Double shocker: Yankees beat the Blue Jays, and the "unmarketable" A-Rod is getting a special day!

A-Rod and CC hug it out after Alex's 3000th hit.

Well, that was a pretty exciting -- and exhausting -- day in Yankeeland! First, even I, the author of "The Redemption of A-Rod," was positively stunned when I heard that the Yankees were going to honor Alex Rodriguez with a special day for his 3000th hit. I don't seem to remember even Derek Jeter getting such a day for his own 3000th hit, so that makes this news even more amazing.

This is the most shocking turnaround in reputation since Santa asked Rudolph to guide the sleigh on Christmas Eve!

Brian Cashman claimed to the Daily News that it's "not a surprise" that the team would honor Rodriguez this way. Child, please. Talk about revisionist history!

Cashman also said (emphasis added):

“I think it certainly shows how far he’s come, how far we’ve come,” Cashman said. “Mistakes can happen, and you can move past it over time. What he has accomplished on the field is pretty special. You can’t argue with the amount of hits he’s put together over the course of his career. It’s an amazing accomplishment.”

My jaw is on the floor, it has dropped so far! "You can't argue with the amount of hits" A-Rod has put together? Um, the Yankees *did* argue just that when they refused to pay him $6 million for him reaching the 660-homer milestone! Or are we in some alternate universe where homers don't count as hits?

And even I am flabbergasted that Cashman would describe repeated PED use as merely "mistakes."

The cynic in me initially thought that the A-Rod 3000-hit day is just meant to sell tickets and garner buzz on the first NFL Sunday of the year. But it is before a critical game against the Blue Jays, so that should be worth selling tickets on its own.

At any rate, the very idea that this day could be meant to sell tickets and create buzz belies the notion that Rodriguez is unmarketable. I can't see how the Yankees can refuse to pay A-Rod's next home run milestone after marketing this.

When I was at the Yankees-Red Sox game on August 4, they showed clips of Alex's 500th and 600th homers, which were on that same day. I also noticed when I was at the ballpark Thursday night for an NYCFC soccer game (more on that in a future Squawk!) how many photos of Rodriguez are in the luxury suite area, something that I doubt was the case last year or even at the beginning of the season!

Did the team simply finally wake up and notice that Alex is their most popular player by far these days?  Or is there some behind-the-scenes story that we don't know about? Is this day a quid pro quo in exchange for A-Rod's charitable settlement with the team over the milestone money?

It just goes to show how quickly a person's reputation can change! We see people's reputation sink very quickly (Bill Cosby, I'm looking at you) but we don't often see somebody have their reputation rehabilitated so quickly!

* * *

A shot of my TV screen after Miller got the save.

Last night's game was gut-wrenching, but ultimately satisfying. It was the most important win of the year, and felt like a playoff game!

We finally got to see the clutch Carlos Beltran -- the one who had such great postseason numbers with the Astros -- step up, with that awesome pinch-hit home run! It is is best moment as a Yankee, by far, so far.

And I am still emotionally exhausted from that epic 12 pitch at-bat between Troy Tulowitzki and Andrew Miller. Given how shaky Miller has been looking as of late -- and last night -- I didn't think that was going to end well.Miller Time didn't look to go down easy at first. But they still won. Whew!

Now the Yankees are back in first place, where they belong. Let's hope they can stay there today!

Shocker! I am actually feeling a little confident about the 2015 Yankees' chances!

I know I can be a bit of an Eeyore when it comes to how I think the Yankees will do. (Although Squawker Jon was the one who recently got called that by one of our readers!)

After all, in my preseason predictions, I figured the Yanks would finish in fourth place in the AL East, not win more than 80 games, and have a worse record than the Mets. And even though the Yankees have exceeded everyone's expectations, and are in first place, albeit in a pretty weak division, I still keep on waiting for the other shoe to drop. For Masahiro Tanaka's arm to finally get that Tommy John surgery. For other teams in the division to get hot.

But after Sunday, I am about as positive on this team as I have been all year. Two things impressed me. The first, of course, is that the Yankees got a series win against Seattle, winning a game that King Felix started, with CC Sabathia pitching like the CC of old. CC even roared and pumped his fist after striking out Robinson Cano! Also, Mark (Gluten-Free) Teixeira continued his phenomenal year with the game-winning homer.

The second was that Carlos Beltran did a fundraiser for his baseball academy Sunday night with an "80s Strike Back" theme, and many members of the team showed up, wearing goofy 1980s-style outfits. Although I don't remember some of these styles, and I lived through the 80s!

However, I did so many fashion and hair monstrosities back then, it's not even funny! I do think somebody should have worn a skinny leather tie with parachute pants -- that was a popular guys' style when I was in high school.

My favorite looks from the photo above are from Michael Pineda (the man in the yellow hat), CC Sabathia rocking the overalls, Garrett Jones as Bruce Springsteen and Chris Young with the Run-DMC look. The worst is A-Rod -- he should have gone for a Miami Vice look instead of the generic blazer and shirt!

Anyhow, one of the reasons for the team's success in 2009 seemed to be that they really liked each other. They had the walkoff pies and the kangaroo court and all sorts of silliness. I get the feeling that this 2015 team really likes each other as well. These sorts of bonding events are great for team chemistry.

So I don't know if this team has what it takes to win it all. But Sunday is the best I have felt about their chances all season!

One sour note about Sunday -- was sad to see Rob Refsnyder sent down to the minors. The incriminating picks Stephen Drew must have on Brian Cashman must be really something!

"I'm never pain-free," Yankee golden oldie Carlos Beltran sez:

Longtime Squawker readers know that I was against the Carlos Beltran signing. The fact that the St. Louis Cardinals, arguably the smartest franchise in baseball, let him go was a huge warning sign. Another warning sign was Beltran's propensity for injury. That, combined with his age -- he will be 39 at the end of his deal with the Yankees -- made me wonder, and not for the first time, what the heck Brian Cashman was thinking in signing him.

