Coming Later Today –
10 00 am
- Craig Mitchell -- The Good, The Bad........The
Bottom Line of the Mets
2 00 pm
- Fangraphs - Polished Hurlers - RHP Robert Gsellman
4 00 pm
- 2015 Draft Profile - OF/2B
- Jahmai
Jones - Wesleyan (GA) HS - UPDATED 7-3-14
Michael Conforto @mconforto8 - It's
official! I am now a member of the New York Mets. Thank you New York for
welcoming me with open arms! Lets get to work!
Obviously, the success of the Mets home record in the last ten games takes away all talks about being a 'seller' during July, but, with the strength of Jacob deGrom's pitching as of late (hell, the entire season!) and the return of Dillon Gee, the current rotation of those two, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Bartolo Colon, and Zack Wheeler will swell once Jon Niese comes back from the DL. In addition, Jeremy Hefner is already rehabbing for the GCL Mets. My guess is Colon could still be a target for a team looking for a cheap 1.5 years left on a contract for a very productive pitcher. The only other alternative could be Dice-K, rather than return him to the bullpen.
Obviously, the success of the Mets home record in the last ten games takes away all talks about being a 'seller' during July, but, with the strength of Jacob deGrom's pitching as of late (hell, the entire season!) and the return of Dillon Gee, the current rotation of those two, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Bartolo Colon, and Zack Wheeler will swell once Jon Niese comes back from the DL. In addition, Jeremy Hefner is already rehabbing for the GCL Mets. My guess is Colon could still be a target for a team looking for a cheap 1.5 years left on a contract for a very productive pitcher. The only other alternative could be Dice-K, rather than return him to the bullpen.
Mike Puma @NYPost_Mets
- Mets haven't gotten any calls
recently asking about Daniel Murphy. A club
official said it's been quiet on all fronts regarding possible trades.
Mack – Which is just fine by me. Oh, there
will be last minute calls on some of the side dishes the Mets have on their
plate, but the few ‘meat and potato guys are either unavailable or on the DL. I
think it would be nice if the other GMs made Sandy’s job a lot easier this time
of the year and made no offer for Murphy, so he can just go back and
concentrate on securing the most hits in the National League this season.
We can build an infield around this.
Terry Collins on Zack Wheeler –
“You’re
seeing much more consistent velocity throughout the game. Last year we saw
where he could start the game at 96 mph and two innings later he’d pitch at 92
mph. You’re seeing 95s throughout the game (now). You’re seeing much better
command of his changeup. His changeup has become a very effective pitch for
him. He’s getting to know what he’s got to do to get outs at this level. If we
continue to execute on the offensive side, this guy is going to win a lot of
games in the second half.”
Mack – Still, I need to see Wheeler finish the first six innings
in the 80 pitch range more consistently. Good starters finish at least seven
innings per game. Great ones eight. Wheeler still has a way to go to mater this
ability to not throw too many balls early.
Thomas said –
My brother doesn't want to post, but he is SCREAMING for
a blockbuster trade to happen like the Hernandez, Carter, and Piazza ones. We have a lot to trade, maybe he's
right. Yanks are circling the drain, and
it might be time for a bold move to snatch the town back.
Mack – Blockbuster trades take blockbuster players. The Mets
have two blockbuster players, Matt Harvey and David Wright, and neither one of them are going
anywhere.
We’ve gone down this ‘what does it take to get Tulo’ or
‘Stanton’ road too many times. Players like that are very often being paid a
ton of money and set up perfectly for 3-4 prospects under team control. The Johan Santana trade would be the perfect example.
Colorado has built their franchise behind this guy and they are
trying to make it to the playoffs.
Miami has proven they would trade anyone, and Stanton is getting
up there in arbitration commitment, but there are many other teams that can
offer quality team controlled players. The Cubs would be the perfect example
here. They are deep in prospect talent right now and could put together a much
better package than the Mets could.
The only chance the Mets would have in any ‘blockbuster’ trade
would be to trade at least two of their young, quality starters. Why do this?
You’ve just spent the better part of four years building a future team around
your rotation. Why toss a hand grenade in now?
I just don’t see it Thomas, nor do I see any motivation for
Miami to trade him to a division rival.
