An interesting note from Joel Sherman:
Rival executives describe no GM as more aggressively pursuing a trade than Omar Minaya, who is hunting for pitching. And the key word is "pitching." Minaya sees a starting market that right now is underwhelming with Odalis Perez, Kyle Lohse and Bruce Chen. So he is also looking at late-inning relievers with the idea that would liberate Aaron Heilman to return to the rotation. Minaya, for example, has called Texas several times about closer Akinori Otsuka, whom the Mets GM has liked since the righty was with San Diego. He has been told no deal.
In fact, the majority of executives contacted said the Mets, like the Yanks, will have a difficult time trading for anyone significant because of a paucity of prospects at Double-A or higher, especially since the Mets are strongly against dealing with Mike Pelfrey or Lastings Milledge. One NL executive said, "Unless they want to get available guys with big questions like David Riske or Rudy Seanez, the Mets are going to have to handle this internally. They just do not have a lot of bullets to trade."
As Sherman notes, the Mets' big problem with trying to trade for someone is the emptiness of their farm once you get past Lastings Milledge (and Mike Pelfrey, who, Jamey Newberg has pointed out, can't be traded until next January anyway).
If the Mets were willing to offer Lastings Milledge right now for Otsuka, I'd have to think long and hard about it, even though losing Otsuka would create a big hole in the bullpen.