Kevin Kernan of The New York Post says that chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon and GM Omar Minaya are well aware that renting a stud pitcher is the way to go even if it means trading away top talent.

Kernan adds that pitcher Jenrry Mejia is starting in the minors not for the sake of getting into the Mets’ rotation, but so the Seattle Mariners can get a better look at him. Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times suggests the Mets add outfielder Angel Pagan in a deal.

A lot of things have gone the Mets way this season and there’s no reason the team can’t win the NL East. The Mets are 1/2 game out of first place and Kernan says trading for Cliff Lee “would seal the deal”.  He believes such a deal would work itself out by the first or second week of July, and he reminds us that C.C. Sabathia, another rental, was traded from the Cleveland Indians to the Milwaukee Brewers on July 7, 2008.