The Arbitrary ChuckJerry

Last year around this time I made an impassioned plea to the Mets not to make any trade deadline deals. At that time they were clearly not going to win the division or the wild card and were just spinning their wheels. They ended up making two trades, neither of which benefited them last season, but both of which have had a positive impact on their squad this season.

The Benson trade a year later was a great move, despite Benson missing the first bit of the season to injury. The Zambrano trade is neutral at worst. Zambrano has looked good for about 7 or 8 starts in a row and Scott Kazmir, who they traded in that deal, is mediocre at best for the Devil Rays. Granted, Kazmir has a bigger up side, but a year later this hasn't been the disaster I envisioned.

This year the Mets are in the mix again. They are not winning their division, nor are they leading the wild card race, but they are serious player in both of them. Unlike last year, they are playing very well heading into the trade deadline, winning 7 of their last 8. The pitching has been solid and Steve Trachsel is in the midst of making his comeback in the minor leagues after an injury.

There's one deal I would love to see the Mets make. Barring that one move I would say the Mets should stand pat and fight out the rest of the season and see what happens. The one move would be to trade for Alfonso Soriano. There are several suggested trades out there the Mets could make with the Rangers.

The deal essentially consists of Aaron Heilman and Carlos Zambrano plus a minor leaguer for Soriano. Also I've heard Heilman and Trachsel plus a minor leaguer for Soriano. The Rangers score 100 runs a game and they can't win because their pitching is awful. Their only reliable guy is Kenny Rogers, who's going to be out for a month soon. Chan Ho Park is terrible and I can't name any of their other starters. Both Zambrano and Heilman would go directly into their starting rotation and then they would have reliable pitching to go with their potent offense. These guys are not like having Clemens, Pettitte, and Oswalt in your starting rotation like the Astros do, but they would be a vast improvement for Texas.

On top of that, Soriano has worn out his welcome in Texas. He wasn't happy to be traded there and he doesn't really hustle all the time, which is the opposite of how Buck Showalter likes the game played. Soriano would make the Mets lineup pretty sick. The most sensible lineup given that trade would have Mike PIazza hitting 7th, which would be a huge boon to the bottom of that lineup. If the Mets didn't want to slight Piazza, then David Wright would hit 7th, which is still a great move.

That is the only feasible trade I want to see the Mets make. If it doesn't work out then they should go with what they got. The most trade value Cliff Floyd will ever have is right now, but if they trade him for youth, then they are out of the race. Mike Cameron is a similar deal. They could trade Cameron for value, but I don't know of a trade that would make sense for them.

Bottom line, Soriano, yes, anyone else, I don't see it.