The Arizona Diamondback management said that they will not trade
SS Chris Owings. This leaves possible players available for a trade:
2B Aaron Hill – 32/yr - $12mil-2015, $12mil-2016 - .241-MLB
SS/2B Cliff Pennington –30/yr - $3.25mil-2014, ARB/3-2015 -
.241-MLB
2B/SS Nick Ahmed – 24/yr - $500K-pre arb – .182-MLB (22-AB)
- .324-AAA (299-AB)
SS Didi Gregorius – 24/yr - pre-ARB - .237-MLB – .310/AAA
(226-AB)
SS Argenis Diaz – 27/yr -pre-ARB - .348-AAA (69-AB) –
The Cubs kept 2B-SS Arismendy Alcantara around for their weekend
series after calling him up to fill in for Darwin Barney’s maternity leave. The
glut of Cubs middle infielders include:
2B Arismendy Alcantara – 22/yr - pre-ARB – team’s #7 prospect - .444-MLB
(9-AB) - .307-AAA
SS Starlin Castro – 24/yr - $6.857mil -2015, $7.857mil -2016,
$9.857mil -2017, $10.857mil -2018, $11.857mil-2019 – .280-MLB
SS Javier Baez – 21/yr – pre-ARB – team’s #1 prospect -
.240-AAA
SS Addison Russell – 20/yr – pre-ARB – team’s #3 prospect -
.188-AAA (16-AB)
Bob Gregory asked -
Mack.
I Think the Mets should sell off but with a specific game
plan in mind. Do you think trading off
Colon, Abreu, Murphy, Gee, Niese, Matsuzaka can result in acquiring pieces that
could help the Mets make an attractive offer for Tulowitzki or Stanton? Bob
Mack – Well Bob, there’s been a number of people that keep
bringing up the Mets being a team that either Miami or Colorado would trade
their top start to. I don’t see it, but anything is a possibility in this game.
What I particularly don’t see is enough time for the Mets to
find out from a team like Colorado what they are looking for, then going out in
the open market and trading a bunch of their players for someone they could go
back to Colorado with. There just isn’t enough time to get this done especially
when other clubs can just pick up a phone and deal with either team directly.
I don’t think either of these players will be available to the
Mets for different reasons. The Marlins just aren’t going to sell Stanton to one
of their division rivals.
As for Tulo, the Mets just don’t have the 4-5 team controlled
talented players to pull this one off.
18 comments:
I think we can pull off one for Tulo with plaweki, DeGrom, Nimmo, gee and Cecchini. What are your thoughts? And replenish some of what we lost when we trade Murphy, Niese, dice k and colon.
So basically we are buyers and sellers by trading our guys that probably won't fit in in 2 years and also building up our future round Tulo...
This is why I would have rather got Cano in the offseason and avoided having to deal our farm away, we need a number 4 hitter to protect Wright. I knew Granderson would not fill that role. Yes $220 million it would have cost, but whoever we trade for is going to demand that type of money and we lose our prospects.
A "blockbuster trade" only makes sense when the team is in obvious contention for a Pennant.
At this point the Mets are still in a bad middle ground of "do we contend" or "do we sell."
A blockbuster trade WOULD make sense this off-season when the final pieces of our dynasty come together.
As for the trade deadline plans.....Fans need to recognize that the Mets are not that far away from contending. A Bartolo Colon trade makes a lot of sense as it A) frees up $11m in payroll for next year, and B) It opens a rotation spot up next year for Syndergaard.
Currently my forecasted team for 2015 is as follows
C- Travis d'Arnaud ($550k)
1B- Lucas Duda ($4.0m)
2B- Daniel Murphy ($9.0m)
SS- open
3B- David Wright ($20.0m)
LF- open
CF- Lagares ($550k)
RF- Granderson ($16.0m)
SP- Matt Harvey ($550k)
SP- Jon Niese ($7.1m)
SP- Zack Wheeler ($550k)
SP- Dillon Gee ($5.5m)
SP- Noah Syndergaard ($550k)
CL- Jhennry Mejia ($1.5m)
RP- Bobby Parnell ($4.0m)
RP- Victor Black ($550k)
RP- Juerys Familia ($550k)
RP- Josh Edgin ($550k)
RP- Jeremy Hefner ($550k)
RP- Gonzalez German ($550k)
Total Payroll: $80.9m
In my scenario above the Mets have already traded Bartolo Colon and have either traded or released in the off-season Daisuke and Chris Young with DeGrom and Flores in the minors.
