The War Room – The 40-Man

From Derek McKnight  -

Hey Mack. I always enjoyed reading the weekly ‘War Room’ back and forth between yourself and the other writers even though I didn't participate other than reading. Since the trade deadline is coming up and you have posted and commented several times the Mets will not be major players. I'm interested in, if it’s not too difficult, to see what current Met players in the majors and minors need to be on the 40 man roster next year.

I would be interested in reading yours and the other writers opinions on who should stay and who should go, and if they are going (example Satin and Lutz) then should they be traded for talent that can go into the system that does not have to be 40 protected, and who that might be.

I know we are not talking about a Cahoon or Schwinden, but maybe a Dykstra or Matz who have value as a prospect or have potential in the future but might need protecting now.

If not interesting or too difficult I understand.

Thanks for all your hard work, I always enjoy reading you. If you ever get up to north end of the SC coast let me know. We have really good college and Texas minor league baseball here.

Mack Ade - 
 

Well, guys, the first thing I’m going to do is take the current 40-man, take off the guys I think will be gone next year, and come up with a base list to work with (for all of us).

This is; however, who I think will still be on it:

Total - 28

Pitchers (13):

Scott Atchison, Greg Burke, Josh Edgin, Jeurys Familia, Dillon Gee, Matt Harvey, Jeremy Hefner, Jenrry Mejia, Jon Niese, Bobby Parnell, Scott Rice, Carlos Torres, Zack Wheeler

Catchers (2):

Travis d’Arnaud, Anthony Recker

Infielders (7):

Ike Davis, Wilmer Flores, Daniel Murphy, Josh Satin, Ruben Tejada, Justin Turner, David Wright

Outfielders (6):

Andrew Brown, Lucas Duda, Juan Lagares, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Cesar Puello, Eric Young Jr.


From Conrad Youngren -

Hmmm… next year’s 40-man.  Need to make some artificial boundaries so let’s say 20 pitchers, 3 catchers, 10 infielders & 7 outfielders.  Any specific trade speculation makes the exercise boundless as well.

At 2: Besides TDA, I’d keep the under-appreciated Juan Centeno plus, for the time-being Recker.  I can imagine a FA vet being signed in the off-season though.

 At 3 thru 6: I see 3 guys wearing the same suit (Murphy, Satin & Flores), corner INF who could get by at 2B, can hit, & have some gap power plus 2 more (Duda & Ike) who have obvious power potential, but are really only serviceable at 1B.  I could see two of the above going in (a) trade(s), but have no idea which 2 and would be (pleasantly) surprised if it were before the 40-man deadline of the Rule 5 draft.  If they’re still around, I protect them all, Wright obviously, and probably both Q and Reuben.  That’s 8 leaving 2 openings for Turner, Tovar, Lutz, plus Dykstra & Munro whom I believe become Rule 5 eligible this fall.  I’d prefer not to lose Dykstra or Munro via the draft route—trades are another thing altogether, but I prefer targeting a specific player and begrudgingly giving over the “what will you give me for ….” strategy which begs a low-ball response.

7 thru 9: I want to hang on to Byrd, Young & Puello (each for different reasons) unless bowled over. That leaves 4 from the rest of the current posse (Legares, Kirk, Baxter, Brown & Valdy in descending order) plus, if they are Rule 5 eligible Vaughn & Ceciliani   In that case, I slip Vaughn in ahead of Brown.

20 pitchers requires more thought than I can muster right now (and I need to know more about who’s Rule 5 fodder).

Hobie

Editor's Note - I had hoped for more participation from this... maybe it will happen in the comments section.