The New York Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen is
looking to make another big splash type of trade.
The rumor is that he is talking
with the New York Yankees about Noah Syndergaard. The Yankees still need
another front-line starting pitcher to get by Boston and Houston. Last season,
Noah had a 13-4 record with a 3.03 earned run average. He won’t be a free agent
until 2022 which would make any general manager interested.
Also, the Florida
Marlins may be part of this therefore it would be a three-team blockbuster type
of trade, because the Mets are very much interested in catcher J.T. Realmuto
and they need an upgrade at catcher. He hit .277 with 21 homers and 74 runs batted
in.
If this rumored trade
is made it would be amazing, because both the Yankees and Mets as a rule do not
do business with each other. The last time the two teams made a trade with each
other was 2004.
A trade would make such an impact with the two New York teams
since they both are in win now mode.
I would like to see a trade of Gary
Sanchez to the Marlins for Realmuto then, the Yankees can trade Realmuto and
Dellin Betances to the Mets for Noah Syndergaard, Bobby Wahl and Kevin
Plawecki.
The 2018 Major League Baseball Winter Meetings from Las
Vegas are upon us which in my opinion is an entertaining and interesting time
of year for baseball fans. It is the time of year where every fan would like to
see if their favorite team makes the one move or moves that would enable them
to be a playoff contender.
The main topic of the winter meetings is where Bryce
Harper and Manny Machado the two biggest free agents are going to play? The
Yankees said that they are not interested in Harper, because their main focus
of the off season is starting pitching. As for Machado the Yankees do not want
to meet his asking price of $300 million.
I would like to see the Yanks stay away from
free agency for a change and spend money on the farm system from now on and
learn to develop starting pitchers in the farm system like most teams do. The
Mets would not be interested in the two free agents either.
In other free agent news, the Kansas City Royals signed former Cincinnati
Reds player Billy Hamilton. The Detroit Tigers signed former St Louis Cardinals
pitcher Tyson Ross and now they have a surplus of starting pitchers.
I still maintain that Noah is the type you build around and not who you trade away, especially to the Yankees! I suppose they could put together a package so overwhelming that I would relent, but it would be a very HIGH price (higher then the return you listed, although it is a nice start).
ReplyDeleteI like Realmuto, but he isn't so dominating that I am dealing an ace for him. Someone like Mike Piazza, maybe, but that isn't JTR.
I think the Yankees end up with Manny.....they can't help themselves when it comes to headlines, etc.
Thats not enough for syndergaard. if youre talking. realmuto, angular, and a top tier pitching prospect that might be enough for Thor. He'll make about 6mm next year. His trade value should be absurdly high with 3 years of control left. Think 2 controllable mlb starting players + prospects.
ReplyDeleteI think the 'trading Thor' rumors are a puff of smoke
ReplyDeleteThe Mighty Odin said he would not permit Thor being traded.
ReplyDeleteAny normal franchise would build around deGrom/Thor/Wheeler. If you can put the pieces around them to get to the playoffs, you go into every postseason series with an advantage. Trading Thor just as he’s finally healthy and looking like he’s coming into his own is insane, and could only be contemplated by a team that absolutely, positively won’t commit present dollars to improve.
ReplyDeleteBrodie'$ own standard: "have to be completely overwhelmed." Get a lesser catcher upgrade and keep Thor.
DeleteSomeone is puffing some smoke if they think Thor for JTR is a fair swap!
ReplyDeleteI really don't get Mets fans. For years they want Alderson to be bold and try something on the trade front and once the have a GM, who is very creativ and try to win (isn't it all about winning the World Series), they care and wine about players and prospects.
ReplyDeleteAll I know is, I rather want a GM who is focused on winning than one who is relying on if's, possibities and prospects.
Greetings from Munich
Michael
Hi Michael.
DeleteVisit often... but stay away from Paris.
Readings around the net...
ReplyDeleteOn Noah
Certain websites like (SB Nation for one) today saying that the possible reason the NYM brass might be interested in trading Noah is because they "might feel" that his mechanics are the cause of his injury proneness over the past few seasons. They may be "leary because of Matt Harvey" and his rapid downfall it said, and that they do not want a repeat happening to Syndergaard.
What's my opinion...
I go back to when the NYM "braintrust" was nitpicking Dwight Gooden's delivery and the geniuses then (Davey and Mel mostly) felt that if Dwight could use his legs more in his delivery it could prevent Dwight from ever getting his arm hurt. How that worked out is obvious and now history. So in essence here, the Mets "braintrust" took the best starter in baseball at that time, and screwed him all up, never able again to be as spectacular as he had been before this mad attempt at genius.
Look, we all know that pitching a baseball is not standard modus operandi for any human being to engage in. It's an unusual motion to put an arm through and there is nothing to protect that arm anywhere near a guarantee. It's all chance.
No two pitchers are ever exactly alike. Not Harvey and not Syndergaard. If you want a hard throwing pitcher that chance/risk goes up. If you want safe, then go sign George Heard Stone.
Here's the part I have never gotten with all this Noah trade talk nonsense... Everyone like the press and fans (for instance) gush over having three top starters in their one Mets rotation. I know that I certainly do. But to me, the Mets four and five starters are barely even so-so right now. Matz has more losses than wins and gets hurt too much. His ERA is like 4.00 and not stellar. The Mets brass talk about Matz as if he were a rookie with a ton of promise. So where is he hiding that?
