Over the summer, the Mets nearly shipped Zack Wheeler to the Brewers in a deal that would have netted them Carlos Gomez. That deal fell apart at the last minute due to concerns over medicals, but it showed that the Mets were willing to part with Wheeler given the right return. However, when asked if the pitcher could be on the block this winter, Mets assistant general manager John Ricco said that would not be the case.
“We’re not actively shopping Zack by any stretch,” Ricco told Marc Carig of Newsday. “But as with the other starters, if something came up that we thought made us better, we’re going to talk about it.”
Despite the uncertainty surrounding his arm, the 86’d Mets-Brewers deal showed that Wheeler still holds considerable trade value. Wheeler pitched 185 1/3 strong innings in his first full season for the Mets in 2014, but underwent Tommy John surgery in March. Over his two seasons in Queens, Wheeler worked to a 3.50 ERA with 8.5 K/9, 3.9 BB/9 and a 50 percent ground-ball rate.
Armed with a 95mph fastball and a pair of above-average breaking pitches, there was an expectation that Wheeler would take a step forward in 2015, creating a formidable trio atop the Mets’ rotation, alongside Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom. Rival teams could have similar expectations for Wheeler in 2016 and while the Mets won’t be shopping Wheeler, it sounds like they’ll at least be listening on him. Ricco indicated that the Mets were probably a little more inclined to move Wheeler in July since they felt that they were one outfield bat away from being contenders. Still, the Mets exec wouldn’t rule out a similar set of events unfolding in the coming months.
“If there’s a deal that we think really makes us better, I can’t say we wouldn’t do the exact same thing,” Ricco said.
Mets fans should brace for a worse team next season.They won’t resign anyone of note and won’t bring any of the big free agent hitters to help out.They really should trade 1 of their pitchers for a package of nice young hitters to balance out that staff
No kidding, dealing 1 or 2 of Harvey/Syndergaard/Degrom/Matz would land them 3-4 major league ready bats which they sorely need
Idk about 4 ML ready bats for degrom or Matz but for Harvey and Thor sure. I think the Bosox would be good trade partners especially considering the haul they gave the Padres for Kimbrel, who knows what the pitching desperate sox would do for an ace.
The thing is the bats Boston has that are ML ready will not go anywhere (hopefully). Any deal involving Betts or Bogaerts and I will automatically hate the deal. Unless it is straight up, I don’t see a match there. Look at Colorado or the Dbacks and take your pick on any bats short of Arenado, Pollock and Goldy
Arenado even for Thor is a borderline bad deal for the Rockies. He’s that valuable. I’d look more toward a Dickerson for Matz kind of framework, although that doesn’t work because the Mets don’t need a corner OF.
It’s November how do you know what the Mets plans are. With a pitching staff with 4 aces you don’t have to score a ton of runs.
You do have to score runs though something the Mets struggled with before Cespedes came.
That was before d’Naurd and Wright returned and Conforto was promoted. Those three guys transformed the lineup.
when you deploy players who can’t hit at half the fielding positions, there is a pretty good chance you will not score enough no matter who is on the mound
That doesn’t describe the Mets at all. They are solid at corner infield and outfield. Their catcher is an above average hitter for his position. Even 2B, with Wilmer Flores, is probably average (not saying much). Their only “holes” are SS and CF, and guys who play those positions and are also impact hitters are rare and expensive. With the dumpster fire that is the NL East, the Mets should cruise into the playoffs, even if the Nats figure things out and win the division.
Are we forgetting how delicate Wright and D’Arnaud are? Conforto could still have some growing pains and Granderson goes on hot and colds streaks all the time. The Mets have to look into adding a couple bats and they should start at short or in the outfield
Yeah but how? They’re not going to not play Grandy or Conforto or Wright, like on the bench or in AAA. Those guys may not be all-stars, but their spots in the starting lineup are absolutely assured. d’Arnaud maybe slightly less so, but good luck finding an impact bat at C.
Maybe by getting a CF that can hit some? or Desmond at short, Kendrick at 2B, there are ways to improve
Duda
???
Flores
Wright
d’Arnaud
Conforto
???
Granderson
That’s the Mets as of right now. I absolutely cannot fathom how Mets fans constantly talk about Flores like he’s a total scrub, he’s simply not.
Granderson’s OPS would disagree. He started off slow in April (.683) and the averaged between .750 and 1.11 for the rest of the season. Duda would be the better example for streaky hitting.
but they still have cuddyer! lol
Cadaver was brutal, ugh.
Yeah that won’t happen and you know it.Mets are going to be awful on offence unless they trade for multiple bats or sign big money free agents which of course they won’t do
You can never have enough pitching. Pitchers are volatile and you can’t bet on those 4 “aces” throwing 200 innings next year.
