With Jason Bay in the fold, the Mets certainly seem to have enough offense on hand to get the job done. If Carlos Delgado comes back healthy, and the Mets can work something out, it’s a bonus.

Yet, that starting staff behind Johan Santana – John Maine, Mike Pelfrey and Oliver Perez – is clearly not what the Mets need if they are to contend with the 2010 Phillies, especially with Roy Halladay at the top of their rotaton.

National League East teams will soon learn what American League East clubs have known for years: Halladay made a difference when the Blue Jays were mediocre. Think of what he will do for a loaded Phillies club.

Everybody is giving Mets general manager Omar Minaya trade ideas. Here, the suggestion was Pittsburgh’s Zach Duke as a trade candidate because he appears to have the stuff to be a winner on a good team.

WFAN’s Mike Francesa had a similar suggestion in Cincinnati’s Bronson Arroyo, who showed his mettle during his seasons with the Red Sox and has a way of handling both pressure and opponents. I agree with Mike in that Cincy might be looking to eventually cut payroll and jettison Arroyo to a contender for prospects.

Put it this way. Either Duke or Arroyo would look a lot better in the Mets rotation than Perez.  Both Duke and Arroyo have had their ups and downs – Arroyo, who came up with Pittsburgh as well has been more consistent – but the two know how to pitch. Perez hasn’t showed me any evidence of that ever since he was obtained from the Pirates, who, in their defense, had reached their fill of his nonsense.

Again, the free-agent market for pitchers is nothing terrific. Maybe Ben Sheets is worth an incentive-laden deal with the hope a team can catch lightning in a bottle, and get a healthy season out of him. Pitchers like Joel Piniero are finding dreams of a $10 million-per-season contract are just those – dreams.

I’m also quite surprised the Mets are not one of the 15 teams who have contacted Alan Nero, the agent for former Yankees hurler Chien-Ming Wang. The feeling in many quarters is Wang, who registered two 19-win seasons for the Yankees – and was 8-2 for the Pinstripers when he was injured in 2008 – would be a good fit for the Mets if they showed patience.

Perhaps by mid-season 2010 the Mets would then have a ground-ball machine who might thrive more in the National League than he did in the American.

Perhaps Kansas City will see fit to trade away Gil Meche, who also could be useful to the Mets.  A trade is what would bring him to Citi Field. A trade is what is needed.

There are those who rave about Dan Murphy’s defense, neither is he a bad hitter, but Ike Davis is the real deal. He may even make his Mets debut in 2010. Package Murphy with a pitcher I mentioned previously, a young righty named Jeurys Familia, who was 10-6, 2.69 with a strikeout/walk ratio 109-46 at Class A Savannah last season with another young Savannah comer in lefty Robert Carson, who was 8-10, 3.21 with a strikeout/walk ratio of 90-45, and cash for Duke, Arroyo or Meche.

Any of those three would help the 2010 Mets immensely.

Jed spent 35 years in the newspaper business working as both a writer and editor, in both sports and news under tight deadline pressure. As both sports editor at the Indiana (Pa.) Gazette and a copy editor/columnist at The Times of Trenton, he made daily decisions on overall coverage and designed and produced thousands of pages and special sections. Since accepting a buyout from The Times, he has concentrated on broadening his writing and editing horizons to the medical, academic and business fields. Anyone is welcome to Google Jed to see the different places in print, on the Web and in front of the camera his professional expertise has spread to.

Jed Weisberger

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Tags: Ben Sheets, Bronson Arroyo, Carlos Delgado, Chien Ming Wang, Cincinnati Reds, Daniel Murphy, Gil Meche, Jason Bay, Jeurys Familia, Joel Pineiro, Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey, New York Mets, Oliver Perez, Omar Minaya, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Robert Carson, Roy Halladay, Zach Duke