By Frank Gray

Everything is silent on the New York Mets’ front right now—a calm if you will.

This time next week, however, will not be so quiet. The fans, writers, and media are all waiting with bated breath in anticipation of the direction this team will decide to go in.

As everyone knows by now, this Saturday at 4pm EST the MLB trade deadline ends. According to ESPN’s Buster Olney, the Mets are currently at a “wait and see ” point in the process.

While the Mets wait, the fans see a lot happening. The many pitchers that have been examined over the past month or more in anticipation of the deadline are dwindling down to a few unlikely options.

Let’s take a brief look at them.

First there was Cliff Lee.

The bloggers debated him for weeks and every website seemed to be running Lee stories. He was being considered, then the talks stalled and he went to Texas. Still, I expect that discussion to be revisited in the offseason when he becomes a free agent.

Then there was Dan Haren .

Arizona never officially discussed him with anyone associated with the team, except for a phone call or two of inquiries. But the bloggers discussed him at great length.

He’s gone now too, off to sunny California where he got hurt in his first start with the Angels.

There is also the controversial Carlos Zambrano .

He demanded out of Chicago this time last month. Now just yesterday, he is trying to make amends and stay in the Windy City. Most fans here may be thankful for that, but still another name is off the board.

Jake Peavy had been mentioned, and I wrote an article on him as an option.

He wasn’t interested in staying with the White Sox if they were going to be rebuilding. Since then, he became injured and had to shut down for the season—maybe longer.

Speaking of Chicago, Ted Lilly is still out there, but when last rumored, the Mets weren’t interested because they felt his loss in velocity was a red flag. So he will go somewhere else and help another team succeed most likely.

They also weren’t interested in paying Cleveland too much for Fausto Carmona . He had been doing well on a struggling team and the trade rumor winds swirled early on this, but died down as quickly as they were built up.

Then there’s Roy Oswalt , who, when last rumored, may be landing in Philly without the defending NL champs even giving up Jayson Werth . Wouldn’t that be wonderful as a Mets fan, going into Philly and face Halladay and Oswalt with the offense still intact?

As the potential options of a trade deadline that had fans so hyped over the past few weeks begin to drop like flies, we have to consider another option: Nothing.

Nothing can be an option. In fact, it has been this team’s option for the past few years. Despite hot seats and losing streaks, they remain idle year after year.

I hate to say it, but this year may very well be the same old thing. If that happens this season though, I think the real storm will strike.

It is already brewing off in the distance. The calm before the trade deadline storm is awaiting the right time to unleash its fury upon the Mets .

How will it be perceived? Will that storm be a result of Omar splashing into the trade waters? Will it be a response to more silence?

Either way, it is coming. If the Mets remain silent, the ramifications of that decision may very well cost several coaches their jobs. The only ones then that would be safe will be, of course, the Wilpons , Omar Minaya, and Jerry Manuel.

Perhaps that is the root of the problem though.

The Wilpons refuse to see that Minaya is not the right guy for this team in that position. He would be a wonderful scout or head of scouting, or even an assistant GM. But as the main man with the plan he withers away faster than an ice cream cone in a heat wave.

I will not re-examine this, but suffice it to say he lacks the aggressiveness needed to be in this market.

If the Wilpons keep him, they will most likely let him keep his managerial choice, Jerry Manuel. That sets us up for a repeat of all of this terrible outlook, miscommunication, and indecision for next year too.

That would be most unfortunate. While the insightful and knowledgeable fan base recognizes the real problems, the ones who can fix it, do not. It is like being at a hospital where the doctor wants to put a band aid on an open wound. While the family yells “stitch it up”, the doctor scratches his head and shrugs his shoulders unaware of the massive blood that is being lost during his indecision.

This is the Mets ownership, and the team is bleeding. It needs stitches, not a band aid! Stitch it up!

If ownership doesn’t, the indecision will most certainly be fatal to someone’s tenure and the team’s season. The storm that the indecision creates will most certainly be brutal enough to leave this team crippled and helpless in its wake. It’s coming and very soon.

Until then, enjoy the silence. It won’t last much longer.

By Sammy Makki

LOS ANGELES—During the Mets’ current road trip, their hitting has been as bad as it’s ever been.

The Mets are now 2-8 on their current 11-game road trip that concludes tomorrow afternoon and have gone through three prolonged hitting funks during the stretch.

Their first prolonged slump occured at the beginning of the trip. The Mets didn’t score for the first 24 innings while in San Francisco; it took them until the seventh inning of their third game to score.

Ike Davis hit a monster two-run shot into McCovey Cove at AT&T Park to snap the string in a Mets 8-4 loss.