Cashman, you may remember, famously turned down signing Beltran after the 2004 season, even though Carlos was willing to take less money to be a Yankee. So instead of signing Beltran for the prime years of his career, seasons in which he would slug over 30 homers a year and drive in over 100 runs, Cashman decided to spend $15M a year for an aging outfielder who really should be a DH. And to give him a three-year deal to boot. How did that ever make any sense?

ESPN New York's Wallace Matthews interviewed Beltran the other day, and the aging slugger, while saying he was feeling better these days, also had this to say about his health:

"I'm a gamer, what can I say? I love to play," he said. "But I'm never pain-free, let's put it that way. It's been seven or eight years that I'm not pain-free. Some people tolerate pain better than others. I would say I can tolerate a bit of pain." 

Oy. Again, the Yankees missed out on the healthy years, but they have him for the injury-riddled seasons, the ones where he is never pain-free. Oh, joy.

For all the talk about how the Yankees are paying for players on the decline, at least the team got some great years -- and won a World Series -- thanks to the other members of what an ESPN reader called the "Sore Four." (Love that line!) A-Rod won two MVPs, and CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira had some dominating seasons as Yankees. Meanwhile, the Yankees cut to the chase with Beltran and are paying big bucks for the years in decline, without getting any of the good years!

Why the Yankees chose to spend the money on Beltran instead of Robinson Cano made zero sense at the time, and even less sense now. (Beltran's contract, plus the $5M each wasted on Chris Capuano and Stephen Drew, would have paid for Cano.)  Sure, they would have been paying for Cano's declining years, although I still contend they could have gotten him for less than 10 years if they had offered him more per season. But at least they would have had some great years out of him. The Yanks are only getting Beltran's declining seasons!

Why weren't Steinbrenner sons at Derek Jeter's final farewell? Were they watching #TGIT? And where is Hal's statement about this disaster of a team?

Look -- I have criticized the Derek Jeter farewell tour repeatedly in this column. I found the hype and the kitsch over the top, and I thought it had become a flat-out money grab. But even I found Thursday's farewell game extremely touching, and, yes, I am not ashamed to admit cried at the end. Who wouldn't, after seeing Jeter's walkoff single in that game?

What moved me the most was seeing Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, Joe Torre, and the rest on the field, waiting for Jeter. When Michael Kay said that Jeter hadn't yet noticed that they were there, I just lost it, crying and crying. It was a really wonderful night that everyone enjoyed. Except, apparently, for two people. Unlike their sister Jenny, who was seen on camera, Hal and Hank Steinbrenner reportedly couldn't be bothered to attend the game. Nor were they at Jeter's final game at Fenway Park.

Give me a break. What in the world could possibly be more important to them than being at Thursday's game -- catching Shonda Rimes' #TGIT on ABC? Why didn't they show up? Are Hal and Hank ticked off that recently Jeter pointed out the obvious to New York magazine -- that they are not their fathers' sons when it comes to being around the team?

Hal has mostly maintained a monk's silence for most of the season, briefly emerging in August to say that the Yankees needed to "step it up." Spoiler alert: they didn't. So here we are, with the Bombers having their second season in a row without a playoff appearance. Over $210 million was spent for nothing. Yet Hal hasn't said a word. And why isn't the media wondering where Hal is, and why he literally has nothing to say after this disaster of a year?

Then there is the Brian Cashman issue. How can this clown get a contract extension, when two of the three teams since his previous contract didn't make the playoffs, and the one that did had an epic collapse in the postseason? And the thing is, Cashman still doesn't understand what he did wrong. He recently told John Harper that "I honestly believe if you repeated this season 100 times, you would not get this result," a statement Harper does not challenge. Hmmm, I think if this season were repeated 100 times, you could even get worse results. For example, Jeter, to my surprise, stayed healthy all year. Jacoby Ellsbury stayed mostly healthy -- he very well could have been injured and missed significant time. And the injuries that did happen most likely still would have happened.

Image courtesy of Nomaas.org

Cashman also said that "you’ll see the real Carlos Beltran next year" and that "Tex should be much better. His doctor says the first year after wrist surgery is difficult, and the next year is better." He also thought McCann would be better next year. I think that is possible with McCann, but the idea that Beltran and Teixeira, two injury-ridden, aging players, will be better one year older is delusional. To paraphrase Nomaas, what is Cashman smoking?

Met-Yankee comparisons at the All-Star break

Met shortstop Ruben Tejada has an OPS of .647. The Mets are looking to upgrade at the position.

Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter has an OPS of .647. Jeter is starting in the All-Star Game and batting leadoff.

The Mets have one All-Star - Daniel Murphy.

Excluding sentimental pick Jeter and injured Masahiro Tanaka, the Yankees have one All-Star - Dellin Betances - a middle reliever.

Curtis Granderson  is hitting .237 with 14 homers, 43 RBI, 46 runs, 7 steals and a .768 OPS. Granderson makes $15M per season.

Carlos Beltran is hitting .216 with 9 homers, 28 RBI, 22 runs, 1 steal and a .671 OPS.
Beltran makes $15M per season.

Bartolo Colon has eight wins and an ERA of 3.99.

In 2011 with the Yankees, Colon had eight wins with an ERA of 4.00.

Playing without Matt Harvey this season, the Mets are 45-50 with a winning percentage of .474.

In games not started by Tanaka, the Yankees are 34-42 with a winning percentage of .447.

Subway Series: Old Timers' Day

Last year, the Mets swept the Yankees in the Subway Series. But this season, the Mets don't have Matt Harvey while the Yankees have Masahiro Tanaka. And the Mets figure to embarrass themselves before the games with the presentation of the ridiculous "true New Yorkers" letter and whatever fawning retirement gift they have for Derek Jeter.