BTW I only think deGrom and Harvey are true aces, Matz is definitely not an ace, Syndergaard is a rookie and rookie’s aren’t aces, you need at least 2 seasons of domination to be considered an ace.
and these 4 aces are? matz is not an ace nor does he have ace potential. the others are all potential aces, but none has crossed the 200 inning mark in a regular season. lets see how they hold up in 5 man rotations before anointing them aces. degrom is the closest atm.
Agreed. Their aces by hype and potential only so far. The only ones who has come close so far are deGrom and Harvey, and like you said, neither of them has really pitched a durable 200+ IP season.
“Aces by hype” Did you see the numbers Syndergaard put up in his rookie season? And the mets big 3 starters all pitched 200+ or close innings (this is including postseason innings) and they all seemed sharp going down the stretch.
So please save your nonsense comments.
they were in a six man rotation for a good chunk of the regular season, and what makes an ace isn’t just one good year. esteban loaiza was 21-9 with a 2.90 era in 2003. he had one other season with an era under 4 in his 14 year career. longevity, durability, stuff is what makes an ace. they have all shown the stuff. degrom has shown durability since coming up but needs another season to be called an ace. it’s very well possible he loses a tick next year when he comes back after all those innings.
Yes I did. 9-7 with a 3.24 ERA (with a nearly identical FIP). That’s very good. It’s not an ace.
I’m not saying he won’t get there. But he hasn’t shown the numbers yet, hence, he’s an ace by hype only.
I wouldn’t trade any of those arms. They can make some minor moves, hopefully far better then a cudeyer type of player, and just a bullpen piece. Sandy made great moves last July and so hopefully the mets ride those arms and then sandy can do his magic. Starting in July is where rumblings of Harvey being traded really start. Then from their anything can happen. The NL east is gonna still be a lousy division next yr, especially with all the guys the Nats are losing.
Im a Mets fan and I completely agree. The Mets will lose the production of Cespedes and Murphy and go dumpster diving to replace them.
Hear me out, Yankees send SS Jorge Mateo 2B Rob Refsnyder and Pineda for one of those young arms in the Mets rotation they need to plug their middle infield hole. I know some Yankees fans may hate the idea but with young didi playing SS well and Tyler Wade in the farm Mateo is that much more expendable granted he’s a super prospect rn but it would be so worth if it means acquiring say Matz or Degrom? I don’t think they send Harvey or Syndergaard for that but I think it’s an interesting trade. Of course the Yankees would have to turn to the FA market for their 2B or trade for one and Cashman is pretty creative with his trading so it wouldn’t be the end of the world to loose ref and mateo and right now is when they have the most trade value. Maybe send OF Mason Williams in that package as well.
Not sure the Mets would value Mateo he is further away from the majors and I’m not sure hes a major upgrade over the light hitting middle infielders they already have.
There is no way the Mets take that. Mateo is a nice piece, but he isn’t a headliner for an ace. Now add Judge to the equation with Mateo, then that might be the start of something. However, I really don’t see NY dealing the youth they have been focused on building up.
The only way Yankees send Judge is for Harvey.
Judge is not really that great to be a centerpiece for someone like Harvey
When the NY Mets needs and timeline on Cuddyer and Grandy line up with the presence of Judge so well, they could do worse. Adding in 2 meaningful pieces behind Judge and a lotto ticket or 2 could be enough. But again, why would the yanks unload the farm that they have put so much effort into building?
Even with all the Yankees effort to build a farm system it is going to be haunted for the next year or two. They Yankee scouts love international players but after they completely blew the international budget they are restrained from signing any more. They need to put together just one or two more players to make a run deep in the postseason. I think they should trade Mateo and other prospects at his level but hold on to major league ready players because they are going to need all the help they can get this year. They need one more starter and any other problems can be addressed later or at the trade deadline. They don’t need to make a huge splash in the free agent market. They have to stay under the luxury tax as well
Well those trade chips are at their highest worth right now and dominant,young, controllable pitching is the ultimate luxury in baseball but you’re right it was just an idea I thought was pretty interesting
because judge is seriously overrated.
But he is the NYY number 1 prospect so he wont be dealt unless its for a quality young ace maybe the mets arent the team to trade with but just saying
He may be their number one prospect but he is not getting any ace.
This time next year , we’ll be talking about Why the Yankees did’nt sell high on Judge !
Would y’all really rather have Harvey than degrom? I think he’s the real ace of the group
Syndrguard is going to be better then both of them.
why would you even want harvey over degrom? degrom has 2 more years of control lol
2 future hall of famers and Pineda for a pitcher?!?
Mateo was enough to land Kimbrel.
Mateo was not enough to get Kimbrel. It was just a named floated out there. Kimbrel just landed Margot and Gurrea.
Mateo was not enough to land Kimbrel… There’s a reason the Padres didn’t trade him to the Yankees
Mateo is not a super prospect. Not even close. Refsnyder is not a very good piece. That is an awful trade idea.