Their second hitting drought came on Wednesday and Thursday against the Diamondbacks and Dodgers, respectively. The Mets were shut out over the final eight innings of their 14-inning 4-3 loss in Arizona and were shut out completely Thursday in Los Angeles, 2-0, to run their string to 17 straight scorless innings.

After breaking up the drought in Friday’s win, the Mets began a third streak of consecutive scoreless innings in today’s 3-2 loss to the Dodgers.

After tying the game at 2-2 in the sixth, the Mets failed to score over the final seven innings from the seventh to 13th. It’s almost equivalent to what happened in the 14-inning game, only one less inning was played. The Mets hope they’re not shut out tomorrow, the way they were following the 14-inning debacle.

The point of all of this is the Mets pitching has actually been fantastic for the most part over this stretch. On this road trip, twice has a game lasted 13 or more innings, only to find the Mets lose a close one via the walk-off.

Today’s loss was the Mets 12th walk-off loss of the season, showing that they’ve been in a ton of close affairs this season. If they at least won half of those, they would be 14 games over .500 at this point at 56-42. They aren’t, though, and that’s the shame of it.

There has to be a reason why the Mets have been so bad on the road late in games. Could it be pressure? Is it the lack of clutch players? No matter what the reason, it has cost the Mets a shot at staying in the National League playoff race.

After all, the Mets are not only fading in the NL East, they have so many teams in front of them in the NL Wild Card race, and the Florida Marlins only trail the Mets by a game and a half.

For all the moaning that people and talking heads have been doing about the Mets not having enough starting pitching, it’s not the pitching that is doing the Mets in this season.

When a team’s starting pitching keeps a game tied or close late 12 times, that team should have at least a handful of wins.

Now with the trading deadline exactly one week away, what do the Mets do? Is there any point to trade for a starting pitcher if the hitting has gone in a 48-inning combined scoreless drought over a 10-game span?

What would the Mets be giving up in a trade? Looking at things realistically, the Mets aren’t going to make the playoffs this season. They are five games behind in the Wild Card race with five teams ahead of them, and they are 7.5 games behind in the NL East.

Is this the right time to mortgage the future for pitching that won’t help instead of holding on to perhaps rebuild the team in the coming years?

If the Mets don’t make October this season for a fourth straight season, it may be time to trade some of the core players (i.e., Jose Reyes, David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Johan Santana) and start rebuilding to try with a new foundation.

It’s not something that Mets fans want to hear, but this group of guys is getting stale at this point. Something is not clicking obviously, and the Mets are starting to fade away in July again.

If the Mets want any hope at all entering the season’s final months, their hitting can’t continue to enter these prolonged droughts.

So with the trading deadline coming up, what do the Mets do? Reality says, they don’t need any more starting pitching, and should hold on to future players.

New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez is one shy of hitting the 600 home run mark.

He can hit 800 by the end of his career, but he won’t hit Cooperstown with the rest of baseball’s legends…ever.

This situation best relates with Mark McGwire, but even he wasn’t close to the required number of votes to get in the Hall of Fame.

He got 25 percent of votes, but players need 75 percent to get in. McGwire was maybe the most exciting hitter to see when he was in his prime, just like how A-Rod was in Texas, or when he’s chasing history.

But there’s going to be a time when you retire, and your stats might line up with the greatest of the greatest, and become eligible for the HOF.

There’s no reason to be eligible if you’ve taken steroids. Simply, 75 percent of the board won’t select you.

Yes, I am aware of the fact that he apologized and he admitted that he was “naive” during his interview after we baseball fans all found out.

Yes, I am aware that he only used them when he was with the Texas Rangers.

Yes, I am aware that A-Rod still had All-Star stats with the Seattle Mariners before he came to Texas.

But once you cheat in America’s pastime, there is no way of landing in Cooperstown.

I am a big Yankees fan, and I am not ashamed to cheer for A-Rod every at-bat.

But you can’t hide the fact that he used performance-enhancing drugs.

By Sammy Makki

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.

They looked like legitimate contenders in the National League East, hanging with the Atlanta Braves and with the struggling Philadelphia Phillies.

In June, the Mets went 18-8. David Wright had the best month of his career, hitting over .400 while driving in 29 runs, earning him Player of the Month honors in the National League.

Now, the Mets have started their West Coast trip 1-6, and could easily be 0-7 if it wasn’t for a bad call by home-plate umpire Phil Cuzzi in San Francisco.

So, where did it all go wrong?

The Mets were favorites in the NL Wild Card race and were looking like a playoff team. Their terrible stretch began in Puerto Rico on June 28. Since then, they are 6-14.

Could it have possibly been the trip to another country? No, that’s just an excuse.

