With less than a week until the non-waiver deadline, Mets right fielder Jay Bruce has yet to attract any serious attention on the trade market, according to Newsday’s Marc Carig. The $4.83MM remaining on Bruce’s contract this season might be enough to allow Bruce to clear waivers in August, Carig notes (that sum would be down to about $4.4MM on Aug. 1), but at present all reports seemingly indicate that interest in Bruce is tepid. Most of the Mets’ trade conversations to date have focused on closer Addison Reed, Carig adds.
A few more notes on the Mets…
- There’s somewhat of a market for backup catcher Rene Rivera, tweets Mike Puma of the New York Post, and the Cubs are among the clubs with interest. Chicago has been linked to multiple catchers, most prominently Alex Avila, as the team looks to find a more experienced backup to Willson Contreras. Rivera fits the bill, and while he’s not a great hitter, the 33-year-old’s .245/.291/.395 batting line and six homers in 158 plate appearances are passable for a backup option. Plus, Rivera is regarded as an excellent defender and has halted 38 percent of stolen base attempts this season while maintaining his characteristically strong framing numbers. A free agent at season’s end, Rivera is earning a reasonable $1.75MM salary, with about $650K remaining on that deal.
- Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News writes that most within the Mets organization expect top prospect Amed Rosario to be recalled shortly after the non-waiver trade deadline. FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweets the same. The 21-year-old entered play today hitting .329/.367/.473 with seven homers, 18 doubles, seven triples and 17 steals through 398 plate appearances in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
- Meanwhile, closer Jeurys Familia is readying to begin throwing from a mound as he continues to work back from surgery to address a blood clot in his shoulder, Carig was among those to report. While a timeline remains uncertain, manager Terry Collins did indicate that the hope is Familia will return at some point in the current season. That won’t likely change the fate of the club for the current season, but perhaps will allow them to get a read on his status entering the offseason.
What would it cost the Cubs for Rivera?
A bag of pop corn.
Top-10 org prospect and maybe a throw in should get it done
You must be on the good stuff, but it’s too early for that.
To be fair, with all of the deals Theo has done over the last few seasons, I think the aforementioned bag of popcorn is on the list of their top-10 prospects.
Absolutely. At just 19 seconds old, this bag of popcorn has been HOT for the AA Tennessee Smokies. His bat has tremendous pop and he’s a favorite among the clubhouse, as well as the fans. Cubs should trade him before he cools off.
*claps slowly*
Probably somewhere in the top 15-30 range considering what the Red Sox got for Nunez
For a backup catcher?
I wonder if Dave Stewart’s username is jackt
Love it
Nothing. Maybe a Corey Abbot at the most
Abbott can’t be traded until after the World Series ends.
20 pizzas the next time the Mets come to town
I would say 10 is pushing it.
Why would a NY team want Chicago pizza?
Because sometimes it’s good to live higher on the hog
With Chicago pizza? NY has the best pizza in the world….
The Cubs need a Lucroy caliber backstop not a Rivera
The Cubs are looking for a good defender. Like that guy from that Dancing Show.
have you seen lucroy’s numbers?
rivera > lucroy
I like a Erling Moreno for him. Not close enough to be immediately impactful, enough upside to be something
If we get a catcher( vet ) it only for a year Carintino will be a good catcher better than any on the market it just tough sitting him he might get traded he is a #1 catcher type but not as good as the best catcher in the League Wilson Contrares
Is Rivera even really worth trading? He has a pretty good rep with the pitching staff and the return probably wouldn’t be much.
He’s also not blocking any prospects or limiting anyone’s playing time.
I’m with you. Keep him
Does anyone even care about this team? They have a couple nice starters, a few solid outfielders and one nice bullpen piece, nothing else. Say what you want about them they’re going nowhere fast.
Just Bc YOU don’t care about them doesn’t mean others don’t. And, all they have been doing is getting better after a tough start. It’s rough for any team to lose one of their best SPs, their closer, and one of their best position players for an extended period of time and still remain relevant.
Going nowhere fast is an ignorant statement.
Loyal till the last out. LGM!
