New York Mets

Obviously, we all know by now that the New York Mets have gone to the West Coast and failed to prove they are contenders.

On June 27, the Mets beat the Minnesota Twins behind Jon Niese on a Sunday at Citi Field. What's the relevance of that date? It's their recent high-water mark of the season, when they improved to 11 games over .500 with a record of 43-32.

Since then, they have lost 14 of 20, to drop to only three games over .500, with their current record being 49-46. The Mets were doing so well in the month of June.

Rumors flying around the New York Mets say they might trade Jeff Francoeur before the trade deadline next week.

Is that possible? Yes.

Is it likely? Knowing the Mets, probably not.

Francoeur lost the starting right fielder job to Angel Pagan when Carlos Beltran returned and now is the fourth outfielder.

Francoeur has been a starter since he was single digits in age. He obviously can’t be happy being on the bench now.

After the Mets were swept last night by the Diamondbacks, SNY Mets post game co-host Bobby Ojeda issued several loud criticisms of Mets Manager Jerry Manuel.

Suggesting that Manuel's consistent re-ordering of the batting lineup throughout the season has contributed to the Mets offensive slump, Ojeda then went on to say that he thought Manuel demonstrated a counterproductive lack of confidence in his players.

Ojeda on the Mets recent offensive struggles:

Well, I can’t say much. The Mets played terribly tonight, getting one hit over the last eight innings against the D-Backs bullpen. This is against a bullpen known for being the worst bullpen in the majors.

Aaron Heilman even went two perfect innings. Heilman! Oliver Perez almost lost it in the 13th, putting runners on first and second with no outs and second and third with one out.

The Mets ended up getting swept by the D-Backs (going past 2 a.m. to do so).

The Mets need help, in multiple aspects. Today, they made a move that improves one part of their roster, possibly.

Chad Cordero was signed by the Mets today, and will be sent to the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons, who had their contract as affiliate of the Mets extended today through 2012, for now.

Cordero is most known for closing out games for the Washington Nationals from 2005-07. He also closed for the Montreal Expos in '03 and '04 before the franchise moved to Washington.

Having missed out on acquiring the services of Cliff Lee, the Mets will turn to the best of the rest among potential trade targets as they look for an in-season acquisition to help boost them to their first postseason berth in four years.

We know they need pitching primarily, so let’s look at five pitchers who the Mets could target in the next few weeks.

Starting pitching is likely still the priority for the Mets, as they would love to acquire a starter so they could move Hisanori Takahashi back to the bullpen, where he’s more effective.

The numbers back that up, too.

Time to ask other Mets fans on Twitter another question. This time it was:

Hey Mets fans, what is 1 thing you want the Mets to get before the trade deadline expires?

Got quite a few responses, so lets get right into it:

@TylerFlushingBB a winning streak.

http://twitter.com/heyyoeddie

After losing their past two games against the D-Backs, the Mets will try to salvage at least one game before they head to Los Angeles to face the Dodgers for a four-game series.

For the second straight series, the Mets look to try to get a win in the final game after losing the rest.

This road trip out west has not gone well so far for the Mets. Here is tonight’s lineup, with some comments from me.

1. Jose Reyes, SS - Reyes hit the ball well his last three at bats on Monday, and also got two hits yesterday.

After last night's loss, Alex Cora got quite upset about some laughter in the clubhouse.

Here is the link to David Lennon's Twitter Post:

http://twitter.com/lenno212/status/19051351500

While none of us were in the clubhouse to fully know what was the joke or why Cora in particular got so offended, there is a concern that the Mets players will be labeled as "playing for the paycheck instead of the win".

It has become fairly obvious that the New York Mets need help in their bullpen. They have been rumored to be interested in trading for a reliever. The Mets have made a transaction for a relief pitcher.

The Mets signed Chad Cordero to a minor league deal. While this is not the big splash that Mets fans for looking for, it is your prototypical low risk/high reward move.