Writing in MLB.com, Anthony DiComo has this.

Thank goodness it looks like Kuntz can help. Gave up a bunt single then three straight groundball outs. He has a very lively and hard sinker. Matt Cerrone smartly points out that it will be helpful when he enters games with men on.

Congrats on the Geico add, too, Matt. You’re creating quite a niche for yourself.

Omar Minaya and the Mets realized that the cost was just too high to bring ML proven talent at the deadline. I believe they were right. And they’ve been signaling that the future they refused to part with will need to be part of the reason they suceed this season. Dan Murphy’s promotion to AAA New Orleans and quick move to New York is further evidence of the path the Mets have chosen.

Adam Rubin points out today that some in the organization feel that it is Murphy and not the still very young Fernandon Martinez who is the top hitting prospect in the organization. When he Mets were prompted to place Marlon Anderson on the DL, the club hastened its plan for Murphy. The left-handed hitting Murphy’s best position seems to be 3rd, but he has played LF, 2B and 1B in his career. More on Murphy from Toby Hyde.

Murphy is a player without a clear position - unless it 3B. He was moved to 2B in AA for some games, but its still too soon to run him out there now. He can hit, and its why he’s here. Roy Oswalt, a righthander, starts tonight. Maybe Jerry Manuel will get him his first ABs tonight and play him in LF. Tough first night though. The club needs more extra base hits from the OF than it’s getting now. Murphy might be able to do this.

So we come to Jon Neise. A date is open August 11 and John Maine will not make his next start. Neise seems certain to get a start at some point. If he does well, it will be more than a few. The Mets need for his audition to go well with the likely departures this off season of Pedro Martinez and Oliver Perez.

Eddie Kunz was 42nd player taken last June form Oregon State University. He’s been on a fast track to New York as had Joe Smith. He’s used to a big stage having pitched in the College World Series. The Mets need a fresh arm for the pen and Kuntz will see some time on the ML roster probably before the month is over. It cannot be expected that he can shut down a inning at the big league level just yet.

So there it is. The players they would not deal will be seen this season. If any one of the three can supply the kind of lightening in a bottle the Mets had hoped to get at the deadline, the decision not to deal makes even bigger sense that it does on paper.

* If John Maine said all the soreness is gone in the back of his shoulder that tells me he’ll be ok.

*I wish the Mets would either use Nick Evans more or send him down. Maybe here they can get an OF off the waiver wire.

* If Maine is ok and Neise can cut its when he gets here why not try Pedro in a setup role?

* I’ll say this again. It makes sense to get Jerry Manuel under contract through at least next season.

See Toby Hyde’s Mets Minor League Blog

Few of the experts are mentioning the Mets doing anything. With the emergence of Jon Niese as ML ready, it looks like the Mets might look to him this season if he is needed. Without question next season,but he will not be dealt.

I find the talk of Scott Schoeneweis’ inclusion in trade talks curious as I thought the club was looking for bullpen help.

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.

Next years team will look little like this one. Significant salary will be off the books in Carlos Delgado, Pedro Martinez, Moises Alou and Orlando Martinez. A move into a new stadium will not be done with an also ran team, so whats to happen?

The Mets could look to enterin war the bidding war that will certainly occur in attempting to acquire Mark Teixeira. Can you imagine if its a three-way battle royal that also included the Yankees and Angels?

Jon Niese’s promotion to AAA New Orleans is a possible signal he’s being fast-tracked for starts this season for the Mets. Niese is scheduled to start tonight for the Zephyrs.

As the MRI of John Maine’s shoulder revealed a strain in his rotator cuff, its likely he will miss at least a start. The Mets may indeed even DL him. Pedro Martinez continues to be a shaky alternative for scheduled starts. The Mets may have concluded that their best acquisition could be Jon Niese.

Both Martinez (last contract year) and Oliver Perez (free agent) will likely be gone after this season. The discussions that occur between powers that be have probably concluded now that Niese is one of their best options for the rotation and maybe he’s going to be needed this season.

So it looks as if Jon Niese will not and cannot be dealt. Along with Fernando Martinez, Niese represents the future and the badly needed chance for the Mets to get younger. Unless a Raul Ibanez or Randy Winn can be acquired for a secong tier prospect, the Mets will play with this hand and pray that the corner OF tandum of Fernando Tatis, Endy Chavez and Nick Evans (2-4, 2 runs scored last night against a lefty last night) continues to provide as it has.

Long time NY area sportswriter, Joe McDonald, says the Mets should get Manny Ramirez.

With the Red Sox possibly looking to move the perennial All-Star, now is the time for Minaya to strike and bring the Washington Heights native back to the city to finish his career. It’s obvious the Mets need and outfielder – and some bullpen help as well – and the 36 year-old fills the bill nicely. He will slot right into the middle of the lineup, taking the pressure away from Carlos Delgado - who will cool down eventually - while allowing Carlos Beltran to assume the role he is better suited – a very talented secondary option, where the weight of the team is not his shoulders.

Ramirez will make the Mets a complete lineup which can go toe-to-toe with the Phillies nine on any given night and will give the team the extra runs, so the bullpen meltdowns are kept to a minimum. Even at this advanced age, the slugging outfielder becomes the most feared hitter the Mets have had in the lineup since Mike Piazza terrorized the Senior Circuit in 1999 and 2000.

More importantly, if Minaya is able to acquire Ramirez, New York not only becomes the favorite in the National League, but a serious World Series contender. No matter how well they are playing right now, the Mets are still a very flawed club, which will be lucky to play in October.

Joe takes a more practical and positive glance than do most. And it is true that the addition of Ramirez in the middle of the Mets line-up right now would provide the Mets the largest boost they could get right now.

Still, with the prospects it would cost the Mets, it makes no sense to acquire Ramirez unless you plan on signing him. Herein lies the rub. Would you want to? Would the Wilpons want to commit their money is a moody, aging slugger who has shown that his production is fallling off? They may have had their fill of older players, too.

But what internal discussions are taking place right now at Shea? The ballclub is embracing itself and rallying around the players they have. People who run the club are paid to think more long term and it is why they have proved reluctant to move their top three prospects in Jon Niese, Fernando Martinez and Robert Parnell. Ownership also knows that alot of money is coming off the books after the season.

Its been a sellers market thus far although the ptackage the Yankees gave up to get Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte raised alot of eyebrows. Will sellers back off their demands over the next forty-eight hours?

My own feeling are that the Mets will not be moving any of their top prospects at the deadline as they feel that Niese and Martinez will be part of their roster on opening day next season. In value, the kind of talent that would pry the two away are no longer on the market.

Besides, I want the Mets to keep Jon Niese for one little, nostalgic reason. He was born on October 27, 1986 the day the Mets won the World Series.

Only the great seeyer of visions and ironies like The Great One can do this:
A Brett Farve head on a Manny Ramirez body solves all Mets ills.