Greetings, it’s me Captain Howdy, coming to you from the bowels of the Mets blogosphere where nothing is ever as it seems and every beat writer’s sources contradict each other at every turn. But that’s the fun part for me, trying to decipher the logical from the utterly improbable and staying ahead of the game. I’m fairly certain the great majority of you do the same exact thing, using your common sense to sift through all the BS which tends to pile up pretty high at this time of the year.
Sources: Mets may trade Bruce or Grandy. Mets may trade Bruce & Grandy. Mets may keep Bruce & Grandy. Any wonder why blogs rule the world?
— Metsmerized – Joe D (@MetsmerizedJoeD) December 3, 2016
Last week we had three different beat writers cite a team source that said the Mets will trade Curtis Granderson or Jay Bruce, another reported that the Mets could trade both of them, and yet another even reported keeping both of them. Pretty funny, huh? I had my own source tell me that unless they are blown away, that the Mets will not trade Granderson and that Bruce was as good as gone.
Now even if that weren’t conveyed to me, I kind of figured that’s the likelihood of how things are going to go down next week at the Winter Meetings. It’s the only one of the three options that makes the most sense.
Right off the bat, keeping both Bruce and Granderson is about as ridiculous a strategy as one could concoct, so sorry Mr. Martino I’m not buying that one for a minute.
I have it on pretty good authority that the front office is 100 percent committed to giving Michael Conforto a full shot next season, playing against both RHP and LHP. Sorry, Terry. Additionally, keeping both and still trying to add two quality bullpen pieces will put payroll way over $150 million and pushing $160 million. No way do I see that happening.
Trading both of them, while not as preposterous as keeping both, still makes no sense unless the Mets were planning to then make a strong push for Andrew McCutchen or some other proven, high caliber player for center field. Possible, yes, but still very unlikely. Also unlikely is the front office going full throttle on a Brandon Nimmo and Juan Lagares platoon in center field, especially when your team is in win-now mode and your window for retaining your Fab 5 pitching staff is getting smaller and smaller.
So when you’re done applying all your logic and a dash of common sense, it leaves you with the only likely outcome that makes the most sense; the Mets will trade Jay Bruce for a quality reliever or a pretty damn good prospect. And guess what, my friends? You don’t really need any sources to figure that one out.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend, while we get ready to bring you all the Winter Meetings coverage straight from Washington D.C. – it should be a lot of fun this year. LGM
