SI.com’s Andy MacPhail put together a small list of MLB teams that should either buy or sell as the trade deadline nears.

Of the teams he discussed (which also include the Blue Jays, Mariners, Orioles and Brewers), MacPhail seems to be way off in his assessment of the Mets:

Mets: SELL
44-48, 9 games back in East, 6 1/2 games back in wild card.
The Mets held on as long as they could without Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado, but once Carlos Beltran joined them on the disabled list, their season was lost. Since all three will not be coming back anytime soon, it’s highly doubtful the Mets will be able to make a legitimate run at the postseason. There may not be much to sell on this team — the core is still very impressive — but dealing prospects or taking on salary with a team going nowhere has burned the Mets before, like in 2005 when they traded stud prospect Scott Kazmir to the Rays for the middling Victor Zambrano.

Just what do the Mets have to sell with all of their tradable pieces being on the DL? They’re obviously not going to trade David Wright, Johan Santana or Francisco Rodriguez, so who would they be able to offer in a trade – Gary Sheffield? Come on.

Unfortunately for the Mets, they’re stuck in a holding pattern right now. Reyes, Delgado, Beltran, John Maine, Billy Wagner and J.J. Putz are all currently on the DL with various alignments and with each passing day, they slip further and further out of contention. They’re just going to have to view this season as a wash and regroup for next year.

One thing is for sure though – they’re not going to be “selling” anything in the next two weeks.

1. Nice start for Josh Beckett
This season hasn’t gone the way of the ace so far, with CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Justin Verlander and Tim Lincecum all struggling for their respective teams. But one No. 1 that didn’t struggle in his ’09 debut was Boston’s Josh Beckett, who fanned 10 in the BoSox’s 5-3 victory over the Rays on Tuesday. You hate to make claims that a pitcher is already in midseason form after only one outing, but Beckett’s two-hit, one-run effort against Tampa was impressive.

2. Speaking of Tim Lincecum…
Boy did he struggle yesterday for the Giants. But the good news for San Fran and the reining NL Cy Young winner is that his velocity wasn’t down, it just looked like he had a major case of the yips in his Opening Day debut. He looked too pumped up from the start and just never settled down. Fortunately, Aaron Rowand, Bengie Molina, Travis Ishikawa and the rest of the G-Men offense helped Lincecum out as SF romped the Brewers 10-6. Huh, what a concept – the Giants offense bailing out the pitching for once…who would have thought?

3. Dombrowski better be taking heat today in Detroit
In the offseason, Tigers’ GM Dave Dombrowski’s answer to solving the bullpen issues in Detroit was signing former Arizona closer Brandon Lyon instead of pursuing other avenues like J.J. Putz (who is now a setup man for the Mets). At least for one day, the decision backfired as Lyon blew Edwin Jackson’s (7.1, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 K) gem in Toronto by giving up three runs on three hits as the Jays knocked off the Tigers 5-4. Granted, Lyon has plenty of time to bounce back but if he doesn’t, the Tigers will be left with mental midget Fernando Rodney to close games, who didn’t necessarily earn the role this spring with a 7.00 ERA. Considering Joel Zumaya may never pitch again due to freak injuries and Nate Robertson (who Dombrowski just gave a 3-year, $21 million deal in January of ’08) is pissed about being taken out of the starting rotation, Dombrowski has quite a mess brewing in Detroit.

4. Speaking of Dave Dombrowski mistakes…
On October 29 of 2007, Dombrowski traded outfielder Gorkys Hernandez and pitcher Jair Jurrjens to the Braves in exchange for shortstop Edgar Renteria. Long story short, Renteria started for the Giants in San Francisco on Tuesday following one horrible season in Detroit, while Jurrjens shut down the Phillies in Philadelphia by allowing four hits and no runs in 5.2 innings of work. Jurrjens looks like one of the better young arms in baseball and it looks like people better keep an eye on Atlanta this year in the NL East.

5. Speaking of the Phillies…
I absolutely love the panic surrounding the defending champs already. They’re 0-2 and have scored just one run in two games, which of course has led to ESPN and every other media outlet to ask, “What’s wrong with the Phillies?” Let’s relax a little, shall we? No, this isn’t a good start for the World Series champs, but there’s still 160 games left in the season. Maybe these first two games are an indication of things to come, or maybe this is just a slow start and we should let the season roll on little before everyone hits the panic button.

