Mack Stuff – Wil Myers, Jon Niese, Rule 5, Toronto

Rays are requesting Wil Myers plus others from Royals in exchange for RHP James Shields

                This is extremely good news for the Mets. Other teams may be looking at trading an established SP (Shields) for Myers, but only if the Royals kick in additional players. Now you have to do two things… compare Shields to Dickey (only one won a Cy Young) and, two, offer Dickey up one-to-one even for Myers. The important thing here is the fact that the list of available established SPs that the Royals can consider for Myers is either decreasing every day or becoming more expensive to pull off.

SP Jon Niese seems to be off the table when it comes to trading. Both Matt Cerrone and Adam Rubin reported that the only pitchers the Royals were interested in for OF Wil Myers were either Niese or Zack Wheeler. The Mets said no to both and, though the Dickey talks with various teams continue, it looks like Niese will remain a part of the 2013 rotation (and a part of my 2014 super team). Whew.

This was a very meh Rule 5 Draft for the Mets. Many pundits said there was an excess of talent this year, but I guess the Mets brain trust didn’t think that way. They did pick one player but sold him off to Detroit who had passed the kid’s name to the Mets right before their turn to pick came up. We will probably see this pay off with a favor back some time in the future, but don’t expect a Prince Fielder here. The good news was none of the Mets were picked by anyone, including P Armondo Rodriguez and 3B Aderlin Rodriguez, two guys I still feel have a future with this team. Armondo actually has an outside chance to make the Queens pen in 2013, but my guess he needs another year at AAA to hone his craft in the pen. Aderlin fits in nicely as the Binghamton third baseman and it would be nice to see some selective games at one of the corner outfield positions. I still have him as the top bat (2^nd – Flores, 3^rd – Vaughn) in the organization.

According to Andy Martino of the Daily News, the Mets and Blue Jays talked during the Winter Meetings about various deals. According to Martino, the Mets and Jays met both yesterday and on Monday, and while “rival executives” believe the Mets like Travis D’Arnoud, the Blue Jays appear more inclined to move J.P. Arencibia. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports said last weekend the Blue Jays are most likely to trade Arencibia, and the Mets and Jays have discussed a deal for Arencibia around Jon Niese.

                To be honest with you, I’m getting sick of sitting around hearing these same friggin’ names. Have you noticed that teams like Philadelphia and Atlanta had no trouble filling in their roster yesterday with outfielders? Did you remember how many times I reminded all of you just how much agents advise their free agent clients NOT to sign with the Wilpons? You’re seeing this first hand right now… getting back to Toronto, I’ve asked around and some of you are right… you want D-Arnoud here or no one.