According to John Harper of the NY Daily News, the Mets should try to maximize Matt Harvey’s value soon before he becomes a free agent. Harper believes that the Mets right-hander will be difficult to sign because he is a Scott Boras agent and has clashed with the organization on several occasions.
However, Harper spoke to a scout who said it might be best to wait another year before making a deal.
“In my experience,” said another GM he spoke to, “his value wouldn’t be that much greater three years from free agency rather than two. In this case, his value could be even higher next year, after a second year back from Tommy John. But if you want to maximize the return on him, you do need to make a decision at that time.”
Harper mentions Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts from the Red Sox as potential targets. Boston is in desperate need of pitching, and are shopping for a top of the rotation starter. Obviously, Betts and Bogaerts are both excellent young players to build around.
In 145 games this season, Betts batted .291 with 18 home runs and 21 steals while also playing good defense in center field. Meanwhile, Bogaerts hit .320 with seven home runs and 81 RBI as the team’s starting shortstop.
While it is an interesting idea to consider, it’s hard to imagine the Mets dealing Harvey or any of the team’s other young starting pitchers.
“I can’t see it happening,” Alderson said Wednesday about the quartet of Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz. “You never know what comes up. But I think it’s unlikely.”
“You have to look at: Are you improving the team or weakening the team? If you start talking about trading one of our starting pitchers, you have to be careful about weakening the team. We’re fairly resolute about what we’re going to do and not do with regard to those four, but we’ll see what happens.” (ESPN NY)
I don’t understand why everyone is so eager to trade a starting pitcher after we’ve waited so long for them to arrive. Harvey was tremendous all season in his first year back, and the strength of the pitching staff was the main reason why the team had so much success this season.
The Mets could also consider moving Zack Wheeler, but that doesn’t make a lot of sense either. They would be selling him when his value is at a low point since he is still recovering from Tommy John surgery. They might as well wait to see how he does when he returns because he could be two or three times more valuable than he is now if he comes back strong.
