The Mets look to just forget about last night’s game as Zack Wheeler takes the mound today. Wheeler is 5-8 over 20 games and 114.1 innings with a 3.78 ERA. He has pitched 25.1 innings in his last four starts striking out 21 batters, walking 10 and posting a beautiful 1.42 ERA. Last year he made one start against the Brewers where he allowed 1 ER over 5.0 innings with 3 runs overall while walking 3 and striking out 3. The Brewers have the following numbers against Wheeler:

• Gomez 3-3, 2B
• Lucroy 0-3
• Ramirez 0-0, 2 BB
• Schaefer 0-2
• Weeks 0-2

The Mets bats look to pick themselves up against Gallardo tonight who has pitched 20 games this season over 121.o innings with a 5-5 record and a 3.79 ERA. His last four starts have been rougher than his season average allowing 19 runs, 16 earned over 23.1 innings, a 6.17 ERA. Last year he was 2-0 in as many starts against the Mets allowing 13 hits and 6 ER over 12.0 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Gallardo:

• C Young 3-22
• Wright 3-19, HR
• Murphy 6-15, 3 2B
• Duda 5-10, 2B, 2 HR
• Tejada 2-6
• E Young 0-6
• Granderson 0-2
• Lagares 0-2
• d’Arnaud 1-2

Lets Go Mets!

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The Mets started the road trip with dropping a series to the Padres, but responded yesterday by taking a series from the Mariners thanks to a fantastic start by Colon who retired 20 batters straight to start the game. Tonight the Mets play in their first series in a hitters friendly stadium on the trip as the Mets look to start off strong in a four game set against the Brewers. Right now they are 3-3 on the road trip.

Dillon Gee returns to the rotation tonight. On the season he is 4-2 over 10 games and 64.2 innings with a 2.92 ERA before he went down with an injury. Last year in one start against the Brewers he allowed 4 ER over 6.0 innings with 7 hits while walking two and striking out two. The Brewers have the following numbers against Gee:

• Lucroy 3-9, 2 2B
• Overbay 1-9
• Weeks 1-7
• Braun 1-5
• Ramirez 1-5

The Mets draw Matt Garza tonight who is 6-7 over 20 games and 124.2 innings with a 4.04 ERA. He started July off strong allowing 16.2 innings and 2 ER. In his first start from the All-Star game he allowed 5 ER while only retiring one batter. He shut out the Mets over 7 innings last year with 3 hits. The Mets have the following numbers against Garza:

• Granderson 7-24, 4 2B, HR
• Abreu 5-18, 2 2B
• Duda 1-5, 2B
• Wright 1-6, 2B
• C Young 1-6
• Tejada 1-4
• Murphy 0-2

Lets Go Mets!

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In another daily article speculating on who the Mets could trade with, today we focus on the Orioles.

The Orioles have three needs in a division that is fairly close: a starter, a reliever and another catcher. The Mets could help in two of those areas. Colon being the starter and Plawecki being the catcher. They are pieced together right now at catcher, but there isn’t a guarantee that they will be able to keep Wieters once he becomes a free agent. Their catching prospect, Chance Sisco, is still a while off in development.

The reason I list both Plawecki and Colon is their combination of prospect and veteran, a combination of help later and help now, not only helps the Orioles, it can get a better package from the Mets.

The more well known prospects out of the Orioles system are all arms, but they have three position players in the ranks that are interesting, and the Mets should take a look:

Dariel Alvarez: The Cuban defector outfielder is having a strong second season in the Orioles Farm System. This year between AA and AAA he is hitting .308 with a .328 OBP and 14 homers over 410 plate appearances. His weakness in some ways might be his strength. He will be 26 next year. If the Mets acquire him this year, he would be worth a shot in the outfield to see if he can contribute on a high level next season. He’s a “win now” mode type move for the Mets although he doesn’t fill in the biggest need, a consistent power bat.

Christian Walker: The 23 year old first basement is hitting .302 between AA and AAA this year with a .513 slugging from hitting 20 homers. He’s a power bat. Acquiring Walker would give the Mets the option next year, if they don’t find a LF, of moving Granderson to left, Duda to right and Walker to first as a bridge to Smith.

Mike Yastrzemski: The final position player the Mets should look at is another OF. He has played in three levels this year (A, A+, AA) and has hit a combined .310 with a .366 OBP and a .533 SLG. Out of the players listed here, he is the farthest time wise from the majors. Over his 381 AB’s this season he has 118 hits, 24 2B, 14, 3B and 11 HR, which is intriguing. He has also walked 29 times and stolen 17 bases.

