Terry Collins on the Mets' hitting woes and the end of the six-man rotation

Before last night's game, a frustrated Terry Collins answered questions regarding the state of the Mets. Having previously indicated the Mets would be returning to a five-man rotation, Collins referred to the topic as a "pain in the butt, literally." It's not clear if he's using the literal or figurative sense of "literally," but his comments made clear that the Mets are looking to focus on their younger pitchers in the rotation, and that they are stepping up their efforts to trade Jon Niese and Dillon Gee. However, it is unclear what sort of value the two currently hold.

In addition to removing the weakest links in the rotation, trades would help clear the path for Steven Matz, who is currently leading the PCL in ERA. Gee and Niese have both been lackluster this season; Gee just returned from the disabled list and struggled in his first start against the Padres, while Niese has watched his ERA balloon from 1.95 all the way to 4.42 over his last four starts.

Collins also touched upon the Mets' offensive woes this season. Having just lost Daniel Murphy to a quad injury, an already-poor offense has gotten a bit worse. However, GM Sandy Alderson and the rest of the front office are reportedly reluctant to make a trade to upgrade the offense if it would come at the expense of future performance. This means they likely intend to hold onto their best young players, but it also limits the quality of a player they might conceivably acquire.