Astros Promote Kyle Tucker
The Astros have called up top prospect Kyle Tucker, The Athletic’s Jake Kaplan reports (Twitter link). Jake Marisnick will be sent down to Triple-A in the corresponding move, as per MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart (via Twitter).
Tucker, 21, has been considered one of the game’s better prospects since he was selected fifth overall in the 2015 draft. Preseason prospect rankings (15th on Baseball America’s list, MLB.com 17th, Baseball Prospectus 20th, ESPN’s Keith Law 21st) tabbed him as being on the verge of Major League readiness, though he hadn’t played in Triple-A prior to this season. Tucker didn’t miss a beat playing at the top minor league level, batting .306/.371/.520 with 14 home runs over 371 plate appearances for the Fresno Grizzlies, strong statistics even in a hitter-friendly league like the PCL.
This marks Tucker’s second straight year of solid power numbers, as he made slight adjustments to his approach in order to generate more pop, albeit while striking out more often (he has 70 whiffs this season). Still, he makes overall very strong contact, and his hand-eye coordination has been widely cited as excellent, which helps him deliver such good results at the plate despite a somewhat unusual swing.
Beyond the bat, Tucker has also stolen 85 bases in 113 chances over his minor league career, including 14 swipes this year. Tucker has seen significant time at all three outfield positions, though evaluators believe he is best suited for a corner spot — MLB.com’s scouting report touts Tucker’s “solid arm strength” as a good fit for eventually becoming a right fielder.
This defensive versatility gives the Astros another valuable piece to work with in their pursuit of another World Series title. George Springer is the only true everyday outfielder in the Houston lineup, playing either center field or right field, with Josh Reddick, Marwin Gonzalez, Tony Kemp and (before today) Marisnick all getting action in the other two positions based on matchups. Gonzalez has recently been deploying his superutility skills at shortstop with Carlos Correa on the DL, and thus the Astros may have felt the time was right to add a stronger bat like Tucker into their outfield mix. Tucker, Reddick, and Kemp are all left-handed hitters, though Kemp has hit well from both sides of the plate this year, so Houston doesn’t necessarily have an unbalanced outfield picture. The ‘Stros also have two more young outfield options in J.D. Davis and Derek Fisher at Triple-A for further depth.
It’s worth noting that Tucker has been a frequent subject of trade rumors over the last couple of years, with teams like the White Sox, Pirates, and Marlins all showing interest in the outfield prospect. In regards to the Miami talks, it was reported that Houston was at least open to moving Tucker if it meant getting J.T. Realmuto back in return, though nothing ever came of those negotiations. There hasn’t been any trade buzz on Tucker in recent months, however, not that Tucker was ever really considered an expendable piece for anything less than a top-tier asset like Realmuto. It certainly appears as through the Astros consider Tucker to be yet another homegrown building block that can help the big league roster both now and in the future.
Marisnick’s 2017 season was something of an outlier, as he produced above-average numbers at the plate (117 wRC+ in 259 PA) while underachieving defensively. The rest of his career has been the exact opposite, as Marisnick has generally been an outstanding defender while not generating much offense at the plate. This season, for instance, Marisnick has a .190/.235/.359 slash line over 163 PA, while posting a +12.1 UZR/150 and +8 Defensive Runs Saved in 410 2/3 innings as a center fielder.
MLB Reinstates Jenrry Mejia For 2019 Season
Major League Baseball announced today that Mets reliever Jenrry Mejia will be reinstated for the 2019 season. He had previously been banned following a third positive PED test.
Mejia, who is now 28 years of age, last pitched in the majors in 2015. He has been on the restricted list since that time.
While the ban will not be lifted until next season, Mejia will be able to begin working out at Mets facilities after the All-Star break, per the announcement. He’ll also be eligible to take a rehab assignment this August and participate in Spring Training in 2019.
It comes as something of a surprise to see Mejia given a path back to playing, though of course he was never released by the organization precisely because it remained a possibility. Indeed, the Joint Drug Program allows banned players to seek reinstatement after two years away.
Mejia, though, seemingly burned some bridges by launching claims of a conspiracy that were vigorously contested by the league. In his comments today, released through the MLBPA, Mejia acknowledged “the false allegations [he] made about Major League Baseball’s investigation into my testing history.” He also offered apologies all around and specifically thanked Commissioner Rob Manfred for allowing him back into the game.
