The blockbuster seven-player trade between the Mets and Mariners is on the verge of being finalized, and an official announcement could come as early as Monday. Since the initial news about this trade first began to break last Thursday, however, there has already been quite a bit of discussion from various pundits about what this major swap means for both franchises. Here’s the round-up of some of the many takes on the trade, which reportedly consists of Robinson Cano, Edwin Diaz, and $20MM in cash considerations going to the Mets, while the Mariners receive Jay Bruce, Anthony Swarzak, former first-round draft picks Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn, and righty pitching prospect Gerson Bautista.
- As noted by both The Athletic’s Tim Britton and ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (subscriptions required for both), the Mets paid a hefty price to upgrade themselves at second base and closer during an offseason when several other options at both positions were available in free agency at a lower cost. Olney suggests that New York could’ve kept Jeff McNeil at second base and signed a closer like David Robertson or Jeurys Familia, which would’ve kept Kelenic/Dunn/Bautista in the farm system and left more money for the Mets to spend on other needs. “Given the particulars of the trade and the market context, the core question for the Mets in this deal is this: Do they think the quality difference in 70 innings of Diaz vs. 70 innings of a Robertson or Jeurys Familia is worth taking on $60MM of Cano money and swapping two of their top 10 prospects,” Olney asks. More than one rival evaluator mentioned to Olney that while Diaz is controllable for four years, Diaz’s large save totals will give him a costly arbitration price tag right away when he first becomes arb-eligible next winter.
- The Mets also could’ve given up less prospect depth, Britton observes, by taking on more of Cano’s salary. Regardless, the trade is hard to properly evaluate until we see how “the money saved in this move gets reinvested in the major league roster,” as Britton puts it.
- More moves are definitely necessary for the Mets, ESPN.com’s Keith Law opines (subscription required), since Cano and Diaz alone won’t turn New York into a contender. That’s even assuming Cano and Diaz continue to produce as they did in 2018, which is no guarantee given Cano’s age and the general year-to-year volatility of many relievers, even arms as dominant as Diaz was last season. “This had to be Mets fans’ worst nightmare: The owners, who seemingly can’t stop meddling in baseball operations, would hire someone as GM who’d short-circuit the ongoing rebuilding of the farm system in pursuit of short-term wins,” Law writes. He also gives his take on the three youngsters heading to Seattle, and believes the Mariners are doing a good job of adding talent to a minor league pipeline that was very short on premium prospects.
- Brodie Van Wagenen came into the Mets’ GM job intent on building a contender for 2019, and his pursuit of this goal has drawn praise from USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, who contrasts Van Wagenen’s plans with the now-common occurrence of a new general manager immediately beginning a rebuild upon taking a job. The Cano trade is “the kind of bold, daring move that used to dominate the baseball landscape, before GMs were more worried about preserving their job security than taking risks….Imagine, a team actually spending money, taking a genuine risk, and trying to win a World Series without worrying about hoarding prospects,” Nightengale writes. In regards to Cano’s ability to stay productive into his late 30’s and early 40’s, Nightengale adds the interesting observation that a DH role could still be in his future, should the National League adopt a designated hitter in the next collective bargaining agreement (the current CBA ends after the 2021 season).
- The Athletic’s Jim Bowden (subscription required) grades the deal as a B for the Mariners and a C for the Mets, noting that Seattle looks to be the long-term winner if Kelenic and Dunn develop into quality big league regulars.
- This deal, and the trades of James Paxton and Mike Zunino earlier this offseason, netted eight new minor leaguers for the Mariners, or $78MM in asset value to Seattle’s farm system, Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen calculates (based on the prospect valuation system used by Fangraphs’ Craig Edwards). The M’s previously ranked at the bottom of these prospect value rankings, though their moves have now moved them to around the middle of the pack, with Longenhagen’s caveat that this rating could certainly fluctuate based on what the Mariners or other teams do in the rest of the offseason.
I believe Mariners win in the long run by trading Cano, since got back top prospects, due to the volatile nature of Closers. Mets win in the short run, traded 2 lower half top 100, and kept McNeil who was initially included in the trade.
Conclusion -Push!
