27
2011
Could Mike Pelfrey be the First Met on the Move?
An article by 
The trade winds have been swirling around New York recently. Rumors that both Jose Reyes and David Wright may be traded have been discussed ad nauseam. However, these two may not be the first Mets that would be traded this year.
There is a possibility that the Mets could look to trade Mike Pelfrey. Yes, Pelfrey has struggled to begin the season, but that does not mean that he does not mean that he has lost that much trade value.
Last year, Pelfrey went 15-9 with a 3.66 ERA. However, it has become obvious through Pelfrey’s time in the Majors that he is not the number one or two starter that the Mets were expecting him to develop into.
Pelfrey has struggled this early on this season as he has gone 1-2 with a 7.23 ERA. Some of his issues can be chalked up to bad luck. He has a .356 BABIP this year, well above his career average of .310. In addition, he only has only left 58.8% of runners on base, which is off from his career average of 70.6%. The third thing that has caused Pelfrey’s struggles is the fact that he is only inducing ground balls 40.4% of the time. Compare this with his career average of 49% and it is easy to see some of the reasons for his struggles. If you take a deeper look at the numbers and look at Pelfrey’s 4.69 FIP, it is obvious that Pelfrey has been unlucky this year.
With that being said, Pelfrey is still nothing more than a good number three or number four starter. He is currently the number one pitcher on the Mets staff as a result of the injury to Johan Santana. This should be a sign of concern for the Mets since it is clear that Pelfrey should not be the rotation’s ace.
The team appears likely to enter a rebuilding stage after this year. They will need good, talented young players that can develop with the team. They way to acquire these players is through trades.
With the Mets likely to be sellers at the trade deadline, they will be looking to move pieces that have some value. If he can regain the form that he has shown in the past, then Pelfrey certainly has a decent amount of trade value.
Pelfrey is just 27 years old and will not be eligible for free agency until 2014. At the trade deadline, there will certainly be teams that are looking for help for the middle or back end of their rotation. Mike Pelfrey could be the answer for one of these teams. Pelfrey will not bring the Mets back an elite prospect, but he could net them one top 100 prospect in addition to another decent prospect or two.
If and when the rebuilding process starts, the Mets need to take a long, deep look at who can provide them with substantial value in the future. Jose Reyes and David Wright are players that can. Mike Pelfrey is a big question mark. As a result of this, he should be traded out of New York to bring back players who can help the team moving forward.
About the Author: Robert Knapel
Robert is from New Jersey. He is currently pursuing Bachelors degrees in both Finance and International Business at Washington University in St. Louis. He has been a Mets fan for as long as he can remember. Robert also serves as an MLB Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report.
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I hope the Mets keep Pelfrey. His up side is just too great. Pelfrey won 15 games last year for a bad team; in a year when he went though a month with no wins, threw 200+ inngs. Why is that a bad thing? I don’t get it. Leave Pelfrey alone and let him develop. THere is still time to trade him for value next year.
“The team appears likely to enter a rebuilding stage after this year. They will need good, talented young players that can develop with the team. They way to acquire these players is through trades.”
What? A rebuilding stage you say? Hmmmm. now who was it that wrote numerous times on this site months ago that the Mets had decided to enter a rebuilding period. Hmmm,,,,
wait I know.. IT WAS ME! ME ME ME ME ME!!!!!
Once again…. I have withstood the written word, bashing, humiliating, mean spirited comments simply because I choose to share my genius.
You know I like this site most of the time…..after reading this article, this is not one of those times. If the Mets still have a loosing record by the end of May then maybe they do start dealing, but the person writing this article seems to be almost salivating at the thought of it??? What the Hell!!!! Did you forget the 5 game winning streak??? The awsome lineup??? Bay is looking good, Wright Good, Beltron Good, Rayes Great!!! Davis Great!!! Murphy Great!!! Thole good and Pagan will be back to add to that. Why the Hell would you deal away a feared line up at the plate like that?? Not to mention the great defense by all above mentioned??? Well…. ok Murph is a work in progress. Oh, that right I guess were out of Money and can’t afford them??? Woops!!! wait a minute did you forget that a deal was on the harizon!?! Wilpon is most likely going to sell up to 49% of the club and some of SNY TV. If the Mets continue to win like they are by the end of this road trip the seats at Citi will be filling up with hopeful Met fans once again putting money into the buisness to help support the team.