Ultimately, this represents great news for Mejia but also, potentially, a nice turn for the Mets. Though the righty has certainly caused some headaches in Queens over the years, he’s still youthful and has mostly been a quality MLB reliever — even serving as the organization’s closer at times in 2014.
That said, the upside for the New York organization is somewhat limited. The club said in a statement only that it will assess its options after seeing Mejia on the field. Though Ken Davidoff of the New York Post reported in 2016 that Mejia would continue earning service time while technically banned, Tim Britton of The Athletic tweets today that Mejia will be deemed to have four years and 140 days entering the winter. If the Mets choose to tender him a contract, they’ll presumably revert to his most recent salary ($1.729MM) and would possess control rights through 2020.
Mariners Extend Jerry Dipoto
The Mariners announced today that they have agreed to a new, multi-year contract extension with general manager Jerry Dipoto. The former MLB reliever had been in the final season of the deal that he originally inked to run the baseball operations for the Seattle organization.
Terms of the new pact were not publicly released by the team. It’s not clear, then, just how long into the future Dipoto will remain under contract. But the announcement did make clear that it’s for multiple years, so presumably he has at least signed on through the 2020 campaign.
Dipoto, previously the GM of the Angels and interim GM of the Diamondbacks, took the helm in Seattle before the 2016 season. Jack Zduriencik held the post prior to Dipoto’s arrival. As the club notes in its announcement, the Mariners have MLB’s eighth-best record (220-192) since Dipoto came on board.
While the M’s have yet to reach the postseason — a dry spell that dates back to 2001 — they finally seem primed to do so this year. Indeed, the club is surprisingly keeping pace with the defending World Series champion Astros in the AL West, though it’d remain quite a surprise if Houston doesn’t find some separation by season’s end. Though the Mariners still have some work to do to capture a Wild Card, they entered play today with a 7.5-game lead over the Athletics.
Dipoto says the ultimate goal remains a World Series. Though that has yet to be achieved, the club obviously determined that Dipoto remains the best option to deliver the hoped-for result.
President/CEO Kevin Mather offered this assessment:
“Jerry arrived here two-and-a-half years ago with a specific plan for our franchise. He has successfully executed that plan, resulting in a younger, more athletic and, most importantly, far more successful Major League team.
At the same time, he has upgraded nearly every aspect of our overall baseball operation, improving systems, staff and communication in our Major League operations, our Player Development system, our Pro and Amateur scouting departments and our revamped High Performance Area.”
The youth and athleticism to which Mather refers are certainly themes that Dipoto has emphasized. In that pursuit, Dipoto has earned a reputation as the game’s most active GM on the trade market. We’ve tried to keep up with his prolific swapping in our Transaction Tracker, which reflects a bevy of deals (some significant, some not) since he joined the organization.
While critics have argued that those deals, in the aggregate, have not greatly increased the talent base in Seattle, the M’s feel they’ve boosted their overall quality while increasing flexibility and control. Certainly, Dipoto has not shied away from unique swaps in search of value. Among his most interesting swaps are the acquisition of Jean Segura and Mitch Haniger; the two–step swap that netted the club Drew Smyly; the takeover of the contract of Mike Leake; the position-changing addition of Dee Gordon; and, most recently, the early-season strike for Denard Span and Alex Colome.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Manny Machado Trade Talks Have Reportedly Accelerated
Though there’s still four weeks until the 2018 non-waiver trade deadline, trade talks surrounding Manny Machado have “accelerated” in recent days, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription link). The Orioles, according to Rosenthal, would prefer to move Machado “sooner rather than later,” as they can extract more in a trade if the acquiring team controls Machado for three months as opposed to two months.
To this point in the summer, the teams most connected to Machado have been the Dodgers, Phillies, Diamondbacks and Indians. The Brewers and Cubs have been more loosely tied to Machado on the rumor mill, though Rosenthal reports that while Milwaukee is doing its due diligence, the team is unlikely to meet Baltimore’s asking price.
That, it seems, could be true of the Phillies as well. MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki reports that the Phillies should be considered “longshots” in the Machado trade sweepstakes. Zolecki writes that while the Phillies “love” Machado and plan to make a serious run at him in the offseason, the team doesn’t feel itself to be one piece away from a World Series. That, of course, makes it considerably more difficult to meet what is likely a rather lofty asking price from the O’s.