Jeter turns 40 next month, and perhaps the Mets are already honoring him by collecting elderly ex-Yankees. Bobby Abreu and Bartolo Colon are 40 and Kyle Farnsworth is 38. The fourth ex-Yankee on the Mets' roster, Curtis Granderson, is a comparative youngster at 33. (The Yankees have one ex-Met - Carlos Beltran.)

By the way, Squawker Lisa, while Beltran got off to a great start in the Bronx and Granderson was awful in the early going, over the last two weeks Granderson is hitting .308 with two homers, seven RBI and five runs, while Beltran is hitting .147 with no homers, two RBI and three runs. 

Lisa has justifiably ripped me for having Kerosene Kyle on my fantasy team, but I remedied that by dropping him for Jeurys Familia after Terry Collins said Familia was moving closer to being the closer. I hope that's true, but after trying Jose Valverde and Farnsworth, I hope the Mets don't turn
next to just-released 36-year-old Heath Bell.

The day before the 2013 Subway Series, the Met rallied for three runs in the eighth inning and broke a five-game losing streak. Yesterday, the Mets rallied for three runs in the ninth and went on to break a five-game losing streak.  So here's hoping the Mets can pull off another sweep of the Yankees.

Of course, the Mets followed the four-game Subway Series sweep by losing ten of their next twelve. 

At 17-19, the Mets now have to go 73-53 the rest of the way to win 90 games.

Playoffs look premature for Mets

I enjoyed the Mets' first half, but let's keep it in perspective. The 2010 team had a better record at the All-Star break. The 2010 Mets were 48-40 and the 2012 Mets are 46-40. The 2010 Mets were in second place, four games behind the Braves. The 2012 Mets are in third place, 4 1/2 games behind the Nationals and half a game behind the Braves.

The 2010 Mets were one of six teams within two games of each other for the wild card lead, while the 2012 Mets are one of five teams within a half-game of each other for the wild card lead.

The main thing the 2012 Mets have over the 2010 team is that there are now two wild cards.

The current Met team has more overachievers than underachievers. R.A. Dickey went 12-1 with a 2.40 ERA in the first half.  Johan Santana has been healthy and productive. Even Chris Young has made it through six starts, after only making it through four in each of the last two seasons.
David Wright is hitting .351 with a 1.004 OPS. Scott Hairston has 12 homers in 185 at bats. Is it reasonable to assume that all five players will continue to produce at this level?

Ike Davis leads the underachievers, and more was expected of Jon Niese as well. Ruben Tejada missed several weeks. Andres Torres is hitting .201.The  bullpen has been mostly a nightmare.  Davis has started turning it around and Tejada has been great since returning, so there's hope for more from this group.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis was overachieving for awhile, but now he's underachieving. Daniel Murphy has also been up and down, but is now about where you'd expect at .295.  I no longer qualify Jason Bay as an underachiever. I hope he is healthy for his sake, but don't see him helping the Mets.

This team looked likely to regress even before Dillon Gee got hurt. But now there's no way around it. The Mets only won 7 of Gee's 17 starts, so the regression might not be so bad, but it's hard to imagine them improving in the fifth rotation spot. By all accounts, Matt Harvey is not ready, so bringing him up soon could backfire for this season and for the future. The Mets already rushed Jennry Mejia up and we see how that worked out.

There's certainly a better feeling around the Mets than there has been in awhile. So far at least, losing Jose Reyes has not been as bad as I feared. Reyes and the Marlins are struggling. Ruben Tejada is hitting .325 and fielding well. I'm not saying Tejada has fully replaced Reyes, but it could be worse, say Torres (.201 batting average, 26 runs, 9 steals, 20 RBI, 1 homer) for Angel Pagan (now hitting .284 with 38 runs, 15 steals, 33 RBI and 5 homers).

And while it's great to have Zack Wheeler in the system for the future, the 2012 Mets outfield could certainly use 2012 All-Star Carlos Beltran.

Ultimately, the Beltran for Wheeler trade underscores the fact that the Mets are being built for the future, not the immediate present. I hope the future is not too far off for the Mets. But it doesn't look as if it is in 2012.

The Carlos Beltran Trade: Mets Rebuild Without Entering Rebuilding Mode

In March, the New York Post's Joel Sherman correctly predicted that the Mets would trade a core star at the deadline for a top pitching prospect. Only Sherman thought it would be Jose Reyes for the Reds' Homer Bailey. Instead, on the day the Carlos Beltran deal became official, the new-look Mets scored nine runs off of Bailey.

Who would have predicted last spring that the Mets would be able to use Beltran, still trying to come back from knee surgery, to land a top pitching prospect? That the debt-ridden Mets would be able to throw in four million dollars in the deal? And that the Mets would hold on to Reyes with increased hope of re-signing him?

Almost every sportswriter last spring thought Reyes was a goner. ESPN's Buster Olney thought that the "Mets will seek ‘power arms,’ in a deal for Reyes, and says the Giants will be interested."

Reyes may yet leave the Mets. There is no guarantee that Wheeler will pan out. A few years ago, many considered Bailey one of the top two pitching prospects in baseball. The other one was Phil Hughes. While it's too early to write off Bailey or Hughes, both have been disappointments so far relative to expectations.

Beltran, underrated and underappreciated as a Met, is irreplaceable with the current roster.

But Beltran, 34 with bad knees, is not part of the Mets' future, especially as a Scott Boras client. Even if the Mets had no money issues, should they have given Beltran the kind of money and years Boras will demand?

Madoff or no Madoff, it would have still made sense to do what the Red Sox did with stars like Pedro Martinez and Johnny Damon - let them go while they still had something left, but bring back top prospects with which they could retool. With the supplemental pick the Red Sox received for Pedro, they drafted Clay Buchholz. One of the picks they got for Damon turned out to be Daniel Bard.

