WTF?!

http://nybaseballdigest.com/?p=12974

According to the very reliable Jon Heyman, the Blue Jays offered Roy Halladay -- the best pitcher in the game -- to the Mets for Fernando Martinez, Bobby Parnell, Jon Niese, and minor league SS Ruben Tejada. Omar Minaya, in his infinite wisdom, turned down this deal.

Of course. Why would Mets fans ever want Roy Halladay instead of those 4 guys? F-Mart failed in his call-up this year and is now injured, Parnell has clearly worn out after an initial good start (and has no quality second pitch), Niese projects to be at best a #3 starter, and unless we plan to give up Jose Reyes in a deal, Ruben Tejada's value to the franchise is as trade bait. We could have Santana and Halladay as 1-2 in our rotation, but why would we want that when we already have Ollie Perez? Perez is all we need. Just like Randy Wolf on the cheap wasn't necessary over the off-season because we had Livan Hernandez and Freddy Garcia. Makes perfect sense...

This is exactly what we did with Lastings Milledge. We held onto that guy until his trade value was a small fraction of what it once was. There was a time when the Astros offered us Roy Oswalt for Milledge -- straight up. And we turned that down. Now, we turn down Halladay to hold on to Fernando Martinez. F-Mart had better become a superstar, and Jon Niese better develop into a consistent 15-wins-a-year-pitcher, and I don't know much about Ruben Tejada, but if he doesn't produce big returns for us I'll always hate him now. The Blue Jays offered Halladay TO US! And Minaya says no. What is the plan here?! Can't wait 'til Halladay goes to the Phils and beats us 5 times next year as we fans all suffer again.


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**Update**
It's now being reported that the Halladay story was bogus. But even so, I wouldn't put it past Omar Minaya to turn down such a deal if it was offered. That's what makes this bogus story so incredible: that it seemed completely possible. This wasn't like the Curious Case of Sidd Finch.

What is Going On?

Today, the Mets placed Carlos Beltran on the DL -- joining Maine, Perez, Putz, Pagan, Reyes, Delgado and others. They also demoted Ken Takahashi and Wilson Valdez. Filling those 3 spots, the Mets called up Fernando Martinez, Elmer Dessens (yes, Elmer Dessens... the latest in the "Where Are They Now?" series of Mets), and LHP Pat Misch. (By the way, 3 other candidates for "Where Are They Now?" Mets were recently released from Buffalo: Javier Valentin, Bobby Kielty, and Wily Mo Pena........ none of which make sense to me) (Also, did you happen to hear that Jose Reyes -- already disabled -- was in a car accident today on the Triboro Bridge along with trainer Ray Ramirez [just what we need: even our medical staff isn't safe from injury -- though the terrible team doctors being replaced probably would help this team...] A fire truck rear-ended their car)

It was also announced that Bobby Parnell and Pedro Feliciano were unavailable for tonight's opener against the Cardinals. Tim Redding, still looking for his first win as a Met, was slotted to start, and counted on to go deep into the game.

All of that news combined seemed to spell doom for the Mets. And yet, they won -- leaving all of us in a state of giving up forever on trying to understand this team. Along the way, highlights included:

• Tim Redding pitched into the 8th inning, allowing 4 runs (one of the runs was a homer leading off the 8th, which was his last batter).
• Jon Switzer struck out the first hitter he faced in relief of Redding. His next hitter got on, and Switzer was replaced by Brian Stokes.
• Brian Stokes came into a game!!! And in a pressure spot, which Jerry Manuel has said all along he doesn't trust Stokes in. Why he doesn't trust him, Mets fans don't know. It's the same irrational dislike he has for Ryan Church. And yet, due to all the insanity of the Mets roster for tonight's game, here was Brian Stokes coming into the game in the 8th inning leading by one, with the tying run on first. And who was coming to bat as the potential go-ahead run? None other than the best hitter in the league, Albert Pujols. Jerry Manuel must have been peeing his pants. Stokes fell behind Pujols on a series of sliders, then battled back and finally induced a weak grounder right back to himself, and turned the 1-6-3 double play to end the inning. Jerry Manuel must have immediately entered into a state of shock that may or may not have required Sandy Alomar to manage the rest of the game; we don't know. But who knows, could this actually make Jerry Manuel realize that Mets fans and analysts are right and begin trusting Stokes again like last year when he became the go-to guy at the end of the year until he was burned out? Probably not; nothing Church has done has convinced Manuel about him. But maybe.... After all, desperate times call for desperate measures -- even trusting people you wouldn't at any other time. And could things be more desperate for the Mets right now?...
• Daniel Murphy homered, giving the full Mets lineup for tonight's game a total of 17 home runs on the season. Fourteen players around the league have at least that many as individuals.