I don’t think the article is suggesting the Mets are good
If you don’t care, why are you following them on this? And second, they have been beat silly with the injury bug. Not to say they didn’t have holes coming into the season,but when any team loses their MVP caliber outfielder, their 2b, their ss multiple times, their allstar closer, their Ct young caliber starter, and all other starters minus degrom, you kinda can’t expect much from them. Any team that went through this would be “going nowhere fast” as you put it. They have decent options for other teams and we will see how this week plays out. If he Mets take on some of the money on the contracts, if not all (since the plan was to
Pay them and make the playoffs anyway) they may be able to get a few good prospects in return. A conciliation for the agony of 2017 injury plagued season.
Build up knowledge of what they have for
Next year by getting familia Harvey and Noah back and maybe try others in different positions to see if they are worth while for next year too (if said players are not traded this week).
Also, bring up Rosario and smith and let the future for the everyday player side of the ball take shape with potential cornerstones set at 1b ss and wherever Conforto ends up.
Huge Mets fan, but you can’t count on much of anything from Harvey anymore…. if they even keep him around.
Sure Frank, only not in the real world. First of all, there’s no evidence that these pitchers will ever be as good as they were in 2015. The Mets burned this group out by over pitching them to the point of long term durability. So if you stop the wishful thinking you will be better off. Your MVP caliber outfielder is always either side of the disabled list with injuries to his legs. This will only worsen over the next few years. It was a dumb signing as a knee jerk reaction.
You would be much better off boycotting the team to the point where the dodger obsessed Wilson father and son team are forced to sell. This franchise will continue to bumble and stumble until they sell out to owners who are dedicated to investing in a professional organization and team for the long hall.
Oh, look, the batphone went off in mikeyanks’ basement…
“A Mets post! I must answer the call! 2015 was a fluke! They’re doomed I tell you! All of their players will wither up and die!”
Oh, look, the batphone went off in mikeyanks’ basement…
“A Mets post! I must answer the call! 2015 was a fluke! They’re doomed I tell you! All of their players will wither up and die!”
As far as the Mets pitchers, they were treated the same way almost every other team treats their pitchers. They all have the same book. They wound up in the WS, what did you expect them to do? Bring guys up from AAA? Look at what the Yankees did with Severino, with his innings a few years ago. It was probably more dangerous than anything the Mets did. Can I come on here and crow when his arm blows out? Because they pretty much ALL blow out at some point.
is there “evidence” the pitchers won’t return to form?
if you think the Cesoedes contract was so awful what are your thoughts on the Ellsbury contract? Or Sabathia contract?
>It was a dumb signing as a knee jerk reaction.
wait, are you talking about ellsbury? he was a 30/30 guy 6 years ago so it was a great deal for the yankees to give him 160 million dollars.
Hey Runs–You should definitely go to CVS because diarrhea of the mouth can be reversed with over the counter medicine.
Elsbury is finished. It’s old news. We don’t do business with the old model any longer. Sorry for your deep resentment.
That old news is still on the books for a while. The Ces deal was below market rate in years and total dollars. Not sure what your issue with it I’d.
But we get it. you don’t like the Wilpons. Or Mets. You were probably a Met fan and changed sides.There’s no other reasonable explanation that you would sit in your mother’s basement and continue to rant about the Wilpons. Put on your Luis Sojo t shirt jersey you bought on eBay to pawn yourself off as a lifer and get over it.
I can’t figure out if you are a bitter ex-Met fan or a Yankee fan frustrated with the passing of the glory years. I’m going with bitter ex-Met fan because I rarely see you post on the Yankees but alway see you comment with the exact same Mets rant (Terry sucks, pitching staff ruined never to return to glory, the Wilpons faked the moon landing, blah, blah, blah.) Seriously, give it rest, dude.
Theruns…love it!!
Never been a Mets’ fan. I’m a baseball fan and as my name suggests my favorite team is the Yankees. BTW, Yankees don’t accept mets fans not front runners.
Now to put your cute shots to rest, NY has a lot of NL fans. Wilson’s historically raping the market. When they do spend money they tend to piss it away.
Cespedes stats are commensurate with salary, however he is historically prone to leg Injuries. And yes whiners you can throw back Elsbury, however:
1-Yankees never pinned whole offense on him as the mets did with Cespedes.
2-Stop comparing to MO of older (Hank influenced) Yankee strategies are move past your anger/resentment to the new ways that the Yankees Hyde approached the changed baseball market.
What am I missing, who is the MVP caliber OF on the mets?
I dunno, maybe the guy in LF who finished 13th in the 2015 MVP voting (despite only spending a few months in the NL) and 8th last year in the MVP voting?
well now it’s conforto
I think to win an MVP one usually has to stay healthy for more than a month at a time.
