The Mets believe most of the available starting pitchers, such as the White Sox’s Jose Contreras, will still be on the market well beyond tomorrow’s non-waiver trade deadline. Therefore, their immediate plans remain to add to their bullpen while waiting to see if Pedro Martinez can upgrade the rotation.
The Mets remained fairly confident that they could add a bullpen arm before 4 p.m. tomorrow even while they were still bemoaning the sticker price on relievers they would like to obtain such as Washington’s Chad Cordero and Jon Rauch, Kansas City’s Octavio Dotel and Texas’ Eric Gagne. The Mets are not interested in Pittsburgh’s Shawn Chacon, and as for Baltimore’s Chad Bradford, an official from another club said the Mets were not likely to so soon acquire a player they decided not to retain on a three-year contract in the previous offseason.
After tomorrow, a player must pass through waivers to be traded or be traded to a team that claims him on waivers. No club is going to want to potentially claim Contreras and have the White Sox simply stick the club with his exorbitant contract. So, pitchers such as Contreras and Cincinnati’s Kyle Lohse and Baltimore’s Steve Trachsel very well might get through waivers and allow the Mets to trade for them in August.
Martinez is likely to make his first rehab start this week. The Mets would prefer that he bump Jorge Sosa from the rotation rather than having to use prospects or add payroll to unearth a solution.
As for trying to land a second baseman, the Mets hadn’t had any substantive talks with the Royals regarding Mark Grudzielanek. They have asked about Houston’s Mark Loretta.