Dickey Trade, Giancarlo Stanton, Miquel Tejada, Brett Myers

Mack Stuff –  Dickey Trade, Giancarlo Stanton, Miquel Tejada

The Mets were awarded the 76^th overall pick as compensation for failure to sign 2012 second-rounder Teddy Stankewicz.

Q - After the R.A. Dickey trade, where would the Mets system rank overall?

Jim Callis - Catcher Travis d'Arnaud and righthander Noah Syndergaard were the top two prospects left in the Blue Jays system after Toronto made the Jose Reyes/Mark Buehrle trade with the Marlins, and now they've gone to the Mets as part of the Dickey package. D'Arnaud is the second-best catching prospect in baseball, behind only Mike Zunino of the Mariners, while Syndergaard is a potential No. 2 starter. They'be be New York's second- and third-best prospects, fitting between righthander Zack Wheeler and shortstop Gavin Cecchini. Dickey is the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner and strikeout king, but I'm still surprised the Mets were able to extract Syndergaard as the second player in the deal. Adding him and d'Arnaud gives a significant boost to a system that was as thin as any in the National League before the trade. New York still lacks upper-level talent, but the addition of two blue-chip prospects boosts their system into the 18-20 range.

             

   Everyone in baseball knew two things about the Mets minor league system before this trade. One, they were filthy rich in pitching and, two, they might have been dead last in legitimate bats. The Dickey deal brings a much legitimate hitter in d-Arnaud, but the addition of Syndergaard gives the Mets the potential of having the most talented rotation as early as 2015. Moreover, there could be anywhere from 3-6 more top starters ready by 2016 that will be outstanding trait bait.

                Getting back to this trade. You traded a 38-year old major leaguer for a major league catcher (John Buck) they 2^nd top catching prospect in baseball, a projected SP2 with an ETA of mid-season 2014, and one of the top Latin bonus babies. This was an outstanding increase in depth and ranking of the minor league system in just one trade. This is a home run.

The Miami Marlins announced that they are willing to listen to offers for Giancarlo Stanton.

                -Who would be interesting in someone that Baseball Cube gives a power rating of 99?

                -First of all, I don’t understand the reasoning here. The guy doesn’t go into his first arbitration year until 2014 (unless he’s privately expressed a desire to get out of Dodge with the rest of his old team).

                Stop drooling Mets fans. You have no chance here. Miami has no desire to take on your contracts, but your minor league talent needs another year to prove they have a viable chance of making it in the pros.

                My offer would be:  Wilmer Flores (pre-ARB), Robert Carson (pre-ARB), Jeurys Familia (pre-ARB), Jenrry Mejia (pre-ARB), and Jordany Valdespin (pre-ARB).

                I would expect to still be hearing the laughter while I was entering my car in the parking lot.

Miguel Tejada and Endy Chavez Reaches Agreement With Kansas City Royals

                Omar Minaya used to do a lot of this. He’s sign a bunch of old guys to minor league contracts, hoping that one of them might have something left. Most of the time it didn’t work. Once in a while it did. One was named RA Dickey.

                It wouldn’t kill Sandy Alderson to give a few of these relics a shot in spring training.

                I’ve spent a fair amount of time talking about the winter leagues and players like OF Jason Botts. This is where second and third chances are born and guys like Tejada  are hitting .284/.336/.433/.768 for Aguilas Cibaenas in the Dominican league.

                Google the name Jason Botts… .336 in the Mexican League last year… .342 this winter… he’s available.

According to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, the Indians have reached a one-year contract with Brett Myers.

               this is the kind of singing I wish the Mets were capable of pulling off (yeah I know... not the nicest person in baseball). It's just a one year deal with a team option and is all up-side. He had a respectful season last year... 3.31-ERA, 1.22-WHIP. I would have gladly handed him the SP5 ball and let Mejia work on his game as the SP2 in Vegas.