Mets fans aren’t the only ones clamoring at the prospects of the team trading for a top of the line starter like Seattle’s Cliff Lee or Houston’s Roy Oswalt.
Even the team’s top pitchers are.
“What we’re looking for is a championship and when your getting a pitcher of that caliber, that’s what they do,” Johan Santana said. “[Getting one of them] to go along with what we have, it does nothing but make you better.”
And with both aces likely on the move, Santana and his teammates let it be known that they wouldn’t mind some company at the top of the rotation.
“We want to win a flag,” closer Francisco Rodriguez said. “Of course if we got another front guy for the rotation and you’ve got [Mike] Pelfrey and Santana and the rest of the guys . . . another big name out there would change the whole club and atmosphere.”
The Mets remained giddy after their just finished road trip, which ended at 7-2 after they dropped two-of-three to the Yankees in The Bronx over the weekend and last night many of them showed up at a charity for the Johan Santana Foundation at Lucky Strike Lanes in midtown, promoting awareness of skin cancer.
“You’d definitely love to have those guys on your team,” Pelfrey said. “They’re elite.”
With the Mariners out of contention, Lee is likely to move to a contender.
“Obviously, they’re shopping him,” Pelfrey said, “and he’s obviously a difference-maker.”
And the recent struggles of Pelfrey and Santana — who, while not bad, haven’t been as dominant as they were earlier in the year — have caused some to wonder whether the team has enough pitching to stay in the NL East race.
In fact, even though the Mets are in the playoff mix — and would be in the playoffs if the season had ended yesterday — they could use some help.
“We know pitching wins championships,” Rodriguez said. “Another big name would do a lot of good for us. We’re gonna make a lot of people believe. We’ve still got a lot of stuff to prove after the disaster of last year.”
And the closer feels they’re on their way.
“I feel we’re showing we’re not that bad,” Rodriguez said. “We’re continuing to prove that we are good enough to be a contender and to win a championship.”
But as well as the likes of Jon Niese, R.A. Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi have pitched of late, if the Mets are going to make a run at the Braves and hold off the Phillies, it’s clear they will need more help.
“We have enough as it is right now,” Santana said. “But there’s nothing wrong with improving what we have, if that’s the case. I don’t know what the front office is gonna do as the season progresses, but you want to gain ground and win as many games as possible.”
And Lee or Oswalt would certainly help.
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Rodriguez remains frustrated that the bullpen is still undecided in front of him, now that Jenrry Mejia is back in the minors, replaced by Bobby Parnell.
“Did I agree with it? No,” Rodriguez said of Mejia’s demotion. “He was doing a tremendous job, but I’m nobody to tell them what to do.”
As for the way the pen is set up before Rodriguez: “That’s still in the air,” he said. “It is tough to prepare when you don’t know if you have to get one or two outs in the eighth. It’s a lot easier when you know which guy is gonna be in front of you and who’s in what role.”