Mets: Is now the time to trade Dillon Gee?

With Dillon Gee performing well recently, three of the Mets’ minor league starters knocking on the door, and a bunch of teams in need of starting pitching help, is now the time to trade Dillon Gee?

The Mets tried to deal Gee this winter but didn’t pull the trigger. They attempted to move him again during Spring Training, but found no takers.

While the Mets’ failure to deal Gee earlier in the offseason might have had to do with their reluctance to ship him off for less than their asking price, their inability to trade him in March – when there were multiple teams in need of starting pitching help – was a bit strange.

Now, with Gee coming off two sterling starts and three teams having just lost important rotation pieces for most, if not all of the season, the Mets should again attempt to deal Gee.

Over the last three days, the Dodgers (Brandon McCarthy, torn UCL) and Cardinals (Adam Wainwright, ruptured achilles) lost starting pitchers for the season, and the Reds (Homer Bailey, sprained elbow ligament) lost one of their starting pitchers for an undetermined amount of time.

Of the three clubs in need of starting pitching help, the Dodgers and Cardinals are favorites to win their division, and the Reds are a team that has aspirations of contention.

If Sandy Alderson hasn’t done so already, he should be preparing to make phone calls to the respective general managers of those three teams soon.

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From the Mets’ end, here’s why this makes sense…

While serviceable as a back-end of the rotation piece, Dillon Gee is simply not a very good pitcher. His 4.52 FIP in 2014 was poor, and his K/9 rate has been steadily declining since 2012 (when it was 7.96) to this season (5.33 so far).

Additionally, Gee is arbitration eligible again this offseason, and it’s a near certainty that the Mets will non-tender him if he’s still with the club.

Again, Dillon Gee is not useless. He’s a perfectly acceptable back of the rotation starter. With the Mets, though, Gee does not profile as one of their best five rotation options. He might not even profile as one of their best seven options.

Rafael Montero, while unproven, already has better stuff than Dillon Gee. When you turn your attention to Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz, both just about ready for the majors, you have two of the best pitching prospects in baseball – one (Syndergaard) who profiles as a top of the rotation starter, and the other (Matz) who could settle in as a number two or number three starter for a contending club.

This is really a two-fold situation for the Mets.

For one, as is noted above, Dillon Gee is probably not one of their five best starting pitching options at the moment.

Second, the Mets need to get Noah Syndergaard to the major leagues sooner rather than later. He’s simply wasting bullets in Triple-A at this point.

If you’re worried that trading Dillon Gee will leave the Mets vulnerable, don’t be. If Gee is dealt, the Mets would still have seven immediate starting pitching options, and another option (Matt Bowman) who they could turn to in an emergency.

There are a number of reasons why the Mets should deal Dillon Gee, and I can’t think of one reason why they should keep him.