As June comes to a close and the games start to matter, there is a question that lurks in the back of every front office: are we buyers or sellers? For some teams this question is easily answered. A team such as the Milwaukee Brewers or the Oakland A’s are already decided as buyers while the Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres have probably picked the path of sellers. The Mets are currently in a place that it is undecided but if they continue the path of losiung, there will be players that need to be sold. Here are the top three players that could be big blocks on the market that the Mets should consider trading.
Colon was signed last offseason in order to fill the enormous gap of Matt Harvey and he has done exactly that. While Colon’s numbers don’t exactly match up to those of Harvey’s or even his own in 2013, he has been a force to be reckoned with after getting his bearings. With a 5.84 in his first eight starts, he has since posted a 1.66 ERA in six starts (Harvey had a 1.56 ERA in his first six starts of 2013). The question becomes, why trade Colon? The reasoning behind this decision is that the rotation will be completely filled with young studs in 2015 and another individual would just add to the extended pressure. In addition to the possibility of confusion, there could be a nice prospect that the Mets could grab in desperation from another team for a veteran (ie. Scott Kazmir in 2004).
In another attempt to clear up the outfield problems in Queens post Angel Pagan and Carlos Beltran, the Mets tried to use a Band-Aid named Chris Young. This has not worked out to say the least. The question now becomes, why would any team try to acquire Young? The answer is simple: every contender needs a veteran presence in addition to a quality fourth outfielder. While Young has been a below average defender the past two seasons, he can still play a legitimate outfield. The other great feature of Young is his ability to pop a homerun in big situations, which he has done a few times this season in close games. Teams will always want to have a quality defender on their bench, especially a veteran with power. This makes him a valuable trade piece.
The first question on everyone’s mind when seeing Torres is, why would the Mets ever trade him? The real question is why not. Over the past year, it is safe to say that Torres has been the most consistent reliever in Queens- by a long shot. Teams will die for pitchers that can go 3-4 shutout innings one night and then save a game the next. In addition to this, Torres wasn’t a terrible starter last year (except for the Nationals starts) and could make an excellent swingman. Torres has had a problem this year with his WHIP, but backs this up with a wonderful 2.92 FIP.
Colon- Teams rarely trade guys who signed multi year deals in their first year. When was it the last time that it happened?
Young- Why would another team give up anyone who even has a remote chance of making the majors for a guy who is on the verge of being released?
Torres- He’s worth much more to the Mets than any other club. He’s not going to net any sort of good prospect as he has no name recognition. If you polled America, probably 90% would not know who this guy is.
Their real top trade candidate, a guy who other teams actually want and not just some garbage that Met fans want to dump and think can get something for him, is Daniel Murphy.
I must respectfully disagree Name. I think Colon is easily movable, and a roughly $15 million remaining is easily digestible to most clubs these days. We could get two good prospects for him. CY could be moved, but we wouldn’t be getting much back at all. And it doesn’t really matter if baseball fans across America don’t know who Torres is, as long as some wily GM assistant does, and will compensate the Mets for his services. Again, we won’t get a haul for him, but he definitely has value outside of this team. Not saying that any of these guys should or would go, but they are more than “garbage” pieces that the Mets overvalue.
If the Mets deal Murphy, it would be mainly due to the Wilponzian need to keep payroll down. But who would they start at 2B now? Flores is still unproven (thanks to Collins and company) and Herrera isn’t ready yet. Matt Reynolds? Also unproven. The Mets cannot afford to weaken their already very weak offense.