The Mets would wise to trade Dillon Gee as part of deal to net themselves a LF......a team like the Dodgers could be interested. While I do not believe they will part with Joc Pederson, there is another name that I think is better and does not have a monster contract like their 4 main OF's
Scott Van Slyke has OPS'd over 1.100 over the past 3 years in AAA and is OPS'ing .928 in limited MLB playing time this year. I would offer Dillon Gee and Wilmer Flores for Van Slyke AND Corey Seager. The move makes sense because the Dodgers are always looking for SP and they do not have a minor league replacement for the 35 yr old 3B Juan Uribe. Convince yourselves all you want....but Flores is a 3B.....not a SS or a 2B.
This move allows Jacob DeGrom to stay in the rotation AND it frees up an additional $5.0m of salary to be used on a SS.
From what I got from yesterday’s post-game is Colon is set to start Friday, and after that it’s somewhat up in the air. Why the specific Colon reference?
Between the lines: might Bartolo not leave Seattle with the NYM? I still covet Austin Wilson, what more would it take? For example, if I ate a helping of salary, could I leave CY there too?
Mack,
"As for Tulo, the Mets just don’t have the 4-5 team controlled talented players to pull this one off."
First off, we're not positive that Colorado would be willing to part with Tulo, but if they do, we DO have the pieces, it's just whether Sandy is willing to part with them. This type of trade would obviously only be a possibility in the offseason, but we could offer them your top 5 prospects on the right of your screen, who are all in AAA, so they are team controlled, ML ready talent that could step right in for Colorado and produce. They also have Rosell Herrera & Trevor Story not to far away to replace Tulo at SS if they didn't see Flores as a SS replacement.
The Yankees can't offer a better deal than that who would be the biggest threats, neither can most teams. The Dodgers would be big threats, but I highly doubt the Rockies would trade in division, so we have that going for us. The Tigers could make a play, but not enough assets. On top of many teams already have established SS's that wouldn't make them good fits, Blue Jays, Rangers, Braves, Cubs, Texas, etc.
In terms of Chicago, sure they could offer a better package, but SS depth is their strength, why would they bring on another SS when they already have 3-4 of them at the moment. They are going to use those chips to trade for pitching, which is why we match up well with them since we have some young pitching chips we can use to get bats. Stanton is an option for Chicago, but Tulo just doesn't make much sense.
You honestly think Colorado would pass on:
SP Noah Syndergard
SP Rafael Montero
IF Wilmer Flores or 2B Daniel Murphy
C Kevin Plawecki
& any one of their choice Cesar Puello, Jack Leathersich or Matt den Decker
for
SS Troy Tulowitski
RP Rex Brothers
That's a monster package for them to at least think about and we have enough young talent to survive this trade without hurting our short term and long term rosters. The issue I see for the Mets is Tulo's contract and the Wilpons being willing to take on such a big money contract. I honestly think that would scare them away, which is what makes being a Mets fan so frustrating. If we were to make a deal for Tulo (dream scenario I know), that would instantly being credibility to our team, a little edge, everyone else could fall into their roles and take some pressure off of Wright so he can be a strong #2, like he was when Beltran, Reyes, Delgado, etc were around and he was playing his best. In the offseason, we can go after guys like Yasmani Tomas & Michael Cuddyer and we instantly have a playoff contending roster that can compete with anyone.
2015 OPENING DAY ROSTER
PROJECTED PAYROLL = $115M
* Free Agent
**Trade
LINEUP = ($80M)
1. (L) Curtis Granderson - (RF) - $16M
2. (L) Daniel Murphy - (2B) - $8.5M
3. (R) David Wright - (3B) - $20M
4. (R) Troy Tulowitski - (SS) - $20M**
5. (L) Lucas Duda - (1B) - $3M
6. (R) Yasmani Tomas - (LF) - $10M*
7. (R) Travis D'Arnaud - (C) - $600K
8. (R) Juan Lagares - $600K
BENCH = ($11M)
9. (S) - Eric Young - (UT) - $2.25 / (R) Ruben Tejada - (UT) - $1.5M
10. (L) - Kirk Niuwenhuis - (OF) - $600K
11. (R) - Eric Campbell (UT) - $600K
12. (R) - Michael Cuddyer (1B/OF) - $7.5M*
13. (R) - Anthony Recker - (C) - $600K/ (L) - Juan Centeno - (C) - $600K
STARTING ROTATION = ($14M)
1. (R) Matt Harvey - $600K
2. (L) Jon Niese - $7M
4. (R) Dillon Gee - $5M
4. (R) Zack Wheeler - $600K
5. (R) Jacob de Grom - $600K
BULLPEN = ($8M)
6. (R) Bobby Parnell - $4M
7. (R) Jenrry Mejia - $600K
8. (R) Jeurys Familia - $600K
9. (R) Vic Black - $600K
10. (L) Josh Edgin - $600K
11. (L) Rex Brothers - **1M
12. (R) Carlos Torres - $600K
This would take our payroll to around $115M, which will give the Wilpons an instant heart attack, but who reading this post (within proximity to Queens) wouldn't be interested in going to see more games with a roster like this?