All of these players are considered to be in the lower top 10 Orioles prospects at the midpoint of this season according to the Baltimore Sun. I could see Colon landing one of these players but if the Mets ate some salary and traded Plawecki, considered to be a Top 5 or Top 3 prospect in the Mets organization, I wonder if the Mets and Orioles could work out a package for all three.

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With the trade deadline approaching, rumors are being kicked up.

Yesterday, there were several mentions on twitter from beat reporters that the Giants were interested in Bartolo Colon. In reality, the Giants are probably interested in two Mets players. With Cain down on injury, they need a starter, and Colon is one of the cheaper ones available on the market, and they need second basemen, Murphy being one of the most expensive ones the market.

The Cubs and the Mets have been hypothetically linked by writers all month. Both have Top 5 farm systems according to Keith Law. The Cubs have an over abundance of position players and the Mets have a lot of arms.

Complicating this is the Mets stance not to trade their young arms, this makes a lot of sense.

Complicating a Colon trade to the Giants is the next thing the Mets need to be ready next year is either a shortstop or an outfielder who can hit. Colon is not going to bring that from the Giants. Their best prospects that could be available in 2015 or 2016 are pitchers, their hitters are a ways away.

This is where a three-way trade would seem to make sense. It would require the Mets to send Colon to the Giants (and probably still pay a huge chunk of Colon’s salary next year). At that point, the Giants are receiving two years of an aging pitcher, but at a discount, making it easier for them to trade one of their higher level pitching prospects, or a collection of their mid-tier pitching prospects to the Cubs, who can then send over one of their middle infielders who can play short to the Mets.

Depending on the player the Mets would get in this hypothetical scenario, would change what the Mets need to do to get the deal done. For example, if the trade is for Starling Castro, they will need to eat way more of Colon’s contract to convince the Giants to trade over a better package plus the Mets would probably have to trade a prospect of their own directly to the Cubs.

I feel the chances of this happening are low, but it seems that for the Mets, trying to move a player like Colon or sell high on Plawecki, working out a 3-way trade to acquire parts of the Cubs system might be the way to go (without having to depart with any jewels in the system).

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The Mets look to take the series tonight against Mariners. After dropping three consecutive games, the Mets were able to beat the Mariners last night thanks to stellar pitching and just enough hitting. Tonight Colon makes possibly one of his last starts as a Met as rumors have kicked up the last few days that the Mets are shopping Colon. On the season he is 8-8 over 19 games, 126.2 innings with a 4.12 ERA. He pitched 5.0 innings in his first start since the All-Star break allowing 4 ER, all in one inning in a game the Mets eventually won. He faced the Mariners three times last year logging 21.0 innings with a 3.00 ERA, striking out 15. The Mariners have the following numbers against Colon:

• Ackley 4-13
• Bloomquist 5-13, 2 2B
• Cano 6-15, 2 2B, HR
• Chavez 5-14
• Franklin 2-9
• Miller 0-3
• Montero 3-9

The Mets batters will get a look at the 21-year old Taijuan Walker tonight who is coming back for a second time this season.  In his first two starts he allowed 4 ER and 7 hits over 10.0 innings. Last year he made three starts against the Mariners and he was 1-0 over 15.0 innings with a 3.60 ERA (identical to his ERA now). He has not faced any current members of the Mets.

Lets Go Mets!

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The Mets have not had the best performance on the field since Saturday, and they bring a three game losing streak into tonight’s game. Jacob deGrom gets the start for the Mets, he is 3-5 on the season over 12 games and 73.2 innings of work while posting a 3.18 ERA. In his last two starts he has pitched 14.0 innings allowing only one earned run and striking out 19 batters, he’s been great. As you would imagine, since deGrom is in his rookie year with the Mets, he has not faced the Mariners nor anyone on the Mariners roster before tonight’s game.

Erasmo Ramirez gets the start for the Mariners tonight. In 11 starts for the Mariners this season he holds a 1-4 record with a 4.58 ERA over 53.0 innings. Before being sent down to the minors earlier this season, he was in the middle of the best stretch of starts he made this year spanning 4 starts and 20.0 innings with a 0.90 ERA. The only Mets player he has faced in a major league game is Chris Young who is 1-2 against him.

Lets Go Mets!

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After starting off strong on Friday, the Mets fell apart Saturday and then came just short of the comeback yesterday. The Padres were close a no hitter yesterday, then the Mets made a comeback in the 8th, but then tripped (maybe literally?) in the 9th. The Mets are making the rare trip to Seattle today as Jon Niese comes back from the disabled list as faces off against Elias.

