Jordan asks…
I read that the Mets might be talking to Seattle about getting Nick Franklin. Do you think we could get him and should we?
Joe D. replies…
Let me answer it like this…
Surely the Mets must know it’s going to cost them someone like Rafael Montero to snag Franklin from the M’s, as Adam Rubin speculated earlier in the week. It’s already widely reported that the Mariners are looking for a young pitching prospect in return, and I’m not so sure that someone like Jenrry Mejia, Dillon Gee, Cory Mazzoni or Jacob deGrom alone would be able to get a deal done.
The other thing is that we don’t know how many other teams are also looking at Franklin for shortstop or second base. Given how he’s not that far removed from top prospect status (Franklin was ranked in Top 50 going into 2013), I would imagine that there would be more than just the Mets in the hunt for his talents – even this late in the game.
One of the beat writers supposed that this could be another way of the Mets trying to apply more pressure on Stephen Drew to lower his price to the one year, $9.5 million deal the team already offered him. But who really knows.
The question is just how good is Franklin and are you prepared to give up the number two pitching prospect in your system to get him? And let’s not forget that Montero is also a Top 100 Prospect according to MLB.com and Baseball America.
Last season, the 22-year old Franklin batted .225/.303/.382 with 12 home runs, 20 doubles, 42 walks, 45 RBI and a 2.5 WAR in 102 games played. Obviously that’s quite an offensive upgrade over anything that Tejada or Quintanilla could produce and it’s also not that far removed from Drew’s norms. And Franklin has a lot of upside.
So what’s worse, giving up a third round pick and a boatload of money for Drew – or trading a top prospect like Montero for Franklin?
It’s a tough decision, but I’m leaning toward saying no on trading Montero.
If we’re going to consider Franklin’s upside than we must also consider Montero’s as well. I have no problem trading Montero in the right deal, but I’m not convinced that this is that deal.
Gun to my head, I keep Montero, sign Drew and hope we squeeze two good years out of him.
