Andy Martino’s latest post for the Daily News does a nice job of surveying the current landscape for the Mets’ front office and the mounting pressure on them to appease a frustrated fan base.
“Chris Young technically counts as doing something, but it’s not the kind of something that the Mets need, in order to solidify the offense, or placate a nervous fan base…Even among some Mets people yesterday, there was a sense of, well, another reclamation project is fine, but can we please have someone who is a better bet to drive in runs?”
Martino says that Mets people were “spooked” by Marlon Byrd’s two-year, $16 million deal with Philadelphia, and from then on, he heard that they were working on trades.
However, a source told him yesterday that “nothing was close, or even hot.”
Finally, he reports that the he team has decided to “hold a hard line on trading young pitchers like Zack Wheeler and Noah Syndergaard.” This was something Alderson also said during an interview on WFAN.
Yesterday, the Mets GM insisted that he’s still in hot pursuit of a cleanup hitter, and while he maintained the team is still interested in Curtis Granderson and Nelson Cruz, their exorbitant contract demands make a match with the Mets unlikely.
So the big question that Martino poses is: How will the Mets acquire an impact power hitter via a trade, without trading a top pitcher?
Hmm… Good question…
