In ESPNs trade deadline blog, Buster Olney says:

Baseball executives love the mental challenge of piecing together the trade deadline puzzle, and I heard this interesting speculation — and that’s all it is, speculation — from an executive with a team that is not involved in the Jarrod Washburn conversation: With the Mets now perhaps in need of a starting pitcher (in the aftermath of the MRI planned for John Maine), wouldn’t Washburn be a great fit for the Mets?

Washburn is a gritty pitcher, he usually gives six tough innings and he’d be pitching in a big ballpark. And because he’s under contract for 2009, he would give the Mets some depth protection; Pedro Martinez and Oliver Perez are eligible for free agency after this season.

The Mariners had indicated to the Yankees, in those corroded talks between the teams, that they were willing to eat a lot of Washburn’s 2008 salary but that the Yankees would have to pay the lefty’s 2009 salary. If the Mariners made a similar arrangement with the Mets and got a prospect in return, there could be a fit. And, as the executive noted, dealing Washburn to the Mets instead of the crosstown Yankees might be viewed as a victory of some sort in the Seattle front office and would allow Mets general manager Omar Minaya to let his fan base know: We got this guy the Yankees wanted.

“It’s a natural fit for those two teams,” the executive mused.

This speculation makes sense. But something else to consider as well is that the Mets have expressed interest in two other Mariners - Raul Ibanez and Arthur Rhodes. Could this be why the Yankees were not able to get Washburn as easily as had been expected? Has Omar Minaya been working on the Mariners for three players? Stay tuned.

In Toby Hyde’s informative blog on the Mets minor league teams comes word that Jon Niese had an excellent start on Thursday night (7IP, 6H, 0R, 1BB, 8K). According to Hyde, all six hits were singles. Its already been reported that serveral scouts attend Niese’s starts. They liked what they saw Thursday night and the reports were likely to be in the hands of personel people yesterday when they spoke to Minaya. As they’ve let it out already that Niese is in potential deals, its likely the Mets did not have enough else to get Nady whom the Mets would have loved to get back. Or maybe the Pirates wanted to move both Nady and Marte in the same deal.

But with the acquisition of Casy Blake by the Dodgers, two good fits for the Mets’ needs are out of circulation. But I don’t believe the Mets would have moved Niese for Blake. Maybe for Nady though.

So to put Niese’s value in another perspective, only one other OF reported to be available which matches Niese in value is Jason Bay. Not Raul Ibanez. Not Brian Giles. I don’t believe that Minaya would move Niese for either of the later two, but for Bay, yes.

Still, I believe that Minaya is also still trying to help his bullpen and wouldn’t mind packaging assets in a deal to get both much like the Yankees did in their acquisition of Nady an Marte.shig Perhaps he’s like to get both Ibanez and Arthur Rhodes in a deal. This would make some sense.

And what of the Colorado Rockies? The Mets would love to have Brian Fuentes, and would also welcome discussing an OF, too. If not Matt Holiday, then perhaps Brad Hawpe. But things seem to be cooling from the Rockies on the trade front.

In summary, the Mets need to assess where they are. The Yankees trade could prompt them more than you think. With the team in first, Minaya needs to show that he is trying to help. The club has responded far better than anyone could fathom. Minaya will have to do something to make the team better to sustain the current team psyche for the 2 months that remain.