Bold statement when one of the guys the Mets received is 36 years old
The Met’s relieved themselves of 2 something who were not clubhouse guys. Even @ 36 he’s still more mobile than Bruce-who was blocking 2/3 young guys(adding in the 1B-Alonso). We gave up a 19 yr old who wasn’t going to help us now, is going to be another Left handed hitter corner OF & a projected closer.. Payroll went DOWN not up so a C & CF still in play.
The Mets do win in the short term, assuming Cano can play even close to his 2018 production (when active), over the next 2 seasons. Long term, if they don’t return to competitiveness, this is a big loss for them. That’s what makes this a big risky move. And why they must go ALL IN the rest of this off season. Bring in another bat, and another reliever, at least.
You guys got to remember that the Mets are going to have DeGroom and Syndergard only for a few more years, so they need to try and win it all now since they won’t be able to keep them both in that same rotation. So by adding this high caliber closer and Robison Canó, who can still be a big productive part of this lineup, the Mets increases their chances to becomes the 2019 champions. They just need to add a good reliever and one more HR batter to take the East. Harper may sound crazy, but in some way it’ll be logical for the Mets to acquire him. It’ll add big power to the lineup and it will complete that CF/RF hole.
Yankees fan here who looves to take playful shots at Mets, but forgot about 24 year old closer Diaz.
To quote Bob Nightengale in the article above:
“Just think about Diaz’s value alone. If he were a free agent, he’d be worth at least $100 million. And Mets have control of this guy, who saved 57 games last year, for the next four years.”
Anyone who thinks Diaz would land a $100 million contract in FA now is insane
Nightengale isn’t credible and said Harper would get 500M last year…
Also, Diaz hits arb next season. Saves is one of the stats that drives up arb prices very quickly. Though the Mets won’t be paying him FA money, Diaz will not be a bargain for the Mets either.
You’re crazy if you don’t think he could get that.
And Bruce is how old? Meh.
bonds did well at 36 without a suspension…oh wait Ortiz too. facts suck…right?
PEDS rule
McNeil was never included in the deal. Seattle wanted him but the Mets would not include him.
We’re just all a bunch of small time pundits.
Great for the Mariners, although it’s pathetic how many teams are in the rebuild mode. It justifies the owners being cheap and is fans are suckers to even care or support MLB. It’s a race to the bottom. This scenario will negatively impact the players again this winter and result in lower contracts for the players. How did the players association just renew their leader? Next round of negotiations will be and should be brutal. The owners are getting even richer and the game is played by the players. However, the owners win and everyone else loses. College baseball is better to watch than MLB.
Yes, the poor players are only in line to get $300M contracts this offseason for being elite. Basically you are saying a team should spend big money and stay mediocre so that mid level veterans are overpaid.
College baseball is not better to watch, get real.
Why are MLB players owned property for the first seven years of their MLB career?
J.T. Realmuto would have made at least $50 million the past two years if he had been a free agent for those two seasons. He made less than $4 mil this year.
Why seven years?
No way he get offered 20+million per after his 2016 season
I looked at his stats.
Though good, no way his defense could boost value that much. Not two years ago…
That’s 2 guys
And there is no shortage of 100 million dollar contracts already signed
Even closers are asking 80+ million for 65 innings of work,so the idea that the players are getting hosed doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
Why are MLB players owned property for the first seven years of their MLB career?
J.T. Realmuto would have made at least $50 million the past two years if he had been a free agent for those two seasons. He made less than $4 mil this year.
Why seven years?
Why do top prospects get huge signing bonuses when half of them don’t even pan out?
@ScottRolen
It’s typically 6 years.
Team’s recoup their investments developing players in the minors for years before players reach the majors and as they develop in the majors over time. Who wants to develop players who then leave after just a few years to star for another team?
Players are protected by being well compensated through 3 or 4 years of arbitration, and then more than a half mil per year in their first few seasons.
Also keep in mind that teams invest a lot of money into international signees and draft picks. – some of whom get paid 100’s of thousands and even millions by their team even before they turn pro.
Bottom line, good players who stay healthy, make tons of money.
” the game is played by the players”…your grasp of the obvious is frightening
College baseball isn’t even close to mlb, keep your nonsense and delusions to yourself
Ridiculous nonsense.
Bigwestbaseball that is a clueless comment. You do not think the players sre getting rich too?
Teams should have hard caps and minimal spends. Get it to be like the NFL where the teams that go to playoffs are always different (with exception to New England).
