It's late July. The New York Mets, one of the worst offensive teams in baseball, are three games over .500 and three games out of the division lead. The Mets are 2.5 games out of the Wild Card in the National League. This team is clearly capable of making a serious push for the playoffs, especially considering that it has reached this point largely without the help of the best Met in the last decade: David Wright.

There's no doubt that the Mets have gotten this far thanks to an outstanding pitching staff, and for that Sandy, although it mostly wasn't your doing, I applaud you. The team is third in the majors with a 3.26 ERA. Opponents are batting .240 against the Mets, the fifth lowest average in the league. The team's opponent OBP of .295 is the second-best in the majors. The stats go on and on and on... the staff has a 1.18 WHIP, second best in the majors. 3.16 K/BB ratio is the sixth best.

And then there's the offense. The lowest batting average in the majors at .235. Fifth-lowest OBP at .299. Second-lowest slugging percentage at .357. Second-lowest OPS at .651. The team is fielding guys like John Mayberry Jr. on a regular basis. In 106 at-bats, he has 18 hits and 9 RBIs. Eric Campbell is also batting well under .200 with a fairly decent sample size of plate appearances.

Around the league, it seems that teams are beginning to make moves, gearing up for the July 31 trade deadline. And yet the Mets have been oddly silent in the rumor mill, and recent reports say the team is looking for a cheap bandaid of an outfield bat. We don't need a Jeff Francoeur to wake this offense up. We don't need a bandaid. We need a big bat, or two, or three, and if we need to trade one of the plentiful young arms on this team to make that happen, so be it. 

Sandy, as a diehard fan of the team you manage, please give this fan base and the players that have worked so hard this season what they deserve and field something that can actually compete for a playoff spot. This is one of the best pitching staffs in Mets history and it keeps getting better as the season goes on, first with the call-up of Thor, and then Matz. It's time to give that pitching staff a counterpart on the offensive side of the team that is at least competent.

Please. We're begging you. Do your job.