OUTRAGEOUS

It's time to let it out - the Mets bullpen is a mess. It's worse than a mess. It's the mess a mess leaves behind. It's so bad you would think Isiah Thomas had a hand in it. And if you're going to point fingers, you can start with Aaron Heilman.

The Mets have a huge problem right now. The Nationals...the worst team in baseball...took the Mets' bullpen behind the woodshed tonight.

This has been the pattern recently. The starting rotation hasn't been excellent, but they've been good. The numbers have been decent - most of the time giving up 3 runs, sometimes 4. But the Mets, especially lately, have been losing games by giving up 7 runs to the other team...or 8, or 10. Hang that on the bullpen.

A solution needs to be reached. A solution better than moving Aaron Heilman (4 homers allowed in 13 innings pitched, including a grand slam to light-hitting Felipe Lopez on Thursday night) up to the 6th inning instead of the 8th. He killed the Mets on Thursday with his sixth inning performance....usually he saves his Mets-killing until the 8th. So moving him around doesn't seem to be helping.

This is why I'm such a believer in trading Angel Pagan for some relief help. Pagan has already gotten into a slump (he's no .400 hitter, but at least people would overpay for him after his hot start), but his value remains high right now. And Moises Alou will be back within a week. Chances are he'll get hurt again this year, but right now the Mets need relief help. I know, who doesn't. And who's out there? I don't know. But the Mets need to do something, before it gets any worse.

E-MAIL: Steve in NYC commented on this very subject, among other things, with a response to a posting earlier this week:

"I am shocked that you think Reyes will not end his career as a Met. I don't see who the Mets would ever trade him for (especially, if not for Santana). I think the Mets need both Reyes and Wright on the team for the next decade and if Reyes plays his style of ball (including the dancing and handshakes), the Mets will give him a big contract before he gets to free agency. Who will give him more money than the Mets anyway? The important thing is if the Mets win, one would think that he would want to stay with the team he came up, grew up and became a champion with.

That being said, the Mets need to get their act together. I am the first to admit that I am a very pessimistic fan, but, after winning 5 straight and heading in the [W]right direction, the lose 3 straight, in the fashion they lost is ridiculous, no matter the time of the season. Sunday's loss to the Phils hurt the most because they showed a lot of fight by coming back, but Feliciano giving up the home run, opposite field just sucked!!

I would love to read some of your comments about Heilman and what to do with him and how long Willie should keep using him in big spots. How many homeruns is he going to give up in the 8th inning. You may have to start a watch for that this season and see if he breaks any records. Anyway, hopefully they will turn it around against the AAA Washington Nationals and continue through the weekend. I will be there routing them on this Saturday. LETS GO METS!!

Also, a few Ranger comments on the block wouldn't hurt, since they are a lot more exciting than anything coming out of Jets camp. Keep it in mind. This could be their year."

I am excited for the Rangers - I should get them on TV here in the first few games as well.

As for the Reyes thing, I just think he'll explore free agency at some point - I think that's where his personality differs from Wright. While Wright would be happy here forever, I think Reyes would bounce around later (much later) on. And I think the Mets would be OK with one leaving if they had the other stick around (it's so rare to have a Bagwell-Biggio situation where two guys spend their entire careers with one team like that - at the pro level, let alone coming up solely through their system).