Every year – even those that ended in a World Series victory – there are guys who played for the team that just weren’t memorable. For example, did you know that Tim Corcoran played for the 1986 Mets? How about Bob Johnson for the 1969 club? Which player will hold that distinction for the 2022 Mets? Here are some candidates:
Ender Inciarte – He seems a better choice than either Khalil Lee or Nick Plummer because at least those guys started the season in the organization and several people who do top prospect lists thought they were top 10 material. And they both hit a homer in their brief time with the Mets. Inciarte was mostly forgettable while he was on the club.
Matt Reynolds – Inciarte’s tenure on the club was fairly recent but Reynolds’ happened earlier in the season, back when the Mets had two starting OFers go on the Covid IL. Reynolds was DFAd and picked up by the Reds and has seen a fair amount of time with them.
Sean Reid-Foley – Maybe he’ll be remembered because of the amount of time he played for the club in 2021. Tommy Hunter probably falls in the same category. Actually, Hunter didn’t pitch very much for the ’21 club. Maybe he’ll be remembered for being used as an opener that season…
Jake Reed – He doesn’t initially register for me in this category because he was a guy who had a legitimate chance to make the club out of Spring Training. But as the years pass, that memory will undoubtedly fade.
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Thomas Szapucki‘s outing was so incredibly bad that those of us who saw it won’t forget it anytime soon. And Yoan Lopez started a brawl against the Cardinals, so he probably will be more memorable than the guys listed above. Stephen Nogosek‘s mustache and solid pitching probably makes him memorable, even with the lack of innings.
Elephant in the dugout,do the Mets get Soto? What do they give up? How about Alvarez, Baty, and Vientos?
The problem is that Boras will run him through free agency in two years. We already have one huge contract with Lindor. I’d rather wait until he is a free agent rather than giving up all of our young talent.
Juan Soto. Wow.
He *is* a generational talent. He’s 23 this season. He’s not open to FA until ‘25. He’s younger than some of the players in the Futures game. He could hit 500-600 HR. He’s a keystone outfielder for ages.
What do you give up for that? Well pretty much what you got if you see a WS win on the near horizon. Flags fly forever and all that. Pennants not Prospects. Alvarez, Baty, Mauricio would all go. And no one should bat an eye doing it.
Im not sure the Nats are looking to trade in division though. Thats facing this guy 15 times year after year.
That said the next step is the killer to get done. If you ask me, 15/440 is a joke. I think you really need to be calibrated against 15 yrs @ $50M for 15/750 will be where this goes.
The marketing for Soto is gigantic. The team will be worth $10-15B at the end of that contract.
This is gonna be a mega deal to get done. Nothing ever will have looked like this.
Chris, yesterday I heard the podcast by Jon Hayman and Joel Sherman from Monday afternoon where they interviewed Scott Boras. Boras doesn’t see it happening for three reasons:
– Matching Soto’s value is never going to happen through prospects
– The Lerner family wants to sell the Nationals and they are more valuable with Soto on the team
– Mike Rizzo will be judged by this trade and he is in a “no win” situation. If a sale goes through and the new owner wants his own GM, this trade will be a mark in his resume one way or another.
Looks like those guys didnt eat their Wheaties if thats the argument.
1. A team as bad as the Nats need to rebuild, and they need to do that via prospects. No competing team will give up firsts class MLB players for another player…the return is singularly too small.
The Nats need prospects. I could see Alvarez, Mauricio, McNeil, Smith, and JD as the package, but it will be prospect based as it *needs* to be.
2. The sale of the Nats is not impending. At most the incoming ownership group gets 1-1.5 yrs of Soto and a losing team. Its a lot easier on the outgoing owners to take the grief for trading Soto than having that be the first move a new owner needs to to. Soto has made it clear he wants real money and will head to the open market with Boras.
3. Rizzo has a contract through ‘23. If the Nats sell, you can expect a new GM is coming. unloading Soto would clearly be linked to a joint ownership/GM move.
