Omar on Fan Pressure to Make a Trade

But Minaya said the Mets' expectation that Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado will return by early August is limiting their interest in a big trade.

"It's fair to say that, if we're looking for reinforcements right now, some of our DL guys are probably going to be the reinforcements," Minaya said. "If we can get all our guys back healthy, our healthy guys, its going to be hard to make trades that are going to be better than Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado."

Two comments. First, I highly doubt you are getting Delgado back in early August, and certainly not a useful Delgado.

Second, if Reyes, Beltran and Delgado (i.e., Sep. meltdown in '08, Sep. meltdown in '07 of historic proportions, and Oct. meltdown in '06) are the best we can do, I feel bad for the future of this team.

On the positive side, Minaya said he has been given permission by management to add to the club's NL-high $143 million budget. That said, we've been allowed to have the highest payroll in NL for years now and clearly that money has not been well spent.