Rosenthal suggests that the D-backs and Indians could be the “most motivated” teams in the Machado market, and Zolecki, too, specifically lists the D-backs as a club likelier to acquire Machado than the Phillies.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, meanwhile, tweets that the Dodgers continue to “aggressively” pursue Machado, adding that the Orioles have been scouting L.A.’s system heavily and are particularly interested in Class-A Advanced right-hander Dustin May. There’d obviously be more at play than a mere one-for-one swap, but May, a third-round pick in 2016, is generally considered to be among the Dodgers’ more promising young arms. He’s off to a strong start in 2018 as well, having pitched to a 3.18 ERA with 9.1 K/9, 1.7 BB/9 and a 54.1 percent ground-ball rate through 65 innings (12 starts).
Of course, there could still be other organizations involved in discussions. Jim Bowden of The Athletic tweets that eight teams have had at least some engagement with the O’s regarding Machado within the past ten days. That would suggest that there are at least a few mystery teams hanging around the periphery of talks.
Mariners Extend Wade LeBlanc
The Mariners have announced an extension with southpaw Wade LeBlanc. It’ll include a guaranteed salary for the 2019 season and a trio of club/vesting options thereafter. LeBlanc is represented by Joe Rosen.
LeBlanc, 33, will be guaranteed $2.75MM in total, according to reports from ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter) and Jon Heyman of Fancred (Twitter links). That includes a $300K signing bonus and $2MM salary for 2019.
The club options are priced at $5MM apiece and come with $450K in total buyouts. They’ll vest if LeBlanc reaches 160 innings in the immediately preceding season or 310 innings in the two prior years. If all the options are exercised and all potential bonuses and escalators are achieved, the deal could reach a total of $32MM over its four possible seasons.
For the Mariners, the move adds three seasons of control without much in the way of risk. LeBlanc was actually slated to be eligible for arbitration in 2019, so the deal will technically buy out an arb year and give the Seattle organization control over three would-be free agent campaigns.
Needless to say, this is rather an unusual contractual arrangement. Then again, LeBlanc isn’t a typical extension target. He’ll soon turn 34 years of age and is earning just $650K this year after joining the M’s in the middle of camp when he was released from his minors deal with the Yankees.
Indeed, it wasn’t long ago that LeBlanc joined the MLBTR podcast to discuss his search for another MLB opportunity. He has thrown 202 frames in the majors since that time, but it wasn’t until recently that he showed enough to make an agreement of this kind seem possible.
Thus far in 2018, LeBlanc carries a 3.38 ERA with 7.0 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in 72 frames for the Mariners. In addition to five relief outings, he has now taken the ball for 11 starts. That level of success isn’t likely to continue. He doesn’t throw a pitch that averages even 87 mph and has below-average rates of swinging strikes (8.8%) and groundballs (35.6%).
That said, LeBlanc has looked like a solid MLB hurler this year. Despite the frequency of fly balls, he has not surrendered too many dingers (1.13 per nine but on a below-average 9.8% HR/FB rate). And though he has likely been fortunate on batted-ball results, his spread of Statcast numbers (.337 xwOBA vs. .309 wOBA) isn’t particularly extreme.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Zack Cozart Undergoes Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery
TODAY: Cozart underwent the surgery, the Angels announced. The procedure carries a recovery timetable of 6-8 months, so Cozart will indeed miss the rest of the season and could miss some Spring Training time if his rehab is on the longer end of the spectrum.
WEDNESDAY: The Angels announced tonight that infielder Zack Cozart has been diagnosed with a torn labrum in his left shoulder that will require surgical repair. The Angels didn’t provide a timetable for his return, though it seems unlikely that he’ll be able to recover in time to return in 2018.
Cozart, 32, signed a three-year, $38MM contract with the Angels to serve as their everyday third baseman this past offseason. However, after a strong start to the season, he faded badly, hitting just .184/.287/.224 in his final 27 games before landing on the disabled list on June 15. Given today’s medical update, it seems quite likely that his first season with the Halos will come to a close with an overall .219/.296/.362 batting line.
