Mets: Three subtle trades to improve the team for the 2020 season

2 of 3

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 20: Robert Gsellman #65 of the New York Mets tries to pick off the runner at first in the eighth inning against the Washington Nationals at Citi Field on May 20, 2019 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

A few subtle, less splashy trades by the New York Mets could help them become a more competitive team in 2020.

The first leg of what is sure to be many intriguing offseason moves has gone down for the New York Mets with the hiring of former All-Star outfielder Carlos Beltran to be their next manager.

But what’s next for the Amazins after this major shakeup in the clubhouse?

Clearly last year’s third-place finish in the National League standings as well as falling three games short of a wild card berth can’t sit well with the team’s management nor us the fans. While we may still have to wait a week or so before the rest of the team’s coaching vacancies get filled and sorted out, it is never too early to try to and brainstorm what this team can do via the trade route to right the ship in 2020.

But before we get started, let’s take a look at what the pressing needs are at the moment.

Clearly, the pink elephant in the room and the most glaring need for the Mets will be competent relief pitching. Mets finished with the 9th worst save conversion percentage in the majors last year, converting only 58% of all save opportunities successfully. They also had the fourth least amount of holds in all of baseball in 2019, with 59. Off the top of my head, there were at least eight games where we had a comfortable lead of three or more runs going into the eighth inning and lost the game outright due to relief pitching.

While there may be some decent relief pitching options on the free agent market this offseason, perhaps making a trade for one or two that are cost-controlled might be another plausible option for the Mets.

A Deal with the Blue Jays

Along these lines, the first trade I can see the Mets pursuing is sending minor league infield prospect Mark Vientos and relief pitcher Robert Gsellman to the Toronto Blue Jays for reliever Ken Giles.

We all know the Mets have big issues closing out ball games when they have the lead and Giles could easily be a remedy for that. If you pair Giles up with one or two decent free agent relief pitching pickups, all of a sudden that Mets bullpen isn’t quite as inept anymore.

Now the downside to this trade is that Giles has only one more year left on his contract, so essentially trading a long term asset with very good defensive skills and decent Major League potential in Vientos for a one year rental may not be the best situation for the Mets.

But costing only $8.5 million in salary for 2020 and posting a very respectable FIP of 2.57 and 1.87 ERA for the Blue Jays last year in 53 appearances, Giles has shown that he still has the goods to deliver. And at only 29 years old, he isn’t past his prime yet.

NEW YORK, NY – JULY 28: Clint Frazier #77 of the New York Yankees connects on a 3-run home run in the fifth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium on July 28, 2017 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /

Yankees, Tigers, and Mets, Oh My!

Another trade the Mets would be wise to consider is one where they acquire someone to be their every day, reliable and effective hitting center fielder. I know, many of you really like Brandon Nimmo and that infectious smile of his, but honestly, I see him more as a high-end fourth outfielder than I do an everyday starter.

Having only one full year under his belt where he has stayed healthy since the Mets called him up in his four years in the majors isn’t enough to convince me that Nimmo can be an every day productive center fielder. As a fourth outfielder, however, I can see Nimmo as an upgrade over Juan Lagares‘ bat without that much of a drop off on defense.

Other fans would consider giving Jeff McNeil a chance of playing 120 to 130 games in right field and moving Michael Conforto over to center on a full time basis. While that may have a chance of working, having watched McNeil play right field a lot last year, he just didn’t look very comfortable in that position to me.

There were many instances where I saw him misjudge line drive fly balls off of opponents’ bats or take wrong angles to cut off balls hit to him in the outfield. I think he would be better off being the everyday starting third baseman and occasionally relieving Robinson Cano at second base defensively. The infield just seems to be more naturally suited for the Squirrel’s abilities.

And then there’s the man with the best exotic sport car collection on the entire team, Yoenis Cespedes. I honestly think we can forget about relying on Cespedes having any chance of coming back and giving us 120 to 140 games in the outfield for 2020. The team and us fans should realistically expect no more than 25 to 40 games at the most from the Cuban slugger.