6. Who the hell is Emilio Bonifacio?
If you’re a baseball fan, how do you not like the Marlins? Every year this team rolls out new young talent and this year looks no different. In November of last year, Florida traded pitcher Scott Olsen and outfielder Josh Willingham to the Nationals in exchange for Jake Smolinski, P.J. Dean and a young infielder named Emilio Bonifacio. In his first two games of the season, Bonifacio hit an inside the park home run and is 6 for 11 with three steals, four runs scored and has driven in four. He still might drop off the face of the earth soon, but you gotta love this kid’s start – and the Marlins’, who have started off 2-0.

1. Sabathia, Teixeira choke on applesauce in debuts
The Yankees’ two big offseason free agent signings got off to rough starts yesterday as CC Sabathia allowed six runs on eight hits in just 4.1 innings of work and Mark Teixeira went 0-4 in NY’s 10-5 loss to the O’s. Sabathia didn’t strike out one batter as his control looked completely out of whack and Teixeira left five men on base. Who knew spending gobs of money doesn’t guarantee initial success?

2. Tony Clark and Felipe Lopez: The New Bash Brothers
Clark and Lopez each went deep yesterday…twice. What’s amazing about the feat (besides the fact that Tony Clark and Felipe Lopez each hit two home runs in the same game) is that they were the first pair of switch-hitting teammates to homer from both sides of the plate in a game since Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams did if ro the Yankees on April 23, 2000. The D’Backs edged NL West rival Colorado 8-7.

3. Looks like Hanley Ramirez will be okay in the three-hole
Generally a leadoff hitter in previous seasons, the Marlins moved shortstop Hanley Ramirez into the three-hole this year and he responded on Opening Day by hitting his first career grand slam in the Fish’s 12-6 victory over the Nats. Ramirez also had an RBI double and walked. I know it was only the first game of 162, but Ramirez looked awfully comfortable at the plate.

4. Have the Mets solved their bullpen woes?
It was only one game, but the Mets had to be absolutely ecstatic with the way Sean Green, and newly acquired setup man J.J. Putz and new closer Francisco Rodriguez shut the door on the Reds yesterday. The trio didn’t give up any runs or hits in 3.1 innings of relief work as New York topped Cincinnati 2-1. Again, it was only one game but the considering how bad the Mets’ pen was last year, it’s an encouraging start.

5. The Tigers are going to be bad again this year
It’s a bad sign when you start the season losing 12-5 against the Blue Jays. It’s even worse when your supposed ace only lasts 3.2 innings in his first start. The Tigers’ Justin Verlander was absolutely rocked in his debut, allowing eight runs on eight hits in under four innings of work. The lineup wasn’t bad for Detroit, but their pitching looks like a major weakness yet again.

6. Welcome to 2009, Cliff Lee
One of the better stories in baseball last year was Cliff Lee’s 22-win season. But it’s clearly not 2008 anymore because Cleveland’s ace was shelled yesterday in Texas, allowing seven earned runs on 10 hits in just five innings of work. The final blow was Hank Blalock’s 3-run shot off him in the fifth, which gave the Rangers a 7-0 lead in route to a 9-1 victory.

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Offseason Movement: In a major effort to try and bolster their bullet riddled bullpen, the Mets signed top free agent closer Francisco Rodriguez, who saved a record 62-games last season for the Angels. The Mets also acquired reliever J.J. Putz, outfielder Jeremy Reed and RHP Sean Green in a three team swap with the Mariners and Indians. The club signed free agent starter Freddy Garcia, but after he gave up 15 runs in just seven innings this spring, they reassigned him to minor league camp. Livan Hernandez – yet another free agent signing – fared much better and will be the Mets’ fifth starter when the season opens. Casey Fossum, Alex Cora, Darren O’Day, Rocky Cherry, Connor Robertson and Cory Sullivan round out the rest of New York’s offseason additions.

Top Prospect: Wilmer Flores, SS
Outfield prospect Fernando Martinez also deserves mention here, but Flores is already showing potential at just 17 years old. Flores is light years away from the big leagues, but he’s already drawing comparisons to Miguel Cabrera in terms of his potential at such a young age. The Mets will likely move Flores along slowly and let him develop his skills. There’s absolutely no need to rush him, but he’ll get his opportunity to shine in the next couple of years.

The Big Question: Can the new faces in the bullpen come together?
The Mets blew 29 save opportunities last year, so to address that weakness they signed a closer in Francisco Rodriguez who set a record in saves last season with 62. Outside of his WHIP rising every season since 2002, K-Rod remains one of the best closers in the league and at only 27, he still has plenty of baseball ahead of him. Adding J.J. Putz via trade this offseason was also a solid move for this club, but the long-relief situation is a bit of an uncertainty considering the mixed bag of Pedro Feliciano, Sean Green, Brian Stokes (who was almost traded recently), Nelson Figueroa, Bobby Parnell and Darren O’Day. Parnell and O’Day have been good this spring, so the Mets’ bullpen appears to be ready for a major bounce back. But with so many new faces, it’s tough to assume that all of the club’s issues in the pen last year are fixed.