Im not saying Soto is destined to be a Met or even ever leave Washington. However, where the Nats are it seems like a smart move to unload him and reload the upper minors and early pro level talent.
We need a big bat to add to our order to give us a chance to advance in the playoffs. I don’t think we can win it all without that addition. While there are others who might fill that role, Soto tops the list. I don’t see McNeil going in any package but Smith and JD give them something they can placate fans in getting MLB talent, and then who of the prospects will go. They will want much more that Mauricio. But they need to remember that this is an extended rental with a small chance of resigning so we can only offer just so much. If he was currently working on a five year contract, I’d offer more to get him. In the meantime let’s get back it on Friday.
Joel Sherman said that if Mike Rizzo asks for a prospect and is told no, he should hang up. He notes that prospects are replaceable and talents like Soto aren’t. Basically, the teams that would trade for Soto now are teams looking to add him for October. How many can do that? That’s the only thing they should think about, not an extension yet. Interestingly, the Rangers are a non-competing team that people are looking at because they didn’t sign Seager and Semien to just stop there…
The Mets would need to give up Baty, Ramirez, Megill, Peterson, and probably McNeil, plus send to the Mets at least Patrick Corbin, if not Strasburg too (but he has a no trade clause). The Nats don’t need Alvarez because they have Ruiz. They just don’t have pitching. They may even want Tidwell. There will be pain. Too, if you add Corbin and Strasburg, say good bye to DeGrom.
Your staff next year is Scherzer, Carrasco, Strasburg, Corbin, and ??, and costing you over $100MM just for those four guys.
Cant trade players just drafted here. So no Tidwell.
MLB pipeline ranked the Mets draft as the best overall.
You know last year Nats gave 2 combined seasons of Sherzer and Turner and got back two solid prospects. Two and a half years of Soto shouldn’t cost much more especially with Corbin salary relief. Alvarez,Baty and Vientos for Soto and Corbin.
Soto would be the ultimate trade deadline acquisition for the Mets.
The Nats are rumored to want three major league near ready prospects and regular starting player. They preferably want pitchers.
The Dodgers have six Top 100 Prospects (MLB) ranked 13-26-42-47-70 & 75 with two being pitchers. They also have the money to afford Soto.
The Yankees are in the competition . Their prospects are ranked 8-38-39-71-72 with only one pitcher (#72).
Boston also is in position also. Their prospects are 10-14-44 & 64 with with one pitcher (#44).
The Mets have four prospects and none pitchers. The ranked 2-20-52 & 87. Alvarez #2 is a catcher and Washington has a young catcher, Ruiz, so the Mets are a poor fit for the Nationals. The Mets need a catcher and it could be hard to replace Alvavez so I prefer that they don’t include Alvarez.
You can’t always get what you want.
I am okay with missing out on Soto if it requires a huge haul and a massive contract.
There are a lot of different ways to skin the cat.
I’d rather keep the prospects and buy a different free agent when the right time comes.
And I think Alvarez will be a huge asset for years to come (cheap, too).
Secondly: I don’t get what the Nats are doing and why they are doing it now. So many reports are goofy & contradictory. The writers are just speculating out of their butts. The Nats want ML-ready players? McNeil? Why in the world? The entire plan is they won’t be good for the next 3 years anyway. There’s also the next owner lined up. Does he want them to trade away Soto? And what does that do to the final price of the team? I don’t see any true urgency for the Nats to make this trade right now, when they could deal in the off-season, giving every team more time & freedom to shift players. I also don’t get the Yankees involvement, that is: I don’t believe it. Why trade away a goldmine of prospects, and sign Soto, only to lose Judge? Why not just keep Judge for far, far less? The whole thing doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Maybe the Nats are thinking: Go ahead, blow us away, perfectly willing to wait until the off-season. I still think a team like, say, the Brewers or Tampa Bay makes the most sense. Trade prospects, get Soto for three pennant races — and maybe even trade him away two years from now to recoup most of the costs. No intention to sign him.
Yankees placed Stanton on the IL so they won’t have to face him in this series.