It’s the latest in a staggeringly long line of injuries for an Angels club that now has an incredible 13 players on its Major League disabled list. Beyond Cozart, key players including Shohei Ohtani, Garrett Richards, Matt Shoemaker, Nick Tropeano and Keynan Middleton are all on the shelf at present.
[Related: Los Angeles Angels depth chart]
Rookie David Fletcher and veteran Luis Valbuena have been sharing the workload at third base since Cozart landed on the disabled list, though Valbuena is in the midst of his worst offensive season since 2012. Fletcher was on an otherworldly tear in Triple-A before his call to the Majors and has hit well in a tiny sample of 24 plate appearances. Certainly, the Angels could elect to stick with that pair for the remainder of the season, but the loss of Cozart also presents GM Billy Eppler and his staff with the possibility of acquiring a short-term upgrade at the hot corner at a time when the market figures to be flush with options.
Manny Machado, of course, is the biggest name on the trade market who fits that bill, but there will surely be others on the table. Mike Moustakas is already available, and it stands to reason that the Mets would be willing to part with either Todd Frazier or Asdrubal Cabrera. Adrian Beltre stands out as yet another intriguing possibility, as the Rangers are reportedly open to dealing the future Hall of Famer, who is a free agent at season’s end. Old friend David Freese, too, could emerge as a trade candidate next month, depending on the Pirates’ play.
At a certain point, however, it’s worth wondering if the Angels will even function as buyers on the summer trade market. The Halos are 4-11 in their past 15 games and have fallen to fourth place in the AL West, currently sitting a likely insurmountable 12 games back of the Astros. The Wild Card prospects are a bit better for the Halos, as they’re “only” eight games out of that race. That said, with injuries mounting and a tough schedule ahead — they have two series against the Mariners and Dodgers each before the All-Star break — it shouldn’t necessarily be considered a lock that the Angels will be in position to be adding pieces a month from now.
Red Sox Acquire Steve Pearce
June 29: Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets that the Blue Jays included $1.66MM as part of the deal. That’s a bit more than half of what Pearce is owed through season’s end and will help to keep the Red Sox from eclipsing the top tier of penalties in the luxury tax bracket. Boston is just narrowly shy of exceeding the tax threshold by a total of $40MM. Were Boston to cross that $237MM threshold, the team’s top pick in next year’s draft would be moved back 10 spaces.
June 28: The Red Sox have acquired infielder/outfielder Steve Pearce from the Blue Jays, per a club announcement. Alex Speier of the Boston Globe had reported that the team was close to acquiring a right-handed-hitting player (via Twitter).
Minor-leaguer Santiago Espinal will head to the Jays in return. Toronto will also send some cash to their division rivals to help offset Pearce’s salary. The amount of cash remains unknown.
Pearce, 35, was set to return to the open market after the season, when his two-year contract will expire. He’s earning $6.25MM this year, some portion of which will remain on the Toronto books. Pearce, interestingly, has now appeared with each of the five AL East organizations, in addition to time spent with the Astros and Pirates.
To this point of the season, Pearce has been limited to 26 games of action due to injury — a recurring problem for a player who has otherwise generally been quite productive. He’s slashing a robust .291/.349/.519 through 86 plate appearances in 2018. Since the start of the 2013 campaign, he owns a cumulative 121 OPS+. When healthy, then, he’s a rather accomplished hitter — especially against left-handed pitching.
While his calling card is his bat, Pearce also brings solid versatility to the table. He has shown an ability to perform at least passably in the corner outfield, corner infield,and even at second base. For Boston, Pearce could share time at first with the lefty-swinging Mitch Moreland and perhaps also line up at times in left. Whether he’ll be an option at second isn’t yet clear, though that has certainly been an area of some attention given concerns over Dustin Pedroia. (For what it’s worth, the announcement lists Pearce specifically as a first baseman and outfielder.)
With the move, the Jays have likely launched a long-anticipated summer sell-off. Given the state of affairs in the division, and a tough Wild Card race as well, it’s not surprising to see the organization begin moving veterans. It remains to be seen, though, how willing the Blue Jays will be to consider moving more controllable assets.