He is an excellent SS refsnyder is a good piece he will hit and he is young and cheap i threw it out there bc of the lack of 2B on the market and those that do have good 2B arent going to trade them away. Throw in young power pitcher whos only problem is consistency (Pineda) and another prospect and I dont see how its an “awful” trade for say Matz
Matz is a cost controlled young pitcher. Pineda has less control and is hurt all the time. Refsnyder really is nothing special and has little value. Mateo is super young and is not going to get you Matz. He is just not worth that much.
mateo was literally the 5th best ss prospect in a ball lol. barreto, albies, torres are all leaps and bounds ahead of him. and he is a year older than all of them.
Why do Yankee fans always want to trade spare parts for an elite player? Trading for deGrom starts w. Severino+ (in regard to talent level), which obviously isn’t going to happen.
yeah, unless they move judge, bird and mateo. even then its light. degrom isnt even arb eligable for 2 more years. i guess you can make a case if they include andrew miller and cash you can do it for miller, judge, mateo.
Because we are use to watching the Yankees win all the time amd hearing players say how great it would be to go and play for the team of the century and win championships, and so at times all of that winning can make us delusional.
As a Yankee fan I would kill for the stable of arms the mets have. During the World Series frank viola said there were more of them to come and they were even better then what was at the show now. Freaking scary.
no all their best pitching prospects are in the majors. i will assume he meant wheeler being hurt in more to come.
As a Yankee fan I would freaking love that but as u added mason Williams in the end, it would have to be more like an Aaron Judge. And might only work because they are so desperate for a SS. Mateo is still a ways off from the show though. We can dream right.
So the Mets aren’t shopping him but he may be for sale
It would be ridiculous to trade Wheeler. He is at a low point in his perceived value. They should trade Syndergaard. His velocity just screams TJ surgery coming soon. They can make a mint off of him right now or they can hope he recovers as well as Harvey did or Wheeler might. His value is really never going to be much higher and has a shot of being drastically lower. They will miss him, but not really that much if Wheeler comes back strong and Matz proves he can handle a full year.
Anybody know how many years of control Harvey, Degrom, Synderguard, Matz, and Wheeler have left on their contracts?
Harvey 3
Degrom 5
Syndergaurd 6
Matz 6
0, there is no contract until free agency or an extension other than the yearly deals. otherwise its just they are under team control for X number of years.
Every player is tendered a contract.
hence the yearly deals…
and you don’t have to tender them a contract. its called a nontender. if harvey needs another tommy john he will be non tendered next year as they would be paying 7 million or so to keep him.
i get downvoted for being right! woot woot!
Steve Adams can you make it a point to allow to see who downvotes you so i can completely disregard anything they say moving forward.
Why anyone would trade anyone right now is beyond me. IMO you let the FA market play out and see who is left needing a starter and work from that point. Unless someone blows you away with an offer then sit still and let them come to you.
JD Martinez for one of the Mets Arms?
Top 15 in WAR in the AL in 2015. 38 HRs in a park that is a similar size to Citi Field. A credible replacement for Cespedes.
JD Martinez would be the epitome of buying low and selling high, but I don’t think he is enough for them.
JD is for real. TWO years in a row is good enough for me. He has a Cabrera-like approach that is distinctly improved from his Houston days.
As a Tigers fan, I don’t want to lose him. But they need more young starters. Trade JD/sign Heyward… would be perfect for Detroit. Better than overpaying two mid-range over 30 starting pitchers and then dealing with JD’s arbitration raises.
I’ve actually been saying something similar. If they can trade JD the way they traded granderson, it would really help the team. I would go after upton because he would cost a lot less, but yes, ver, #2 signee (Zimmermann?), young pitcher we traded for JD, Norris, and Sanchez would be an intriguing rotation
And I would obviously hate to lose JD… He had one of the most powerful swings to the opposite side of the field I’ve ever seen
Throw in a prospect and I don’t see why not but why would the tigers part with the second best player on their team and give up all that much needed offense. You plug a whole but open another one.
You would have to sign someone like upton to replace him, but the benefit is that that you extend your team’s window of contention by getting someone who is younger, more controllable, and cheap. Losing JD would hurt, but the Tigers’ offense is good enough to overcome it
maybe if they took back cuddyer and his 12.5 mil this year. cheap mets prolly would like that.
martinez can’t play center at all, worse than cespedes. hate to say it but it will most likely be a jon jay for jon niese type deal and none of these pipe dreams.
He’s actually a better hitter than cespedes, but yes, he’s not a CF
hes hit in better lineups for sure. which helps. cespedes was the better defender which is why mets could tolerate him in center for the offensive boost but martinez in center is scary. they aren’t going to block conforto though.
