Haven’t heard from my Mets source in a while, but he checked in this morning with some good info.
He tells me that the Mets are not interested in trading Lastings Milledge or Aaron Heilman in a Barry Zito deal. The Mets aren’t a team to overpay for 2-3 months of Zito given his impending free agency. In addition, the Wilpons are sensitive about the Scott Kazmir trade (7-2, 2.39 ERA) and won’t let history repeat itself.
On the other hand, if the Mets had to include Milledge and another top prospect (Alay Soler?) to acquire Dontrelle Willis, they’d jump at the chance. Willis could anchor the rotation for many years in front of Mike Pelfrey.
20 year-old outfielder Carlos Gomez is a scout favorite despite his current .219/.290/.318 line at Double A so far. The Mets love the kid, but he could be had if it meant acquiring an ace-caliber pitcher like Jason Schmidt without parting with Milledge.
Anderson Hernandez, Michael Abreu, Evan Maclane, Heath Bell, and Victor Diaz are all readily available trading chips if the Mets decide not to shoot for the stars.
