3 NY Mets trade ideas involving nothing but players on their 40-man roster

The hardest part of putting together a mock trade isn’t finding names; it’s knowing what the team you don’t follow closely would want. We all know exactly how we feel about each and every New York Mets player. With prospects, we’re more told what to think and develop an opinion on what we hear and see.

Most mock trades are pretty bad for at least one team. The three you’re going to read about are no exception. But in putting these packages together, the exercise was about only using players currently on the 40-man roster of the Mets. Admittedly, it wasn’t the easiest task because a good portion of the players the Mets have stashed in the minors present on the 40-man roster currently are ones who wouldn’t have any trade value whatsoever.

But hey, let’s give it a try anyway.

1) Jose Butto and Luisangel Acuna to the Rays for Pete Fairbanks

In this deal, the Mets send the Tampa Bay Rays a big league-ready reliever in Jose Butto with a few years of control and the capability of possibly getting turned back into a starting pitcher. They also get a speedy infielder, Luisangel Acuna, who could play either middle infield position for them. What the Rays give up is pretty significant in Pete Fairbanks.

Chasing a Wild Card spot, any deal with the Rays right now might need to involve some immediate big league help. In fact, if they were to trade Fairbanks, this doesn’t feel like it cuts them down all that much, especially if they go around and trade for other pieces to help them.

Fairbanks is on a $7 million team option for next season with a chance to see it increase by up to $5.5 million based on games played from 2023-2025. Chump change to Steve Cohen, it’s a bigger part of the salary pot in Tampa Bay.

Who says no: Definitely the Rays. There are teams who could give them a better pair of players in return.

If we could add in an expendable prospect, let it be someone in the 15-20ish range. Surely, it'll end up being someone most fans don't know who ends up as the team's closer next season.