How Ryan Braun to Mets Could Work
Quoting various sources, Mets Blog reports Wednesday night that the Mets and Brewers have had preliminary talks about possible trades. Back in early May before anyone was talking about it, I suggested the Mets go after Ryan Braun. (I said the same thing in 2013 as well). It is a longshot, but here’s how it could work.
Money is the major issue, of course. Braun is due $95 million over the next five seasons (the extension he signed way back in 2011 actually does not begin until next year). The Brewers would love to get out from under the contract, but by all accounts will not pick up even a dime of the money to dump him.
Is Ryan Braun worth $19 million per year? Before the PED revelations, that was a bargain. Now, it’s arguable. Braun is having a nice season (13 homers, 40 RBIs thus far), but it is not known if he will ever regain his MVP form without chemical help. Even without it, he’s better than any hitter the Mets have.
So how can we make the money work? Well, the Brewers would have to take back some contracts to reduce Braun’s salary. There is no way they will take Curtis Granderson, so let’s not even consider that. But what if they took Michael Cuddyer and Jonathon Niese? That would remove $21.6 million off the Mets future books.
Now suddenly Braun’s bill is down to $73.4 million. So is Braun worth $14.68 million per season? That sounds about right.
Of course, it would take more than the Mets spare parts to land Ryan Braun. The Brewers would surely ask for one of the Mets young stud pitchers, but Sandy Alderson will not and should not give them up. Would Rafael Montero and Kevin Plawecki sweeten the deal?
It all depends on how much the Brewers want to get rid of Ryan Braun and how many teams are interested in acquiring him. Just like when the Mets got Johan Santana for a package of B-list players (it took years for Carlos Gomez to develop), maybe the Mets offer is the best of the few out there.
Even still, it would be a substantial investment for the Wilpons. And we all know how they feel about that. And we all know how Alderson feels about bold moves. So this likely will never happen. But it’s fun to think about it, even for just a moment.
Braun has a chronic thumb injury that requires annual treatment. It could be a major problem going forward.
Ouch! Yeah, that could be a problem.
Pingback: Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Taillon, Orioles, Red Sox - MLB Trade Rumors
Can you be any less realistic with these offers. The Brewers aren’t moving Braun for a little financial savings and mediocre at best talent like Montero and Pawlecki.
When you make up these trade offers think of it from the other teams stand point. So no the Brewers are not trading Ryan Braun to the Mets for a load of garbage.
What a dumb blog
The above^ poster was a little harsh but he/she’s completely right. If the brewers choose to trade braun (which they have no reason to), that means a) they are shedding payroll and b) they are looking to rebuild. That means cuddyer is negative value and niese, who is worth his contract but is of no interest to the brewers, would probably be zero positive or negative value. Braun would most likely require something like matz plus a little more. If you think that’s a lot, well I’d probably agree, but, again, the brewers have no pressing need to trade him. If you wanna acquire someone without giving up anyone you like, maybe aramis for montero or alex guerrero for niese might make more sense?
Ryan Braun can be huge METS STAR. Biggest since Pizza. If can be had without big deal then WOW.
I think it’s laughable that you think this deal can be done without Noah/steven. There is an evident logjam at sp for the Mets and a major need for a big time bat without wright. Duda is pretty good but there is not a single batter on the Mets roster that provides suitable protection for him. Not only that to obtain a superstar (which I believe Braun still is) you need to give up a pretty relevant prospect. The deal needs to be done soon if they have any dream of competing with the Nats.
Ps. I am a neither pro yanks nor mets… Just a fan in general.
It’s always fun to read the comments that come from traffic from non-Mets sources (in this case MLB Trade Rumors). They are often less respectful than other comments, but hey, that’s the Internet and I have a thick skin! I appreciate any comment, especially the ones with that are intelligent and do not resort to name calling.
I just want to point out a few things, since it appears some people did not bother to read the entire article or did not get the point behind it.
Since this is a Mets blog, the focus is on how the trade could work from a Mets point of view, which means the Brewers taking back some salary and the Mets not dealing their top pitching prospects. Otherwise, it would not work. So that is what I proposed.
I said the trade was a longshot and depends on how much the Brewers want to trade Braun. And it’s not like I want the Brewers to take back Danny Muno and Kirk Nieuwenhuis for Braun. Montero and Plawecki are legitimate blue-chip prospects, and Niese and Cuddyer are reasonably priced placeholders.
Anyway, thanks to everyone for reading and commenting.
Sorry man but your blog post is utterly ridiculous. You are trying to acquire a star in Ryan Braun for a pile of garbage and no Montero and Plawecki are not blue chip prospects.
When you come up with trade proposals you should always think of it from the other teams standpoint which you completely failed to do. Of course the Mets would take Braun for two garbage contracts and 2 minor prospects but the Brewers are not trading their bets player for what amounts to two mediocre at best prospects.
You should also factor in that the Brewers under Attanasio are more financially stable than the Wilpons and don’t have to give away elite talent for pennies on the dollar.
Plawecki and Montero both have potential to be decent MLB players (Montero more likely), but I would not call them “blue chip” prospects.
I did see this article through MLBTR and I’m a Dodgers fan. I appreciate that you took the time to respond to criticism rather than ignore it.
Niese and Cuddyer may be reasonably priced placeholders, but they don’t add any value to the deal. If MIL trades Braun, Cuddyer won’t even be around the next time the Brewers are contenders again. So including them in a deal is perfectly OK to lessen Braun’s salary, but they don’t add any value.
Montero is neither a “blue-chip prospect” nor a “pile of garbage”; he’s just a solid, back-end of top 10 org prospect. Plawecki, on the other hand, I think is quite a valuable piece. But the Brewers already might have the best catcher in baseball in Lucroy so they would have no interest in Plawecki. And Plawecki and Montero wouldn’t be enough to land Braun anyways.
I understand that this is a Mets blog, but you have to consider why the the other team would make a trade too. Even if they decide to deal Braun, which they would have no reason to, they could find a better offer than this.
I mean to be constructive in my criticism rather than just criticize the article. The Brewers don’t want a catching prospect, but perhaps the Rockies might want Plawecki? They have an outfield logjam; Blackmon for Plawecki? Or the White Sox could use a catcher of the future; Alexei and Putnam for Plawecki? Or I still think Aramis is a good fit for the Mets and likely wouldn’t cost any top 10 prospects.
Are you kidding me?
Ryan “The Cheat /Fraud/Piece of Filth” Braun? To my Mets?
And who is the fool who wrote:
(and I quote) that Braun “can be huge METS STAR. Biggest since Pizza. “???
Please.
As a long-time Mets fan I could never bring myself to cheer for a smarmy morally bereft
character like Braun. His actions, his cheating, his brazen self-absorbed lying, and subsequently slandering the MLB employee who collected his positive drug test (and add more lying: “I swear …the simple truth is that I’m innocent”) are reprehensible.
His indignant self-pitying protestations made fools out of his defenders (see his pal Aaron Rodgers) and the fans.
As a Jewish Met fan, the fact that he played the Anti-Semitism card in his oily, blatantly false protestations are, to me, shameful and unforgivable. I don’t want him on my favorite team, period.
Let the Yankee fans, with their short memories and their greed, beatify A-Rod and engage in an ethical form of historical revisionism. That type of thing has no place in Queens, and neither does Braun.
We can certainly go places without him.
(and PS: Mejia shouldn’t let the door hit him on the way out…)