If the Mets had kept Beltran, they would not have gotten any draft picks. But getting a top prospect was even better. As risky as prospects are, draft picks are even riskier. Better to get a top-ten pick from a couple of years ago, who has had a chance to show in professional ball that his reputation is deserved. Someone like Wheeler, the sixth pick in 2009.

But if Reyes had been traded at the deadline, it would not have mattered how many Zack Wheelers the Mets got back. The Mets would have been in full rebuilding mode.

Last year, the Padres almost won the NL West. Then they traded Adrian Gonzalez in the prime of his career. The Padres supposedly got a great haul of prospects from the Red Sox. Maybe those prospects will pan out one day. But today, the Padres are in last place, 14 games under .500, while Gonzalez is a top contender for AL MVP.

If the Padres get lucky, Anthony Rizzo, the first base prospect obtained from the Red Sox in the Gonzalez trade, will turn out to be another Gonzalez. But then, as he approaches free agency, the Padres will have to trade him.

This spring, the Mets looked like they were turning into the Padres - a low-budget team with little hope of contending on a regular basis. The future is still uncertain, but with both Reyes and Wheeler in the organization, it looks a lot brighter than it did just a few months ago.

Mets' First Half: From Clawback to Claw

At the start of the season, the Mets appeared to be going down the drain - both on and off the field. At the All-Star break, things look better - both on and off the field. But is optimism justified, or merely a product of lowered expectations?

The dominant Met story last winter was Irving Picard's clawback lawsuit hanging over the franchise. As a result, Jose Reyes looked to be a goner.

As for the players, Johan Santana was out indefinitely, Carlos Beltran was a part-time player who could no longer play centerfield and Jose Reyes had to prove he could stay healthy.

Now Reyes has come back stronger than ever, and the trade of Francisco Rodriguez increases the odds of Reyes remaining a Met. The future remains uncertain, but at least the outlook is brighter than in the spring. And who would have predicted that Beltran would play in almost every game and make the All-Star team?

Along with the trade of K-Rod, another off-the-field bright spot was the announcement that David Einhorn will invest $200 million in the franchise and become a minority shareholder.

However, Fred Wilpon's ill-advised comments denigrating Reyes, Wright and Beltran and warning of huge losses and payroll cuts temper hope that the franchise is headed back in the right direction. The clawback lawsuit is still out there. And Einhorn's deal has not been finalized yet.

While it would be nice to eventually begin a Mets' half-season in review without mentioning finances, it would be even nicer to not have to mention misdiagnosed injuries to star players. Unfortunately, David Wright played for a few weeks with a back fracture and Ike Davis was told to wear a protective boot that ended up making his ankle worse.

But, as mentioned above, Beltran has been healthy and Reyes was healthy before getting hurt earlier this month. Reyes is due back soon and the injury is said to be minor, though with the Mets' history, we won't know for sure until he is back on the field.

While the Mets have had bad injury luck with Wright and Davis, the same can't be said for Chris Young, who was the Mets' best starter at the beginning of the season before he went down for the year. The only reason the Mets were able to sign Young in the first place was that he was such an injury risk. Nobody could reasonably expect both Young and Chris Capuano to make it through the season healthy and productive. And the severity of Santana's injury makes any expectations for him a longshot.

Capuano, though, has been a pleasant surprise, and Sandy Alderson also came through with Rule 5 pickup Pedro Beato. Scott Hairston has had some dramatic homers off the bench and as a backup.

Alderson did not do as well with the other Rule 5, Brad Emaus, who quickly showed he didn't deserve the second base job. Blaine Boyer also didn't make it out of April. D.J. Carrasco was sent down, but did return.

Justin Turner has been a good addition, but Alderson can't take credit for him - Omar Minaya acquired Turner last year.

While the Mets hitting has been better than expected, this remains a punchless team without Wright and Davis. And Jason Bay has cooled off again after his recent hot streak, renewing fears that he will never get his act together at the plate as a Met.

The pitching has also been better than expected, with the starters rebounding from a slow start with a strong last few weeks. The bullpen has also been solid.

Of course, the main component of the bullpen was just traded, and the number 3 hitter (Beltran) is likely to be next.

With ownership in turmoil and a dispirited fan base, it would be easy for the team to give up hope, as they appeared to do the last couple of years. But under new manager Terry Collins, the Mets display a spirit not seen in some time around here. The hitters have even started doing their version of the "claw" when they reach base. Collins' infusion of a more positive attitude has some talking about him as a candidate for Manager of the Year.

But Collins has also benefited from the greatly lowered expectations. Last year, Jerry Manuel's Mets were eight games over .500 at the break. They finished 79-83 and Manuel lost his job.

If, as seems likely, the Mets trade Beltran, 79 wins might be optimistic. Not to mention that the Mets currently have no proven closer, which would seem to be a necessity for a team that plays lots of close, low-scoring games.

Still, under Alderson and Collins, there is a lot more reason for hope than there was under the old regime, both for the rest of this year and for the future. It doesn't look like there will be meaningful games in September, but there will be meaningful developments. What will the Mets get for Beltran if he's traded? Will they make other trades for prospects? Will Einhorn finalize his deal? Can Johan make it back? (I have a bad feeling about Ike, so I'm not including him in this list.)

So here's to a second half with more talk of claw than clawback. Let's Go Mets!

Why Are Mets Promoting Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran for All-Star Game?

Just got an email from mets.com: REYES, BELTRAN NEED YOUR VOTES! Yeah, that's the way to cheer up a fan base - tell them to support players that may not even be in Met uniforms by the All-Star Game.

Maybe Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran would have more votes if their owner hadn't publicly criticized them last week.