For their trouble, the Blue Jays will not only save some cash but will also pick up a potentially useful prospect asset. Espinal, a tenth-round pick in the 2016 draft, is hitting well this year at the High-A level. The 23-year-old carries a .314/.364/.478 slash with seven home runs and nine steals over 280 plate appearances. He has lined up primarily at shortstop but has also seen time at second and third base as a professional.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Reds Prospect Nick Senzel Undergoes Finger Surgery
THURSDAY: The surgery was to “reduce the fracture,” per a club announcement, with “no damage to the tendon” requiring treatment. Whether or not that impacts the timeline is not known, but it seems there could be some hope for an improved outlook.
SATURDAY: The Reds have announced that their top prospect, third baseman Nick Senzel, will undergo season-ending surgery in order to repair a torn tendon in his right index finger.
It appears as though Senzel suffered the injury while making a defensive play during the top half of the first inning in a Triple-A matchup against the Norfolk Tides. Although he initially remained in the game for the Louisville Bats, he was removed in the bottom half of the inning, and now it appears the Reds are facing one of the worst-case outcomes, as a player who seemed ready to contribute in the majors at some point soon will instead miss the remainder of 2018.
The 22-year-old Senzel is a consensus top-flight young talent in the game, with all four of Fangraphs, MLB Pipeline, Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus labeling him as either the game’s sixth- or seventh-best prospect in their most recent rankings. A 6’1″ third baseman, Senzel has raked at a .310/.378/.509 clip in 193 Triple-A plate appearances this season while slugging six homers and swiping eight bags.
For what it’s worth, The Athletic’s C. Trent Rosencrans reports that the Reds expect Senzel to make a full recovery, and they believe the injury is unlikely to affect him moving forward. Furthermore, it seems as though he could still feasibly be ready in time for further development in the Arizona Fall League or in winter ball. Online research, at least, would seem to corroborate that last point, as a few sources suggest that a finger with said injury can handle heavy sports activities after about 12 weeks post-surgery.
Prior to this stunning turn of events, Senzel seemed to be on the brink of a potential major-league call-up, at least by basic logic. He was just coming off a two-homer game and had three in the past week in addition to his strong Triple-A batting line. Furthermore, a promotion at this point in the season would not have helped him qualify for Super Two status, as that deadline has almost certainly passed for the season. Though he would appear to be blocked at third base by a red-hot Eugenio Suarez, Senzel’s actually been getting some reps at the keystone this season in order to give him a more direct path to the majors.
For now, though, the young wunderkind will sit on the MiLB injury shelf, where he won’t gather any MLB service time. That means Reds fans will likely have to wait until at least three weeks into next season to see Senzel at Great American Ballpark, as Cincinnati will almost certainly look to manipulate his service clock in order to gain an extra year of team control over him.
Shohei Ohtani Cleared To Begin Hitting Program
After undergoing an MRI this morning, Shohei Ohtani has been cleared to begin a hitting program, the Angels announced today. He’ll be further evaluated in another three weeks, but tests today showed improvements in his ulnar collateral ligament (Twitter links via Joel Sherman of the New York Post). The Angels aren’t making a definitive call on whether he’ll be able to pitch again this season until that subsequent followup exam.
While Ohtani certainly isn’t entirely out of the woods just yet, it’s obviously an encouraging update for the Angels that the platelet-rich plasma and stem cell injections he received earlier this month have resulted in some meaningful improvement. Eppler indicated yesterday that if Ohtani were strictly a designated hitter, he’d likely have been cleared right away. That, coupled with today’s clearance, makes it seem likely that Ohtani will, at the very least, return to the Angels’ lineup at some point this summer — if not the rotation.
Ohtani was widely expected to be a superior pitcher than hitter, and many reports at the time of his signing cited scouts who remained skeptical of his ability to hit Major League pitching. While he’s only had 129 plate appearances to date, he’s looked every bit the part of someone talented enough to excel in both areas. Thus far in the Majors, Ohtani has raked at a .289/.372/.535 pace, clubbing six homers, eight doubles and a triple.
The Halos won’t send Ohtani on a traditional minor league rehab assignment, according to Eppler (via Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, on Twitter). Instead, he’ll get his at-bats in via a series of simulated games and live BP sessions. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that Ohtani could begin facing live pitching as soon as next week.
As with any UCL injury, speculation regarding potential surgery for Ohtani will abound. However, Eppler made sure to emphasize today that medical experts have not yet made that recommendation for Ohtani (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Maria Guardado). Said Eppler: “No doctor has told me that Shohei needs surgical intervention at this time.”
