Andy Martino of the Daily News takes a poke at the Mets shortstop situation and says the Mets are most likely to go internal, with Wilmer Flores and Matt Reynolds as possibilities, and speculates that Ruben Tejada will either be gone or a backup.
He also reports that despite being a player that Sandy Alderson has liked in the past, free agent shortstop Jed Lowrie will not be a target of the Mets right now, according to sources.
As for the long-rumored possibility of a trade with the Cubs, for Starlin Castro or another of their shortstops, Martino says sources on both sides consider a deal unlikely. “It’s only a fit in the most simplistic “you have pitching, I have hitting” way.” The holdup is the differences in perceived value of each club’s young players.
Back in August, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports said that despite what seems to be a glut of young and promising infielders, there’s a real sense that Theo Epstein feels no pressure to move any of them like some are speculating.
Three time All-Star Starlin Castro batted .292 this season with 33 doubles, 14 home runs, a .777 OPS and a 114 OPS+ in 134 games. It would take a significant haul to pry the 24-year old away.
Logic dictates that one of Zack Wheeler and Jacob deGrom would be the starting price for the Cubs who crave a starting pitcher. And the Mets may still have to kick in an MLB ready prospect like Kevin Plawecki. Epstein seems to have all the leverage because he has money and can very simply go after a free agent like Jon Lester, James Shields or Max Scherzer this offseason.
Nobody believes the Cubs will trade top prospects Javier Baez and Addison Russell, who Epstein truly covets. Instead, most writers from Chicago point to 28-year old Luis Valbuena as the player that most likely gets traded. However, with a career .313 OBP in seven seasons, he won’t have much appeal to Sandy and the Mets.
