Reese Kaplan -- Who Could the Mets Trade to Fix the Roster?

We have beaten the free agent options to death already.  What we haven't explored much is the subject of using trades to improve the roster.  Now the receiving side is nearly impossible to predict as we don't know who, what position, what style of play and what salaries the Mets are willing to take on from another team.  What we can do is evaluate folks on the current roster and give a little conjecture over what value they would have in a trade.

For the purposes of this exercise we exclude the $341 million man, Francisco Lindor, the allegedly recovered Starling Marte whose salary and 2023 history render him virtually untradeable except to take on someone in a similar situation on another team, and Francisco Alvarez because he earns minimum and showed steady improvement all year long.  Edwin Diaz, Kodai Senga, Jose Quintana, Luis Severino and Brooks Raley all make this "do not trade" list as well.  

Unfortunately, there are a few highly viable players who could theoretically be placed on the trade market without getting into the values of future Mets who have not yet hit the majors.  Let's have a look.

The player who has had the most at least casual conversation as trade bait is the Polar Bear, Pete Alonso.  Right now the team is in a bit of a tough position in that Alonso has engaged Scott Boras as his agent and the long history shows he will actively discourage any of his clients from signing a contract without first testing what he could get on the open market.  To everyone's knowledge the Mets have not made an in-house offer to Alonso, so unless they do so they stand to lose him at year's end for not even a draft pick since he would get and turn down a Qualifying Offer.  

So then we have the trade route.  Recently a report came out that suggested he was no better than a prospect ranked in the second half of the top 200.  When reading that probably every Mets fan went apoplectic.  He's hit more home runs since arriving than Aaron Judge, Shoehei Ohtani, Matt Olson, Freddy Freeman, Juan Soto and anyone else you care to name.  He's a shoo-in for 100 RBIs or more.  Yes, he's a slow baserunner and an at best adequate fielder.  Yes, he did hit just .217 last season.  But no one can dispute the run production.

The real problem with trading Alonso is not the prospect ranking to receive in return, but the fact that right now he's a one year rental to the receiving team.  Right away that profile sabotages your otherwise normal trade value.  It gets even worse if the Mets wait until the All Star break to try to make a deal.  So you have to understand that trading Alonso may not net you equal value.  The positive is that his probably close to $30 million salary will come off the books and whatever you get trumps what him walking away after turning down a QO means you would get nothing at all.  Every GM knows the situation the Mets are in and likely will not be offering their crown jewels for the Mets' current cleanup hitter.

No one has actively talked much about trading away Jeff McNeil but sometimes you have to use the old "You have to give to get" philosophy of fortifying your roster.  McNeil is healthy and has shown the ability to play around the infield and in the outfield corners.  That versatility coupled with a career .298 average should make him appealing to pretty much any team.  With Ronny Mauricio, Jett Williams and others pushing their way towards major league work in the very near future, having another team absorb the remainder of McNeil's contract is not necessarily a dumb move.  The question for now would be how you would fulfill his spot on the roster.  Mauricio is out.  Williams isn't quite ready.  Brett Baty hasn't been tried at 2nd base and that would open up a 3rd base hole.  Somehow seeing Joey Wendle or Zack Short as your McNeil replacement is not going to warm anyone's cockles.  

Oddly, the current center fielder may be the most appealing player the Mets could try to parlay in trade for other pieces.  The real problem here is the team has Starling Marte and a lot of vacancy in starting caliber outfielders.  Nimmo leaving would make this weakness far worse and no one is expecting Drew Gilbert to jump from Binghamton to Queens after spring training concludes.  Still, Nimmo's steadily improving output and his recent good health after earlier bouts of IL stints during the first several years of his career all contribute to his growing value as a trade chip.  

Poor production in the majors would render both Brett Baty and Mark Vientos without much value in the trade market unless the Mets were taking on a salary dump from another team who was looking for long term economic solutions rather than day one starting caliber players.  If, for example, the Mets obtained a fading $16 million or more player from another team who might have a single good year or two left, then these younger unknowns would become part of the trade balance sheet unless the other team is paying down the salary.  

That's about it.  Yes, there are players who could leave like Omar Narvaez, Drew Smith, D.J. Stewart, Tyrone Taylor, Jose Butto, Joey Lucchesi and others, but their value is insignificant except perhaps as throw-ins on a package deal.  

For now David Stearns has not a lot of major league assets to peddle to improve the team, but without much activity in the free agent marketplace except in the Wilpon tiers, he may have to roll up his sleeves to figure out how to make chicken salad out of the chicken, well, you know...less appealing ingredients he can offer.