We know that Carlos Beltran and Jason Bay are not going to get traded because of their contracts and their low value right now. So that leaves two trade options: Jeff Francoeur and Angel Pagan.

Should the Mets be open to trade one of these guys if they can get a good pitcher like Roy Oswalt?

This year Angel Pagan has been great for the Mets. Some people would even consider him the Mets MVP so far this season (Not me, I'm going with David Wright). Especially with Jose Reyes' injury risk, the Mets can use the extra speed in the top of the order.

If the Mets want to trade an outfielder they should trade Francoeur. But should they trade Francoeur? I think it is a bad idea, and this is why:

It has been a slow year for Jeff Francoeur. After a great first two weeks, Francoeur has really let the team down with the bad bat.

But Francoeur's great defense can help the Mets late in games. His great arm has really helped the Mets through a lot of tough innings.

Also, I think Francoeur's leadership skills and football mentality are part of the reason the Mets have such great chemistry this year.

One more reason the Mets shouldn't think of trading Jeff Francoeur is that his value is very low. The Mets can't get much for him anyway. Any player they can get for Francoeur wouldn't be a real answer to the Mets rotation.

The Mets are a good team, but it is no secret they have holes in their team. The Mets have had bullpen problems and it looks like it is starting to hurt them. So it seams like the Mets should go after a reliever to help K-Rod in the bullpen.

On the other side of the Mets pitching staff the Mets need a starter. They have three good starters in Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey and Jon Niese, then you have R.A Dickey who has been amazing and Hisanori Takahashi who's been good at times but has mostly been shaky.

If the Mets get a starter, they can send Hisanori Takahashi to the bullpen and help K-Rod. That could solve both the rotation and the bullpen problems, but is Takahashi the answer in the bullpen? I think he is.

The Mets don't need to go after an arm for the pen, they will get the bullpen answer once they get a starter. The Mets should not waste prospects for another reliever. One good starter should fix everything.

If the Mets get a good starter like Cliff Lee or Roy Oswalt the bullpen should be ready for the run to the postseason and hopefully the playoff run.

The Mets showed great fight this week, highlighted by two six-run comebacks. On Tuesday, a 6 run 8th turned a 6-2 deficit into an 8-6 victory. On Sunday the Mets scored six in the sixth and seventh to turn a 7-0 deficit into a 7-6 deficit, on their way to a 10-8 loss. John Maine became the first pitcher in almost 10 years to start a game by throwing 12 balls, but he established himself as the Mets number 3 starter by giving up just 8 runs in 11 innings this week. Niese and Perez combined to give up 17 runs -- only 15 of them earned -- in 9 2/3 over their 3 starts. Jeff Francoeur's .083 On Base Percentage this week was only four points lower than his Slugging Percentage. Over the past month Jeff hit .125 with a .188 Slugging Percentage, with 3 walks and 23 strikeouts. That's good news because it might be bad enough for the Mets to realize they should start somebody else at least against righties, maybe Chris Carter.

In actual good news, for the third time in his young career Ike Davis made a nice catch falling into the dugout, this time for the final out of a Met victory. Excellent weeks for Johan Santana, Raul Valdes, Jason Bay, Alex Cora, Angel Pagan, Chris Carter, and even Gary Matthews Jr. But just nudging out Bay for the player of week, for the third week in a row, is Rod Barajas. Rod led Met regulars in hitting, On Base Percentage and OPS this week. He also had the big hit in the Mets' victory, the game tying 2 run double, after which he scored the go-ahead run.

Mets schedule week starting May 17

The Mets head north this week, stopping in Atlanta and DC before coming to face the Yankees and then Phillies. Good news: Pelfrey and Santana pitch the next 2 games. More good news: that sets them up to face the Yankees this weekend. Even more good news: that sets them up to miss the Phillies, who hammered them a few weeks ago. Unclear who will join Maine in starting against the Phillies, but it's a good bet that the Mets' long relievers will get a lot of work.

It's looking increasingly unlikely that the Mets will miss the postseason this year because of a late season collapse. By going 1 and 6 this week they dropped to 6 games back of the Phillies. Final piece of good news: all those Met fans whom we thought had no souls because they thought 2010 would be a repeat of 2009? Well, now they look like optimists, so good for them.

This has been the Met Wiki Weekly Quickie. Thanks for reading. See you next Monday.

Barajas also won the game for the Mets 3 days earlier in Cincinnati, on a solo blast in the top of the ninth. All three homers broke 4-4 ties.

Check out Ted Berg's comments on Barajas' weird OPS split, with a .253 OBP and a team leading .570 slugging percentage.

After not having any walk-off home runs last year, Citi Field saw its first two last Friday and Saturday when their catchers Barajas and Blanco broke 4-4 ties with homers to left. Barajas did the same 3 days earlier in the top of the ninth in Cincinnati.