Perhaps Fred Wilpon can make it up to Reyes by voting for him - just so long as he doesn't get Carl Crawford vote totals.

And Wilpon can vote for Beltran, but fill out multiple ballots with other outfielders so Beltran only gets 65-70% of his support.

The one thing we won't see from the Mets is truth in marketing:

Vote for Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran - increase their trade value!

Vote for Reyes and Beltran - it may be years before another Met has any hope of being voted onto the team!

Enjoy these Met All-Star performances while you can - starting in 2012, the Mets will only get someone on the team because every team has to have an All-Star. (But at least Justin Turner will be able to tell his grandkids he was an All-Star.)

I'd love to vote for Reyes - to sign a new contract with the Mets. As for Beltran, I vote for him to find a team that appreciates him.

In the end, many fans, including this one, will be voting with their wallets. And the exit polls on that score are looking pretty grim.

Perhaps the person most in favor of the Mets' latest dubious marketing ploy is incoming investor David Einhorn. ESPN's Adam Rubin suggests that Einhorn may be counting on the team to tank financially so that he can eventually take it over.

And a good way to make Met fans even angrier is to ask them to cast their All-Star votes for Reyes and Beltran - to think of them as the stars they are, just as ownership is no longer able or willing to pay for stars.

Astros' Mess Shows Why Mets Shouldn't Trade Carlos Beltran to Yankees

This weekend, the Mets are seeing what could happen after you trade off your stars.

Longtime Astros Lance Berkman and Roy Oswalt, dealt at last year's trading deadline, are now key components of first-place teams, while the Astros have the worst record in the NL and are drawing fewer than 25,000 fans per game.

It will be years before we know if the Astros got enough back to justify trading two longtime faces of the franchise. So far, it looks like they ended up with only one impact young player, Brett Wallace, who was acquired for Anthony Gose, who came to the Astros in the Oswalt deal.

Meanwhile, Berkman is off to an MVP-caliber start with the division rival Cardinals, while Oswalt is part of the "rotation for the ages" in Philadelphia.

Berkman won't keep up his league-leading OPS of 1.131. And Oswalt is currently on the DL. But it's reasonable to expect these players to play key roles in the pennant race while the Astros play out the string before empty seats.

Sure, the Mets are likely to get more for the much younger Jose Reyes than the Astros got for their older stars. And while Reyes' fast start is thankfully causing more people to realize that trading him will set this franchise back for years, it makes sense to trade an older player like Carlos Beltran who is very likely to leave the Mets anyway.

But if the Mets trade Beltran, they'd better get a really good prospect in return. The Post's Mike Vaccaro speculates on whether Beltran could get traded to the Yankees. Vaccaro concludes:

A one-sided trade between the two would be perilous. Is Beltran worth the risk? For the Yankees, absolutely. For the Mets? They might be better off winning than having to face that question.

I agree on the Mets' part. It would be bad enough to see the Yankees get back to the World Series. But to get back with Beltran playing a key role would be intolerable.

But what if Sandy Alderson could land one of the Yankees' top prospects for Beltran? Someone like Jesus Montero, Manny Banuelos or Dellin Betances? I still wouldn't want to see that move, but I'd have to concede that it would probably be worth it for the Mets in the long run.

But I can't imagine Brian Cashman agreeing that a Beltran trade is "absolutely worth the risk" if it involves dealing Montero, who, if traded, would only be part of a Cliff Lee-type package, not for a Beltran rental, or either of the two pitchers, currently considered untouchable.

When the Yankees traded for Berkman last year, they gave up Mark Melancon and Jimmy Paredes. Melancon is now the Astros' fill-in closer with Brandon Lyon on the DL and Paredes is their sixth-ranked prospect, with a three-star ranking out of five, according to Baseball Prospectus.

Doesn't sound like a lot for Berkman, but it's probably along the lines of what the Yankees would want to give the Mets for Beltran.

If I were the Yankees, I wouldn't want to give up a top prospect for Beltran, but from the Mets' point of view, if that's the case, better to hold on to Beltran than to watch him help a rival in the postseason while you are trying to put together a rebuilding plan on the cheap.

Classy move by Carlos Beltran

With all the denial surrounding the Mets right now (money issues won't affect the team, the Mets are a contender), it's refreshing to see someone associated with the team acknowledge a situation and take positive steps to rectify it. Carlos Beltran has decided to move from center to right field.

Apparently, Beltran was the one who approached Terry Collins about making the switch. So Beltran comes off well for initiating the move, while the new manager deserves credit for a smooth transition.

Compare this situation to last summer, when Beltran returned to the lineup. Jerry Manuel not only put Beltran back in center field, but batted him cleanup. Manuel's moves coincided with the Mets, eight games over .500 at the All-Star break, collapsing right after that. Beltran hit .204 in July and .227 in August with two homers - not exactly cleanup material. And he was clearly not his old self in center field.

At this point, it doesn't matter if Manuel or Beltran or both deserve blame for the poor decisions of last summer. In 2011, both Beltran and Collins deserve credit for helping this Met team make a fresh start and create some positive feelings around the team for a change.

***

Happy Birthday, Squawker Lisa!

Carlos Beltran, R.A. Dickey and thinking positively

You'd never know it from the way many people write about them, but the Mets have had a few bright spots this season. R.A. Dickey is one of the most amazing stories in years on the Mets or any other team. ESPN's Mark Simon even invented a new "metric," STAR (Story Above Replacement), to pay tribute to the Mets' knuckleballer.

Sometimes I wonder if good news on the Mets is so hard to come by because there is a fear of admitting that Omar Minaya ever did anything right. Such an admission could help upper management rationalize that Minaya is not doing such a bad job after all, so he deserves to remain as GM.

