Are Braylon Edwards and Osi Umenyiora in a competition to see which one could destroy his own value more? Because if so, there’s some major sister-kissing going on, although Umenyiora is threatening to take the lead.

Umenyiora, who is pissed at the Giants for not giving him a new contract or trading him to a team that will, is now claiming that he is sitting out of practice due to a sore knee. But the story gets better because according to the Wall Street Journal, the injury may require surgery.

Something tells me that if Umenyiora was traded to Seattle on Monday, his knee would be strong enough for him to do flips in training camp. But because he’s stuck in New York and those good-for-nothing Giants have the audacity to ask him to play out the remainder of his contract, all of a sudden his knee is bothering him.

Either way, what he or his representatives don’t realize is that they’re sinking his trade value. He thinks he’s hurting the Giants with this stunt, but he’s actually hurting his overall goal, which is to be traded so that he can land a long-term contract.

The Giants are cap-strapped right now. Whether they promised to pay Umenyiora like a top-5 defensive end or not is rather moot because they can’t pay him due to lack of cap room. Period, end of story.

If Umenyiora wants to hold out in order to force the Giants’ hand in hopes that they’ll reduce their asking price of a first round pick, so be it. But the bottom line is that a) the Giants aren’t going to pay him more money because they can‘t, b) no team wanted him at the price of a first round pick and c) no team is going to want him period if he has to have surgery. Thus, if the goal for Umenyiora is to receive a long-term contract, faking a knee injury isn’t helping. In fact, it’s rather detrimental to his overall cause.

If the Giants promised Umenyiora more money and they’re now reneging, then shame on them. But clearly no agreement was in writing and once again, the Giants can’t pay him because of they’re salary cap situation. So the smartest thing for Umenyiora to do is to avoid taking a shotgun to his own value. He has to remain attractive to other teams and the only way to do that is to stay healthy. Plus, the fact that the Giants don’t have any cap room is actually a bonus for Umenyiora because they may ultimately feel they need to trade him to free up money. (It’s not like they need the defensive end depth.)

Umenyiora would benefit from going back to the drawing board and coming up with a new game plan. Because as the situation currently stands, he’s working backwards from his main goal.

The New York Daily News is reporting that the Mets and Giants are having difficulty matching up on a trade involving Carlos Beltran. That’s not surprising considering the two clubs haven’t been a good match from the start.

The Giants need offense and Beltran could provide it. But that’s where the fit between the defending champs and the outfielder starts and stops. The Giants don’t mind paying the $6 million still left on Beltran’s contract, as long as they don’t have to give up a top prospect in the process.

But that’s exactly what New York is looking for. The name Zach Wheeler was thrown around a lot last week on New York sports talk radio. But the Giants aren’t going to part with their top pitching prospect, even with the three-headed monster of young arms in Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner already on the big league roster. The Mets (and every other team for that matter) can also forgot about acquiring first base prospect Brandon Belt as well.

New York would be better off sending Beltran to the Phillies for Domonic Brown, assuming that trade scenario is a possibility. (Rumor has it that it is.) Philadelphia’s window to win is now and adding another bat like Beltran could move the Phillies closer to another World Series appearance. Thus, they wouldn’t mind parting with one of their top young players to add someone that can help them win in the present.

The possibility of the Giants still landing Beltran is alive and well, but I just don’t see it. What I do see is more Jeff Keppinger-type trades in the Giants’ near future. And with that in mind, I’m willing to bet that Pudge Rodriguez is a Giant before Carlos Beltran is.

Thursday Quick-Hitters:

– I was so relieved when I saw the photos of Kenny Britt being handcuffed onstage at one of Britney Spears’ recent concerts. If there’s anyone that deserves a little “me time” right now, it’s Kenneth Britt.

– If I’m Steve Williams, I’m looking at Tiger Woods today and saying: “Really? You think I’ve been the problem?”

– Kevin Kolb is apparently looking at real estate in Arizona. In other news, Nnamdi Asomugha is looking at real estate in Hollywood Hills, Manhattan, London, Paris, Brussels, Chicago, South Beach and just for the hell of it, a small place in Cabo San Lucas.

– Does the Giants front office just sit back and laugh when they hear that Osi Umenyiora wants to be paid like a top five defensive end? The guy is a fantastic pass rusher but someone please explain to me how he does for the Giants what Julius Peppers, Dwight Freeney, Jared Allen, Mario Williams or even his own teammate Justin Tuck does for their respective teams.

– Hawaii turned down Tate Forcier because he didn’t meet the university’s standards for academics. Maybe Forcier should give Ohio State a call. I hear they need a quarterback and they could always put him on the Andy Katzenmoyer academic program, which consists of beginners golf and basket weaving.