzz around business side of baseball seems to be that zito already has a plan in place to pit the two new york teams up against one another for his services come this off-season…therefore, unless he absolutely prefers the mets, with his former pitching coach, Rick Peterson, to the yankees, or any other team for that matter, it would not make a ton of sense for him to negotiate a contract extension with the mets before the season ends, which is something the mets would certainly demand from beane were a trade to be discussed…

Aside from Zito, Olney writes that players such as Twins RHP Kyle Lohse, Marines RHP Gil Meche and Royals RHP Scott Elarton could be the best options for a team looking to upgrade their rotation via trade…

…talk about a rag-tag bunch…i think i’d rather wait for Mike Pelfrey and Alay Soler…