As the flurry of trades unfurled in the final hours before yesterday’s deadline, it was easy to forget that the Mets still actually existed in the majors.
Executive after executive, scout after scout reported that the Mets were dormant — that maybe they really were not allowed to add to their payroll. The Marlins pretty much decided in the final 24 hours to try to obtain a reliever and came up with Will Ohman from the Orioles. And Florida began yesterday with the same 52-51 record as the Mets.
The Mets, meanwhile, failed to find a pitcher of any type. They also didn’t get creative and use one of their upper-level outfield prospects — Fernando Martinez, Sean Ratliff or Kirk Nieuwenhuis — to land a pitcher who could help long-shot playoff chances now, but is also under control into the future. Remember the Mets are locked into an outfield of Jason Bay, Carlos Beltran and Angel Pagan next year. And they did not unearth a way to move an ugly contract belonging to Oliver Perez or Luis Castillo.
Their inertia makes them deadline losers. Here are other winners and losers:
WINNERS
PADRES: Miguel Tejada and Ryan Ludwick provide a higher level of professional at-bats for a lineup that had just too many dead spots; that is assuming that a pennant race energizes Tejada.
RANGERS No one did more than a team in bankruptcy. They got the biggest difference-maker in Cliff Lee, while augmenting their roster well with Bengie Molina, Jorge Cantu and Cristian Guzman.
DODGERS Joe Torre had Ted Lilly and Octavio Dotel with the Yankees, and he particularly liked Lilly’s competitiveness. These are not perfect pitchers, but they deepen a staff that badly needed depth.
PIRATES The Dodgers again were willing to give up a good prospect, outfielder Andrew Lambo, plus James McDonald to get Dotel, who had no future in Pittsburgh. But the Pirates cannot get a perfect grade because they gave up on Matt Capps in the offseason. He thrived with the Nationals, and Washington ended up trading him for good catching prospect Wilson Ramos.
LOSERS
NATIONALS Teams were frustrated by the asking price on Adam Dunn, when the belief in the sport was that the Yankees and definitely the White Sox were willing to give up significant pieces to get him. Washington could have traded and re-signed him, instead now they just have him.
WHITE SOX They obsessed on getting a big bat such as Dunn, or maybe even Manny Ramirez, and never could complete a trade.
RED SOX Never got the reliever they craved, and instead wound up with a dubious catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
ORIOLES Weren’t able to turn pieces such as Ty Wigginton, Luke Scott and Kevin Millwood into more rebuilding chips.