So I am inventing my own new metric, GMAR (General Manager Above Replacement), and making sure that, even with credit for Dickey, Omar's GMAR is too low for him to keep his job.

But while Omar needs to go, it's important to give him credit where credit is due. New management should build on what the Mets already have, not blow it all up and start over. Which brings us to Carlos Beltran, whose performance this weekend in Philadelphia suggests that it's time to rethink wondering how much salary the Mets would have to eat to get him off the team.

In Sunday's game, Beltran hit two homers, one from each side of the plate, and made a sensational diving catch to help assure that the Phillies would not clinch the division in front of the Mets. But Beltran's most important contribution may have come Saturday, when he slid in hard at second base, trying to take out Chase Utley in retaliation for Utley's hard slide Friday night.

Perhaps it's a sign of the negativity surrounding the Mets that on Sunday's pregame, Kevin Burkhardt compared Beltran to Shawn Estes, who infamously threw behind Roger Clemens rather than hitting him in retaliation for Clemens' broken bat insanity in the 2000 World Series. Burkhardt was not the only person to note that Beltran missed both Utley and shortstop Wilson Valdez, meaning that once again the Mets' response failed to match the original offense.

But unlike Estes, Beltran did all he could to "hit somebody," as Beltran later said he wanted to do. Utley's ability to jump out of the way should not detract from Beltran's effort, especially considering that Beltran went in with two bad knees.

Beltran might be one of the last players most fans would expect to be the one to step up and defend his teammate. Unfortunately, except for the injured Johan Santana, I'm not sure which player I would most expect to step up.

As Met announcers frequently noted, Utley's slide wasn't really dirty, but indicative of how hard the Phillies always play. Why don't the Mets always play that way? Which brings us to Jerry Manuel's MAR (Manager Above Replacement) which has certainly marred the Mets.

The Mets need some new players along with new management, but at least some of the current players are offering reason to hope* that next year will be better.

*(I was thinking about a Hope Above Replacement metric, but I didn't want Squawker Lisa to point out that the acronym would be HAR.)

Is Oliver Perez trying to get himself released?

Last year, the big story with the Mets was how many of them ended up in the hospital. Now the big story is which Mets failed to go to the Walter Reed Hospital to visit with injured vets. Carlos Beltran and Luis Castillo at least offered explanations as to why they didn't go.

"I don't know who is creating this issue," Beltran said. "I had my own things to do, and I couldn't make it."

Beltran explained that he had a meeting involving his own charity and that he had previously visited a veterans hospital with Fred Wilpon.

Whether or not you accept Beltran's explanation probably depends on what one thinks of him in the first place. If you take him at his word, his heart is in the right place, but he didn't realize how his actions would look to management, fans and the media.

Or maybe he doesn't care. Beltran has reason to be fed up with Mets management after how they initially dealt with his injuries. And he has probably lost many of the fans for good. In the final year of Beltran's contract, expect him to be highly motivated to do well so that he can get a big new contract somewhere else.

Luis Castillo said that he missed the trip to Walter Reed because he was "squeamish." Now he knows how Met fans feel when they see his name in the lineup. If that is the real reason Castillo didn't go, then he certainly is clueless, but not necessarily someone who is not a team guy.

But if Castillo is fed up with the Mets, then he is even more clueless. Castillo probably wouldn't be on a big league roster were it not for his contract. If he has become a malcontent who thinks he should be starting, that is even more reason to get rid of him as soon as possible.

And then there's Oliver Perez. The days of Good Ollie and Bad Ollie are long gone - now there's only Bad Ollie, who didn't even try to come up with an excuse:

"I don't answer," Perez said, "anything about outside the stadium."

It's as if Perez' agent, Scott Boras, has been telling him what to say and do so that the Mets cut him loose. Knowing Boras, he thinks he can somehow parlay Perez' freedom into even more undeserved money.

Ultimately, this story comes down to the same old story for the Mets - they need to eat the contracts of Perez and Castillo. Beltran is more complicated, since he actually has a chance of regaining at least some of his skills.

But the first objective of the offseason must be to make sure that we don't have endure any more such stories about Perez and Castillo, because they will finally be gone.

Check out Squawker Lisa's take on the Mets' visit to Walter Reed in The Faster Times.

Are Mets phasing out Carlos Beltran?

Last night on "Mets Hot Stove," Kevin Burkhardt interviewed the Mets' "starting outfield": Jason Bay, Angel Pagan and Jeff Francoeur. At one point, it was predicted that since Pagan had 11 triples in little over half a season in 2009, he could get 17 triples this year.

During the entire segment, nobody said a word about Carlos Beltran.

Last year, the Mets grossly underestimated injuries. Everyone was day-to-day, up to the point where they were being wheeled into the operating room. Maybe they are going in the other direction this year - assuming Beltran is out indefinitely and cannot be counted on for this year.

Or maybe Beltran is out indefinitely and cannot be counted on for this year, rather than coming back around early May, as has been previously speculated.

Unfortunately, the Mets have such little credibility when it comes to communicating on injuries that it is impossible to know what to believe.

Meanwhile, Jerry Manuel is planning dramatic changes to the lineup - batting Jose Reyes third - just until Beltran comes back. Or is it quietly planned to be a permanent change?

The worst-case scenario is that Beltran is more seriously hurt than the Mets are letting on. Pagan was a pleasant surprise last season, but he is no Beltran, either at the plate or in the field. Burkhardt asked Bay and Francoeur how long it would take for the new outfielders to get used to each other, and the corner outfielders joked that they would let Pagan go after all the flies. That joking around makes a lot more sense with the Gold Glove-winning Beltran still in center, instead of the guy that almost ran into Beltran last May and helped cost the Mets a game in L.A.

But the next-worst scenario is that there is still lingering resentment on the Mets' part over the Beltran surgery controversy and they would at the least not object to deemphasizing Beltran on "Hot Stove." (At least Bob Ojeda did mention Beltran later in the show.)