And it’s so convenient to compare vs. last year at this point in the season where he can barely field much stay healthy in the field.
So runs I will make you a deal. I will supply all of the water needed to keep Ces’ legs from pulls. Though you will have to feed it to him since despite the team telling him that he needs to keep hydrated to stay on the field and HE DOESN’T!
Quick question; for a guy with a long history of leg issues, is he that dumb–or played for teams with medical/trainer staff THAT DUMB ????
Rivera would cost a lot less then Avila and is solid defensively. The real question is how much will Rivera and Reed cost
Jay Bruce would be a nice fit in Pittsburgh.
But there are so many sellers this year relative to buyers, anyone who waits to the last minute is going to be able to do some serious bargain shopping.
You could probably fill multiple holes without giving up a Top 30 org prospect. Just a bunch of cash and/or PTBNL’s.
NH you said you were going to use the money saved from Kang and Marte offer to take that Bruce contract. He is better than the Jaso Osuna and Frazier combo.
Maybe you get Reed cheaper prospects wise doing this.
I’d definitely be in favor of getting both Bruce and Reed. What do you think that offer would need to look like?
Craig, Eppler, and a 3rd low-level prospect?
Yuedy Garcia, Travis Macgregor, and a low-level hitter?
Craig’s currently listed at #8 in the Pirates prospect list with Eppler at 26, Garcia is at 19 and Macgregor is at 17. I hope the Mets do better than this for the likes of Bruce and Reed and not just settle for such returns.
I already made my post above when I started thinking the same thing. Reed would be perfect behind Rivero.
What if they offer to take Bruce AND Neil Walker and their contracts if Reed is part of the deal for a marginal prospect?
Offer the Lithuanian relief pitcher for all 3.
How much $ would those contracts be?
It would probably add about $10 million or so to the payroll. More than the Kang and Marte savings.
But also a lot less than they’d lose in ticket revenue and TV fees if they don’t stay competitive.
Although, now that I think about it, bringing Walker back might be messy (local kid, etc.), so maybe Cabrerra or one of their other salary dumps instead.
I’d rather have Cabrera over Walker, but he’s one of the few Mets that have been getting interest so he’ll likely be a little expensive.
I feel like the only way the Mets trade Rivera is if they package him with another player for a team that needs to fill multiple holes. Could package him with Bruce, Grandy, Reed, etc. to get a little better return. Rivera on his own though wouldn’t return much.
Mets fans in live in their own Bubble , nobody wants your Players because their not good ! and too expensive.
As a Dodger fan when I look at the Mets I see a very good team that met with a series of misfortunes this year. They could have just as easily been 10 games up on the Nats
You think they could just as easily been about 70-30? That’s roughly the record they would need to have been about 10 games up on the nats.
Thanks for your feedback JEFF WILPON. You are the ONLY Dodger fan that is so delusional.
That’s why they are no longer on this board. Too much heat for reality. Team is as bad as the management and that is a reflection on non committed owners who are milking the ny fans.
Rivera and Reed to the Cubs for Victor Caratini currently ranked #7 in the Cubs prospect pool and Eddy Martinez currently ranked #17. BTW Cubs are now listed as only having one prospect in the Top 100 (Candelario at #92), Mets with two (Rosario and Smith).
I rather doubt the Cubs give up Caratini for two expiring contracts.
I could see a Charcer Burks/John Andreoli/Brad Markey type for Rivera, though.
Glad to hear we will see Rosario soon. Does anyone know what the timetable is for Dominic Smith? There’s not room to play him everyday unless Duda gets traded. And since they will probably let Duda go after this season do they plan on starting Smith next year with no Major league experience?
Halo will take jay for a Player to be name later
Toronto ought to get back in on Jay Bruce. Make a serious run at October.
Rene Rivera would be a good fit for the Cubs. Contreras is THE man, so they don’t need someone like LuCroy. It would be cool if they could get Rivera and Addison Reed in a package.
Would the Mets try to keep Rosario under the ROY eligibility cap so he can be a candidate next year? Any history of any team doing that, I can’t think of one but does strike me as a rather easy marketing move (if he comes up Aug 1 and played every single game after that he wouldn’t go over by much, he’d just have to be sat once a week or so)
Hey Jakec–good suggestion that would require competent management. Unfortunately the team is pacing these skills in the front office.