The Mets are crawling closer to the July 31 trade deadline with a surplus of veteran talent. Unfortunately, however, much of that talent might be too rich for some teams to afford and may limit the market for the Mets.
In a FOX Sports video, MLB insider Ken Rosenthal spoke about what the Mets should do at the deadline:
“One thing to watch: How eager the Mets are at the deadline to clear salary,” Rosenthal said. “Addison Reed, their biggest chip, should bring a big return. So could Jay Bruce, who entered Saturday on a 40-homer, 110-RBI pace.”
“But consider Curtis Granderson will be owed roughly $5 million at the deadline, Bruce $4.3 million, Lucas Duda $2.3 million and Asdrubal Cabrera $5 million–if you include his buyout.”
“That’s going to limit the returns the Mets can get in trades,” he continued, “Unless they are willing to include salary as part of the deal.”
It is unlikely that Sandy would include the entirety of those contracts in deals. The amount included would depend on how badly the other team wants the player in question, as well as what prospects said team would include in the deal.
Obviously, the more money Sandy includes in the deals the better the return. This money was all going to be spent this year anyway, so he might as well include more to get a better quality prospect in return as he looks to replenish the farm system.
The Mets have said that money is no longer an issue for the team, and these are all one-year deals that would have been paid off by the end of the season anyway. Let’s try to maximize our return if the situation presents itself before the deadline at the end of this month.