It’s not a perfect system, but the average MLB salary is around $4M. Not bad, especially compared to crumbs the players actually made in the Golden Age.
In 1980, Nolan Ryan, as a free agent, signed with the Astros for $1M a year.
If you want to understand baseball poverty, read Ball Four.
Major leaguers are doing just fine. Minor leaguers, in the other hand, are actually getting screwed. For about $5M a year, teams could pay all these guys a solid middle class wage. Unfortunately, they don’t.
Holy Cow this is the biggest trade in the history of baseball. It will help the Mets become contenders and bring happiness back to New York.
Holy Cow–must be a yankee fan
You must be too seeing you’re quoting Phil Rizzuto.
Hahahaha that’s a joke
Not even close JoeFriday
Bet the trade gets nixed at the last second
It’s the mets and mariners not the Orioles.
Honestly, it’s a solid move for both teams, assuming the prospects work out for the Mariners and Diaz/Cano repeat last years production.
The deal was done over 3 day ago. Time to move on
The deal is not officially done yet. It’s a big trade, and on sites that rely on big news, a trade like this will be talked about for a while. Oddly enough, you ARE allowed to skip the articles.
Call me silly but I have a feeling that the Mets have a better chance at signing either Machado or Harper than the Phillies.
Most Phillies articles seem to conflate annual payroll like 2019 with decade plus long risks. The Phillies could easily afford both Machado and Harper in 2019 but cannot afford a single decade long bust without being completely hamstrung like the Angels with Pujols and how the Mariners would have been had they not traded Cano.
The Mets — being in the New York market — are able and now seem willing to scale up to a higher revenue with higher expenses model. Wilpon could have done that far sooner had he not been scammed by Madoff. They will soon be able to spend their way out of a massive bust like the Yankees, Dodgers and Red Sox do that the Phillies probably will not be able to do.
Mets are in on Harper but out on Machado. Even though they need a RH bat, his attitude and lack of hustle, like most teams, has turned them off.
Why is everyone acting like McNeil isnt moving to 3B? Todd Frazier ain’t blocking him and will either be an expensive bench guy, or traded. He’s gone at end of 2019 anyway.
Mets are a mess – no way Harper going there book it.
Their new GM is radically fixing that mess. The Mets also have starting pitching, an elite closer, and and a media market to Scott Boras’ liking. Don’t be too sure.
Met’s can’t fit another Left Hitter corner OF-so no Harper
Harper is a CF/RF and Conforto CF/LF and Nimmo is a utility OF so I wouldn’t rule Harper out of that conversation
Metropolitans meet you’re next GM AJ Preller aka BVW
BVW is a 180 from AJ.
I’m sure mets fans would love for BVW to stockpile a top 3 farm system. Itd make the Wilpons happy to have cheap options to field a competitive team.
I do not see the correlation between Preller and BVW
As bobtillman pointed out, the Mets got 2 IMPACT players.
Cano’s bat in the middle of the line-up takes pressure off the other batters, as Diaz does for the other relief pitchers.
As for this prospect nonsense, people here brought up the Shelby Miller trade. D-Backs got back #25 ranked prospect Aaron Blair, and #10 ranked prospect Dansby Swanson – a #1 choice in the draft.
Blair is out of baseball, and Swanson is looking like a possible so-so utility infielder.
Add that Bruce cannot play the OF. If moved to 1B he would block the Mets #1 prospect from getting enough run to see if he had anything to contribute. It’s better he and his salary have left. Swarzak will easily be replaced.
The Mets roster had the FO backed into a corner. This trade begins to get them out.
Swanson is possibly a so so middle infielder but probably thinks Rosario is going to be great, lol.
Mutt fans are beyond delusional.
Last week they were saying they didn’t want Machado cause hes lazy and doesnt hustle.
This week they are thrilled they got Cano, lol
What’s delusional?
Swanson has underperformed
Rosario played exceptionally well in the second half last year
A lot of fans of many teams feel that way about Machado
We aren’t excited about Cano, although he brings a nice bat and leadership. We are excited about Diaz, who many teams sought after. We are also happy to see Bruce and Swarzak gone.
Exactly. Getting rid of Bruce was clearly addition by subtraction because if he was on the team, they were going to have to play him because of how much he was making. And Swarzak clearly did not live up to expectations.