Beltran is entering the next-to-last year of his deal. He is battling injuries. The Mets have criticized him and his agent over the handling of his surgery. And his agent is Scott Boras.

Perhaps the Mets have already decided that they are not going to re-sign Beltran. Depending on how Beltran comes back from his surgery, it could be the right decision. But with two seasons to go, the Mets should be hoping that Beltran plays well enough to merit re-signing, not looking forward to life without him.

Need for 'third opinion' on Carlos Beltran shows what is wrong with Mets' organization

In 2004, the Mets' medical staff signed off on trading for damaged goods Victor Zambrano allowed Mike DeJean to pitch with a broken leg and had numerous injury issues with players ranging from Mike Piazza to Jose Reyes. After the 2004 season, the Mets, realizing they needed to make major changes, brought in a new GM, Omar Minaya, switched to a new set of doctors led by Dr. David Altcheck and replaced their trainer with Ray Ramirez. But over the last year, similar medical issues have arisen with the current regime.

Maybe the problem goes beyond changing the medical staff or improving communication between the medical staff and the front office. Maybe it has something to do with an organization that seems eager to minimize injuries to the point where their failure to deal with them in a timely fashion only increases the time the injured player is out.

Johan Santana and J.J. Putz were allowed to pitch with elbows that will require surgery. Jon Niese was allowed to throw warmup pitches after tearing his hamstring. Jose Reyes and now Carlos Beltran underwent surgery after already missing several months. In 2008, Ryan Church was allowed to fly to Colorado just after his second concussion.

The Beltran situation is still developing, and it is unclear whom, if anyone, is to blame. The Mets did not feel Beltran needed surgery, but neither did his doctor from outside the organization, Dr. Richard Steadman. At least until a couple of days ago.

The Mets have a right to be "disappointed" that Beltran did not explicitly get their approval for the surgery, if that is the case. But what is truly disappointing is that the Mets have turned the situation into yet another public relations debacle.

Even if Beltran did deliberately defy the Mets by having the surgery, the Mets should have kept any complaints they had private, rather than publicly air their concerns, which make both Beltran and the team look bad.

Even if it turns out that Beltran's agent Scott Boras encouraged him to have the surgery now to make sure Beltran would be healthy for his contract year of 2011, Boras ultimately wants the same thing the Mets want - a healthy and productive Beltran.

I am not used to defending Boras and would not be surprised if it turns out he got Beltran to have the experimental microfracture surgery that could sideline him for a year, sacrificing 2010 for 2011. If that is the case, my support for Beltran vanishes.

But based on what has currently been made public, it is hard to criticize Beltran for bypassing the troubled Mets' medical staff and doing what he feels he needs to do to get back to full strength as soon as possible.

Especially when the Mets' big complaint in Thursday's conference call was that they wanted to seek a "third opinion."

Some say the Mets' medical staff is incompetent. Others blame lack of communication between the team and the medical staff, and between the team and the public when it comes to medical matters.

But what if the process is flawed because Met management only wants to hear good news when it comes to injuries? No need for the DL. No need for surgery. And if someone brings bad news, seek out a second opinion. And if necessary, a third opinion.

Considering how often the Mets have denied the necessity for surgery, only to have a player eventually go under the knife much later than he could have, it is better for Beltran to have the surgery on January 13 than to continue a debate that might only end up pushing Beltran's return date further back.

***

The Mets' organization has done at least one thing right this offseason - signing Jason Bay. The need for power hitting turned out to be a lot greater than people knew.

And if Beltran had his surgery before the Bay signing was finished, Jason's demands might have suddenly gone up and the Mets would had either lost him or been forced to give him more money and years. Or they might have thought twice about having another over-30 outfielder with a big contract.

At least when it came to signing Bay, the Mets did not hold out for a third opinion.

Last chance to vote for Carlos Beltran - and Kevin Youkilis

Vote for Kevin Youkilis over Mark Teixeira for the All-Star Game. Let's give Squawker Lisa something to Twitter about.

Lisa, I am touched by your newfound concern for the well-being of David Wright, but the Mets don't need to get out the vote for him. Wright is comfortably ahead of second-place Larry Jones.

As for Carlos Beltran, even with his injury, he still has some of the best stats of any NL outfielder. He certainly deserves to get in over Alfonso Soriano, who is batting .230.

(Speaking of .230 hitters, Lisa, good luck with that "Vote Swisher" campaign you mentioned.)

Based on the stats, the third NL outfielder behind Ryan Braun and Raul Ibanez should be Justin Upton or Brad Hawpe, but Upton is 15th and Hawpe is not even in the top 15.

At least it looks like Manny won't be voted in.

Lisa, if you really wanted to annoy Met fans with your second-base choice, you should have voted for Orlando Hudson, who could have been the Mets' second baseman had they been willing to spend the free agent money.

You could also have suggested Jimmy Rollins, who is in second place behind Hanley Ramirez. Rollins was recently benched by his own team and deserves this year's All-Star spot about as much as the guy in fifth place, Jose Reyes.

It's too bad the Yankees are not mounting a campaign for Alex Rodriguez, currently a distant second behind Evan Longoria. I had a couple of slogans all ready to go:

Pad A-Rod's Voting Stats!
Artificially Inflate A-Rod's Vote!

At least the Mets and Yankees are not in the position of the A's and Indians, who are forced to promote players that have a good chance of leaving the team soon - Matt Holliday and Victor Martinez. Or are they promoting their All-Star chances to enhance their trade value?

Say, Lisa, maybe your plan to vote for Luis Castillo isn't such a bad idea after all.

