A NY Mets-Padres trade package for Dylan Cease to help both teams stay competitive

Let’s be real. If the New York Mets are trading Brandon Sproat, no one is safe. You can buy season tickets only to show up to a game to find Yankees fans picnicking in your spot. To see him mentioned in the latest Mets rumors involving potential packages for San Diego Padres pitcher Dylan Cease must mean a one-for-one swap. We know better than to send a pitcher as quickly-rising through the system as Sproat away for a one-year rental.

In addition to Sproat, Jon Heyman named Jett Williams and Luisangel Acuna as two others who could potentially head to San Diego in a deal for Cease. San Diego is trying to contend while also lowering the payroll. What kind of a deal can we work out to make both teams happy?

Who says no to this Mets-Padres trade?

We’re getting two bodies in this trade. Along with Cease, lefty Wandy Peralta reunites with Carlos Mendoza. He’s coming off of a poorer season with the Padres. With a $4.25 million deal for this coming season plus two player options in 2026 and 2027 worth $4.45 million, it’s a good chunk of future money to get out from under while they can. Some good years with the New York Yankees plus some good metrics should still make him a viable addition to the Mets bullpen. Exactly a year ago today, it was reported that the Mets had interest in him before signing with the Padres.

Onto what the Mets are giving up.

The deal includes one of the names mentioned by Heyman. Acuna managed to have one of the stronger showings of recent Mets rookie position players upon his promotion. However, a poor year in Triple-A did raise some doubts. Incredibly useful for the Mets as a utility player with lightning speed, the downside is that he is down to his final minor league option already. If he’s a bum this year, the Mets are going to move on from him regardless. I’ll take my chances with seeing how Williams develops in the minors in a healthy season.

The inclusion of Jose Butto is certainly inspired by the Zack Scott trade proposal for Michael King. As much as I have grown to like Butto as a reliever, the ability to only use him with two days between appearances is problematic for a club that’ll utilize a six-man rotation. They need all of the bullpen arms they can get on a regular basis. Butto as a starter for the Padres on the cheap just makes more sense.

We round off this deal by giving the Padres Starling Marte and $15 million. It cuts his salary by about three-fourths. The Padres barely have an outfield for next year assembled. Good luck to them finding someone like Marte for around $5 million.

The trade accomplishes a few things. The Padres get 1) two controllable players 2) an outfielder/DH which they desperately could use 3) a reduced payroll. Meanwhile, the Mets are rewarded with Cease and Peralta, the latter to replace Danny Young whom they’d float on the waiver wire closer to the end of spring training. Clearing some of Marte's salary and opening up a roster spot shouldn't be overlooked either. If they chose to, they now have room for another addition although that would probably come internal.

What both teams get from this trade

The trade saves the Padres $13.75 million for Cease plus another $4.25 million for Peralta this year. A negotiable amount of Marte’s salary they’d take on, in this case $5.75 million, brings the total down of what they remove from the payroll to $12.25 million. However, it jumps up another $8.9 million with his future contract value (if he opts in) for a total savings of $21.15 million.

Needless to say, the Mets should be willing to consider Robert Suarez ($10 million this coming year and another potential $16 million in the two years after) as well as Yuki Matsui ($5.5 million this year and another $19.25 million possible over the next three seasons). I’m trying to be reasonable by choosing Peralta, the weakest of the three based on last year’s results.

The Padres might prefer a better prospect than Acuna but he is major league-ready. Butto has been good as a starter for the Mets so why not test him in those same waters as they successfully did with Michael King and Seth Lugo? If Marte’s a deal-breaker, we can let them look at their depth chart and reconsider.