Ah, the circle of baseball life. Bartolo Colon excelled last week 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, the young, energetic understudy Ivan Nova lasted just 1 1/3 innings, leaving with an ankle injury.

Call it an undesired zero sum game for the Yankees. Or just call it a loss. 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 - hovering near the top of 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. "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 in-demand, switch-hitting rightfielder. Although the Mets' National League East rivals have to be worried about paying an in-division premium.

The Yankees? The area in which they 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 back in June when 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 the 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 publicly, 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.