Davidoff: Lee looks good, but at what price?

A Mets scout was at Safeco Field Friday night as Cliff Lee threw a five-hit shutout against the Reds.

"Normal coverage," a person in the loop explained. But if you saw Mike Pelfrey get knocked around by the Yankees yesterday, you understand why it's important that the Mets stay engaged in any and all trade conversations for a starting pitcher.

"Nobody's perfect. We're all human. We all make mistakes," Pelfrey said after the Mets' 5-3 Subway Series loss at Yankee Stadium. "I made a couple of mistakes today, and they made me pay for it. That's a good team over there.''

Pelfrey (9-2), enjoying the finest season of his young career, gave up five runs, seven hits and three walks in seven innings. Two of the hits were two-run homers - on a high splitter moving away that Mark Teixeira hooked and a down-and-in curveball to Curtis Granderson. In Pelfrey's previous start, June 13 in Baltimore, he picked up the victory but struggled then, too.

It appears to be a minor dip, and an understandable one. After all, he put up a studly 2.23 ERA in his first 13 appearances (12 starts) and hadn't given up a lead all season before this game.

"He's going to hit little bumps in the road," Jerry Manuel said. "We hope that they're small things that he can look back, learn from the experience and continue to improve."

Common sense dictated that Pelfrey couldn't maintain that blazing start. The same goes for R.A. Dickey, the Mets' knuckleballing sensation, who had never been so much as a league-average pitcher during his seven previous major-league seasons (all of them, to be fair, in the superior American League).

Hisanori Takahashi? Who knows what can be expected of him? But we do know that the Mets' bullpen remains day-to-day, and that Takahashi did terrific work from the pen earlier this season. If the Mets can obtain a clear upgrade over Takahashi for the rotation, putting him back in relief, that would help the team overall.

Which brings us to the trade market. Sure, the Mets would love to add Lee, an impending free agent, but they know they have to field a club for 2011, 2012 and beyond. That means forget about Jon Niese being included in any package. It probably means that even Jenrry Mejia, no matter how much the Mets have bungled how they've handled him this season, also stays.

Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal reported that the Mariners, starved for offense, want bats in return for Lee. You know Ike Davis isn't going anywhere. Fernando Martinez? Eh. Right now, the Mets are in prospect-protection mode, even though they'd get two 2011 draft picks for losing Lee to another team (like the Yankees) in free agency after this season.

Which leaves them with the next tier of available starters such as Baltimore's Jeremy Guthrie and Kevin Millwood, Cleveland's Jake Westbrook and Houston's Brett Myers. The Astros' Roy Oswalt, as you know, would cost too large a package in dollars and prospects.

Just as Pelfrey and Dickey are due for a drop-off, Jose Reyes should keep climbing, Jason Bay has to run off a hot streak eventually, and maybe Carlos Beltran actually will return in July. So perhaps a lesser starter than Lee would give the Mets what they need.

But the Mets will stay on Lee and in the trade talks, monitoring the price. You never know. Just know that the Mets, having surprised us so far, aren't blind to the expectations of their own overachievers this season.