Yankees should take 2nd look at Beltran

Ah, the circle of baseball life. The gimpy geezer Bartolo Colon excelled Tuesday night at Tropicana Field, reviving hope that he can continue his remarkable, rebound season even as he and the Yankees lost a wacky, 3-2 contest to the Rays.

Up and over in Columbus, Ohio, meanwhile, young, energetic understudy Ivan Nova left his start for Triple-A Scranton after just 1 1/3 innings. Joe Girardi said that Nova turned his right ankle, and the Yankees are optimistic that the rookie can stay on track for a July 30 start against Baltimore.

In this trade market, with so few appealing options available on the starting-pitching front, the Yankees don't possess much room for error.

But if the ultimate goal behind team improvement is run differential, then shouldn't the Yankees -- second in the major leagues in runs scored -- at least consider a trade for Carlos Beltran?

"I'm not looking for offense," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Tuesday. "But we're trying to get better in any way possible and looking at everything."

Translation: The Yankees can't be regarded as serious players for Beltran at this juncture. The Giants, Red Sox, Phillies and Braves look like the most likely landing spots for the rightfielder, who returned from a three-day flu Tuesday night by going 3-for-3 with two walks for the Mets at Citi Field.

The area in which the Yankees most realistically can upgrade is at designated hitter, where Jorge Posada has quieted down again after a great June.

Benching Posada would be painful; we saw what occurred in June when Joe Girardi hit Posada ninth. Yet in the cold-blooded Yankees universe, in which anything short of a World Series title constitutes failure, a Beltran acquisition merits contemplation.

We know that Beltran would love to play in the Bronx, as he wanted to join the Yankees as a free agent following the 2004 season. We have at least a small, impressive sample of evidence -- a .485 on-base percentage and .817 slugging percentage in 101 career postseason plate appearances -- that he wouldn't wilt under pressure.

The Mets, given their weak farm system, would prefer to supply the roughly $6 million still owed Beltran in return for higher-caliber prospects. The Yankees, as Cashman has made clear, aren't inclined to give up their best prospects (Manny Banuelos, Dellin Betances and Jesus Montero) for anyone currently on the market.

Beltran can't be offered arbitration, as per his contract, and even if he could, no club would do so, out of fear he'd accept it and get a raise from his $18.5-million salary. That makes Beltran a more difficult sell in a deal for prospects, as there are no compensatory draft picks coming on the other side.

If it's a straight cash dump, the Giants would make more sense for the Mets, who would prefer to keep Beltran out of the Bronx.

Back here to the Trop, Colon struck out nine, walked two and allowed five hits in 61/3 innings. He looked far more like the Colon who could start a postseason Game 2, firing four-seam fastballs and sliders to overwhelm the Rays' lineup.

Joe Girardi intelligently lifted Colon after 105 pitches, and if not for some defensive miscues, one of them his own, reliever Boone Logan would have protected the Yankees' lead. Instead, Tampa Bay's two-run seventh catapulted the Rays to their first win in four games and increased the importance of Freddy Garcia's start for Wednesday night.

The loss to Tampa Bay hurts, but the loss to Nova, if he isn't all right, could hurt more. The Yankees have to look for reinforcements wherever they can find them.