Each day the calendar comes closer and closer to the end of the season, the day many Mets fans are anxiously awaiting. As the season continues to wear on, I cannot help but be drawn to potential trade ideas for our beloved Mets to explore this offseason. Because- let’s face it, dreaming of “what could be” is a thousand times more interesting than the lineup of scrubs we place out there every night.
While watching tonight’s latest mishap I conjured up a potential trade that I thought would be a good start for a discussion amongst Mets fans. How about this?
METS GET:
1B Prince Fielder
INF Taylor Green
BREWERS GET:
1B Daniel Murphy
SP Jenrry Mejia
SP John Maine
SP Bobby Parnell
To me, the Mets and Brewers are a perfect match to make a deal. The Brewers are looking to trade Fielder and his upcoming salary increase, and in return are looking for young starting pitching. The Mets, are in desperate need of a legitimate power source to plug in between Carlos Beltran and David Wright next year. And with Delgado, Schneider etc. coming off the books, the Mets can afford to take on Fielder’s contract.
No doubt this deal would cause a controversy throughout the Mets fan base (honestly, what deal doesn’t?) But in my humble opinion, the pros greatly outweigh the cons in this particular situation. Let’s first look at possible negative outcomes of this trade: We are giving up young pitching talent which we so obviously need. Yes, trading Mejia, Maine and Parnell take a big chunk out of our pitching prospects, but barring additions or substitutions to the above package, we would still have (a healthy) Jon Niese, Brad Holt, Dillon Gee, Scott Moviel, Micheal Antonini, and Dylan Owen down in the farm continuing to grow and develop. The solution (albeit not an easy one) is for the Mets to draft wisely, and continue to re-stock the farm system over the next few years to make up for those lost in this trade.
While the deal above would more than likely require the Mets to give up a little more, this has a possibility of happening. Mejia is a stud prospect who could eventually team up with Gallardo in the Brewers rotation and be a good #2 or #3 starter. While he may be many years away, there is no denying the talent this kid has. Maine is coming off a injury riddled season, but before his injury Maine has been a decent starter, and at times shown flashes of being more than that. He could easily slide into the Brewers #3 or #4 slot next season, giving them immediate production from the trade. Murphy could either fill in for Fielder in Milwaukee, or be used as trade fodder, while Parnell would be the only way this deal even gets considered. He is major league ready, and could fill in their rotation or bullpen next season, which is exactly what the Brewers are looking for.
The pros to this deal are more than just the jolt Fielder would give the Mets offense, but the jolt he would send through the entire organization and fan base. Omar making a bold move such as this would show the team (not to mention all of us clamoring for his head on a silver platter) that he is not going to tip toe quietly into the night, but is going to give us a legitimate chance of winning in 2010. Fielder is a pure slugger, and someone who would be able to, night in and night out, be able to rocket the ball out of our cavernous home ballpark. The middle of the Mets lineup would once again strike a bit of fear into opposing pitchers (Beltran, Fielder, and Wright) and would give an anemic offensive team a bit of life.
Let’s face it- the Mets are built as a “win now” team. Unless we trade Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes and Johan Santana and completely re-tool and re-build, we will be a “win now” team. Omar needs to make bold, creative moves that create the team into a contender again. Adding Fielder would make the Mets relevant again, and sweep away all of the negative comments that seem to cloud the team every day. The tabloids and media would no longer be talking about the ineptitude of the franchise, but the possibility that the Mets might actually be relevant.
I believe that getting Fielder would be a step in the right direction this offseason. The deal would prove to potential free agent targets (Rich Harden? Erik Bedard? Bobby Abreu? Xavier Nady?) that the Mets mean business and are not the laughing stock of the league. A lineup of Reyes, Castillo, Beltran, Fielder, Wright, Abreu, Francoeur, and some catcher (Ramon Hernandez? Gregg Zaun?) would provide a much better lineup than we have trotting out this season..
