We’re fast approaching that point of the year when Mets and Yankees general managers have traditionally made bizarre and inexplicable deals for haggard, expensive veterans. With both teams looking like contenders in 2005 despite some glaring flaws, no one will be surprised if they make some outlandish deals in the near future. One or both teams might even improve themselves with a trade, though no one familiar with such supposed miracle fixes as Denny Neagle, Raul Mondesi, or Victor Zambrano will give too much credit to this possibility.

Yankees fans probably have less to fear. The Bombers do have a massive hole in the outfield, and need bullpen help, but they don’t really have anything to give up other than Double-A third baseman Eric Duncan, who isn’t exactly a high-grade prospect. The real, if remote, danger is that some team like the Reds or Royals will eat enough of the money due a player like Ken Griffey Jr. or Mike Sweeney to entice the Yankees into acquiring him and witnessing the mathematical miracle of subtraction by addition.

Mets fans, on the other hand, should tremor and quake, especially in light of the disastrous deals the team made for Zambrano and Kris Benson at last year’s trade deadline. True, GM Omar Minaya has given no reason to think he’s going to return the franchise to the darkest days of the Steve Phillips regime, and incompetent owners Fred and Jeff Wilpon have been blessedly quiet of late. That doesn’t mean they’ve gone away, though. The Mets are probably a year away from being good enough to win the pennant, but they’re just good enough to win the wild card, which could make mortgaging the team’s future seem like a much better idea than it is.

Worst-case scenarios aside, both New York teams will have various opportunities to improve their teams in coming months. The Yankees don’t have to snatch up members of the 1997 All-Star team, nor do the Mets have to get rid of top minor-leaguers like Yusmeiro Petit and Lastings Milledge. Low-lying fruit is there for the taking, if Minaya and Brian Cashman will only pick it.

For the Yankees, there are a variety of ways to solve their problems, but the sort of deal they should make doesn’t involve big names. Take the Pittsburgh Pirates. Every year the Pirates stock up on vaguely acceptable players, whom they then peddle to contenders for third-rate prospects and salary relief. The Cubs and Red Sox have made Pittsburgh their personal supermarket, and the Yankees should hop on the gravy train. Of particular note are left fielder Matt Lawton, who’s batting .259 AVG/.352 OBA/.416 SLG, and middle reliever Rick White, who has been pretty bad in recent years, but is putting up a 3.54 ERA this year and might have a decent run left in him.

The Yankees can offer someone from their pile of nonprospects like Double-A outfielder Kevin Thompson, who’s hitting .333/.425/.548; recent years have demonstrated that the Pirates covet such players out of all proportion to their value. Lawton and White would fill needed roles at no great cost; should they bomb, they can be tossed overboard. Better a dozen Matt Lawtons than one Ken Griffey.

Another interesting deal could involve the Philadelphia Phillies, who find themselves mired in last place and staring at a roster that has gone very quickly from “young and on the rise” to “about to decline rapidly.” They have holes all over the place, but they also have Placido Polanco – one of the 10 best second basemen in the game – on their bench. While Robinson Cano has performed reasonably well so far, the truth is that he really should be in Triple-A honing his approach at the plate.

The Phillies’ main problem is their bullpen, which sports a 6.35 ERA, and while the Yankees aren’t exactly brimming with bullpen arms, Tom Gordon would probably look fine in a Phillies uniform. Polanco, meanwhile, would help the Yankees focus on their strength – their ability to bludgeon the opposition – while leaving such secondary matters as set-up relief to sort themselves out.

Probably a more important deal is one they should have made before the season. The Yankees must learn the phrase “sunk costs” and simply get rid of Jason Giambi. No matter how high his OBA is, Giambi is a colossal embarrassment to the team at this point, unable to do anything except refrain from swinging at pitches. Sending him and a giant check to some team like the Oakland A’s in exchange for a bag of balls and a rosin bag would be a fine example of actual addition by subtraction.

While the Yankees need to avoid their tendency to trade for names and instead look to improve at the margins, the Mets need to do something even simpler – sell high and buy low. The real problem with deals like the ill-fated Zambrano trade isn’t that the Mets moved prospects, it’s that they moved them for their actual – as opposed to their perceived – value.

Two players on the roster look like fine candidates to be traded off at the peak of their value. The first is Aaron Heilman, who in a fit of recent usefulness has posted an ERA of 4.30 – not bad, but nothing to get too excited about. The second is Mike Cameron, a very good player who is somewhat superfluous on the Mets, given the presence of Carlos Beltran and Victor Diaz, both of whom figure in the team’s long-term plans.

Happily, there is a team that values outfield defense and soft-tossing, slightly-above-average, right-handed starters with college pedigrees: the A’s. Even more happily, they’re out of contention this season and have former Cy Young winner Barry Zito – who has a 1-5 record and a 5.17 ERA this year – on hand. Might a reunion with former pitching coach Rick Peterson and a move to the National League help Zito reclaim his former spark? Who knows?

What’s certain is that despite his recent woes, Zito is at the least an acceptable third starter, and might be quite a lot more than that. It’s uncertain whether Heilman, Cameron, and a pile of cash might induce the A’s to part with Zito, but Billy Beane has certainly made worse deals in the past year; this one would actually net him a real ballplayer. It’s a deal that might help the Mets this year and next, both by strengthening the rotation and opening up a spot for Diaz.

This deal almost certainly won’t happen, but it’s the kind of move Minaya needs to make, if only so Mets fans won’t have to tremble when next Memorial Day rolls around.