Updating this post from Thursday, Terry Collins threw his weight around on the matter of trading Marlon Byrd. In short, Collins is hoping that it doesn’t happen and is fearful of how a team struggling to score runs would survive the loss of their second most productive hitter,
“If there’s moves made before the end of the season, whenever that might be, I certainly think if you’re taking one of your better bats out of the lineup, someone really has to step up, and again, you point your fingers only in a couple of directions.”
He’s looking at you Ike Davis, Daniel Murphy and Lucas Duda…
“We’re not going to ask Juan Lagares all of a sudden to be the run-producer that Marlon Byrd is, or even Kirk Nieuwenhuis.”
He’s right, that’s not going to happen…
“We’re going to look at those that have had major-league experience before, those guys that when we started March 1, there were expectations for them to be run-producers.”
“Hopefully, Marlon is still here, but if he’s not, then someone else has got to pick it up,” Collins said.
This came after Byrd hit a three-run home run last night, giving him a team leading 16 home runs and 54 RBI with an .826 OPS this season.
Original Post 7/18
According to Mike Puma of the NY Post, the Mets have had no discussions with teams about Marlon Byrd or Bobby Parnell – two names that seem to come up regularly as potential Mets on the move at the trade deadline.
Both players are having solid seasons for the Mets and Sandy Alderson sounded very reluctant to trade either player during an interview he did before the start of the All Star Game.
In other news by Puma, he reports that the Mets are considering starting righthander Chris Schwinden against the Washington Nationals on Friday July 26 when the Mets have a day-night doubleheader. He adds that Sandy Alderson does not want to put Rafael Montero on the 40-man roster so he is not an option.
The Mets claimed Schwinden last offseason after he was placed on waivers by the Yankees. Prior to that he had been claimed by the Blue Jays after the Mets waived him in June of 2012, but Toronto released him four days later. Schwinden has a 5.70 ERA in 19 starts with a 1.59 WHIP in 101 innings.
