Untouchable? There is no such thing!

The concept that players are too important to a franchise to be traded is ridiculous. In this day and age, every player is potential trade bait in the right circumstance.

There was a time when the Toronto Blue Jays thought Roy Halladay would never be traded. Who thought the Dodgers would trade Mike Piazza? The point is everyone can be trade bait.

I bring this up because I have heard rumblings on all the Mets chat boards about recent reports that the Mets are shopping Daniel Murphy and David Wright. First of all, the reports only state the Mets are "open" to offers.

I'm open to offers too. Anyone want to pay me to play third base in a MLB park for a few million? Just because a team wants to see what they could potentially get for a player doesn't mean they would pull the trigger.

Take the David Wright waivers scare back in August for example. They took him off the wire just as quickly as they placed him on it. Mets GM Sandy Alderson wanted to see what the value of his best players are. What better way then to put the bait in the water and see how many fish bite?

Still don't believe me that Wright is staying put? This week, Alderson was quoted saying a team would have to "blow us away with an offer" in order to trade Wright. He is the closest thing to a captain this team has had in a decade. Love him or hate him, he is a true leader.

It was Wright that answered the tough questions from the media after the 2007 collapse. And he did it alone while the rest of the so called "leaders like Beltran, Delgado and Pedro scurried out the back door.

For all those people begging Jose Reyes on their hands and knees to stay, he scampered out that back door too when the team faced their darkest moment. It was Wright that emerged as the true face of the Mets then. Don't think the franchise has forgotten that. They love this guy.

He was the only one that Fred Wilpon had something nice to say about in the New Yorker interview. He said he wasn't a superstar, but he is a nice guy and very good. Meanwhile, he ripped Reyes and himself for signing Beltran.

It sounds like a backhanded compliment but at least he didn't crucify Wright, just said he wasn't a superstar. Well that's fine too. How many Hall of Famers weren't "superstars" in their era? I think we could all live with it if Wright led the team to another NLCS, or better yet, a World Series and retired a Mets player with the most hits, home runs and RBI in team history.

As for Daniel Murphy, it is understandable too. Much in the same way they wanted to gauge Wright's worth, they want to see what Murphy could get them. He is a tremendous hitter and in the right position, could be a staple in any lineup for years.

The Mets would be fools to trade him for a bag of beans. Why not see if they can get a big return or hold him and try to find a spot for him. There are plenty of players that never had a "true" position in baseball and went on to have great careers. Harold Baines and Edgar Martinez come to mind.

They were DH's though. The NL has fewer options for a hitter as good as Murphy that is not a solid fielder. In the end, would the Mets rather have him platoon or play a position and be lifted for defense in late innings than trade him for a prospect? Yes. He is very valuable at the plate and in the clubhouse.

Don't believe just because a player is "out there" means he will be as good as gone in a week. It rarely really happens that way. A more recent case in point is Jose Reyes this past season. All throughout July we heard the "his last game as a Met" talk. It didn't happen. They would have received more then than they would if he leaves now, but that's another story.

Just remember that players are the property of the team. They can be dangled like a carrot whenever the team wants to dangle them. They can dealt and demoted when the team deems it necessary. This is the way of the world.

The haves will always dictate to the have-nots. In this situation, the players are the have-nots. They don't have the right to not be placed on waivers or shopped. In most cases, they waive the right to void a trade (Beltran was out the door before he could have his first bowl of rice a roni despite having the right to refuse the trade).

It comes down to the way the front office handles their roster in this day and age. There was a time when players were deemed sacred, but there has never been a time when owners deemed them untouchable.

Even Babe Ruth was traded. If he wasn't untouchable, don't think that Daniel Murphy and David Wright are.