Q and A - 2014 Free Agents, Ike Trade, Atlanta, Minny Winter Trip, Spin

Hi Mack, Great posts on the Gnats and good to see Metsblog link.

On the Stanton matter I'm guessing from your post you wouldn't give up both Wheeler and d'Arnaud for him but I was wondering if you'd entertain the idea of trading Davis for a good OF prospect and moving the Dude to 1st base. Going forward we know the Nats and Bravo's are going to be a handful for a LONG time as they are  both good and young so any real chance we have is thru good old pitching and defense. Look I know Freddy was talking about adding to the payroll but who exactly is going to be available next winter that would be worth the $$$$? I still see only Ellsbury and he's good but an injury risk so trading for one seems the only way and yet we don't want to deplete our only real asset. 

Can we please stop the merry-go-round in CF and lets see if Spin can produce enough to warrant a regular outfield spot. It's a shame that in the last 50 years 2 of the best athlete's we've ever had had to be immature head cases. Also can someone really explain why anyone would build a stadium in Minna"snow"da and not have a dome or retractable roof? And of course be sure and send the Mets there in early April...thanks a lot MLB and don't get me started on Colorado. So Lets go Mets, Gary Seagren


Mack - 

Davis and Duda - yeah, I wrote about this on an earlier Q and A this week. I happen to believe that Davis is more valuable as a trading chip than a hot and cold first baseman. With Duda, you know what you get. He also is a pretty decent first baseman. Not as good as Davis, but he won't make an ass of himself like he does out in left.

You get around the same 30-35 home runs from both which, ironically, is all you get from Stanton also. They just are longer.

Michael Scannell and I are doing a series on which teams have the most available prospect outfielders I ust finished the CWS, Cleveland, and the Tigers. He's writing now about three more. Follow it and you'll see what's out there.

The Mets can trade Davis, move Duda to first, throw in either Cam Maron or Kevin Plawecki, and walk away with two outfield prospects in one trade. 

You just gotta get it done.

Re: 'Winter Ball' in Minny - Actually, no games should be played there in April. It's absolutely stupid and the schedule could easily be back loaded with more home games later in the season.

Re: The Braves... remember this... the rotation isn't as strong as most thought it would be and the outfield will lead the league in strikeouts.

Re: Spin - I just can't sign off on this dude for the long run.

Re:2014 FA - You tell me... per www.mlbtr.com:


Left fielders
Jason Bay (35)
Mark DeRosa (39)
Matt Diaz (36)
Raul Ibanez (42)
Reed Johnson (37) - $1.6MM club option with a $150K buyout
Austin Kearns (34)
Jason Kubel (32) - $7.5MM club option with a $1MM buyout
Nate McLouth (32)
Mike Morse (32)
David Murphy (32)
Xavier Nady (35)
Laynce Nix (33)
Ryan Raburn (33)
Delmon Young (28)

Center fielders
Alfredo Amezaga (36)
Rick Ankiel (34)
Coco Crisp (34) - $7.5MM club option with a $1MM buyout
Rajai Davis (33)
Jacoby Ellsbury (30)
Curtis Granderson (33)
Franklin Gutierrez (31) - $7.5MM club option with a $500K buyout
Tony Gwynn Jr. (31)
Nyjer Morgan (33)
Andres Torres (36)
Chris Young (30) - $11MM club option with a $1.5MM buyout

Right fielders
Jeff Baker (33)
Carlos Beltran (37)
Shin-Soo Choo (31)
Nelson Cruz (33)
David DeJesus (34) - $6.5MM club option with a $1.5MM buyout
Mark DeRosa (39)
Matt Diaz (36)
Jeff Francoeur (30)
Corey Hart (32)
Xavier Nady (35)
Nyjer Morgan (33)
Hunter Pence (31)
Juan Rivera (35)