I like the fact that Seattle and other teams have decided to rebuild, in the past they would have stayed in the middle for years. Now Seattle can reload, and build a winner.
@ Slider32
So how many games will you be attending during the rebuilding years?
Have you been to that stadium? It’s very nice.
I’ve wanted to plan a trip to Seattle when the Astros are there.
The NL isn’t switching to a DH. If anything the AL will drop their JV status and join the national league as an adult league.
Not happening. The DH extends careers, and the majority of fans (not me, but still) prefer to not see pitchers batting. I bet there’s a better than even chance the NL adds the DH around the time of the next collective bargaining agreement negotiations.
That will never happen and I def see the NL getting a DH the players union will push for it because it is a high paying roster spot. I don’t understand why so many ppl don’t want the DH in the NL I would have loved for Chipper’s career to have been extended a bit by him only having to hit.
Interesting proposal on MLB Tonight a few days ago. DH in both leagues. Once your starting pitcher comes out you no longer use the DH. I like the idea.
I’ve had a similar idea- each team can pinch hit for their pitcher once per game without having to take pitcher out of the game. Keeps the strategic element of deciding when to use it while juicing the offense a little bit.
Union probably wouldn’t go for it since it doesn’t create a higher paid DH.
That was Buck Showalter’s idea
Random
Good luck denying the inevitable. The cumulative pitcher BA was something like .113 last year. Not very exciting.
Yeah, man…I’ll call it right now. Cano will DH for Mets before it’s all done.
I hate when pitchers get hurt while batting or on the base paths.
As an Astros fan, I used to hate the DH. Then, they changed leagues and I’ve learned to love it. I really enjoyed watching an aging Beltran.
As a lifetime Mets fan I think it’s funny that all of a sudden ppl are concerned about these prospects that we gave up……we have a window of opportunity with this starting staff because eventually these core starters will be gone starting next year with wheeler as he’s a FA. I’m glad our new gm is the opposite of Sandy alderson was. We’re not standing Pat hoping there’s no health set backs or injuries and if what the wilpons say is true about Sandy was the one that said not to go out and spend on players then we can all thank alderson for wasting the prime of our stud filled staff.
Exactly!
By the time those prospects get up and impact the team it’ll be 3-5 years. And the odds of all 3 ever impacting a team are huge.
deGrom and others are not about to squander their prime years waiting on prospects to come up, an once they do get pushed around by veteran opponents until they adjust…..if they adjust. Doesn’t matter if the Mets can pay them – multiple contenders will.
The majority of deep rebuilds fail. Currently there are over 10 teams in – or coming out of rebuilds. What are tehe odds of them playing in the WS between 2020-25?
Odds on the Mariners in the World Series between 2020-2025? About 2500 to 1!
Why? The Curse of Howard Lincoln.
A window of opportunity?
Normally teams that spend 2 straight years in 4th place aren’t taking about windows of opportunity, lol.
The mets would need to significantly improve just to be a decent team.
The team is awful, Cano is essentially taking the abs of asdrubal cabrera and mcneil last year, do you realize that?
How much of an improvement is that?
Throw away prospects and have Cano on the team in 21,22 and 23 for a chance to be ok the next 2 years? Wow
If the Mets dont win in the next 2 years, they will be set back 10 years with an empty farm system and an old, aging roster!! book it
Because Seattle is proving that it’s impossible to rebuild a farm system quickly…
it wasn’t much of a farm if trading two prospects sets them back 10 years.
