Should the Mets look to add power with Mark Trumbo?

The trade deadline is moving slowly towards the Mets and it’s safe to say that some things can be claimed as definitive:

1. The pitching staff is fine. Bartolo Colon has provided a nice veteran complement to the young pitching that is making its way either through the system or around the pitfalls and land mines associated with an early career in the major leagues. Jon Niese has solidified himself as a quality left-hander in the prime of his career and the bullpen is full of young, hard throwing arms, balanced out by a quality veteran in Carlos Torres and the requisite random reclamation project that any bullpen each year seems to locate in Dana Eveland.
2. First base is stable for now. Lucas Duda has had a solid year and is on pace to hit 20 home runs and knock in 70 runs for the first time in his career, all while not playing against left handers. Despite Josh Satin’s poor start, the right side of the platoon has been fine as Eric Campbell has earned a spot as a part time bench player and platoon partner for Duda. First base could produce, between the two, 25 home runs and 90 RBI. Those aren’t elite numbers at first base, but they are suitable and an improvement over last year’s abysmal season
3. Daniel Murphy and David Wright are doing their thing. Wright is having a down year, but he still leads the team in RBI, still gets big hits and is still mashing doubles while playing excellent defensively. Murphy is getting on base more, scoring runs, hitting doubles, stealing bases and making the same Murphy mental mistakes that Murphy makes, while putting every ounce of his ability on the field every day. Both had some question marks at the start of the season (Murphy’s OBP, Wright’s big contract and slowly declining power numbers) and some of those questions still exist, but both have still shown that they are the stabilizing leaders and heart of this team.
4. Juan Lagares is the center fielder of the future. The only thing that will keep Lagares from being a regular piece for this team long term will be his hitting ability and injuries. Some of the muscle injuries he suffered this year (hamstring and oblique) can become chronic, so the hope is that isn’t the case here. If Lagares hit’s .275 or better with 30 plus doubles and five to 10 triples and home runs, then he’s an everyday player. Seeing what he’s done with the bat this year, that’s believable.
5.  Curtis Granderson is worth the money. Outside of his first 20 or so games, Granderson has been worth every dime of the money he’s earning this year. He’s hit for solid power, is getting on base at a career high rate and is playing a solid outfield. Wherever the Mets have asked him to hit in the order, he’s been productive. Whatever spot in the outfield he’s played, he’s done so with aplomb. When Granderson got off to that horrible start, Mets fans were having flashbacks  of Jason Bay. No longer.
6. Shortstop is what it is. The Mets don’t appear to be active in looking for a shortstop and also seem to have given Ruben Tejada the keys to the castle. Instead of giving Wilmer Flores a long look, they put him and Tejada into a weird, makes no sense platoon, which really wasn’t a platoon considering that Tejada played more than Flores. Tejada has been productive again this year, especially recently. Even when he hasn’t hit well, he’s been drawing walks and playing excellent defense. The Mets might spend money here in the offseason, but for now it’s Tejada’s job to lose.
7. Travis d’Arnaud has been a disappointment but… Look, d’Arnaud is a weird case. He’s a high end prospect, but he’s old for a prospect. He’s been really solid defensively, but hasn’t hit. He’s hit in every level but the major leagues, but that could also be because he missed a lot of time over the last few years. d’Arnaud is a bit of a conundrum, but he’s clearly the best player for the position. Anthony Recker is a player who shouldn’t catch more than 40 games a season, Taylor Teagarden is a quadruple-A player and Juan Centeno is probably not a major leaguer. Kevin Plawecki has had a great year in Double-A and a solid start in Las Vegas, but he’s only been above Single-A this year, much too early for a promotion. d’Arnaud has been better since his return, so let’s hope that we finally see all of that potential in the second half of the season.
8. Left Field has been a black hole. Bobby Abreu has been good, but he’s a part time player at best. Eric Young Jr. should be a spot starter. Chris Young has been terrible. The bottom line is, they need power out of left field and they haven’t gotten it.

So, where are we now? Basically, the Mets aren’t that far away from being a decent baseball team. Catching has been a hole, but that’s a tough hole to fix this year, so that should be ignored. Let d’Arnaud flop or succeed, see if Plawecki beats up Triple-A pitching like he did Double and Single-A and if he does and d’Arnaud continues to struggle, give Plawecki some playing time in September.

The Mets have made it pretty obvious that they are leaving shortstop in Tejada’s hands with the demotion of Flores and the statement that Campbell is the back-up. They’re going to give Tejada the reigns the rest of the year, observe how he fares and then see if they need to dip into a fairly deep free agent market for shortstops this coming winter.

With the acknowledgement that first base has been at least average, Lagares has shown he belongs and Wright, Murphy and Granderson have been “doing what they do”, the Mets are left with one spot that needs to be dealt with if this team can at least be in contention for a wild card spot.

Enter Mark Trumbo. The Diamondbacks are going to have a fire sale and the Mets should jump on Trumbo. He’s not perfect. He strikes out too much, doesn’t walk all that much and is a bad left fielder, but he does one thing the Mets need. He hits for power. Trumbo’s flaws can be masked by the strong outfield defense of Lagares and Granderson, as well as strong outfield reserves who can take over defensively for Trumbo later in games. It would also give the Mets the freedom to shop Duda in the offseason, one in which he will have value as a slugging left handed bat still in his arbitration years. Trumbo could then move to first base, leaving leftfield for a free agent or a certain potential Cuban import.

The other side of this is, Trumbo is probably not going to cost all that much and the Mets could look at picking up a shortstop to boot. Chris Owings isn’t going anywhere, but Didi Gregorius or Nick Ahmed might be. Could the Mets put together a package centered on Dillon Gee and Flores for Trumbo and a shortstop? More players would probably need to be involved, but that would probably be a deal that could benefit both teams.

Will the Mets do this? Probably not, but it should be explored. Trumbo’s power could make this team a viable threat to get above .500 and at least be in the discussion for a wild card spot. That would be a great stepping stone to take into next season. So, Sandy Alderson, listen up and get the Mets some Trumbo. It’s time to step up and give the Mets faithful a sign that this team is starting to build and not continuing to rebuild.