Reese Kaplan -- Not a Lot of Chips Available to Trade

Who is on the current roster that has some trade value going into next year?  Yesterday we dismissed the notion of dealing away Jose Quintana and Brooks Raley.  The reasons were fairly clear.

Today let’s immediately rule out moving Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, Edwin Diaz, Adam Ottavino and Francisco Lindor.  Yes, they are all quality players who could return a passel of prospects or fill open position needs, but there are not ready replacements in-house to offer up what they can and do provide to the team.

Ah, but what about the rest of the bunch?  Is everyone else on the block?  Well..

Jeff McNeil is a solid hitter and a versatile fielder who contributes on both sides of the game much like the way the Cubs formerly used Ben Zobrist all over the field to ensure he helped them win games.  During his long career he averaged .267, 16 HRs and 75 RBIs per season.  That’s solid and it earned him a closing salary level of $16.5 million per season.

Taking a look at McNeil’s numbers and you see a somewhat similar ballplayer.  His typical season would be .298 with 14 HRs and 65 RBIs.  The run production is a little down but when you consider he typically hits near the top of the order his job is more about getting on base and hitting the ball well than it is about producing runs himself as you would expect from the middle of the order batters.  A lifetime batting average of .298 is nothing to sneeze at.  

For his 2022 batting title he secured himself a new contract with a $10 million salary in 2023 and back-to-back years of $15.75 million for 2024 and 2025 with an option to pick him up at that same level for 2026 or pay him a $2 million buyout.  That average annual salary for the guaranteed three years with the buyout would be $14 million which is $2.5 million under Zobrist’s best two years.

Right now it’s well known that the Mets have a bit of a logjam when it comes to the infield.  In addition to McNeil you have to find a position for Ronny Mauricio.  His fielding is a bit unpolished but his natural athleticism more than makes up for the lapses in judgment or flubbing an occasional routine play.  He certainly looks like a player the Mets will want to have in their infield going forward.

Then it gets murkier with the defensively challenged and offensively inconsistent Brett Baty.  Despite his recent home run blast as the team closed out its series with the Marlins, the fact is many people are thinking he needs some more seasoning in AAA to determine whether or not he has the solid star potential many anointed him in their rankings as he ascended the minors. 

Even worse defensively is suddenly hot hitting Mark Vientos.  His pattern has always been a period of adjustment as he goes from one level up to the next.  With much more consistent playing time due to the July housecleaning and injuries Vientos is starting to show the club what he’s capable of doing.  He is a major step backwards with his glove but the exit velocity on balls off his bat are among the best in the league.  

The problem they see with Vientos more than defense, however, is his strikeout rate which should improve with experience, but then again it’s also fairly common for power hitters to generate a lot of breeze.  No one didn’t want Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson or Willie Stargell on their teams due to a wondrous number of whiffs.

Some say that Starling Marte should be on the block, but again it’s a matter of dealing from weakness instead of strength.  The return for him wouldn’t be equitable and until he proves he’s healthy.  He could be paid down and given away but that takes the already empty outfield that much more vacant.

In the question of dealing from strength, is DJ Stewart someone who might better serve the Mets as hot trade bait rather than gambling that his strong close to the 2023 season is the player he will be again in the future?  Given his tiny salary he would likely be in demand, though his sometimes surprisingly good defensive plays are the exception as his glove skills and running speed are not going to win any awards.  Perhaps the Mets are better keeping him around to see if he can earn a regular job in the outfield or as a DH given how little he costs, otherwise penciling him in for backup duty.

Sometimes you look to trade away younger talent who have not exactly lived up to the hype.  Pitchers David Peterson and Tylor Megill would be in this category as would nearly any relief pitcher not named Diaz, Ottavino nor Raley.  

The problem here is that everyone else can read the box scores, too, and the return you’d get for these guys is pretty minimal.  Jose Butto might bring back more as he’s unproven in the incompetence department and Joey Lucchesi being left handed would also generate some interest, but again the Mets are starting the 2024 rotation with just two named starters.

The rest of the players they could look to remove from the roster like Tim Locastro, Rafael Ortega, Daniel Vogelbach, Omar Narvaez and Luis Guillorme are not going to net you much in the way of return.  So while cutting them loose or trading them for deep B and C level prospects is possible, it wouldn’t solve immediate problems. 

Face it.  David Stearns, Billy Eppler and Steve Cohen need to have a long and hard talk about other prospects in the minors.  It may be time to see what they would fetch in return, though a wholesale housecleaning wouldn’t appeal to anyone.  There will be a lot of free agents needed otherwise.