5/25/15

D Whit - Wright's spinal stentosis could cause a major change of plans to the Mets future






The Mets 2015 season and future irrevocably changed yesterday with David Wright’s diagnosis of spinal stenosis. The captain’s 2015 season and future is now uncertain and that creates an urgency to right the Mets currently listing ship. That doesn’t mean panic moves but it does mean that Alderson’s dream of having a rotation of five aces is dead. It’s time to bring some bats into town to support a rotation that can survive the loss of its two top pitching prospects. Those bats belong to Ryan Braun and Troy Tulowitzki. 

Braun’s return to manning the hot corner isn’t exactly a long-awaited one but Tulo can cover the ground Braun’s limited range cannot. What will Colorado and Milwaukee want for their two stars? Well those conversations, unfortunately, will begin with “Thor” and Matz, but moving those two stud arms for Braun and Tulo will improve the team now and in the future. The Mets offense has been anemic without Wright and it’s uncertain when or if he will be back this season. Even if he does come back in 2015, how effective will he be at the plate and in the field?  A move to 1B seems imminent now for Wright and would cast doubt on Duda’s long-term future with the club. 

With that in mind, Duda becomes a key part of any trade for Braun. Milwaukee needs a 1B. I’d offer Marcos Molina in the Braun deal as well as Conforto or Nimmo. There could be other prospects as well but I believe a trade centered around Duda, Molina and Conforto could at the very least get the conversation started. The Tulo trade would be Syndegaard, Matz, Plawecki and Flores plus another lower level prospect or two. Flores has proven he can hit with power and could be a 25 HR threat in the thin air at Coors. The Rockies would add our top two prospect studs to the impressive duo of Eddie Gray and Jonathan Butler-potentially giving Rockies fans the best pitching staff they’ve ever seen. Also, we’d only have see (and cry over the loss of) Matz and Syndegaard a couple of times a season.

After the dust settles from these trades, and the fallout pro and con, the 2015 New York Mets would look something this:

1b-Cuddyer or Wright  
2b-Murphy or Herrera
SS-Tulowitzki
3b-Braun or Murphy
LF-Braun or Cuddyer
CF-Lagares
RF-Granderson
C-d’Arnaud
SP-Harvey
SP-deGrom
SP-Colon
SP-Niese
SP-Gee

The team becomes much stronger offensively and they still have a solid, if not necessarily dominant, starting five. I think that if Wright is lost for the season the Mets should trade Murphy for some bullpen arms and maybe a mid-level prospect. I would then plug in Herrera to play everyday, that is, if he isn’t part of any Braun or Tulo deals. If he does get moved in either of those swaps than Flores probably stays and takes over at 2B. But if they end up losing both Flores and Herrera than Reynolds takes over at the keystone for 2015. I didn’t mention him earlier but I’d imagine that Amed Rosario would be part of one of these deals too.

Let’s face it the Mets would lose a lot of their future in these two deals but I don’t believe they’d lose all these players I’ve mentioned. For example, if they go heavy on their top offense prospects it’s conceivable they could hold onto one of Matz or Syndegaard-not probable, but it’s conceivable.

The continued health of Braun and Tulo is what the Mets are banking on here-that and the return of Wright as a least passable 1B who still can hit when he’s in the line-up.

It’s time for Alderson and his high-priced braintrust to get creative and pull the trigger on some deals that will keep the 2015 season afloat and set the course for the next few seasons to follow.  It’s also time for the Wilpon’s to start acting like a large market team again. The era of financial austerity needs to end and what better way to announce its demise than by acquiring two of the best hitters in the NL.

So what do you think? Are these realistic acquisitions? Would it cost too much of tomorrow to bring these guys in for “today”?  If not trading for these two, who would you suggest? Sound off in the comments below.  

13 comments:

Ernest Dove said...

No........and no........ ;)

Have noticed Tulo isnt doing much this year other then finally stay on the field ?
Y trade a guy coming off 30homers, plus prospects for anyone?
And trade pretty much your entire farm system for anyone not named Trout or Stanton?
Mets have a golden opportunity to field a 'team controlled' dream rotation that includes harvey degrom thor matz wheeler montero and Sandy knows it. Theyre minimum wage studs and mets have this small window to sneek in a title.....can't ruin that.
If Mets would only pay the right damn playersb their short term 8figure contracts (sorry cuddyer/grandy) they could do it.

Tom Brennan said...

I take the contrarian view. Unless they have a sneaking suspicion that Thor or Matz are prone to develop arm problems, I'd not trade too much for Tulo, who had the hip thing last year and is hitting just .275 in Coors.

