Mets Doing Disservice to deGrom, Syndergaard
The Mets have made it clear they are open for business and that no player is untouchable. By doing so, they are doing a severe disservice to two players who should be untouchable — Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard.
When asked about trading either or both of his young guns, John Ricco, one-third of the acting GM’s office, said according to the once proud Daily News, “Those are two huge pieces for us. And we’ll have to consider… for me, everything has to be on the table, but you gotta look long and hard before you move game-changing, top of the rotation pitchers like that.”
Now, it is very unlikely that either of them gets traded because no one will offer enough. And besides, you should never trade such pitchers while they still have several years of control left. So what Ricco should have said is, “No, we are not trading them. Next question.” Instead, they are left to dangle in the wind, wondering if they should get change of address forms.
Is it any wonder that deGrom has not pitched up to his brilliant standards in his past two starts — allowing three runs in six innings in each game? It sent his ERA “skyrocketing” from 1.51 to 1.84. It has to be weighing on him. It is likely bothering Syndergaard as well but he’s on the disabled list, so while it might be playing havoc on his psyche, it is not impacting performance.
Maybe the Mets have sat down with both players and said, “Don’t worry, we are not trading you. It is just the game we need to play.” Even if that has happened, they are still being asked about it in every media scrum, so it might still be troubling to them. This is not the way to treat your employees.
Unless the Mets do indeed intend to trade them. In that case, get ready for a fan revolt like we have not seen since June 15, 1977. Those who were not born yet probably still know that infamous date, when the Mets traded Tom Seaver to the Reds for an underwhelming package of prospects and major leaguers. It began a dark period for the franchise. Let’s hope history does not repeat itself here in 2018.
The Mets need to move either Sydergaard or deGrom but they also need to move Wheeler, Lugo, Bautista, Flores, Cespedes, Meseraco, D. Smith, Blevins, Cabrera, Frazier, and hopefully Jay Bruce too. I think deGrom goes to the Red Sox for 3B AAA prospect Chatham, LSP Johnson, RSP Williams, UT IF/OFer Tobias, and lefty closer, Poyner. If not the Red Sox then the Diamondbacks who also have very tantalizing prospects the Mets really need like catcher Daulton Varsho, LSP Anthony Banda, IFer Ildemaro Vargas, Clarke as a RSP, and Miller as a LSP. If I’m Mets management I am reaching out to the Angels to see if we could trade Cespedes to them, and they will have to assume his full salary, and give back fewer trade prospects in return. Recall that Cespedes said last year that he would like to play for the Angels so the Mets need to make this happen ASAP. The Angels take Cespedes and give the Mets CFer, Hermasillo, and catcher, Taylor Ward. Both of these guys should be ready for big league action in 2019, or 2020 the latest. Ward also has a rocket for an arm but does not block balls in the dirt all that well. Hermasillo can run, catch, hit and throw the ball so having a righty hitting CFer to go along with Conforto in RF, and Nimmo in LF makes a lot of sense. Kevin Kaczmarski should become the 4th OFer for the team, and If I am the Mets management I think they need to trade Joey Bats now, and try to sign him for 2019. He seems to like playing in NY.