Outlook: The Mets fit in one of two categories in terms of their 2009 outlook. People either assume that they’re postseason bound after addressing their most glaring weakness (the bullpen), or they’re not fooled by all the offseason moves and therefore are urging the rest of the baseball world not to buy into the hype. I tend to fit into the former category and believe that this could be the Mets year to make some noise. They collapsed last year – bottom line. And there’s no way of knowing if they’ll do it again this year. But they completely overhauled the bullpen with quality arms like K-Rod, J.J. Putz and Sean Green, and still have one of the best lineups in the National League, headlined by Jose Reyes, David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and emerging youngster Daniel Murphy. It’s no secret that the starting rotation is a bit of a question mark after Johan Santana, but it’s solid nonetheless. Should anyone be surprised if the Mets fall apart again this year? No. But given their talent, nobody should be surprised if they make a run at the World Series either.

Projection: 1st NL East

NL MVP: David Wright, New York Mets—Am I playing homer? Yes. But this kid works really hard every off-season and consistently puts up big numbers, and he hasn’t even come close to showing his potential. This year Wright is going to show the world why the Mets have built their franchise around him, and he’s going to (finally) lead them to a World Series.

AL MVP: Grady Sizemore, Cleveland Indians—Last year, Sizemore had a full season low batting average of .268 but racked up career highs in home runs (33), RBI (90) and stolen bases (38). Last season Sizemore finished 10th in the AL MVP voting but like Wright, he is on the verge of something huge, and he’s going to lead the Indians to the playoffs.

NL Cy Young: Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants—I love a good short-guy-kicks-ass story, the kind where most scouts write someone off because of their size (5’10, 160 pounds), and then they go and prove everyone wrong except the team who drafted them. That’s Tim Lincecum, who won the NL Cy Young last season for the Giants, winning 18 of his team’s 72 wins, or ONE QUARTER of them. His stuff is absolutely sick, and at times just unhittable and he will coast to his second straight Cy Young.

AL Cy Young: Daisuke Matsuzaka, Boston Red Sox—Last season, Dice-K went 18-3 but was largely overshadowed by Cliff Lee’s 22-3 masterpiece as well as by K-Rod’s record-breaking 62 saves. But this guy has taken over as the dominating shutdown starter in Boston after Josh Beckett battled inconsistency last year, and this year he’s going to roll to the Cy Young.

NL Rookie of the Year: Micah Hoffpauir, Chicago Cubs—Last season, during the second straight historic collapse by the Mets, Hoffpauir was Babe Ruth for one game, going 5 for 5 with two home runs and five RBI. That was his only multi-hit game, but you don’t just have a showing like that by accident.

AL Rookie of the Year: David Price, Tampa Bay Rays—Sure, the Rays optioned their young phenom to the minors recently, but don’t let that fool you. Once Price logs a few innings, he’ll be back in Tampa blowing hitters away the way he did in the ALCS against Boston last season. And he’ll find himself as the #2 or #3 starter before long.

NL Manager of the Year: Jerry Manuel, New York Mets—When Willie Randolph was let go in New York last season, the Mets were 34-35. After Manuel replaced him, the Mets went 55-38 the rest of the way. Okay, they choked again down the stretch, but this year it’s Jerry’s team from the start, and he’s going to show everyone that his no-nonsense and player-friendly approach can win lots of games, as well as championships. It doesn’t hurt that he has two lights-out closers (K-Rod, JJ Putz) anchoring his bullpen now.

AL Manager of the Year: Eric Wedge, Cleveland Indians—The Indians missed the playoffs last season after taking the eventual champion Red Sox to 7 games the year before. The Tribe plays well in odd numbered years as of late—going 93-69 in 2005 and 96-66 in 2007. This season, with the additions of Kerry Wood, Mark DeRosa and Carl Pavano, Cleveland is going to surprise a lot of folks.

NL Comeback Player of the Year: Eric Byrnes, Arizona Diamondbacks—Byrnes was way off his career averages in 2008, hitting a paltry .209 with 6 homers and 23 RBI. He has nowhere to go but up, and this season I have a feeling Byrnes’ numbers are going to match his intensity on the field.

AL Comeback Player of the Year: John Smoltz, Boston Red Sox—After season-ending shoulder surgery in June of 2008, the Braves finally let one of the cornerstones of their franchise go, as the free agent pitcher signed with the Sox. He won’t see the mound until June, but Smoltz threw in the bullpen this week and showed no signs of pain. He’s going to make the Braves sorry—really sorry.