Let's go Mets!!!
Soto,
I think everyone can agree that the biggest holes are SS and the remaining OF spot. We could pursue Nelson Cruz for RF and slide Grandy over to LF, but I'm sure he's going to get a Granderson type deal this offseason considering how well he is playing.
A true cleanup hitter is really this missing link on this offense, but they don't just grow on trees. The 2015 roster has tremendous upside if it can add one dangerous bat.
Soto:
While I agree Tulo will definitely not be traded during the season, this off season is another story. I think the chances are less than 5%, but if there's a chance, we need to push hard to get him if in fact he becomes available. If he does end up going on the market, I would go ALL-IN for him and not worry about the prospects we give up to get him as he's a once in a generation type player that would instantly bring crebility to this roster and make us playoff candidates. Here are a few comments I've read lately on Tulo:
"In Todd Helton, there's someone who's easy to look at his career here and how it played out. I have the utmost respect for Todd, but at the same time, I don't want to be the next in line as somebody who was here for a long time and didn't have a chance to win every single year," said Tulowitzki, reviewing the 17 years Helton spent as the face of a franchise that never won a division title. "He played in a couple postseason games and went to one World Series. But that's not me. I want to be somewhere where there's a chance to be in the playoffs every single year."
"Tulowitzki met recently with top team officials, giving them what Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com terms a “subtle blessing” to deal him. The star shortstop indicated that, while he enjoys playing for the Rockies and hopes to continue to do so, he would be open to being moved to a contending ballclub."
"One friend of Tulo told Rosenthal, “I think the guy is going to lose his mind,” due to Colorado’s consistently poor results. He adds that this offseason will be a better time to deal Tulo or Carlos Gonzalez (with an eye on a larger rebuild), "
With all of the young talent the Mets have, I'd still sell of unnecessary pieces at the deadline to add to the coffers of young talent. Then in the offseason make the push for the big bat.
Flores
Plawecki
Gee
deGrom
Top prospect (Colon deadline deal)
Is a monster offer.
The Mets need to be thinking Big and small... We should absolutely be seller… Trade Colon, Dice –K, Abreu and especially Murphy.
Murphy’s value will never be Higher… For all 4 we should be trying to get packages similar to the one we received for Marlon Byrd. (Dilson Herrera and Vic Black). One live arm that has High up side bullpen potential and one high upside (with a high ceiling) that is in the lower levels…
Take Colon, Dice –K, Abreu and Murphy and bring back 6-7 players that have potential to be top 20 prospects in our system.
Now thinking big… Everyone keeps holding on to Stanton and Tulo but we should be thinking about Arizona Paul Goldschmidt… He would be out clean up hitter, franchise guy and 10 year 1B… Trade Wheeler, Duda, Dominic Smith and Plawecki (I would even throw in Montero if it’s a deal breaker) for Goldschmidt / Didi Gregorius SS and maybe a low level arm… this trade would hurt but it would also be franchise changing and with the 6-7 players we acquire from trading Take Colon, Dice –K, Abreu and Murphy we replenish the farm… Flores and Matt Reynolds could replace Murphy until Herrera is ready and Reynolds/ Gregorius can fight off SS until we find our long term solution. But Goldschmidt would be our Piazza for the next 10 years…
Think Big and small…
Eddie, everyone would want Goldschmidt, but (I can't believe I'm saying this) 1B is exactly our problem spot in the order right now with Lucas Duda stepping up. The reason people are pushing for Tulo & Stanton is because our weakness is a corner OF and SS.
On top of that, why would Arizona want to move him? Stanton & Tulo have a possibility of getting traded due for other reasons we mentioned above, but I can see no reason why Arizona would want to move him at this point.