Mets Will Listen To Trade Offers For deGrom, Syndergaard
Following yesterday’s leave of absence for general manager Sandy Alderson, Mets assistant GM John Ricco spoke with the media about the team’s status as deadline sellers and confirmed that they’ll at least listen to offers on top starters Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard (links via Newsday’s Tim Healey and the New York Daily News’ Kristie Ackert).
“We’ll have to consider [it],” Ricco said of fielding interest in the pair. “For me, everything has to be on the table. But you have to look long and hard before you move a game-changing, top-of-the-rotation pitcher.”
Ricco, Omar Minaya and J.P. Ricciardi were collectively put in charge of the club’s baseball operations while Alderson undergoes treatment for a cancer recurrence, and Healey writes that the three will work together to come to a consensus on roster decisions. While Ricco was the first to meet with the media, it doesn’t appear that any one member of that trio will have final say.
The decision on whether to trade deGrom and/or Syndergaard is the type of franchise-altering move that can dictate the team’s success or failures for years to come. Both pitchers have demonstrated Cy Young-caliber abilities, and while Syndergaard’s recent career has been punctuated by injuries, deGrom is among the early favorites for NL Cy Young honors in 2018. Syndergaard has been out since late May due to a ligament issue in his right index finger but figures to be back on the active roster in advance of this year’s deadline.
deGrom, 30, had a brief injury scare earlier this season when he hit the DL for a hyperextended right elbow, but he returned quickly and without any lingering effects of the injury — at least as pertains to his performance. The 2014 NL Rookie of the Year has been utterly dominant thus far, pacing MLB pitchers with a 1.69 ERA through his first 101 1/3 innings of the season. deGrom has averaged a career-best 11.2 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9 and 0.4 HR/9. The right-hander’s 45.8 percent ground-ball rate is right in line with his career rate, and he’s also boasting a 15.3 percent swinging-strike rate and a 37.8 percent chase rate — both far and away the best marks of his career.
Best of all for interested teams, of course, is the fact that deGrom is controlled for two seasons beyond the current campaign. He’s earning $7.4MM in 2018 as a Super Two player and will be eligible for arbitration twice more before hitting the open market. Clearly, if he’s able to maintain anything close to this level of production, his arbitration raises will be enormous, though they’d still be a pittance relative to his open-market value.
Syndergaard, 25, missed the bulk of the 2017 season due to a lat strain but was sharp in his return in 2018, tossing 64 2/3 innings of 3.04 ERA ball with 10.6 K/9, 1.8 BB/9, 0.7 HR/9 and a 47.7 percent ground-ball rate. He’s averaged better than 10 strikeouts and fewer than two walks per nine innings pitched in his big league career so far and, like deGrom, is sporting a career-high swinging-strike rate so far in 2018 (15 percent).
As is the case with deGrom, Syndergaard is a Super Two player who’ll qualify for arbitration four times before reaching free agency. However, he’s a year behind deGrom in terms of service time, meaning he’s controlled for another three seasons and can’t become a free agent until after the 2021 season.
In all likelihood, it’d take a veritable king’s ransom to acquire either pitcher — the type of enormous prospect package that features multiple elite young talents and/or MLB-ready assets who could immediately step onto the Mets’ roster. That type of rotation piece rarely changes hands at the deadline (or at all), and either Mets pitcher would likely be the most coveted starting pitcher available on the summer trade market in recent memory.
Both deGrom and Syndergaard are better pitchers than Sonny Gray, for instance, and neither comes with the contractual obligations that slowed the Justin Verlander trade talks last summer. Jose Quintana fetched a the White Sox a haul headlined by one of the game’s top 10 prospects, Eloy Jimenez, and few would argue him to be a more talented arm than either deGrom or Syndergaard (though certainly his durability and affordable contract made him a highly desirable commodity). Whatever type of return the Mets received for either starter would need to be overwhelming.
It should be emphasized, of course, that the simple fact that the Mets will entertain the idea of trading their top two starters hardly means that either is a lock to actually be moved. To the contrary, Ricco echoed comments made by Alderson earlier this month in downplaying the possibility of a full-scale rebuild. “I really don’t see that as a strategy,” said Ricco. “It’s not something we’ve really discussed, a complete teardown.”