After all was said and done (for now), the Mets are apparently content to have traded Xavier Nady to the Pirates for Roberto Hernandez and Oliver Perez.
They also learned that Duaner Sanchez was in a cab accident last night and he is expected to miss anywhere from four weeks to the rest of the season. He has a separated shoulder, and his injury represents the second time a Met has been hurt in a cab in the past two years. Two seasons ago Tom Glavine lost some teeth when he wasn't wearing his seatbelt in a New York City cab.
Moments after the Nady deal was announced, a number of outlets were reporting that the Mets had spun Oliver Perez over to the Padres in exchange for Scott Linebrink. Personally, I was praying this trade wouldn't go through. A lot of Mets fans around the blogosphere were thrilled at the idea, but I guess I just kept thinking about how good Perez was in 2004 when he struck out 239 batters in 196 innings. He has struggled with control problems since then (even in 2004 he walked 81 batters), but he's still just 24 years old, left-handed, and he represents a huge potential windfall should the Mets and Rick Peterson succeed in fixing what ails him.
No blockbusters from the Mets' standpoint, as names like Jason Schmidt, Brad Lidge and others were flying around this morning. Still, following the news of Sanchez's injury, Omar Minaya was over a barrel a bit and he still managed to pull off a great deal.
Assuming Perez stays with the Mets, he should be immediately sent to Birmginham for a full bio-mechanical evaluation. He would likely be sent to Norfolk before a potential recall when the rosters expand in September.
Lastings Millege will likely be recalled to take Nady's spot in right field. He still needs to improve his approach at the plate a great deal, but maybe he'll be able to relax a bit more this time around knowing that he doesn't have a shelf life predicated on the return of some other injured regular. I could also see Willie platooning Milledge with Endy Chavez, who has been almost as valuable as Nady this season in terms of VORP (in about 60 fewer plate appearances, too).