If this is the case, the need for acquiring a durable, solid hitting and solid defensive center fielder should be a top priority for the Mets in 2020.

Since the Mets and Yankees are probably not going to be trading directly with one another any time soon, it might be in both teams’ best interests to bring in a third team to indirectly pull off a trade where the Mets send Andres Gimenez to a team like the Detroit Tigers and the Tigers send one of their young starters like Matthew Boyd to the Yankees. The Mets can get some combination of Clint Frazier and a young Double-A pitching prospect like Alex Faedo from Detroit to complete the deal.

The reason I propose putting Gimenez into the trade mix is the Mets have another, even better-looking prospect in Ronny Mauricio, who we can expect to come up and contribute as early as 2021 to this ball club. Between Mauricio, a budding star in Amed Rosario anchoring shortstop for many years to come and Jeff McNeil able to adequately play second or third, we can afford to use Giminez as a trade chip to fill other needs.

Clint Frazier, himself, has shown the ability to play all three outfield positions somewhat decently and has even commented on how comfortable he feels playing center field on an every day basis if he had the opportunity. At the plate, his discipline and contact abilities show, that given enough time and reps to play the big league level, Frazier has the potential to be as productive as Michael Conforto offensively.

And having a cost controlled outfield of Conforto, J.D. Davis and Frazier should be more than adequate enough to free up a big portion of team salary to be used towards relief pitching and adding a replacement starter for Zack Wheeler.

KANSAS CITY, MO – JULY 04: Ian Kennedy #31 of the Kansas City Royals throws against the Cleveland Indians in the rain during the ninth inning at Kauffman Stadium on July 4, 2019 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Reed Hoffmann/Getty Images) /

A Royal Trade

The third and final trade I think the Mets should look to consider if they want to improve their chances at play off contention in 2020, is packaging a trade that would send Dominic Smith and one of either Double-A pitching prospect Dedniel Nunez or 3B prospect Will Toffey along with Edwin Diaz to the Royals for SP Jakob Junis and RP/SP Ian Kennedy.

Junis is a bit of an innings eater type of pitcher that, on the right team, can get 10 to 14 wins and serve as a high-end number four or low-end number three type of pitcher in a rotation. He features a slider that he can throw for strikes or induce weak ground ball contact with.

With Zack Wheeler demanding the kind of money he will most likely get in the free agent market, Junis can be a nice substitute fill-in that won’t cost the Mets much money and will be under team control until 2023.

Kennedy would be the type of long reliever or seventh or eighth inning set up man that would be an upgrade over Gsellman in my opinion. Being able to package Kennedy with Seth Lugo late in ball games will be a nice combination for the Mets to rely on in 2020. Kennedy also has experience and versatility, being able to either close or start 10 to 12 games a season. He was able to notch 30 saves for the Kansas City Royals in 2019.

Even though Kennedy is scheduled to make $16.5 million next season, he will be an unrestricted free agent the following year, so the Mets wouldn’t be locked up with the 35-year-old veteran for too long.

We can all agree that none of these moves are as “splashy” as the team trading for a Starling Marte or a Mookie Betts type of player. I do believe, however, that making a combination of small moves like these as well as signing two to three decent free agents to further bolster the team’s weaknesses from 2019 will go a long way to making this team achieve over 90 wins in 2020.

Next. Middle defense upgrades for the Mets to consider

Want your voice heard? Join the Rising Apple team!

Write for us!

Hopefully, with some better guidance by newly appointed manager Carlos Beltran and some timely trade deadline moves in the regular season, we will be rooting for our ball club to be winning crucial games in playoff series come next October.

Home / New York Mets News

A few subtle, less splashy trades by the New York Mets could help them become a more competitive team in 2020.

A Deal with the Blue Jays

Yankees, Tigers, and Mets, Oh My!

A Royal Trade

Schedule