1. Who will be the surprise team this year? Last year it was the Tampa Bay Rays, who not only won the ridiculously competitive AL East, but also beat the Red Sox in the ALCS to reach the World Series, which they eventually lost to the Phillies. In 2007, the Colorado Rockies won 21 of 22 games after September 17, including sweeping the Cubs and D-Backs in the playoffs before losing to Boston in the Fall Classic. In 2006 it was the Cardinals who squeaked into the postseason with an 83-78 record, ultimately winning it all. Who is going to do it this season? Or will it be a big-market, big-money World Series match up such as Yankees/Mets or Red Sox/Cubs? It’s almost impossible to say I told you so at this point to this type of question, but here are the teams I’m telling you to keep an eye on: Indians, A’s, Giants, Marlins.

2. How will the choking of recent seasons affect the Mets, Cubs and Angels? The Mets’ bullpen imploded two years in a row, and GM Omar Minaya went and picked up not one, but two lights-out closers in K-Rod and JJ Putz. Still, the Mets are not going to have an easy go of things in the NL East, and their lineup and starting rotation are bordering on suspect. The Cubs and Angels keep beating everyone up in the regular season only to flame out early in the playoffs. Do these two teams lack what it takes to win, or has the luck and clutch hitting of other teams been their demise? Honestly, you can’t keep talented teams like these three down for very long, and I expect all of them to be playing deep into October this time around.

3. Is Manny Ramirez going to play in 2009? Scott Boras keeps dangling his star client out there and keeps upping his asking price. Does this guy not want his commission? Yes, it’s downright irresponsible to try and rape MLB franchises in this economy, but Manny is the one guy in baseball who can shift the balance of power in a division with his insane offensive skills. I think eventually the Dodgers are going to re-sign Manny, but at what price and for how long? And before or after the season starts?

4. Who is going to win the AL East? You’ve got the mighty Yankees, who went out and bought another 10 or 15 wins by signing CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett and Mark Teixeira. You’ve got the Red Sox, who despite falling short last year against Tampa are still technically the team to beat in the division. And you’ve got the upstart Rays, who no one thought could keep up their winning ways for seven months and did just that. I just think the Sox are too talented and the Rays are going to drop to second or even third place in 2009, and I think the Yankees are going to make the playoffs but not win the division. Money just can’t buy team chemistry, ever.

5. Will Tim Lincecum be as brilliant in 2009 as he was in 2008? Or will his arm fall off? This kid, and he’s a 25 year old who looks like he’s 17, has some of the nastiest stuff in the majors and ran away with the NL Cy Young Award last year by going 18-5 with a 2.62 ERA and 265 strikeouts in 227 innings. You want perspective? The Giants only won 72 games last year, so Lincecum had a quarter of their wins. That’s just insane. But history shows that guys like this can’t keep it up long-term unless they’re named Clemens or Smoltz. I see another great season in 2009 but I’d temper expectations beyond that. And the Giants may just sneak into the playoffs in a less-than-stellar NL West this year.

We still have Manny Ramirez without a team, and the very real possibility that he could just stay with the Dodgers. Really, doesn’t that make the most sense for this guy’s, um, easygoing, personality and playing style? Meanwhile, the stakes for Mark Teixeira have been upped by none other than the Washington Nationals, who are believed to be offering the free agent slugger eight years at $20 million per. That sounds to me like agent Scott Boras trying to just be Scott Boras. We all know Tex is going to wind up in Boston, Baltimore, or back with the Angels.

And as if Cubs’ fans haven’t suffered through enough misery lately, GM Jim Hendry decided to pull the plug on the Jake Peavy trade. He just didn’t want to inherit as much salary as the Padres wanted him to, and he surely didn’t want to throw Mark DeRosa on a plane to San Diego as part of the deal. Now, the Angels have been mentioned as a team that might pursue Peavy, and you definitely can’t count the Yankees out either. Oh, and by the way, the Yankees have turned their attention to in-house “old reliable” Andy Pettitte now, and have not ruled Ben Sheets or Derek Lowe out yet. Wow.

Meanwhile, the Mets spent so much on closers that they literally had nothing left to go after Lowe. Instead, GM Omar Minaya is talking to the Cubs about a trade for Jason Marquis, and/or re-signing Oliver Perez or Pedro Martinez.

There could be a lot more moves on the horizon, but in a week expected to have a lot of fireworks, the hot stove fired up in New York and nowhere else. Stay tuned though, because deals are known to happen into January, and some, like Ramirez and Teixeira signing, could lead a domino effect for more moves.