The real problem has been the fact that they were playing over their heads. At home, before their last home stand, the Mets were 28-12.

Eventually, records like that will even out, and it’s begun to, with the Mets losing four of six on their last homestand to the Cincinnati Reds and Braves.

But more than pure numbers, the Mets happened to all be playing well at the same time during their magnificent stretch in late-May through late-June.

They were getting fantastic starting pitching, especially clutch performances out of Hisanori Takahashi who beat the Yankees and Phillies in May.

On June 13, Mike Pelfrey was 9-1, with a 2.39 ERA. That day, when he beat the Baltimore Orioles, things started to unravel even in the victory. Pelfrey has never been the same since.

Takahashi is more a reliever, and has proven that with his numbers being so poor going through the lineup more than once.

They have had some consistencies.

Angel Pagan, when told he’s an everyday player, has been maybe the most clutch hitter for the Mets. The Mets have gotten continued success out of knuckleballer R.A. Dickey and have gotten decent pitching out of Jon Niese.

But there are some things that aren’t there that were back in April and May. Rod Barajas was carrying the Mets offense during the first two months, but the problem is, the back of his baseball card reads otherwise.

This season, Barajas is batting .226, exactly what he batted in 2009.

This season, Barajas is on pace to hit 20 home runs, whereas last season he hit 19. So, the Mets have gotten exactly what they expected out of Barajas. It’s just that the bulk of his production came early and evened out late.

The key in all of that is that the Mets were being “carried” by him. Meaning he was partially the reason why they were succeeding offensively. When he faded, the guys who weren’t hitting still didn’t hit.

Jason Bay has been a bust so far. He never picked his teammates up after they picked him up.

On April 30, Jeff Francoeur was hitting .284, he hasn’t hit higher than .275 since, and he has dipped as low as .212.

Now, as a result of losing playing time to Angel Pagan, and righfully so, he’s demanding a trade. The Mets are 0-6 on this road trip when Francoeur hasn’t played and Beltran has played.

Maybe the clubhouse has been deflated by their leader being benched. How will the clubhouse react now to him requesting a trade?

With guys like Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and Luis Castillo all returning from injuries, how long will it take for them to get back in a groove?

At the start of this road trip, the Mets front office needed to trade for a starting pitcher. They, as always at the trade deadline, were defiant, and now it may not even matter anymore.

A lot was going right for this team all at once back in their better days of May and June.

Now, as we near August, the Mets are in trouble.

They aren’t hitting a lick, scoring four or less runs in 12 straight games, and they are about to lose a leader in the clubhouse. Even if it is Jeff Francoeur’s own fault as he’s gone 5-for-44 in July.

Should the Mets make a trade for a starting pitcher, or should they concede to the fact they aren’t good enough to contend?

We’ll find out in the coming days before the trading deadline.

By Gregory Jerome

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:

“I just think that the unsettledness that this ball club has dealt with all year, as far as lineups, has played a role in this.”

“I see guys, and these are good major league hitters, and they’re going up there with some awful cuts.”

Ojeda mentioned that “almost everyone” on the team has admitted bluntly to Kevin Burkhardt in interviews that they are “pressing” in their at-bats.

Ojeda continued, “What does that tell you? That tells you the way they’re being run, and the way those lineup cards are being put out is not taking pressure off, it’s putting pressure on ‘em.

“And they’re showing definite cracks in their behavior by going up there and taking awful swings at mediocre pitches.”

Ojeda’s criticism of Manuel continued. “So far everything that Jerry’s done isn’t working. And how do I know that? Well look at the record. Look at what’s going on. Look at (their performance) on the road.

“This is just mind blowing to me that this team can play so well at home and then go on the road and then just completely fall apart. Now what changes? Its the same pieces in the game. I don’t understand it.”

Asked to explain the Mets recent post-All-Star Game struggles, Ojeda again criticized Manuel, this time for not showing confidence in his players.

“This is has been a progression into this, and I look at a couple examples.

“One, the Angel Pagan situation. He wasn’t told he was going to be an everyday starter even after he clearly outplayed Jeff Francoeur. He still wasn’t given a vote of confidence, and that spreads throughout your ball club.”

Ojeda also criticized the way Manuel has run his bullpen.

“When the bullpen has always been, ‘the hot hand goes, you turn cold on me, you’re buried…’ that spreads…”

“Listen, players are a temperamental people. They depend a lot on confidence and sometimes that confidence has to come from external things. And if that’s your managers… if that’s your coaches, so be it.

“But you need to have some confidence. You need to have some people believe in you. And the guy who fills out the lineup card has to show some belief in his guys, and right now, his patience is being tested the way this ball club is playing.”