You’re traveling through another dimension — a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That’s a signpost up ahead: your next stop: the Twilight Zone!
You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension: a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You’re moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You’ve just crossed over into… the Twilight Zone.
There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call “The Twilight Zone”.
Take if you will, the case of the New York Mets, a team that has been wrung through a series of financial hardships and poor management decisions. Imagine now if hindsight was as 20/20 as foresight and look into the team that could have been…
Let us start with Jose Reyes:
It’s 2011 and Jose Reyes is in the midst of an MVP season. The Giants and Reds seemed like they had interest in Reyes’ talents and the Mets… did nothing. We wound up with a compensation pick and a very bitter taste in our mouths. Imagine now if the Mets had gone another route.
The Mets make the trade with Cincinnati for (at the time) speedy shortstop, Billy Hamilton and power hitting OF/1B Yonder Alonso. The Mets would likely have their leadoff hitter for the next five plus years in Hamilton and Alonso as a valuable trade chip.
The Mets complete this trade and follow it up with acquiring Zack Wheeler from the Giants. Fans are in an uproar about the state of affairs but the team starts to take shape.
Let us move on to David Wright:
After 2011 the fear was the David Wright would be following in Reyes fleet footsteps and skipping town for greener pastures. Because of this there were early rumors in 2012 that Wright could be traded to a (perceived) contender, Colorado, for a grouping of prospects. The Mets opted to pay up for Wright, my favorite player, and that was fine… but let us imagine now if the Mets had pursued the trade.
The Mets trade Wright for an assortment of prospects highlighted by Wilin Rosario and Nolan Arenado of the Colorado Rockies. Willin Rosario is promoted to the majors and quickly proves to be one of the best hitting (worst defensive) catchers and Arenado appears poised to put up Longoria like numbers in the near future.
The Mets have a dismal 2012 but I suppose Dickey is still Dickey.
Should we mention Johan Santana?:
After Santana pitched the no-hitter in 2012 his value was again at an all time high. Some writers, perhaps this one, suggested that the Mets trade Santana while he had value because his price was simply too high. What could the Mets have gotten for him? Well that remains to be seen as the Mets weren’t shopping then and no team now would be interested. However looking at the 2012 playoff teams I wonder if St. Louis, New York (AL) or Detroit might have made sense.
With Santana’s hefty price tag I don’t think the return would have been immense (even after the No-No) but the pitching starved Yankees could have probably parted with David Phelps and other pitching prospects.
In a perfect world the Mets could have nabbed Shelby Miller or Trevor Rosenthal from St. Louis but I think that is a bit too much.
Let us finish up with R.A. Dickey:
The Mets no longer target Travis d’Arnaud as they have Wilin Rosario manning the back-stop. Instead they add the additional pieces to Kansas City and pull off a similar trade to what the Tampa Bay Rays managed. They net Wil Myers, Jake Odorizzi, Mike Montgomery and Patrick Leonard for R.A. Dickey, Wade Davis (equivalent) and a PTBNL.
While we’re at it…:
The Mets now have some additional chips that they don’t need as badly. So let’s give the Marlins a call. “Hey Loria, we are interested in Giancarlo Stanton and have Yonder Alonso and Mike Montgomery to headline our offer. What do you say?”
Loria: “This is the Twilight Zone… so… SURE!”
The Twilight Zone Mets:
Lineup:
- Billy Hamilton, SS
- Daniel Murphy, 2B
- Giancarlo Stanton RF
- Ike Davis, 1B
- Wil Myers, LF
- Nolan Arenado, 3B
- Wilin Rosario, C
- Jordany Valdespin, CF
- (Pitcher)
Rotation:
- Jonathon Niese
- Matt Harvey
- Shaun Marcum (Zack Wheeler)
- Dillon Gee (Jake Odorizzi)
- David Phelps (Rafael Montero)
HOWEVER! We do not live in the twilight zone, that is not a gremlin outside your window and the Mets are still poised to have a good future. Take a look and tell me if you think the Twilight Mets might have a brighter future than the current ones.
And then they get their time machine and trade for Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Ted Williams, and Sandy Koufax in their prime, a scenario that is even more plausible than yours.
The trade for Jose Reyes was one of the trades suggested by other bloggers during that season. At the time, it made sense for the Reds as well. The Brewers seemed to be the top team interested in Reyes but they had less to give. I was simply speculating on if that trade had happened.
Likewise with David Wright. The consensus (among bloggers) was that the Mets would end up with two of Rosario, Arenado and Pomeranz.
Santana is 100% speculation. I wanted rid of him because of his contract and getting Phelps seemed reasonable. Not once Johan proved hurt… but still.
The Dickey trade is just a switch from the Rays getting that haul to the Mets. Perhaps we need to up our offer, but the key is that the Mets don’t need d’Arnaud and Rosario so Myers would be key.
Stanton is 100% speculation. I would imagine that if you started a deal with Mongomery and Alonso that Loria would at least listen
Just waisted 5 minutes of my life reading this!
I hope you don’t do something vital to the country’s infrastructure.
Baseball would be so boring if all the other 29 teams were that stupid and the Mets were able to get whatever they wanted and have every player pan out.
It would be and I don’t think we are in a terrible spot as we are, but had we traded Reyes and had we traded Santana… could we not be in a better spot?
I thought you were kidding about the whole post…
I would suggest you re-read the circumstances around Reyes and the situation in July 2011, You might remember that Reyes was not worth trading because he had little value. I could list them out again if you don’t feel like searching.
Reyes got hurt around the deadline making trading him impossible (at least less pleasant) but if the Mets had pulled the trigger earlier I see no reason they couldn’t have gotten a better haul.
I guess in the twilight zone, sure.
But in reality, no. That’s implying that there were offers on the table before July, which I don’t think was the case.
So the twilight zone example I’m giving gives the Mets foresight into making deals when they would maximize returns.
So it would mean that the Mets would have been ACTIVELY shopping Reyes in 2011 instead of passively doing so. It would have pissed off fans to high heaven but in the end would you rather have better prospects today for it?
This isn’t an exercise in reality, it’s the twilight zone.
In reality the Wilpons were too attached to getting every cent they could out of Reyes before he went to another team that would be willing and capable of paying him.
I still like the D’Arnaud deal but the Mets should have most definitely dealt Reyes.
Agreed and the fact we were talking about Hamilton and Alonso or Grandal at the time makes it all the more glaring.
Didn’t we get plawecki with one of the picks for losing Reyes? A lot of people might not know his name yet, but they soon will! It’s early in the season but Plawecki is looking like one of the best catchers in the minors! He’s killing the SAL with Nimmo!
Plawecki is proving some doubters wrong, but as Brian Joura might point out: “Mets could have gotten Plawecki in the 2nd or 3rd rounds.”
But even in the Twilight Zone, the Marlins don’t have Reyes to trade to Toronto, so it would harder to pry Giancarlo Stanton away, even with the passel of prospects available.
BEST POINT SO FAR!
Marlins would still have had a shot to sign him as a free agent (but not realistically if Cincy makes the deal for him) so the question is how would Florida have over-spent their money instead?
I still believe that the Marlins would spend a ton of money and then blow up the team just as we saw them do.
How about, instead of trading for Stanton, we trade Davis and Duda for prospects, then bring in Yu Darvish, Yasiel Puig, Yoennis Cesoedes, Jose Abreu and Aroldis Chapman