Should The Mets Trade Wright To The Dodgers For Ethier?

Over the past week some rumors from ESPN’s Buster Olney have surfaced that Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier might be available on the trading block. With the news today that the Mets and David Wright may have hit a snag in their negotiations, my mind began to churn up possible trade scenarios.

David Wright for Andre Ethier swap might benefit the Mets for a few reasons.

1. He plays right field, and the Mets desperately need a starting outfielder.

2. Ethier is locked up at a affordable 5-year deal worth $85 million. That is just $17 million a year. The deal Wright is rumored to possibly get could be in the range of $126 million over seven years. Add in his option for 2013 and the total value of his contract would be over $140 million dollars.

3. Both players will be 30 years old on opening day 2013. Ethiers contract would end when he was 35, while under Wright’s current proposed deal the Mets would be on the hook until he was 38.

4. The team could move Daniel Murphy over to third base, and put Jordany Valdespin at second base. Then they could look to sign a guy like Marco Scutaro as a stop gap until Wilmer Flores was ready to come up and play third. The Mets could then move Murphy back to second base.

5. Both Ethier and Wright are virtually equal offensively, with David getting the slight edge. Wright is a career .301 hitter, with an .883 OPS. Ethier is a career .290 hitter with an OPS of .838. They are both also gold glove award winners.

If you swapped these two players, the Mets would still have a very solid middle of the order hitter to replace David. Ethier is already signed, and plays a position we desperately need to fill. They Mets already have some in-house options for third base, while they really have nobody on the roster who can play right field. With a tight budget a move like this could be very beneficial to the Mets as they begin to prepare for this off-season.

It’s hard to tell if a deal like this would be done as a straight up trade, or if the Mets would have the upper hand and could end up getting a little more coming back in the deal. On the flip side it could be the Mets having to throw another player in because Ethier is signed and Wright is just a one season rental.  If the Mets made this trade they could would save about $50 million while getting very close to the same production.