The trading deadline has come and past us by. The Phillies and Braves both improved, with Oswalt going to Citizens Bank and "Rowdy" Kyle Farnsworth moving to the deep south. Across town, the Yankees pick up Lance Berkman and Austin Kearns for basically nothing. The Mets had a couple needs. Maybe a starter. A bat. Anything really. Let's see what the Mets did this deadline:

Nothing.

They did nothing. Not in on a single player. Not a single roster move. Nothing.

The Mets PR department goes into spin mode. Oswalt goes to Philly for spare parts. The Mets cite the fact that Ed Wade was a former Phillies employee and that means that they gave them a deal. Lilly goes to the Dodgers for Blake DeWitt and a couple of prospects. Mets say that "Lilly isn't an improvement over Takahashi."

WFAN (especially Joe and Evan) gets on Mets fans for not showing up to games. Why should we spend our money when the Wilpons don't spend anything?

Okay, honestly, the Mets weren't really in on any serious deals. That's fine. But there needed to be a move. Release Ollie. Dump Castillo for a bag of balls. Do something. But once again, the Mets fans hear rumors of their favorite team looking to make a move and another trading deadline passes where nothing happens.

It's disappointing. But it's a common theme. It's happened every deadline since 2005. The Mets are rumored to be involved in a big trade. Of course, at the last minute, everything falls apart. Repeat every year forever and ever.

I'm used to disappointment. This is beginning to reach the point of absurdity.

The Mets have basically waived a white flag. The season is over. As assembled, this team has zero chance to make the playoffs. PECOTA (an advanced player and team projection system) basically agrees with me, saying that the Mets have a less than 5% chance of making the playoffs. Barring some sort of hilarious collapse from the Braves and Phillies, they are done. The least they could have done is work on shedding payroll so they could spend in the off season but I feel like that's a level of strategy beyond what Omar and the Wilpons think.

This inaction makes me wonder what's next. I'm assuming that missing the playoffs means that Omar is out which may or may not be a bad thing. Hopefully Jerry follows in leaving. It's just too bad the Mets couldn't do anything to save themselves.

I suppose being noncompetitive it's better than the alternative -- the epic final week collapse.