As a Mets fan I like this trade. Cano is still a Top 5 2B, while Diaz could be considered the best closer in the game. The Mets don’t add to the payroll for the next two years because of Bruce and Swarzak being included in the trade. Once Cano’s contract starts affecting the Mets’ payroll, Cespedes and Wright will be off their books so it doesn’t hit them as bad as it would right now. Like many have written, if broken into two seperate trades, it’s not bad at all. Cano and $20M for Bruce, Swarzak, and Bautista is pretty even while Diaz for Kelenic and Dunn is very fair. The Mets biggest issues the last few years has been bullpen and depth. The bullpen obviously got better with this deal while inserting Cano into the lineup moves McNeil into more of a Marwin Gonzalez/Ben Zobrist role for the Mets. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up platooning with Frazier at 3B, giving the Mets most likely above average production at that position. Also, while the Mets have a dubious history of bad decisions, trading away prospects generally isn’t one of them. Everybody will immediately point to Scott Kazmir, but really, who else? The others who have turned into good players like Hubie Brooks, Preston Wilson and AJ Burnett, they brought in Gary Carter, Mike Piazza and Al Leiter respectively. Trades the Mets would make everyday of the week. Mostly the Mets have been saddled with Alex Ochoa, Lastings Milledge, Alex Escobar, Gregg Jefferies, etc. Kelenic looks good now, but there is no guarantee. Same goes for Dunn. He has talent but his numbers were ordinary once he reached AA last season. I like the outside of the box thinking and the guts to do it. Van Wagenen has done what he was brought in to do.
Better to try and fail rather than do nothing.
Five years from now it will be the same kind of trade all over again,this time with Machado or Harper.A different set of participants/victims.
I love how everyone has just bought hook line and sinker into the idea that all but like 5 teams need to be in a cycle of rebuilding every few years.
I wasn’t too crazy about the prospects the Mets gave up. Kelenic might be a bargain 5 years from now but his par performance after he was promoted gave me a moment of pause. Dunn is 23 and never been above double A and has had control issues. Not that these were legit prospects but you’re getting the best reliever in baseball under control for 4 years. And Cano is a definite step up from Bruce and the RPs. Meta are a lot better today than yesterday but still need a Catcher and bullpen help.
I really like this trade a lot for the Met’s. There are going to be very split opinions on this, but the Met’s essentially added Cano and Diaz for $60,545,000. It is true that Diaz’s salary will increase in 2020 and beyond, but as long as he continues to pitch well, there will be a surplus of value over the life of this trade. I do this trade all day every day if I’m the Met’s. They got ride of spare parts and a few unproven prospects. Forecasting prospects these days is a fools errand.
For the Met’s it’s a complete wash for 2019 season. Between moving Bruce and Swarzak in the trade and the cash thrown in by the Mariners – about $4m annually ($20M) that brings Cano’s contract down to $20M. If anything, the Met’s actually got Cano, Diaz and cut their salary by $2M for 2019. Pretty cool! They could still spend another $25M to total payroll, by adding another bullpen arm at $8M-$12M and someone for the rotation, maybe an extra part here or there.
I’m a Yankee fan, so cool to see the Met’s being somewhat of a player.
After hearing about all the NY WS played over the years (Yanks/Dodgers, Yanks/Giants), it sucks to have witnessed only the 2000 series.
A couple more all New York WS would be awesome.
I get that Kelenic is a legit top prospect, but because I’m not so sure I can say the same about Dunn, which is why I feel the Mets “could” possibly come out as the winners of this deal in several years.
I could be entirely wrong, but at least try thinking on the bright side Mets fans, your FO trashed 2 below replacement level players, acquired 2 all-stars, lowered payroll, and didn’t even have give up Alonso and Gimenez to do it (just Kelenic).
How else can the Mets add to improve? OF is set if Cesp ever stays on the field. Pollack wouldn’t fit.
Goldy? No one left to trade for him, but he’d be a heck of a place holder for Alonso at 1B.
3B? I’d say keeping McNeil is a strong vote of confidence that he could win the job in ST. (Of course he wouldn’t come up until May 5 or whenever his clock is safe). Frazier is ok I guess.
More bullpen? Another SP? Who doesn’t need more here?
I dunno what else they’ll do, but as it looks now they’re making a good play for 3rd place at best in the NLE.
McNeil is going to be 27 in April and has played in 63 (I think) games in MLB. The Mets are not worried about his clock at all. He can play every game the next two years and will still fall short of Super 2 status. He won’t see arbitration until after 2021when he will be going into his age 30 season. So, holding him back for a month for no reason at all (they would have to hold him back for well over 2 months to gain control of his age 34 season) when they are obviously going for it next year makes zero sense.
Going for what?
1.Nimmo CF
2.Rosario SS
3.Conforto RF
4.Cespedes LF
5.Cano 2B
6.McNeil 3B
7.Alonso 1B
8.D’Arnaud C
9.DeGrom SP.