The Mets also lost a pair this week on extra inning walk-off homers in the Great American Ballpark.

The week ended on a sour note, when Aaron Rowand's eighth inning 2 run shot erased a nice Met comeback against The Freak and his followers.

The Met bullpen had either a blown save or a loss -- or both -- in each game this week, going 3-3 with 1 save and 4 blown saves for the week.

The Met starting pitchers didn't factor in any decisions this week. Pelf & Santana bounced back nicely from last week's debacles in Philly, and became the first Met starters to see the eighth inning this week (though Pelf has of course pitched in the 20th).

Rod Barajas is the player of the week for the second straight week. He only had 3 hits this week, but they were all homers, and two of them game winners. Barajas now leads the Mets in both homers and slugging, but he has a .253 On Base Percentage.

Honorable mention for Ike Davis who on Friday night alone had 2 homers, made a great catch falling into the dugout, and walked and scored the winning run.

David Wright broke a Met record by striking out in eight consecutive at bats. He may bunt in his first at bat tonight. The 8th strikeout really should have been his 3rd walk of the game, and it was followed by a tirade that got him quickly ejected. The Mets would have been forced to put an outfielder at third and a pitcher in the outfield had the game gone into extras, but the next two Mets struck out as well stranding the tying run on second.

It was the Mets first .500 week, and it dropped them to 2 back of the Phils.

Mets on May 10

The three extra inning games this week matched the Mets total going into the week, and the Mets now lead baseball in extra inning games played, so perhaps the Mets meant it when they said they would give their fans more for their money this year.

Mets Schedule Week of May 11

This week they host the Nats for 3 before flying south for the weekend for 4 in Miami.

Thanks for watching. See you next Monday.

This week kept getting better and better, with Met fans' euphoria reaching heights it hadn't reached since '08. A  9-1 win in Philly put the first place Mets a game and a half ahead of the Phils ...

And then it went splat. Pelf & Santana both imploded. One minute the Mets are in first place and Johan's holding a 5-3 lead with 2 outs and the pitcher up. 3 pitches later it's 8-5 Phils thanks to a bases loaded walk to Jamie Moyer and a grand slam by our old pal Shane Victorino.

Yeah, it hurts, but for the week, the Mets went 4-2 and moved to a half game back of the Phils. We shouldn't forget the 3 wins in 24 hours that started the week, John Maine's comeback, Niese's best outing of the season, and strong performances by Wright and Bay.

The Met player of the week is Rod Barajas, with 3 homers and a double in 4 games, for an OPS of 1.643.

The Mets try to put things back together this week with 3 in Cincinnati and then a weekend at home against the Giants.

Mets Schedule from May 3

Thanks for watching the Met Wiki Weekly Quickie.

See you next Monday.

Daniel Murphy is now in a hard position, that is, with no position. He lost his spot at first base thanks to the new guy Ike Davis. Davis has been very hot with a home run, and six RBI, and five runs scored, and his defense has been good. Since Davis joined the big league team the Mets are 10-2, so Davis is probably here to stay.

So what will happen with Murphy?

According to ESPNNew York the Murphy will be in Buffalo working on playing left field and second base.

Left field is not really an option with the Mets with new slugger Jason Bay playing there, so it looks like the Mets have two options: trade and second base.

Trade: I do not think it is a good idea to trade him right now, because his value in a trade would be very low at this time. He is worth more then you can get for him right now.

Daniel Murphy had a good first 49 games with the Mets in 2008 but in 2009 a .313 AVG. He may have had a bad 2009 but he was not alone. If we look at 2009 to decide who should stay and who should go then we should throw out David Wright, Carlos Beltran and Mike Pelfrey. And the only Met we should keep is Pedro Feliciano.

Second base: I think this is the best option for the Mets. Luis Castillo is getting up there in age (35) and other than his speed he has not been that great. His AVG is .258 and he has no power. He does not play that great defense, even though he is a former three time Gold Glove. The new defensive stats show that he may have never been that great.

That is why I think Murphy should play second. What do you think?  Feel free to comment.

Mets Week Ending April 26

This week's highlights:

• Player of the Week: Mike Pelfrey
• Brilliant Baserunning, Brave Blunders
• Reyes Returns
• Davis Debut

The week ahead has the Joe Torre and the Dodgers coming into town, this time without Manny an probably also without last year's jokes about the Dodgers getting the home dugout at Citi. Then a much needed off day and then the drive down to Philly phinally phace the phirst place Phils, possibly with a chance to take over first.

Mets Schedule Week Starting April 27

His second start this week was actually quite ugly, and yet he managed to hold the shutout, extending his scoreless streak to 24! Pelf is the Mets player of the week, going 2-0, 12 innings, no runs. Sadly though he's no longer the team leader in saves, as Frankie Rodriguez passed him this week.