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The Phillies announced yesterday that Brett Myers will miss the rest of the season recovering from hip surgery.
As such, Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com 
believes the Phillies will look to acquire a ‘top-of-the-rotation type,’ such as M’s LHP Erik Bedard or Astros RHP Roy Oswalt, since they do not have the money to pursue multiple mid-level pitchers.
…i know the Mets need a bat, especially if the Phillies are hell-bent on getting an ace, but i wonder if Omar Minaya will redirect his mission and look to get in the Phillies way by seeking a pitcher as well, you know, Epstein-Cashman style… given Citi Field’s play, and the Mets ability to play small ball of late, i believe it makes more sense to focus on improving the pitching staff, bench and defense, than the offense anyway…
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Would love Oswalt, a major upgrade to the rotation. As always, who do you have to give up?
There was a time I really wanted Oswalt…..but he doesn’t seem to be as great as I recall as I look at his numbers. Is it because he is on a poor Astros team? Regardless, he would be an improvement over what we have now in the rotation. What do you think he would cost?
Oswalt isn’t having a great season, plus it may be that the Astros finally realize they aren’t contenders and look to rebuild.
Couple that with the fact that we didn’t give up Martinez for Santana and I think we could assume that Martinez wouldn’t have to be included to give up Oswalt.
Would the Phillies give up Carrasco? If so, we’d have to definitely give up Niese in any package to beat their offer.
I don’t think we necessarily need to focus on hitting. We’re performing well right now on offense and half our team is on the DL. Focusing on our rotation has to be the way to go. It can only make us stronger in the end, especially considering Citi is a pitcher’s park.
I wouldn’t mind either Oswalt or Bedard, but tend towards Oswalt, who very nearly was a Met in ‘06 in a three-way trade with the ‘Stros and the Orioles. Lastings Milledge would go to the Orioles, Miguel Tejada would go to the Astros, and Oswalt would go to the Mets. Peter Angelos nixed the deal.
Bedard’s strong points are that he’s a lefty, and has a plus fastball and curveball. I’ve heard Bedard’s clubhouse persona described as “surly,” whatever that means.
Go get Oswalt! Problem would be–what would we have to give up?
If there’s any way in the world Jake Peavy could be persuaded to come to New York and would be willing to sign an extension, Omar should go hard after him. If an extension could be reached as part of a trade, trading any or all of F-Mart, Murphy, & Niese would need to be considered. Santana and Peavy at the top of the rotation would simply be unbelievable.
Still, I wish there was a legit power bat we could find. While it isn’t prudent to always rely on the long ball, the Mets are sorely lacking in that department.
GIVE UP THE PEAVY DREAM…
Peavy will never, ever be a New York Met…Never
He is a country boy and he wants to stay in the midwest close to the country or near his home in SD…NOT NY
Given that CBP is a bandbox, I wonder how interested pitchers like Oswalt and Bedard would be in pitching most of their games there.
I would prefer the Mets go after one of these guys instead of another bat. Assuming Reyes can get back healthy and Beltran is okay the Mets have enough offense to compete and win in this division. But if they can add a top flight #1.5 starter and push Pelfrey back to #3 then this team will have what it takes to win in September and beyond.
The biq question though is, do the Mets have enough to give up for any one of these guys without surrendering Martinez. I’m not so sure.
Of course, I don’t see the Mets trading for a starter if only because they are now married to Ollie the Albatross. =(
I could see the Mets make a play for Kazmir. Yes, I know, Mets fans never let that die. However, the Rays just lost Percival for the season and they could really use Putz. Parnell has show that he can fill the 8th inning role. Kazmir is struggling this year so we could get him while his value is relatively low. We going well, he’s got the stuff of a #2.
At any rate, back to the bigger question, I can see the Mets moving Church or Pagan, Putz, and a few prospect to get a front line guy. However, the two teams mentioned Bedard and Oswalt are on teams headed south so they will want a more prospect centric deal.
The only thing we can hold out for is that the Astros really just want to dump salary. Oswalt is making 14M and is 1-2 with a 4.62 ERA. However, everyone including the Astros probabaly realized a change of scenery is what he needs. This is our best bet. However, it’s also the Phillies.
To get Oswalt, something like KMart and Murphy and spare parts might work. The Astros have Blum at 3B and that’s Murphy’s natural position.
I haven’t heard anyone discussing a Kazmir trade, but that seems like it could work if TB is interested at all…
the problem with kazmir is he’s hurt and to be honest, he really still has not shown himself to be that great a pitcher. a guy who is supposed to be an ace should be able to provide more than a average of 5.1 ip/start. he’s always hurt, it seems that although he’s only 25, he may be too frail to ever reach the heights everyone thought he’d get to when he was drafted.
I know it’s Oswalt, but moving KMart and Murphy I think would severly hamper our offense. That’s a big gamble that Delgado comes back, Church and Reyes stay healthy and Beltran doesn’t injure himself more.
I think if you want to pursue a deal like that, some kind of hitting needs to come back to bolster, or at least support, the lineup.
Gotta agree with da berg here. I haven’t heard anyone mention Scott Kazmir, but he could be a stealth addition to the rotation, that might only cost Putz. Thing is, I’m not sure that Omar wants to go that route.
I am not sure we should touch Kazmir, he is kind of a mess this season and on the DL and getting close to FA status. I dont see that as a good fit trading wise for either club. The Rays would rather wait and see what Kazmir could give them over what we could and should give up for Kazmir now.
Bedard will be an interesting target this year. The M’s are going to want a Kings ransom for him after what they paid to get him, that may be a hard trading partner to deal with. Oswalt would be great but I the Astros are so erratic who knows what they will be doing around the trading deadline after they decided to “go for it” last year when they had no shot.
My guess is it will be easier to find a bat then a pitcher this season unless we want to go after sheets. One name I have been thinking of is Helton, he could be a good fit for this team and might not cost a huge amount of prospects to get a deal done.
Mets should go after pitching to be sure, especially the way Citifield is playing. Of the pitchers that are both realisticly obtainable, and conceivably available, Roy Oswalt is probably the best choice for the Mets, and probably the only top pitcher that the Mets wouldn’t have to part with F-mart for. He throws strikes, pitches a ton of innings and would be dominant in Citifield no question. Imagine Santana, Pelfrey, Oswalt,Maine, Livan Hernandez! You got to love your chances with that as a rotation.
By the way I second the “give up the Peavy dream!” It isn’t going to happen folks!
I have heard rumors of 2 prospects for Roy Halladay. Now 2 things could stop that (Blue Jays success early and F-Mart getting off to what could turn out to be a slow start). IF this was at all possible I would have no problem turning our team into the 2001 Diamondbacks (Schilling Johnson) with a dominant lefty and righty with Santana and Halladay. I am all for the farm system but I would trade the whole Bison team for Halladay.
If you can sign Halladay I would be all for this. To have those two atop the rotation for the next couple years would be amazing.
Forget the bat. Did you happen to see Redding today? We need another pitcher! When Reyes gets back our offense (with all starters) will be as good as any in the league. Our starters, however, need help. We cannot go through the year with a 3 man rotation… Livan is only effective against teams like the Marlins and Nationals. We NEED pitching!
Could we interest the Phils in Oliver Perez? I heard he’s a big game pitcher.
All kidding aside, I’m all for a little managerial brinksmanship on Omar’s part to thwart the Phillies; nothing else seems to have worked.