After Steven Matz, who do the Mets really have right now? A: Pretty close to no one, maybe Vargas or Oswalt I guess.
In summary, the NYM cannot afford to trade Noah no how. If they do, and with these four and five starters, and if one pitcher goes down hurt between Zach and Jake, the NYM will at that time suddenly become dead on arrival, a horse that does not leave the gate in 2019. It will not matter what bats they bring in either to bolster their lineup, because without decent starting pitching a MLB teams goes absolutely nowhere. And we all know that too. We can still recall the 2015 World Series.
So Mets fans, tell me how good the rotation really is.
What would I do...
Maybe look at another lefty starter from outside the organization for the bottom of the rotation at least, and absolutely keep Noah Syndergaard.
I already have seen the movie "Dumb and Dumber" and we don't need here a sequel.
The 2019 NY Mets Outfield
ReplyDeleteThe Good and the Bad of it...
It's Friday, so lets start with the Good part first. The Mets waived bye-bye to Jay Bruce and his out of shape/gimpy self recently. That left Conforto, Nimmo, and Lagares. Maybe Dominic Smith and Tim Tebow could enter the four and five outfielder contest come Spring Training. The starting three could conceivably be LF Conforto, CF Lagares, RF Nimmo.
The other good thing is that all of the starting three outfielders mentioned above (Juan, Michael, and Brandon) can and have played CF. So CF is backed up aptly heading into Spring Training. All three starters did well in 2018, although Juan did get hurt awfully early on in the season.
The Bad
But with these three Mets outfielders, the Mets will need to have a backup plan to ward against possible injuries to non-centerfield outfield positions, same as at the catcher position should with Travis or a possible Ramos acquisition taking place.
Dominic Smith and possibly here too Tim Tebow should be enough off the bench for insurance. I might take a look at someone like a Matt Holiday type veteran, if the money part can be wrangled in.
Anonymous, very good points - reality is that pitchers get hurt. Maybe Thor is Lou Gehrig in 2019 and does not miss a start - but the last 5 years, many times a starter missed time with injuries. MANY times. Last 6 seasons, pitchers must have missed 250 starts due to injuries. Expecting none in 2019 is foolish thinking, even if it turned out to be right.
ReplyDeleteSo if I am Wilpon I recognize that starter injury reality, and I also recognize that I have a top 5 rotation, so I KEEP THOR and I loosen that budget up - A LOT.
One point on the OF - McNeil was a college CF, so he is clearly a back up out there. If Rosario, Cano, and Frazier all come out of the gate hot, Jeff could become a starting outfielder for a while.
Adding an Outfielder
ReplyDeleteSomeone maybe more reasonable...Denard Span. Maybe two years. Could be good insurance for the Mets to have, plays CF and bats left.
Thomas Brennan...
ReplyDeleteMaybe I watched the wrong NY Mets games later part of 2018. Maybe it was the "Hallucination Baseball Network" (HBN), who knows, I could have gone out of body. But the games I watched, whatever they were, showcased second baseman Jeff McNeil as a primary reason that the Mets were not playing as lousily as they were first half of 2018. This notion that Jeff McNeil is somehow not a starter at second base is at best (to me) erroneous and outlandish. To me (again) Jeff McNeil was probably the best hitter second half on the Mets ball club, along with Conforto who resurfaced then, Nimmo and Rosaro (The BAM-BAM Boys). Jeff can do what very few MLB batters can, he can place the ball anywhere he wants to and in the outfield. Did you see Jay Bruce struggle with the shift in 2018, he could not do that if his life depended upon it. The Shift is not going to go away. Hitting to all fields will become imperative to every batter. Those like Jay who cannot, will not stick long in MLB.
I am clearly not a rocket scientist here, trust me on this Thomas, but are the Mets possibly making a little "too much" of the Cano acquisition? And if Cano was already here and then let's say the Mets just acquired Jeff McNeil, would they then not consider moving Robinson Cano over to a position that he has played in the past, namely third base? That's what Seattle did.
Put the right guys where they belong is a novel idea. Keep the team's only true advantage (starting pitching) intact, add to it with someone better then the Mets four and five slot guys here now, and find a way to bring in a decent catcher from another team, without handing them Thor, and walla completo!
Either Wilson Ramos to a two year, and Austin Allen via a trade with San Diego. Or Realmuto for...Lugo, Gimenez, and Conforto. Then bring in Pollack for CF. Outfield then becomes LF Dom Smith, CF Pollack, Nimmo) with Lagares as the fourth. Who knows, it's Friday. I have to go watch the Knicks lose again.
BTW
The "Knicks fix" is so obvious. They have a couple too many guards (ever since Isiah showed up I have noticed) and no real big man help for Enes since they didn't retain O'Quinn.
The fix is this...
Starters: PF New Acquisition C Kanter SF Knox (he isn't a PF quite yet, he's only 19 years old and will fill in for this later on). Frontcourt is the problem really. Right now, until they find a new big man Charles Oakley PF to help with the O rebounding, I'd use the forgotten Aaron Hicks. Have Kornet backup Kanter at the C, with the backcourt Ntilikina at the PG and Trier at the SG.
This makes the Knicks a young team, one that can now grow and gel together as a unit. Knox is a superstar in the making, I have no doubts. Dotson backs up Knox at the SF. Tim Hardaway Jr is the tradebait for the PF.