Buster Olney, a widely respected baseball writer and sideline reporter for ESPN, is one of the more respected media personalities in baseball. Along with Ken Rosenthal, Olney is considered by many to be a “must-follow” on Twitter. His content is considered so valuable by ESPN that you need to pay to read it. Olney has been very busy of late, as the hot stove season has started for baseball teams. Oddly enough, the New York Mets have been brought up by Olney a lot as of late. In the first occasion, he criticized the Mets for the hiring of new general manager Brodie Van Wagenen.

For some reason, criticizing the Mets made Olney feel as if he could run the team better than Van Wagenen, so Olney sat in the big chair and conjured up an idea for a trade in his head. “If new GM Brodie Van Wagenen is looking for ways to live up to his oath to win in 2019, adding Corey Kluber might be the most effective and financially efficient. The Mets’ rotation would be incredible, with Jacob deGrom, Kluber, Noah Syndergaard and Zack Wheeler, and Jason Kipnis could play some second base and some outfield. Additionally: The Mets are looking for catching, and Yan Gomes would be a solid short-term fix. New York manager Mickey Callaway is very familiar with all of them, of course, having served as Kluber’s pitching coach in Cleveland.”

In this proposal, which he wrote for ESPN Insider, Olney did make a couple of true points. Yes, adding Kluber to the rotation would make it incredible. Yes, Callaway would benefit from having former Indians players on his team. Besides that, the logic seems lost in his proposal.

To begin, to get Kluber, Kipnis, and Gomes, you would have to trade at least one of the pitchers in the rotation. There is no way that the Indians would give up three of their quality players without wanting a Syndergaard or a Wheeler in return. So, a rotation that already features a most-likely Cy Young award-winning pitcher would get older by adding the 32 year old Kluber and subtracting an elite pitcher in their 20s. On the one hand however, Kluber has a consistent track record, missing only six starts since 2014.

As for Kipnis, he’d be filling a position that is already well filled: second base. Olney must have forgotten about Jeff McNeil, who shocked Mets fans last season by forcing his way up through the Mets minor league system. He went onto slash a .329 batting average, showing that he was able to stay consistent at the plate at the major league level. Kipnis on the other hand batted .230, while slugging 18 home runs. Starting a player like Kipnis over McNeil would not be a wise move, as it would be starting a player who is on the tail end of his career over a player who is just starting his.

As for Gomes, the Mets are indeed in need of catching. This issue will most likely be solved with a cheaper option on the free agent market, however.
While in theory it would be nice to have a trade like the one Olney came up with happen, it just simply is not feasible without giving up an ample number of prospects.

5 comments on “The true reality of a Mets-Indians trade partnership

  • Eraff

    Wow—I hate the entire concept of that trade! I trade young pitchers and players at low cost…???? This is a slow news day story for Buster

  • Brian Joura

    Buster Olney loves baseball and for that he always gets some sort of free pass from me. Unlike, say, Jack Joe Buck.

    Olney is connected and if he says that Team A and Team B are in trade discussions — I believe him.

    But when it switches from being a reporter to being a columnist, well, that’s where he falls short for me. I’ll never forget that he was a champion of productive outs. And I’ll throw this mythical trade on the pile of things to go – wow, just wow – about.

  • TexasGusCC

    Knowing the Indians starvation for offense in the outfield, I would imagine Conforto or Nimmo to be a necessity. However, I cannot see where trading for a 32 year old pitcher is prudent. Too, Gomes won’t be so cheap starting next year for his production. I would think Bruce back to the Indians matches up for Kipnis, maybe Vargas for Gomes match up, but then one of our young outfielders and something for Kluber… it isn’t bad, but I just don’t know if I do this.

    Rather, if the Cubs wanted to do a Syndergaard for Bryant trade, that’s a consideration. But, then you have to deal with Boras. That alone is a turn off. Why not just sign Donaldson at an affordable rate and keep all your young stars?

  • Name

    Did he actually put together a trade proposal? If so, can someone leak it?

  • Mike Walczak

    Lets look at the trade proposal. For a trade like this, I think the Indians ask for Syndergaard. Kipnis is signed through 2019 at $ 14.67 million for 2019 with a team option. Gomes is signed through 2019 at $ 7.00 million for 2019. Kluber will earn $ 15.00 million in 2019 with club options for 2020 and 2021. That adds over $ 36 million to the payroll.

    The only way it could possibly make sense is if the pitcher we trade is Wheeler and include Bruce with his $ 14.00 million salary. Lets say Wheeler gets $ 5.00 million in arbitration, that still balances out that the Mets still add $ 17 million in salary.

    I really dont like Kipnis. He hit .230 last year. The last two years his on base percentage was .291 and .315. He has some pop, so what. He is another Todd Frazier. Do we want Kipnis at second or McNeil? Kipnis is also another lefty. He also has limited value in the field at second base and a little outfield. He has no experience at first base.

    The Indians will probably want more in this deal than Wheeler and Bruce.

    I just dont see this deal lining up unless additional moves happen. If the Mets sign Machado to play short, they can include Rosario in the deal maybe to move over to second to replace Kipnis. I think the Mets would also need to get Brad Hand in the deal.

    I think there are too many moving parts here and adding too much payroll. Ill pass.

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