NewsAs Deadline passes, Mets decline to deal
Minaya prefers to keep prospects while rivals make moves
By Anthony DiComo / MLB.com
07/31/10 7:29 PM ET
NEW YORK -- Roughly half an hour before Saturday's non-waiver Trade Deadline, Omar Minaya's phone began buzzing in earnest. For a moment, the Mets general manager believed he might be able to acquire some pitching help, after all.
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In the end, though, the Mets' place in the standings -- along with their unwillingness to part with even mid-level prospects -- transformed Saturday's trade talks into a fruitless endeavor. And so the Mets let the Deadline pass without striking a deal, banking instead on the quality of their current roster, the possibility of an impending waiver deal and their plan for the future.
"The good thing we found out about this process is that different organizations like the young prospects that we have," Minaya said. "But you have to be careful in giving up blue-chip prospects and looking where you are in the standings."
After top-flight starting pitchers Cliff Lee, Dan Haren and Roy Oswalt were all traded to other teams in the days leading up to Saturday's Trade Deadline, it became increasingly unlikely that the Mets might strike a deal. Some potential existed this week to swap right fielder Jeff Francoeur for bullpen help, but Jason Bay's assignment to the disabled list squelched that talk, as well.
As it was, the Mets stood pat while the rest of the division -- the Phillies and Braves, in particular -- used the non-waiver Deadline to upgrade their roster. Though the Mets still may follow suit with a waiver deal in the coming weeks, their position in the standings -- 7 1/2 games out of first place when the Deadline struck -- may continue to influence their activity.
"We'll continue to have dialogue with teams," Minaya said roughly two hours after the Trade Deadline. "I do believe that opportunities will be there after the Trade Deadline. The fact that other teams made moves in our division, that's fine."
Now that it has passed, teams cannot make deals involving players on the 40-man roster unless those players have cleared waivers. By placing a player on waivers, teams must exposed him to the 29 other teams, and if he is claimed by one of them -- priority goes in reverse order of standings -- he cannot be traded. The club that placed the player on waivers then has 48 hours to work out a trade with the claiming team, to withdraw the request and keep the player in question, or simply to allow the claiming team to assume that player's rights and contract. Throughout the latter part of the season, teams routinely place many players on waivers in an effort to mask their intentions.
After Saturday's Deadline, such is the only avenue still open to the Mets. In justifying his team's silence prior to the non-waiver Deadline, Minaya cited his intentions of building for the future -- of holding onto prospects such as Wilmer Flores, Jenrry Mejia, Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Reese Havens. But the Mets also looked at the bigger picture from an alternate perspective.
Simply put, the Mets realize that a 7 1/2-game division hole, while not insurmountable, makes for a difficult task -- one made even more challenging after the Phillies splurged for Oswalt earlier this week.
"From a manager's point of view, you look at those things as periphery," manager Jerry Manuel said. "You have to be concerned with how you can get the people that you have to play at the highest level."
Though the Mets could have shed the salaries of Francoeur, Luis Castillo or Oliver Perez, little market existed for those players. And so they stood pat.
"You hear all sorts of rumors," Francoeur said. "I think as players, you try to get your mind out of it, because we don't control it. We don't deal with that."
In the end, there was nothing of substance for Francoeur to consider. Nothing happened. And so the Mets must proceed with the team that they have -- a group that has hardly played up to its potential.
"This is a team that can get hot," Minaya said. "This is a team that can win 10 in a row, and I believe we'll have a run like that."
Anthony DiComo is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
