HAhmed.com

Have the Mets become the city’s best baseball team?

No one would’ve dared pose the question in 2005, not even two months ago. But thanks to the Wilpon family’s money and general manager Omar Minaya’s near-compulsive need to make trades, the Mets boast a roster that’s nearly as star-studded as the Yankees’. Even if the roster isn’t as talented, the Mets might still have a clearer path to the playoffs than the Bombers.

Says who, any Yankee loyalist will ask. None other than the Bombers themselves.

One high-ranking official said this week, "There’s no question the Mets are the best team in that [NL East] division. So go ahead, say they’re favorites. Say they’re the best team in the whole league. Put the pressure on them, for once."

The Yankee official wasn’t speaking spitefully or sarcastically, he was simply candid enough to tell the Mets: Welcome to our world, where even a two-game losing streak isn’t tolerated, and five years without a world championship is the equivalent of a dark age.

Harsh as it is, the Mets are loving the limelight. They’re the hottest team in town and certainly the busiest. Their projected $110 million payroll is still some $70 million lighter than the Yankees’, but they have All-Stars in four starting positions (first base, catcher, left and center field), an elite-caliber Opening Day starter in Pedro Martinez and the game’s hardest-throwing lefty reliever in Billy Wagner.

…The Yankees? They’re a year older, slogging through a crisis in center field, trying to pass off Bubba Crosby as a suitable replacement to Bernie Williams. The real crossroads, however, will be the moment when Johnny Damon decides he’ll accept less than a seven-year deal. But the question is for whom.

But the Mets aren’t finished with their own upgrades, either. Minaya continues his pursuit of Manny Ramirez, having tried to hatch a three-way deal with the Rangers and Red Sox that would’ve landed the slugger at Shea.

The Mets could’ve made a deal. They could’ve taken the Yankees up on their offer of Gary Sheffield for Cameron. But the trade was nixed at the highest levels in Queens, where one Met executive told a go-between, "Why should we help the Yankees get over the top? Why?"