I Give Up

There was a flurry of trades just before the deadline as many teams made improvements for the push to the postseason. The Phillies needed starting pitching, so they traded for the best starting pitcher available, Roy Oswalt. The Yankees needed help at DH, off the bench, and in the bullpen, so Brian Cashman traded for Lance Berkman, Austin Kearns, and Kerry Wood; all upgrades. The Braves and Rays made trades to upgrade their weak spots as well. This builds compelling divisional races in both the AL and NL East.

Two notable teams are left out of the races, the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets. While the BoSox were decimated by injuries, and could see a burst once everyone returns, upper management better hope no one else goes down for the stretch.

By not making any trades by the deadline, it seems the upper management of the BoSox and Mets have given up on this season. Both teams are less than 10 games out of first, over .500, and have plenty of games left with the teams above them. With a few key trades, both could make a run for at least the Wild Card. Instead, both teams just told their players and manager, you're on your own.

Both teams enter every season with high expectations. Fans expect them to make the playoffs. The Mets, for the third time now, saw the best pitcher available go to their biggest rival. First was Cliff Lee, last year's deadline, then Roy Halladay in the offseason, now Oswalt. There wasn't even discussion of him going to NY. Their starting pitching hasn't been bad this season, but Mike Pelfrey hasn't been able to continue his hot start, and a trade like this would show the players that management still thinks they have a shot to climb the standings.

As I said earlier, the BoSox have many players returning from injury over the next few weeks. That may be too little too late. They have a 4 game series with the Yanks coming up and a few losses there could seal their season's fate. Theo Epstein should have put some band-aids on the wounds the injuries created, but did nothing for months, and can only hope something comes off the waiver wire.

Epstein has a job in Boston for life, as does Terry Francona since they ended the curse, but Omar Minaya and definitely Jerry Manuel, are on the firing block if the Mets don't pull off a miracle. Manuel doesn't deserve it as much, since Minaya did nothing this deadline, and little in the offseason, but the Mets are missing the playoffs all too often, while the Yankees keep winning.

Who knows if any of the trades will work out? Oswalt looked awful outing and Berkman has 1 hit in 2 games and 1 flop at 1st base. Just the fact that management brought help shows belief in the players and pumps up the team.

We'll see if management caring turns into competitive players on the field. And vice versa for management not caring. Will the BoSox and Mets rise or fall in the standings? At this point, I say the Mets finish just above the Nationals, and the BoSox finish barely above the Blue Jays, with the top 2 teams in each division, Yanks and Rays, Braves and Phils, finishing only a game or two from each other.