Nothing sadder than all of your stony faces left stranded on this fourth of July with no Mets baseball. It seems un-American. Gary Cohen said he’s running a 7K today. Jeff McNeil is going to be a judge at the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. Yoenis Cespedes announced plans to get hurt while shooting off fireworks.
I’ve been trying to come up with trades involving Robinson Cano. My first thought was to send him to Texas for Shin-Soo-Choo – with each team responsible for the original contract, so the Mets would pay Cano and the Rangers would pay Choo. This was back six weeks or so ago when Cano had his little hot streak. But he cooled off and Choo warmed up.
My next thought was to send him to the Cubs for Jayson Heyward, but both contracts end at the same time, so that won’t work.
Just now, it occurred that maybe they can ship him to the Reds and take on that monster contract of Joey Votto’s. Turns out that Votto’s deal isn’t that much more than Cano’s. Both deals are up after the 2023 season, although the Reds have a $20 million option with a $7 million buyout for 2024.
My question for you: Would you trade Cano and the $80 million he’s due for 2020-2023 to the Reds for Votto, who’s owed $100 million in the same time frame plus the buyout/option? Talent-wise that seems to be a slam dunk. Votto got off to a slow start but in the last 133 PA before Wednesday he had a .967 OPS. In his last 134 PA entering Wednesday, Cano had a .594 OPS. And he took another 0-fer yesterday.
Of course, Votto plays first base and that position is taken. Would you take the extra salary and play Votto in the outfield just to be rid of Cano?
The Trade Discussion would seem to Start with everyone, except Jake and Alonzo…and probably Diaz. Conforto, McNeill, Nimmo….. are they in play? Noah and Wheeler have value, but they’d need to be replaced for Next Year.
Todd, Ramos, and the various Pitching Parts would all seem to be in play.
This is a big test for Management.
The key is to recognize that we need to be sellers and with the hard trade deadline coming at the end of this month, with no August trades allowed, we need to go to market now. I have said that with a few reliable bullpen arms we would be much more in contention. But even if we added Kimbrel it would not have vaulted us into the top teams in our own division. Ramos is living up to what we expected at the plate, but only when he has a bat in his hands. Agree on Todd being moved to a contender as well as Vargas. Biggest chip who is under contract is Thor who could bring a haul from a team needing a front line arm – but not to the crosstown Yankees.
I’ll take the day off today because it means we did not lose. Then back on the bandwagon for Friday. It may seem sad to some and you might question my sanity but #Metsfanforlife
When Wheeler leaves now or in free agency, who replaces him? Kay is not ready and the system is barren of bear major league ready pitchers.
Frazier and Vargas will bring back fringe prospects.
Syndergaard is the trade chip. The goal should be to bring back a pitcher who is ready for the bigs and a center fielder. I don’t care if they trade him to the Yankees. Better to trade him to the Yankees rather than a division rival. If he is traded let’s hope that BVW doesn’t blow it.
May even want to consider trading Conforto. He is a .245 hitter who strikes out way too much on offspeed pitches.
I’d consider Cano for Heyward, so long as the latter can still play defense well and has an eye for stealing bases. Doesn’t hurt he’s quietly having a good season, or that he’s a decent human being to boot.
The problem is that the Cubs would laugh.
I’d like them to extend Wheeler now…. otherwise, to chase him hard in FA. The Roster Holes for this team has been a RH OF Bat (Center Field Preferred) and Arms/Pitching Depth. Aside from the freakish number of blown saves, any July trade needs to tilt to those long term needs.
I agree, not enough people are considering extending Wheeler. We need top pitching in the future! Trade Vargas and Frazier.
I can’t see why the Reds would make that trade, they may be last in the NL Central but their not that far out of it in that bunched up division, plus they are well set at 2b already, Cano would be a bad fit for them.
Right, they don’t need him at all. Nobody needs him.
The question was if you would pay extra money and play a guy out of position to get rid of Cano.
The Mets have three starting pitchers that are in the twenty starting pitchers in the National League in FIP and Innings Pitched (based on 40 innings per Fangraphs). They are Wheeler, Syndergaard and deGrom. The Mets should retain all three. There are no better pitchers available and no pitchers in the system ready to replace him.
I already stated that they should trade Frazier. If they extend Wheeler then they should look into trade Vargas. Contending teams need starting pitching and with Wheeler off the market, those teams might turned to Vargas. The Mets would be selling at his peak and Vargas has an option in 2020 which might appealing also.
As for Cano, we are stuck in him and Wilpons. At least Cano’s contract expires in 2023 !
Mets need to work hard with Cano and try to get him straight. No alternative. Imagine if we didn’t have a third of our payroll locked up in him and Cespedes?
Or Imagine if we were in a Major Market like NY, and the Salary line could be expanded by 20-25%…oh…wait….