@Eddie
Team's simply do not trade their franchise guys unless there is someone better waiting in the wings.....Arizona is not going to give up Goldschimdt.
Plus in the last 30 days Lucas Duda has a 1.010 OPS.....1B is not a problem right now.
As for trading Murphy, I do not have confidence in the fact that Flores can be a serviceable 2B in fact I think he would be worse than Murphy....this means his bat will have to carry him. At this point though, Can you honestly say that Flores is going to be a better hitter than Murphy? I just can't right now.
Boy, reading all of these comments, there are disagreements, but one thing comes to mind: this team's time IS COMING soon, and big time, if Mets management does not mess it up. Make the right adjustments and let's rock!
I'm also glad to see the realization that the biggest areas for improvement are SS and LF. Soon others will see the light, too :)
I cannot argue with Chris Soto or the Closer... and Team are not in the habit of trading their franchise players unless you make a offer you cant refuse...
who would be that guy you would be willing to trade your future for... thats a small list... Stanton of course.. Tulo is getting old and has had as many injuries as Wright has over the years... but we would have to...
Goldschmidt is the only guys (trout,Harper, machado since obviously they not going anywhere) I can think of that has his future ahead of him and would bring instant credibility...
Otherwise we don't trade Harvey wheeler or thor and do it like the A's... Except we are NY and if you dont put someone in the lineup that is a face of the organization then we will never fill the stadium.
But i get that Goldschmidt might be untouchable... So for me i would rather go with a risk like Baez, O. Tavares or someone like that over the Cargo's ,Either's, N Cruz's or m. cuddyer's of the world... That to me is playing for avg... I perfer to shoot for the moon...
as far as Murphy or duda... I have never been a fan of these guys.. both are having career years... its call selling High... the good gm's know this... Theo Epstein / Billy Beane wouldn't think twice on selling high on them because these are nice players... Not studs... So I am not advocating giving them away.. But if the right deal comes trade them even if its for lower levels high ceiling prospects... otherwise just ride their arbitration years out... and maybe offer them a qualify contract and hope they sign somewhere else and we can get back a draft pick... But signing them would be a waste of money... Something this NY team seems to be without...
I do think Flores and reynolds can replace Murphy because they are what Murphy was last year... I dont have High aspiration for them but they are not replacing Cano. My hopes is Herrera will be ready some point next year and he takes over... But this year is fools gold. we should be hoping for a top 5 pick over a 500 season...
.500 is no man land... I want a team that can prepare for a championship or Bust and build assets to get there...
@Eddie
Its not exactly a sell high though like you are suggesting. Murphy's performance this season is nothing new. In fact its very much in-line to each of the past 3 years.
2011: 0.320 AVG 0.362 OBP 0.448 SLG
2012: 0.291 AVG 0.332 OBP 0.403 SLG
2013: 0.286 AVG 0.319 OBP 0.415 SLG
2014: 0.294 AVG 0.342 OBP 0.413 SLG
This is who Murphy is....this is not some fluke career year. He's hitting the same exact way he did in 2011. His increased value is coming from his improved defensive play.
Man people really dont think too much of DeGrom. He regularly gets through 7 innings while sporting a low 3 era and probably contending for ROY and yet doesnt show up in anyones plans for next year. Get on the DeGrom train people!
Instead of a Tulo type trade I would prefer to see them swap top prospects. Swap a Syndergaard or Wheeler for a Joc Pederson or another top hitting prospect. Easy 1 for 1 using our riches in starting pitching while not decimating the farm and solving a SS or OF hole. Then again we are playing like 6 outfielders now...
@Dallas
I fully want DeGrom in the future rotation.....but right now there just isn't room.....That's why I'm proposing we make room by dealing Gee this off-season. So that DeGrom can slide in there.
As for Joc Pederson....
Syndergaard and Wheeler are in another class when compared to Pederson. A trade involving either of those two would have to net us a Top 10 MLB prospect like a Miguel Sano, Kris Bryant type.
Now I think I would be open to a Syndergaard for Joc Pederson AND Corey Seager. That might be enticing.
I think a lot of deGrom, I think he can bring a lot back in trade as well.
There are only so many spots in the rotation and I can't see trading Wheeler or Thor when we have deGrom as a chip. Those two have ace upside. I think deGrom is great but I feel like including him will help bring back that middle of the order hitter we need.
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