Surely all of you have heard the news of Josh Hamilton signing a lucrative five-year deal (worth approximately $125 million) with the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday. It’s a move that is sending shock waves through the league.The Angels are making a strong push to make a run at the World Series while also tossing around money in a bid to compete with a their other free-spending L.A counterpart- the Dodgers.
With Hamilton in tow, the Angels have added another heavy hitter in a lineup that already includes Mike Trout and Albert Pujols. However, with Zack Greinke recently bolting the Angles to join the aforementioned Dodgers, the Angels could be in the market for an ace pitcher. Considering that the back end of the Angels’ rotation includes the likes of Joe Blanton, Jerome Williams, Garrett Richards and the oft-injured and recently acquired Tommy Hanson, Los Angeles might be on the lookout for a nice price-controlled pitcher with ace abilities.
Enter R.A. Dickey and the Mets!
There may be no better trade partner more equipped to make a deal with the Mets than the Angels. With a surplus of hitters (specifically outfielders), the Angles have what the Mets need most: a thumping power-hitting outfielder (Mark Trumbo) and a center fielder with great speed and glove in Peter Bourjous.
According to a recent MetsBlog poll, most Mets’ fans want to trade Dickey while his value is high. Although we all appreciate what Dickey has done for the franchise and the memorable moments he has provided for us in the last three years, this possible trade makes sense for both teams on a lot of fronts.
If the Mets offer up Dickey and perhaps another prospect(or maybe offer up, say Kirk Nieuwenhuis) and ask for Trumbo, Bourjos and maybe even Hank Conger (who is at least a palatable switch-hitting catching option), this has the makings of a deal that could work out for everyone.
The Mets would receive good, young cheap outfielders-and possibly a catcher-while the Angles would be getting a gifted ace and reigning NL Cy Young award-winner in Dickey. In this scenario both teams would get what they want. The Mets would continue with their platform of building for bigger and better things for the future. The Angels would continue in committing to going all in for a World Series trophy.
Granted I don’t love the idea of trading away a fan favorite in Dickey, but as I have said in the past, sometimes the best decisions in life are the most difficult decisions.
Granted Trumbo is not that graceful in the outfield and while he did tumble down the stretch last year, he is a marked improvement over the other options the Mets have. Last year Trumbo had a .268/.317/.491 slash line to go along with 32 home runs, 95 RBI’s and robust .808 OPS. Trumbo’s righty bat would look great next to David Wright and Ike Davis.
In Bourjous, the Mets would get an adequate leadoff hitter and a steals threat (which are two things the Mets severely lack) at the centerfield position. Bourjos lost his center field job to Trout last year and had a paltry .220/.291/.325 slash line, but if given the appropriate playing time he could be a solid everyday player.
And if you get Conger, you would get a switch-hitting catcher with a little bit of promise. Conger (who had an awful .167/.280/.330 slash line in only 224 at-bats last year) is not the ideal candidate as the compliment to Josh Thole, but he would only be a throw in and a lottery ticket at that.
If both sides see the merit in this trade, this is something that can get done. It should be interesting to see if Sandy Alderson agrees with this line of thinking and makes a pitch to the Angles in the coming days.
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Good article…I agree this might be the best deal the Mets could get. I got hammered on another blog when I said the Mets should get Trumbo for Dickey. Do you think the Angels would do Trumbo, Richards and Bourjos for Dickey and a prospect?
“If the Mets offer up Dickey and perhaps another prospect(or maybe offer up, say Kirk Nieuwenhuis) and ask for Trumbo, Bourjos and maybe even Hank Conger (who is at least a palatable switch-hitting catching option), this has the makings of a deal that could work out for everyone.”
I was thinking about this yesterday and realized there is no way the Angels make this deal unless the prospect included is Wilmer Flores. LAA has a utility player Alberto Callaspo playing 3B right now. Their top prospect in a weak minor league system is a third baseman but he’s not expected to reach the MLB level until 2015 or so.
