I spoke with my Mets source recently, and here’s what I came away with.
With Danys Baez out of the picture, the club will just focus on minor league invites and doesn’t plan on making any major acquisitions. However, there is still an outside shot the Mets trade for Barry Zito; they are currently monitoring the situation. Such a deal would be preceded by a trade of Kris Benson. Zito is certainly someone the Mets will revisit during the season if nothing is worked out this winter.
According to my source, the Mets feel "very good" about their starting pitching depth. Personally, as an unbiased observer, the rotation is not impressive at all. Anyway, here’s the starting pitcher rankings from their depth chart:
Pedro Martinez
Tom Glavine
Kris Benson
Steve Trachsel
Victor Zambrano
Aaron Heilman
Brian Bannister
Alay Soler
Mike Pelfrey (possible September call-up)
Basically you’re hoping Pedro holds up in his age 34 season and following that with a bunch of #3’s or worse. Do you really want Benson starting Game 3 of a playoff series?