It is so sad Mazzilli was out for the 50 games. Who'd have thought Wright would be damaged goods and Herrera hurt too. He had a surprisingly good year Last year, and with 40 2015 games under his belt, might have been ready.

I nust think Tulo is health risk we don't need to gamble on.

I'd hope Wright could play 3rd and switch him and Duda next year (yes, let Duda play 3rd) if Wrights health dicates it and he still can 'll ay every day.

The prudent thing might be to think towards 2015. Sure, we're in playoff contention now, but if Wright is not right, they won't make it.

But it is a mess. Cuddyer and Grandy a year older in 2016....both could stink in 2016 as age overtakes them...they need Nimmo and Conforto to surge and be ready on opening day 2016. What a mess, as that is asking an awful lot.

Maybe a young,high profile bat in free agency next offseason...but the park is still hard to homer in (fools) so attracting free agents could be tough.

And nothing said offofficially by Mets yet, to my knowledge, but Molina supposedly needed Tommy John. So he'd be untradeable too.

bgreg98180 said...

This is the fallacy of the "wait till next year" team building plan.
Next year is always just out of reach.

Steve from Norfolk said...

Thomas,

If you move Duda to 3B, you're going to have to trade for a good SS or accept having the most porous infield in MLB. The whole purpose of this is to contend, so I would hold off on moving Lucas to 3B.

The less Wright plays, the longer his career will be. I would make Wright a super-sub, ala Ben Zobrist with a much better bat. HE is capable of playing any of the infield positions on a short-term basis, and probably the corner outfield positions as well. Plus, having his bat on the bench could make the difference in a lot of games. I'd figure on having him start at the most three, maybe four games a week, while serving as a bench bat the rest of the time. This, I think would get the most out of what is going to be at best his quite limited playing time. If the Mets let him come back this year, they are risking his ability to function reasonably normally for the rest of his life. No contract is worth that. Let's hope David's desire to play does not override common sense.

Mack Ade said...

Morning.

First of all, sorry for the lack of The Morning Report. I forgot it was a holiday weekend, thus, Chris wouldn't be writing the report.

Regarding David Wright, it's one man and one position. Don't start shaking up the entire team and moving all the chess pieces around because of it. You may have to take a season long hit here and not fill this position properly until the off-season, but for starts, SHUT DOWN WRIGHT FOR THE SEASON, and convince him to have an operation to have this fixed. i DID AND i NEVER HAD BACK PAIN AGAIN.

Now, the question is would I be able to still play professional baseball. Probably not, but this is a man's life first.

For 2015, move Daniel Murphy to 3B and fill in second base with either Ruben Tejada or Wilfredo Tovar.

These moves may look like I'm mailing in the season.

Tom Brennan said...

What we can still hope is wright's condition is mild and won't impact him much. So much contract left. No doubt, it

Tom Brennan said...

Wright's is such a long contract, we'll never get anywhere near full value out of it. They need to overpay, if need be, for the next top tier young free agent offensive player at a position of need. Because Bob, I agree, this wait til next year stuff stinks.

Tom Brennan said...

Mack, if operation would do it, then he needs to get it. Trade-wise, everyone raved about Cargo...he is hitting. 206. We need top young young young offensive talent. Old guys fall apart.

Reese Kaplan said...

On Wright:

1. Have the surgery
2. Let him play 3B in 2016
3. Assuming he hits more or less like normal, trade him to the AL to DH for the rest of his career.

Tom Brennan said...

Good plan, Reese, if it is bad enough for surgery. Hopefully he can be effective thru season's end if surgery is called for.

Totally off subject, but Cesar Puello has vanished.

Tom Brennan said...

Mack, if operation would do it, then he needs to get it. Trade-wise, everyone raved about Cargo...he is hitting. 206. We need top young young young offensive talent. Old guys fall apart.

Anonymous said...

Tom, how can you possibly suggest Duda to 3B?

We need to start respecting the game here, and the high degree of skill required to man each and every position. You can't just . . . sigh.

I'm shaking my head, speechless.

James Preller

Tom Brennan said...

Hey James, Duda at third and Wright to first IS ridiculous. A suggestion was made to shift Wright to first and trade Duda. That was dumb, so I added on a dumb scenario to stir the pot. I want Duda at 1B...period. And in a Mets uniform.

All said, Wright's condition with so many years left on his contract appears to be an unmitigated disaster. We'll see how it plays out. Maybe somehow we'll get lucky, but so many years are left. Wonder if his contract is insured?