Mets will Trade Jonathon Niese, Dillon Gee
It will not happen tomorrow, but Blogging Mets predicts that Jonathon Niese and/or Dillon Gee will be traded, perhaps as soon as the trade deadline this season.
There are two reasons — they may not be necessary anymore and money, of course.
If all goes according to plan (and that plan could change — see Matt Harvey’s Tommy John surgery), the rotation in 2015 will be Harvey, Zack Wheeler, Noah Sydergaard, Rafael Montero and Bartolo Colon (who is also a trade candidate, but at $11 million, 41 years old and 487 pounds, he will be harder to move, so to speak). Jacob deGrom could also be added to the mix.
The four young starters will cost the Mets a little more than $2 million. So why pay Niese $7.050 million and Gee a projected $5 million when there are cheaper and probably better alternatives?
It is always risky to go with such a young rotation. But Harvey (assuming he fully recovers) is already established, and hopefully Wheeler will do that as well this season. Syndergaard and Montero should make their debuts this summer and hopefully show they are ready. If not, then the plan changes.
Maybe the Mets will choose to hold onto one of the veterans and trade one of the youngsters. Given the money situation, that is unlikely.
If the Mets do trade Niese and/or Gee, they better do it right, getting a couple of big-time hitters in return. They would probably have to include some of the second-tier pitching prospects to make that happen, which the Mets could easily do.
The Mets do not have enough hitting to contend in 2014; next season could be a very different story if this situation is handled shrewdly.
The Mets have to hope healthy and successful seasons though to capitalize on their return. Niese being a young lefty, especially needs to stay healthy
i think the mets will trade one of those two and then they will trade colon as well (as far as pitchers). i think they’re definitely trying to trade chris young if he’s performing as well
i think they should trade niese definitely. i think him being a lefty provides extra value to teams, and i personally don’t like him as much as gee. but that’s just me, and colon’s a wildcard, he could end up anywhere
They need a lefty, that would be the only reason to keep Neise. The thing is trading just Gee and possibly a 2nd tier pitcher is not going to get you a couple of bats. Gee is a good 5th guy, possibly a 4th, but that is it. He relies on location only. He doesn’t have speed on his fastball. More downside then upside on him.
The big issue you have is Harvey will be a pitch count in 2015. You can’t have him pitch too many innings coming off surgery. Sydergaard will be maxed out at maybe 180, Montero will be at 160. What happens if/when Colon gets hurt?
i disagree, they don’t NEED a lefty. i think the whole change things up mindset with lefties is dumb, otherwise gee would fill that with his soft style anyway. i just have more faith in gee than niese. the mets have 3 lights out starters in harvey wheeler and syndergaard, plus all the other young guys to fill the cracks. gee fits nicely as a 4-5 and a veteran leader for this staff if you ask me