I know if they don’t continue to win on a regular basis this could spell trouble for future Met players, but STOP making it sound like you can’t wait for this to happen!! If your so excited for this to happen then get the Hell of this Mets site and go cross town!!! We need winning possitive attitudes in writing as well as on the Ball field!!!
Mark, Do you think that D. Murphy is a starting major league 2nd baseman?
Probably not. But for this yr. he will have to do. His bat is what has him in the line up. Plus the experience at 2nd will make him the super utility infielder they wanted this yr….. for next yr. He isn’t great at 2nd, but he doesn’t suck either. If our pitching can keep us in the game with 3 runs or less we have a great chance at wild card with this offensive line up. As long as health isn’t an issue. My point is lets not make up our minds to sell the team before we see what pans out. Collins has them fighting hard in the late innings to get runs and not lay down like they did before. If they keep this up we’re going to strike fear in the hearts of pitchers with this batting order. right down threw the 8th batter.
ok. let me ask you this. Do you think Josh Thole is a 120 game major league team catcher?
He needs to have a veteran Catcher to Platoon one more yr. with him to help him along. But yes I do believe he could do that right now.
Now let me ask you a question…. Do you believe in this line up? Because you could pick any player apart no matter how good or bad they are for there falts.
guess my poit was made
If he can figure out how to hit Lefties then yes.
It is not something he can’t learn but he won’t learn it until he gets some ABs against lefties.
usually the way for lefty batters to deal with facing lefty pitching is to Stand further back in the box and crowd the plate. Make the pitcher go to the outside where you can hit the ball and extend.
It’s too early to talk rebuild yet.
We are 5.5 games out with 23 games played. sounds bad but it really isn’t as bad as it sounds.
We have two more against the Nationals and then have a 3 game series against the Phillies.
Yes the Astros and D-Backs could be considered pushovers and explain our current win streak, But the same D-Backs are going for the sweep of the Phils later this afternoon! They have already won 2 of 3! This shows that the Phillies are very Mortal!
If we can win the series against the Nats and make a good showing vs the Phils in their house we could gain a lot of ground that would put a hold on any rebuild until the deadline forces a decision.
Could or Should Pelfrey be traded? It really depends on what your going to get back. If it is just for future considerations such as a prospect then now is not the right time, The deadline will get you more value as teams look to shore up their rotation and will give up more then, it also would give Pelf time to raise his value. He has been showing improvement of late and his slow start will give pause until he shows it was just a slow start.
What might make a lot more sense is to package Pelf and Beltran for an Ace. But thats only going to happen if we are considered BUYERS at the deadline not sellers. And it will take some very good baseball between then and now to pull that trigger.
It’s too soon to start making trades for key players. Teams are not ready to give up anything of substance because they are not sure where they are going to wind up anymore than we do (hater assumptions aside here).
I wouldn’t entertain making any trades of major players until at least the Yankee series.
By then we will have met most of the west coast and will have a better set of indicators on which way this team is going.
Lets assume you are right and we do trade Pelfrey. What in the world do you think anyone would give up for what is essentially a first round bust? A sinkerballer who had 13 flyball outs and 4 k’s in his best outing last week?
What would you give up for Joe Blanton? That’s about the same return you will get for Pelfrey.
Bleacher Report is a site that hosts articles written by fans so i give no credence to any trade talk discussed there. It’s the same if i brought up trading Pelfrey
That was an article that I wrote for the Bleacher Report. I researched the information for a few hours before I decided that those seven pitchers could potentially be traded this year. I don’t believe that article suddenly becomes more credible if it is posted somewhere else. It is still written by the same author, myself, and even if you don’t like the website, there still are many qualified writers who post articles to it.
it’s not that i don’t like the website, my friend’s 15 year old son writes a football report there and it’s a nice breeding ground for aspiring young writers, I’m just saying let’s be aware of what these sites are. We don’t want to start passing off learning sites for writers as professional sources.
I completely agree with you there. I was just not certain if you were aware that I was linking to a piece that I had written myself. I would not link there otherwise as a site to use a source.
And I’m also getting sick of the trade talk. This Mets Lineup potentially could be one of the best in the league and vs RHP w/Pagan back our 7 & 8 hitters could be Pagan & Thole, with Murphy 2nd, fill in the rest.
We should be talking about acquiring pitching and what we have to do to get better not dismantle.
Totally agree. For all we know, the talk a month from now could be who will the Mets get, not who will they trade away. Let’s see.