As I’ve written before, the starting rotation should be fine, and with a little bit of luck, Pedro keeps his sprains and pulls to a minimum. If you’ve been watching even just highlights of the Mets, you’d know this team desperately needs another arm. Secretly I was hoping for Houston Street , even if it meant sending a Kunz or Niese to Oakland , but that Billy Beene is a motherhumper when it comes to asking for every thing but the kitchen sink. The price tag on Ibanez was ridiculous, for what Seattle was reportedly asking for, they should have thrown in Ichiro. I was never that high on Fuentes, particularly because I would have like to have seen a right-handed set up man to pitch the eighth.

The lack of a trade is likely not Omar’s fault; this year’s sellers wanted an arm and leg. If he would have traded two of three of the few prospects the Mets have left, the Mets would be in a deeper hole next year. Not to mention trading away three future stars for a mediocre pitcher isn’t only unwise, it puts an unfair burden on the player coming back. See Victor Zambrano.

The Mets will need a corner outfielder and if Freddy Martinez lives up to half his hype, he is going to be special player, but then again, so was Lastings Milledge and Alex Ochoa. Lets hope he lives up to his ceiling. In the mean time, the Mets have to look elsewhere for help. The Mets should be ok without another outfielder, the most glaring need is for bullpen help. With the deadline come and gone, the Mets must look elsewhere for reinforcements:

The Waiver Wire

The Mets have to look to the trash heap waiver wire to get an arm. Reason would suggest that with pitching at such a shortage, any pitcher worth a darn would be signed by someone. Omar has shown a proficiency with pulling players off the scrap heap. Darren Oliver and Aaron Sele come to mind, not that either one of those players were stoppers or lights out set up men but both gave the Mets a long reliever capable of making a spot start. Of course Omar also brought in Mota so who knows.

The Minors

Jon Niese reportedly had a impressive triple-A debut. Over seven innings Niese gave up one run on three hits, striking out seven and walking two. That’s promising, but this guy probably isn’t major league ready and sure as shit not ready to jump into the rotation. Niese may be shoved into a start due to necessity or if by some reason if the Mets get a big lead over Philly and Florida . Same with Eddie Kunz; both should see late season call ups and figure to be prominent in the Mets staff in 2009 or 2010 but will likely not contribute in a meaningful role baring a heavy hit from the injury bug. I suspect the Mets did not make Bobby Parnell available this off-season to raise his value in November. Look for him to leave via trade over the off-season.

Staff up

The Mets might be able to ease the burden placed on the pen by carrying another pitcher. Why the big league club is carrying three catchers is beyond me. The Mets should send down Cancel and carry 13 pitchers. Even a mop-up/long relief man would take some strain off an already taxed bullpen. Aaron Heilman’s arm is going to fall off at this rate. The pen needs some breathers with only 5 off days from now until the rest of the season, the Mets have no more help from the schedule.

Analysis

The key to keeping this team from another September C word the bullpen has got to be unburdened. Manuel’s instance on starting pitchers going at least seven innings is a good start, but not enough. Offensive explosions and lopsided wins will reduce the need for pitchers to face one and two batters will decrease the work load. With no help on the way everyone has to pitch in and relieve the bullpen.

If Mets management’s mantra is “we are comfortable with what we have” because they cant make a trade, that’s understandable. If they really believe that, they’re crazy. Forget Manny, he’d be great to have in the lineup, but I doubt the Mets can slug there way to a pennant.

Pitching is going to win the East. Our starting pitching is solid to adequate, depending on Pedro. The bullpen however, is fragile to critical. I would love Houston Street. I don’t know about the price tag Seattle is asking for and supposedly Fuentes is off the market.

If the Mets bullpen stays the same, look for another late August, mid-September melt down.

Just make a deal, Omar. You’ve got 25 minutes