“We’ve got to find us somebody who can keep opposing pitchers from pitching around David Wright“
It’s no secret what Terry Collins is hoping for this holiday season. An bright, new, shiny power hitter. The problem is that power hitters are in short supply in this year’s free agent market, with unlikely targets like Robinson Cano, Carlos Beltran and Mike Napoli representing the best of the best in last season’s home run department.
However the Blue Jays, Rockies and Angels all have power to spare and one or two power hitters could be had via the trade route for our Mets.
Back in October, Ben Nicholson-Smith of SportsNet Canada reported that Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos is willing to trade some of his core players for starting pitching depth and that included proven bur imperfect sluggers like Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion.
There are arguments to be made for the pursuit of either Bautista or Encarnacion, but do hope the Mets stay away from Mark Trumbo of the Angels.
The Mets do have a ton of young pitching available, but Sandy Alderson already stated quite emphatically that Noah Syndergaard was off the table. With Matt Harvey already lost for the season, and two holes in the rotation to still fill, you can bet that Zack Wheeler, Dillon Gee and Jon Niese aren’t going anywhere either.
Several baseball execs told the Daily News that they don’t see how the Mets could pull off a true blockbuster without dealing either Wheeler or Syndergaard.
The Mets could dangle the young and unproven Rafael Montero, but he won’t cut it in a deal for one of those big names – especially when J.P. Ricciardi placed Montero’s MLB ceiling as a 3-4 starter last month. As I said at the time, that was an ill-advised thing to say over the air.
It’s still early in the process and the Mets will certainly test the free agent waters first. However, if the prices prove to rich for the Mets’ taste, you an bet they will explore the trade market.
So far the Mets have been very quiet and the Mets confirmed before the weekend that they have no offers floating out there for trades or free agents. But Alderson made clear that it wasn’t a sign that he and his staff were not hard at work.
The Mets can’t afford any foul-ups so they will be very guarded with their approach. It may mean they lose out on some of the players who are looking to sign quickly as Marlon Byrd just did. But this is what it is and by now you should all be used to this patient approach.
The $30 million we keep hearing about won’t go very far. One player like a Peralta or Granderson who are looking for $15 million per year and half of your offseason budget vanishes. That’s why I believe that ultimately they will trade for a slugger.