Cabo should be the #3 hitter in that lineup. Followed by Cespedes at #4. Gives the Mets a solid Lefty righty combo in the most important part of the lineup. Although, Cano has always hit well in the #2 spot, he is 36 now and somebody with a decade less wear and tear on their legs should be hitting there as a table setter. I would suggest McNeil and Conforto batting 5th. Rosario should bat 8th next year because someone with an OBP under .300 has no business hitting in the top of the order.
Nimmo
McNeil
Cano
Cespedes
Conforto
Alonso
TDA
Rosario
Pitcher
Cespedes is done. Use his insurance money to sign MM.
That is an awful line up and quite possibly the worst defense in baseball.
Mets must be in on Harper or Machado, this would make for a solid 3/4 combo. Having this would make cano better
As much as it kills me to say it, KLAW has it perfectly; we don’t know what other moves Thurston Howell XXIII (Mets GM) has working……we’ll have to wait to see the end product.
But I’ll say this…right now, TODAY, the Mets are back in the hunt….heck, they might even be the favorites to win the NL East. It’s almost impossible to get a legitimate clean-up hitter in a trade; they did it. It’s almost impossible to get a bona-fide excellent closer in a trade; they did it. And they dumped one of the most useless pieces of flotsam (Bruce) in the process. And ya, Cano’s getting older; so are you. And the closer slot is volatile…so’s your love life. Certainty is guaranteed to no one.
Ya, the prospects MIGHT work out, in a league-average kind of way. Neither will contribute the impact Cano/Diaz will have THIS YEAR. Some are talking about these two guys as if they were anything more than “meh” in age=appropriate classification. Frankly, and I went back through milb.com to look yesterday, neither one of them looked anything more than ordinary. I’m no scout, but even I can see Vlad Jr. is Vlad Jr…….these guys ain’t Vlad Jr.
But I see it from the M’s point of view too. DiPoto IS “re-imaging”; Mallex Smith can be impactful, and Hanniger is still there. We KNOW we ain’t seen the last of Jerry’s moves.
I for one am so tired of this “tanking” BS marketing ploy. Hey Mr. GM, if you can’t (a) field a representative product AND (b) keep the pipeline productive, at the same time, THEN YOU STINK!
The Mets, pre this move, were a mishmash; now they have a direction. And I sense more is coming.
Kudoos to both these guys…….
lol
Great bob.
I’m no fan of Dipoto or AJ. Grew up an Indians fan before I left the Midwest. Remember Indians GM Frank “Trader ” Lane? He went around in circles like those guys do. After a while we fans figured out the other then a few 6 weeks spurts, the team was an also ran, and who cared if they finished 4th or 7th in the old 8 team AL (there was always the Senators).
Yes, the Mets now have a direction. Two weeks ago, they did not. And yes, the NL East is up for grabs – as is the NL Central and NL West.
So lets see the follow up moves. What I love about the Mets is the way Callahan and Eiland improve pitchers. deGrom, Syndergaard, Wheeler (especially), got better as starters; Lugo and Gsellman began transitioning to relief. Do not underestimate how important it is to develop players today at the ML level……especially pitchers. For example – after so many years in Detroit, I thought Porcello was stuck as a #4 starter on his way to set-up relief. Go figure.
Definitely remember Lane…his disciple Harry Dalton….”Trader Jack” McKeon…and I remember when Veck, after buying the White Sox, setting a table lined with booze with a sign that said “Open for Business” at the Winter Meetings….
Of course in those days you literally made deals on napkins….no agents, no ownership approval (they didn’t care; they were under paying everybody anyway), no lawyers…..
And totally agree about the need to teach at the MLB level, especially pitchers. I’d add Kyle Snyder of the Rays…the “opener” works because the pitchers are good, not because it’s some kind of brilliant concept….”relief pitchers” were once just failed starters….
Almost being left aside is the fact that Cano is one heck of a player; on the downside of his career, maybe; getting older, definitely. But I remember when teams let 2 guys go because they were on their “downside” and getting old….Nolan Ryan and Roger Clements…..what was there, three Cy Youngs on those downsides? and ya, there’s the drug use….he got caught. There’s LIKELY more druggies playing MLB than we care to know.
Ugh, one of these losers that just gives out idiotic credit to people because the facts don’t support him.
Callaway has as much an effect on pitchers as the other 200 guys at the major and minor league level, lol.