How’s granderson in center? You make a good point though, there isn’t really a spot for him at the moment
10 years ago he was good, lagares is amazing though. nimmo might be a solid regular there so they might just give him a shot. high obp, not much power, average to above d.
Mets need to trade Harvey for a shortstop at this point. Yes he is good but they need a shortstop more than they need a pitcher. He only has 3 more years of control and it might be a blessing in disguise getting him and his diva attitude out of the clubhouse.
Agreed….for Correa, that’s about it.
Correa has more value then Harvey.
Yes correa is too young too talented and is under cheap control maybe xander from boston
The Mets currently have no 2B, a weak hitting CF and Wilmer Flores at SS, who streamer has as being 2.3 war next year. SS is the last of their problems.
Xander is also super talented and is under cheap control. He is not going anywhere. The Red Sox just traded Guerra. Bogarts is a safer bet then Harvey and has more control
That’s my point. 3 yrs of Harvey would take a budding superstar like Correa.
And I’m saying that 3 years of Harvey doesn’t get back 6 years of Correa. Correa has more value.
Does your brain hurt? Why would they give up that much control for a potential MVP and ROY for three years of Harvey. If they wanted an ace that bad, they’d spend the money not give up the cornerstone of their franchise…
other pieces can provide value other than just a headliner.
I’m not sure which SS would be in your hypothetical deal, but if they thought they were hard up enough for a SS, there’s other routes to go. Signing Desmond would be one. I’m not endorsing that necessarily, but it would be a far better move than trading Harvey.
No way you trade Harvey, especially when they can go and sign right now the overrated and error prone Ian Desmond if they really needed a shortstop so bad. It’s a whole for sure, but Harvey only is going to get better and he should have a significant improvement by next year based on the time of his TJ surgery. They will trade him but they are going to get a massive package of MLB ready guys and top prospects but most likely not until he is coming into his last yr. Then the most exciting thing about all this is when he then signs with his favorite team, the Yankees!
always love the “not actively shopping” line. Translation “of course, if you want to offer us something really really really good, like really good, and throw some money in as well, and maybe a prospect arm, to make up for the loss of Wheeler…..”
I’m guessing Tulo ends up in NY with the Mets, the Jays say they aren’t shopping him, but, some of his comments seem to indicate he’s not thrilled about being in Toronto. Ryan Goins showed an improved approach in the second half last year, and could be an everyday gold glove caliber shortstop. The jays also need multiple arms and the Mets are a fit there as well.
NTC kicked in when he was dealt, so some sort of concession would need to be made towards Tulo. Also he didn’t exactly crush it in Toronto after the deal, combined with his salary I can’t see much value. And I am one of the being Tulo to NY crowd
Steve Philips on MLB radio was saying last week that Tulo was unhappy in Canada and being away from his wife and kid.
Your right he didn’t hit well, he never settled in, or really got comfortable and he made that quite clear, he was shocked he got traded and new nothing about Toronto, and mentally never quite recovered. He did state once he went to spring training and start the year fresh with his new team he’d feel more comfortable. His defence was his usual gold glove caliber though, really solidified the middle of the diamond and really helped out the pitching staff. He’s a gold glove, silver slugger shortstop, and his value is still as good as it gets at the position, and his contract, is actually, very reasonable for those credentials, and an acquiring team has him under control for the next 5-6 years.
It’s interesting but I don’t see it, given Tulo’s contract and the Mets’ unwillingness to part with arms. Tulo in a very small sample of 14 games has mashed at Citi, though, and I’d imagine that the tax rates in Canada are a little higher than New York (though with the NYC tax on top of that, maybe not), so the NTC might not be an issue.
It would have been interesting if the Braves talked to the Mets about Simmons and would have taken Wheeler plus Flores or Tejada and another low level right or left hander….would have liked that deal on the Braves side more than what they got from the Angels
White sox would send them Adam Eaton for Wheeler
There is no way the White Sox send Eaton off for Wheeler….Eaton still makes peanuts also….no replacement for him
What about Wheeler for Gardener? Seems to solve a need for both teams.
Too much money for the Mets to take on
…Wheeler makes nothing…..Yankees would have to include lots of cash which kills it for them
Mets not Shopping Wheeler, which means Wheeler wearing a new Uniform next April !
I have an interested trade thought. What do you think about a JD Martinez and Steven Moyà For Matt Harvey? As a tiger fan that feels unfair but I really isn’t that bad Moya is a top prospect and JD hit 284. With 38 homers last year
Baez and Soler for Wheeler?
I love how the mets consider all their pitchers aces even aged s guy has like 10 career starts. Lol
It’s way too early to call Matz anything. Pitchers are so volatile it’s ridiculous to assume anything about them.
Scouts and other guys who do this for a living have talked about the Mets having 3-4+ legit aces. Wheeler is on the mend and could make it 5.