Niese is 5-4 over 17 starts and 103.1 innings this year with a 2.96 ERA. Before he was injured at the start of the month he allowed 3 ER in three consecutive starts with 6.0 innings of work. It makes sense that, even though Niese is a veteran, he has never faced the Mariners. There are a few players who have seen him before:

• Morrison 3-9, 2B
• Cano 4-12, 2B
• Hart 2-8, 2B
• Bloomquist 2-3

Elias gets the start for the Mariners. He is a rookie with 19 starts this season over 113.0 innings, a 7-8 record and a 4.54 ERA. His last three starts have been a mess as he has pitched a total of 14.1 innings with 16 ER. Obviously, he has no record or stats against the Mets and Mets players.

Lets Go Mets!

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The Mets and Padres play the rubber game of the series today as the Mets just couldn’t get it done yesterday, snapping their winning streak. One of the things that have made the Mets successful of late though have been winning series, and they have an opportunity to win their 4th straight today as Zack Wheeler takes the mound. On the season he is 5-8 over 19 starts and 108.1 innings with a 3.90 ERA. In his last three starts he has a 2-0 record, recorded 19.1 innings of work with a 1.40 ERA. He faced the Padres earlier in the season allowing 4 ER over 5.0 innings. The Padres have the following numbers against him:

• Headley 2-5
• Venable 1-6
• Denorfia 2-3, 2B
• Smith 1-2
• Amarista 0-1

Despaigne makes his 5th start in his career today. So far he is 2-1 over 4 starts and 26.2 innings allowing only 4 ER, which is an ERA of 1.35 while striking out 12, walking 8. He missed the Mets earlier this season but pitched in 7 games overall in the minors before being called up pitching 31.1 innings with a 6.03 ERA. The 27 year-old Cuban National played 8 seasons in the Cuban National Series (05-12) before making his way over to the majors.

Lets Go Mets!

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The Mets returned from the All-Star break last night and came back strong. The Mets jumped out to an earlier lead, then had one bad inning and the Padres tied it, but the resilient Mets came back in the ninth and won it. Today Dillon Gee gets the start. On the season he is 4-1 over 9 starts and 59.2 innings with a 2.56 ERA. His last start was his first from coming off of the DL and he allowed only one earned run over 7.0 innings. He missed the Padres earlier this season but he faced them last year and allowed one earned run over 6.1 innings. The Padres have the following numbers against Gee:

• Maybin 1-7, 2B
• Venable 1-7, 2B
• Kennedy 1-5, 2B
• Amarista 0-3
• Headley 0-2

Tyson Ross gets the start for Padres tonight. On the season he is 7-10 over 20 games and 129.2 innings with a 2.85 ERA and 126 K’s. He’s made three starts in July over 22.0 innings with a 1.23 ERA. He made one start against the Mets last year allowing one earned run over 7.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Ross:

• Granderson 3-7, HR
• Abreu 1-5
• E Young 0-4
• Lagares 0-3
• Murphy 1-3

Lets Go Mets!

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It’s the second half of the season, and we’ve just been through two long days without baseball.

I’ve started to get that unquenchable need for baseball news that starts around now and lasts to the end of the month. The last few years with 10 playoff teams has changed the deadline, as more teams are buyers and more teams find themselves like the Mets, not sure if they are buyers or sellers.

So what are the Mets?

If it wasn’t the amazing week the Mets had last week, we would still be 10 games below .500, or worse, and would be squarely in the selling column. If it wasn’t for that horrid road trip before that week, the Mets could be really close to .500 or above it, and would be buyers.

Plus, next year the Mets have a young pitching staff with another year of experience, and there are reasons to believe they are only one or two bats away from fielding a competitive team, especially when you consider the two wild card spots.

Will the Mets be buyers at the deadline? That’s pretty unlikely. To get an immediate impact bat, the Mets would need to give up a near MLB ready, or an MLB ready arm (Wheeler, Syndergaard, etc). This doesn’t strike me as a good idea right now because the only reason the Mets have been some-what afloat this season is the depth they have in the rotation.

So next up is Murphy and Colon. Murphy has another year under control and is one of the best hitters in the game. Anything he would bring in would be a long term solution, unlikely to impact 2015, but 2016 and beyond. Keeping him would mean giving him a contract he deserves and a contract a team playing in New York should be able to afford.

Colon is a more interesting case. If we pay chunks on his contract, he could net a good, upper-tier prospect in a trade. If we don’t pay chunks, we are looking at a mid-level or multiple low-level prospects in a deal. I’m jaded with the latter because the Mets haven’t done much in the past with salary dumps. The payroll is still considerably lower than the 2011 roster. I’m not for spending money to spend money, but if we traded Colon for a salary dump, but then don’t extend Murphy, it will be disappointing.

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