I love how he gets credit for wheeler.
What happened with Familia, Vargas, blevins and swarzak who all pretty much had the worst years of their careers.?
Oh, but degrom and syndegaard pitched great that’s Mickey, lol.
The mets were no where near the Braves, and still aren’t close.
Philly will either trade for Segura or sign Machado PLUS 2 more all star caliber players.
You met fans have lost what little minds you had left
i can see Dave Eiland helped improve Wheeler but Degrom and Thor??
I hate long posts, but well said Tilly!
Lol….Gilligan called.
Said you’re delusional about an NL East winner.
For the next two seasons, this will be a big win for the Mets.
Edwin Diaz and Seth Lugo is a good start in building up the pen. Robinson Cano is still a smooth 2B. Jeff McNeil may not perform as well as he did last season. He could be moved while he has value.
After two seasons, the Mariners are free of the big contracts. Jay Bruce and Anthony Swarzak are FA duds; I don’t see where they fit on the Mariner’s team. There’s no guarantee the other three prospects will ever be heard from again. I expect at least one prospect to be traded away by then.
Now they should sign Eovaldi and Miller.
Trade Syndergaard and Frazier to San Diego for Mejia,Gore and Margot this fills C,Cf and Sp for the Mets.
Lineup: Nimmo,Margot,Cano,Alonso,Conforto,Mejia,Mcneil and Rosario
Rotation: deGrom,Eovaldi,Matz,Wheeler and Gore.
Closer: Diaz Bp: Miller,Lugo,Gsellman,Bashlor,Vargas,Smith
The Padres wont trade Gore. Mejia, and Margot are available. I do like Margot, he could break out or be a bust.
after trading away Kelenic and Dunn, Mets are not trading Thor for prospects..
Mets will probably go after Maldonado or Ramos.. then Miller or Robinson to add bullpen
Let’s see. Cano, coming from a Yankees system with a history of steroids while he played there, gets popped for 50 games for the masking agent. He’s 36. How many games for the next violation and what will this contract look then? Like most 36 year old players, I look for him to miss many games. If the Mets can flip him before the season starts, I’d be happy with the deal. If not, this clubhouse could be the richest disaster in baseball with cespedes, cano, d’arnaud, syndergaard, lagares, Frazier, etc.
“If the Mets can flip him before the season starts”. Lol. You do realize he’s got a full no trade clause, and only accepted the deal to play in New York and won’t go anywhere else right? He’s a Met until he retires. Terrible trade for the Mets.
The contract will look pretty good if he gets suspended again since he won’t get paid during that time. And how many games did he miss in the second half of the season after his suspension? Wasn’t he 36 then, too?
That Cano contract is insane, he is not worth half of it. Major win for the Mariners.
Cano is just the beginning.
Just a disaster of a trade for the Mets. Truly a disaster for them.
It could be a win for both teams, but right now Seattle wins the deal on the strength of giving up Cano’s contract and spot on the team. That spot goes to whoever wants it from their organization or whoever they bring in down the road.
The Mets are gambling on Cano coming back to his usual potent offensive form. If he does it’s a win for them. While the team holds DeGrom, Syndergaard and Wheeler they may as well go for it all. NL East is a winnable division. The Mets are also in on one of Harper or Machado, but they may be looking at Catcher as the top priority.
I give the Mets a C. One grade above F because they got rid of some bad contracts in this deal, and another one because they got Diaz, who is a potential gold mine (if he lives up to expectations, he can be flipped in the summer for three times what the Mets gave up in this trade). But those are the only real achievements. If they think they can buy a contending team without going through a rebuild first, they’re delusional.
A writer at fangraphs recently put a dollar value on the Braves’ ranked prospects: it adds up to $380M (that doesn’t include major leaguers like Albies, just the prospects). That’s enough to acquire seven or eight players at Cano’s and Diaz’ level, without any money owed to them. Meanwhile, the Mets spent everything they had to spare, in one deal, and took on money in the process.
Phillies and Nats are better than the Mets too, they don’t have dead contracts, and on top of that they’re willing to out-spend them. By a lot.
As for the Mariners, F- all the way, for packaging Diaz to shed money. Any fan who watches Mariners baseball next year is a gullible fool. This team isn’t in rebuilding mode, it’s in money saving mode.