The other alternative would be for the Mets to include Daniel Murphy with Dickey, making Jordany Valdespin the likely starting 2B until Flores is ready to come up from Las Vegas. I would still do either of these deals to get Bourjos, Trumbo, and Conger, which makes me think the Angels won’t do them if they seem appealing to me. 🙂
All fine and dandy, and that would have me interested, but:
http://metsmerizedonline.com/2012/12/angels-not-interested-in-dickey-not-looking-to-deal-trumbo.html
I thought of that too and then remembered all the stories saying the Giants absolutely would not include Gary Brown or Zack Wheeler in a trade for Carlos Beltran. Hopefully the Angels can maintain the same level of “discipline” as the Giants.
I can see us trading with them but if we trade Dickey to them, they might also want Thole as Dickeys catcher. I can see Dickey, Thole, Flores as a start from us for Trumbo, Conger and possibly Bourjos.
Oh my God.Is that all we can do? React to another teams signings? Can’t the Mets stand on their own as an organization and make some moves that are not dependent on other teams? Every time some team signs a free agent we look for an angle to trade R.A. Give it a rest. Can’t you see that the Mets are not going to do anything until after they finish with their arbitration hearings and see how much money is left to spend. Trumbo is not going to hit 30 home runs playing half his games in Citifield. I do agree with your point in improving the offense but he will be a liability in the spacious outfield. Yes I would rather see him over Lucas Duda but I think you are giving up on 2013 before the season even starts. It also means you are going to bat Trumbo 5th in the line up with no decent bat behind him. If I’M gm for the Angels I would expect more than what you are offering. While they may have a surplus of outfielders the Angels know that they need insurance in case Josh Hamilton breaks down.
Reactive not proactive, the Alderson way…
“Can’t the Mets stand on their own as an organization and make some moves that are not dependent on other teams?”
No.
Trumbo and Bourjos would fill needs but I can’t say I think their ceilings are any higher then they’ve already shown.
If the Angels agree to this, Sandy should run, hide and change his phone #, ’cause he will have pulled off a heist.
Charlie! Great answer!Such a simple solution. Thanks for the heads up. Pete
Personally, i’d rather just see what Kirk has than trade for Bourjos.
So Dickey for Trumbo and Conger hm….
I would say that if the Mets are able to keep Hairston, i would rather just extend Dickey. Otherwise, i might consider it.
As we think about all the value of RA, the world has completely shifted from under our feet. The power of baseball has moved west for the foreseeable future. Any notion of the Mets being competitive soon has all but drifted away. The Mets need to somehow figure out how to claw over the Braves and Nats and Phillies, let alone the Dodgers, Giants, Reds etc. The team we have, more like Casey’s Metsies, is a collections of loveable losers—its time to forget worrying about the playoffs any time soon. We are talking about acquiring minor league scrubs and the likes of whether Hairston makes the squad better…are we kidding ourselves? Meanwhile, we need to look at what other teams in the NL are doing and see that we are far closer to the Astros than the Dodgers.
We should keep RA just so that every 5 days there’s something to cheer for.
Dumb story. The Angels have said they arent trading Trumbo. Secondly the Angels traded away a bunch of our top prospects for Greinke, who only was signed for til the end of the year and we all saw how that worked out. I know Dickey is the Cy Young winner, but the only way the Angels trade for the guy is if they get an extension worked out before hand. If they get past that hurdle, the only way the Mets trade him to the angels is for Peter Bourjos and Hank Conger and CJ Cron. Dickey is 38 now. He has 3 straight 200 plus innings. Who knows how much longer he can go. If Sandy can get more for him from the Jays, then good for you guys. But I highly doubt it.
Dumb comment. The Giants said they weren’t trading Zack Wheeler and then they did. Teams do that stuff all of the time. The Blue Jays said they wanted Niese not Dickey and that they would trade Arencibia and not d’Arnaud, too. We’ll see what happens.
NY Post reporting he may be headed north for young catcher, Travis…