Mets Press Release Announcing Trade of Carlos Beltran

It's Tuesday, July 26th and Carlos Beltran is still a Met as of this writing. But just as that strange feeling you get every once in a while that turns out to be true, I just know what the Mets press release will say once the trade of Beltran happens. I'm pretty sure it's going to say something like this (maybe exactly like this):

With great regret today the Mets organization announces the trade of Carlos Beltran. Carlos has been a true professional in his many years in a Met uniform and we thank him for all he's done. While we really didn't want to trade a player of Carlos' stature, we felt it was in the best interests for the Mets organization as we continue to look to the future with the goal being to put a championship caliber team on the field every day for the great fans of the New York Mets.

And although we've traded a player with immense talent, we want to make it absolutely clear to the fans that this move does not in any way signify that we have given up on the 2011 season. We'd also like to make it clear that the trade of Carlos Beltran was not in any way influenced by the financial condition of Mets ownership nor will the outcome of the Madoff lawsuits have any effect the Mets bottom line or the pursuit of any available player in any fashion.

Despite Carlos' continued and expressed desire to remain a Met, we could not risk losing him without any compensation to another team in a better situation to match or beat any outrageous salary demand he may have required.

Terry Collins has done a fantastic job with the players made available to him and Mets ownership has every confidence in the world he will continue to do so as we continue to clean house. Again, this should not reflect in any way on the financial condition of Mets ownership as we will continue to give you the straight truth with all our baseball decisions. We wish Carlos Beltran all the best in his future endeavors (although not against us).

... I just know it. For the record, I'm okay with the Mets trading Beltran (although it still doesn't make sense why the Mets can't at least try to sign him to a longer term deal to remain a Met - there are not many players in baseball better all-around then a healthy Beltran). And believe it or not, I'm also okay with them giving up on the season in order to play the young guys to see what they have.

But what I'm NOT okay with is the eventual insistance by Mets ownership that they're getting rid of Beltran AND not giving up on the season. Trading Beltran signifies one or the other - you can't have it both ways. When they finally announce the trade, how much do you want to bet you'll also see Mets ownership bring out the "we're not giving up" playbook speech as well?

The truth is that Mets ownership has been less than truthful with us fans for quite some time now. They also think we're idiots. When the trade of Beltran finally goes down, how far off will I be from my press release prediction?