Last chance to vote for Mark Teixeira over Kevin Youkilis on the All-Star Game ballot

Vote for Mark Teixeira over Kevin Youkilis for the All-Star Game. Let's give John Henry something to Twitter about. Let's help good defeat evil. Well, maybe Kevin Youkilis isn't evil - just terminally annoying - but I still don't want to see him start at first base at the All-Star Game!

Youk is leading Tex by 40,000 votes with just one day to go. This cannot happen. So go to MLB.com and vote on the mark. Send a Tex message to the All-Star Game! You can vote up to 25 times - the ballot saves your picks, so it's easy to keep on resubmitting your choices.

In addition to voting for Teixeira, this Squawker has a few other suggestions for the All-Star ballot:

The good folks at VoteSwisher.com wanted to remind Yankee fans to write in Nick Swisher for an outfield spot.

Dustin Pedroia is less than 7,000 votes behind Ian Kinsler for second base. Why should a Red Sox player who left the field when there were only two outs be rewarded with an All-Star spot? Hope this survey says no!

As I have done every time I've voted on an All-Star ballot since the 2006 NLCS, I voted for the Cardinals' Yadier Molina, just to tweak Squawker Jon. And this year, Jose Molina's brother is actually leading the NL All-Star ballot at catcher. Are there that many Met-haters out there?

I also used the NL ballot to vote for the best second baseman out there. The pop-up king! Yes, I went there - I voted 25 times for the Mets' Luis Castillo!

Speaking of the Mets, I just went to Mets.com to see who they were promoting on their site for the All-Star Game. Each team is promoting one or more players: the Yanks are pushing Teixeira, while the Red Sox are asking fans to vote for Youkilis and Pedroia. The Mets? Well, they're pushing somebody who won't be able to play in the All-Star Game - the injured Carlos Beltran! Granted, he did have an All-Star caliber year until getting hurt, but it's still funny that they're promoting him over their supposed franchise player, David Wright.

Voting for the All-Star Game ends at 11:59 tonight. Get your votes in!

Who are you voting for? Leave us a comment!

A DeRosa by any other name would be just as pointless

Things are bad and getting worse. The Mets finally get some offense, but the magic ends for Fernando Nieve. After seeing opponents regularly take advantage of Met mistakes, Brewer third baseman Casey McGehee drops a pop and the Mets capitalize with two runs. But unlike Luis Castillo, McGehee redeems himself with a grand slam.

At least Trevor Hoffman didn't get walked with the bases loaded tonight.

Now the Mets are in third place, and the calls will doubtless rise for the Mets to trade for help at any cost. Bobby Parnell gave up two more runs, raising his ERA to 5.22. Maybe he is not so untouchable after all. But maybe the Indians would not have wanted him for Mark DeRosa at this rate.

But I am glad they did not trade Parnell or anyone else of potential value for DeRosa. One decent player will not turn the Mets around. Unfortunately, they need a lot more than that.

The Mets are now 9-17 in June. With Beltran in the lineup this month, they were still only 6-10. Certainly the Mets are much better off with Beltran than without him, but the current lineup is so weak that even adding a star will not sufficiently improve things.

The Cardinals were willing to trade Chris Perez, who was supposed to be their closer of the future, for DeRosa because they thought they were one piece away. But the Mets are several pieces away. At this rate, they might need to trade for someone just to finish over .500. And that is not worth mortgaging the future.

If the Mets are going to approach the trading deadline as if they are a contender, they need to start playing like a contender first.

Mets won't live long and prosper with this baserunning

When Jose Reyes initially got hurt, there was speculation that he was actually being benched because of a series of stupid baserunning mistakes. Now that Reyes is out indefinitely, remaining stars David Wright and Carlos Beltran are trying to pick up the slack - by making their own stupid baserunning mistakes.

Tonight, Wright was thrown out twice at third, while Beltran was also thrown out at third. Considering the Mets only had one run going into extra innings, losing three baserunners who would have been in scoring position is inexcusable.

Carlos Beltran has a historically high rate of success on steals. Now he makes questionable decisions on the basepaths seemingly on a regular basis.

Are Beltran and Wright trying to do too much as team leaders? Or are simply following a strategy always to try to take the extra base no matter what?

With their depleted lineup, the Mets can't afford these types of mistakes, and Jerry Manuel said as much after the game. But Jerry, why then do they keep happening? Trying to make up for Reyes' absence by being overly aggressive on the basepaths is not the logical thing to do.

***

I've seen things this year I never expected to see. Gary Sheffield batting cleanup and the Mets missing his presence when he is out of the lineup. Alex Cora rushing back from the disabled list because the Mets desperately need him.

And Squawker Lisa, implacable foe of all things fanboy, writing separate posts on Star Trek and Spider-Man in one day.

As Lisa noted, the Binghamton Mets wore Star Trek-inspired jerseys at tonight's game. Alas, the B-Mets fell, 7-4, to the Connecticut Klingons. At least I hope they were called the Klingons tonight instead of the Defenders.

The game featured the Double-A debut of Brad Holt, aka the only Met prospect potentially close to the big leagues. The B-Mets site reports that Holt pitched 6 1/3 innings and allowed three runs, two earned, two hits, three walks and struck out three.

I want Holt to do well enough that he can make it up to the Mets this year, but not so well that Omar Minaya trades him away in a panic move.

Squawker Lisa also noted that Spider-Man got into a fight at Yankee Stadium with the Vulture. I don't know if the comic reveals the identity of the Vulture, but I'm guessing it was Lonn Trost trying to prevent Spidey from watching batting practice from the good seats.

Squawker reader Uncle Mike has unearthed a 1977 Electric Company video that shows Spider-Man is a Met fan!

In the video, Spidey battles a villain called The Wall, who disguises himself as part of the outfield fence before running forward, upsetting the outfielder and causing a home run.

Kind of a cross between Jeffrey Maier and Bobby Abreu.