Insofar as it hasn’t been met with complete indifference, the Mets’ trade for Arizona outfielder Shawn Green, his onerous contract, and several suitcases full of thousand-dollar bills to defray the pain of that contract has been the sort of trade that exposes people’s prejudices and instincts, one way or the other.

The basic argument in favor of the trade is that Lastings Milledge not only isn’t a very good ballplayer right now in the broad sense of not hitting for a high average, displaying notable power, or playing solid defense, but is an actively bad one in that he has specific, exploitable weaknesses and shoddy fundamentals. Green, this argument goes, may not be a star, but he’ll go out there every day and not run in the opposite direction from where the ball is going to land, or get himself out swinging at three curveballs in the dirt a half-foot off the plate. He’s a polished professional, and that, as much as the improvement he offers over Milledge, Michael Tucker, and Ricky Ledee, will make a difference to the Mets in the playoffs.

The basic argument against the deal is that Green isn’t a very good ballplayer right now, as he’s slugged .429 in a good hitter’s park and is barely capable of playing the outfield due to his lack of speed and the various shoulder ailments he’s had over the years, which have ruined his throwing the arm. He’s probably a slight improvement over Milledge/Tucker/Ledee, but not so much that the difference couldn’t be cancelled out by a minor hot streak from one of them, or a minor cold streak from Green. Statistically, the difference in run production between Green and Milledge works out to about a run every nine games.Green could stroke a big hit in the playoffs that Milledge wouldn’t have; so could Milledge stroke one that Green wouldn’t have.

Even (continues the argument) if you assume Green is going to hit as he has been and the others were all going to hit as they have been, it’s not the sort of difference that’s going to offer any significant advantage in a playoff series, and it comes at some cost to Milledge’s development and locks the Mets into a commitment to a mediocre player in a corner outfield spot next year.

While I’m trying to give a fair account of both sides here, it’s probably not hard to tell where my sympathies lay.The idea that Green’s professionalism and experience will confer any substantive advantage on the Mets in the playoffs seems pretty specious to me — you’d prefer to have him rather than Milledge up in a key at-bat, certainly, and you’d rather have a key fly

ball hit at him than the rookie, but so what? Milledge is the eighth of eight ballplayers on the field. I’m not a particular admirer, but you have to squint pretty hard to see any big advantage in lengthening the lineup slightly or in reducing by half a percent the odds of a fly ball falling to the ground in ugly fashion.

All this is of course predicated on the reasonable assumption that Cliff Floyd is at this point simply not to be relied upon, but if he comes back and stays healthy and Green takes Endy Chavez’s lineup slot, and that will be an outright bad thing, as Chavez has been better than either of them at the plate and is a stellar defender.

On the other hand, it’s easy to see where the disadvantages lay with Green. In 2007, presumably, the Mets’ corner outfielders are going to be Milledge, a green-as-grass young player who’s hit .239 BA/.309 OBA/.396 SLG in the major leagues this year, and Green, a prematurely aged player with a bad wing and a slow bat who’s hit .283/.348/.429 this year. Milledge will improve, and we can even grant that Green’s decline, rather than the result of age and severe shoulder injuries that robbed him of his power a half-decade ago, is the result of insufficient time spent with his chum and former Toronto teammate Carlos Delgado, and that he’ll slug .475 or so next year. Is this really the best the Mets can do?

Between Green, Milledge, and Delgado more than a third of the lineup would be at best adequate in 2007, and at worst truly bad, relative to their offensively oriented positions.That’s not even addressing the open questions of catcher and second base.

I’ve written about the wisdom of the Mets’ basic strategy quite a lot this year. It’s very reminiscent of the St. Louis Cardinals’ philosophy: Surround superstar talent with adequate veterans, give yourself options at positions where you don’t have an obvious solution, and win a lot of games.

The difference for the Mets is that while the Cardinals are well-off, the Mets are filthy rich. They can get by with Shawn Green in a corner position, even with Lastings Milledge in another. There’s no compelling reason at all to do so, though, any more than there’s a compelling reason to, at this late date, sit Milledge in favor of someone who’s really not all that much better a player. This move won’t hurt the Mets next year, and it’s more likely to help than hurt this year, but there’s almost no upside in it, and that’s the problem.

When you have a big bankroll, you bet big.This isn’t a bet; it’s hedge. Omar Minaya’s strength has been thinking big. Shawn Green may be famous, but this isn’t thinking big.