These 2010 Mets have ticked off a few more items from the “Prove You’re Contenders List.”
They rebounded from a lost series against the Yankees to win consecutive sets against two strong AL contenders, the Tigers and Twins. They completed interleague play an impressive 13-5 with a 6-0 deconstruction yesterday of Minnesota.
These Mets have now put Memorial Day and the first day of summer in the rearview mirror, and here they are still the wild-card leaders and a half-game out of first in the NL East with Independence Day approaching. They have done enough that their efforts to trade for Cliff Lee are not just theater or busy work.
Mets general manager Omar Minaya has called his Mariners counterpart, Jack Zduriencik, to say that when Lee officially goes on the market, the Mets want to be in. The Mets have had a scout at each of Lee’s past few starts, and plan to keep up that practice.
Still, the hurdles are significant. A Mets official told me yesterday the club would not need a negotiating window to sign Lee long-term even if it includes top prospect Jenrry Mejia in a package. But Mejia had to come out of his Double-A start yesterday in the second inning with what the Mets described as shoulder stiffness while Angel Pagan — another player that could entice Seattle — said he would not start for a fifth straight game today in San Juan, Puerto Rico, due to what is termed spasms in his oblique.
And even if the Mets can outbid other suitors, such as the Twins, for Lee, it would still be up to Mets ownership to approve giving up prospects for a rental and agree to add a nice bit of payroll. Doubts persist within the organization whether the Wilpons really will accept those terms.
So it remains possible the Mets will have to lower their rotation scope. Multiple sources tell me that despite having been tied to Houston’s Roy Oswalt and Cleveland’s Fausto Carmona, the Mets have little interest in either righty. The Cubs’ Ted Lilly, a lefty also in his walk year, is more to the Mets’ liking from the not-Lee category.
But no addition of any ilk — from Lee downward — is on the doorstep. So self-improvement remains the best way for the Mets to keep eliminating those doubts about whether or not they are real contenders. Which brings us to the top of their payroll.
Because there have been some wonderful Cinderella elements to this Met season, such as R.A. Dickey and Elmer Dessens. There have been terrific touches from the farm system, such as Ike Davis and Jonathon Niese. And there has been a return to All-Star form by Jose Reyes and David Wright. However, the Mets’ postseason chances will skyrocket if they can reacquire the versions of Johan Santana, Carlos Beltran and Jason Bay that moved the organization to give them the biggest contracts on this current team (and in the case of Santana and Beltran, the biggest in organization history).
“I completely agree with that statement, it makes total sense,” Bay said. “I have not been near myself and we are 10 games over [11 now].”
Think of what the team would look like if Beltran and Bay were humming in the middle of the order, and Santana bumped Mike Pelfrey back to a No. 2 starter. But is that possible?
Santana is now going through that litany of possibilities — recovery from surgery, personal problems, pitch tipping — that is exhausted before player and organization concede that ability is simply diminished. Beltran, who has not seen a major league field since last season, has played three rehab games and manager Jerry Manuel is itching to get him back sooner than later to begin to knock the rust off. Bay admits he remains befuddled to be stuck on four homers.
That is about 10 fewer homers than the Mets thought Bay would have at this point, but four more than Beltran. Santana has a .500 record and is dealing with the worst stain on his reputation while enduring one of the worst pitching spans of his career.
The Mets, nevertheless, are 11 games over .500, doing tons to prove they are contenders. Imagine if they could just reacquire Bay, Beltran and Santana.