3 insane NY Mets trades that would hit the rewind button on last year's moves

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Several of the best New York Mets prospects are pieces brought in at last year’s trade deadline. Some untouchable, others not, the Mets have the potential to hit the rewind button on a couple of last summer’s moves.

With a focus on players acquired at last year’s trade deadline, these three ridiculous trades probably won’t happen but are sensible enough to happen if both teams are feeling itchy.

1) The Mets trade Luisangel Acuna to the Marlins for Tanner Scott

Luisangel Acuna came to the Mets last summer in the Max Scherzer deal with the Texas Rangers. It was more complicated than that. The Mets continued to pay Scherzer’s salary and picked up a large portion of the tab this year.

Acuna is one of those top Mets prospects fans can argue about until blue in the face. He hasn’t been terrific nor does he necessarily have an obvious path to the major leagues. Second base or maybe working more as a utility man to at least start his career seems to be one obvious path. His speed is undeniable. The bat has some work to do.

In this deal, the Mets send him to the Marlins for their star closer, Tanner Scott. A top 100 prospect for a rental reliever. The Mets got two lesser prospects for David Robertson last year. Would the Marlins be able to get more for Scott this time around?

I suppose one of the two players the Marlins sent the Mets last summer could sweeten the offer. However, if we’re not going to do any repeats, we’ll need to save Marco Vargas and Ronald Hernandez for the next offer.

2) The Mets trade Ronald Hernandez, Marco Vargas, and Jeremy Rodriguez to the Texas Rangers for David Robertson and Andrew Heaney

Those two ex-Marlins prospects along with Jeremy Rodriguez who was picked up from the Arizona Diamondbacks for Tommy Pham head off to the Rangers for David Robertson and starter Andrew Heaney. Heaney isn’t the best candidate to join the Mets rotation. It gets a little too left-handed for my liking. Maybe a separate trade involving Jose Quintana or Sean Manaea helps ease those concerns.

The three-player package should be more than enough to entice the Rangers to send the Mets Robertson and a starting pitcher of Heaney’s ilk. Michael Lorenzen, despite having an equal season as Heaney, doesn’t have quite the same magnitude of upside. The inclusion of Rodriguez in this deal might be a little too much for some Mets fans. Perhaps the Rangers can accept the trade without him.

The Rangers remain one of the more curious teams heading into the trade deadline as their exact mode has yet to be determined. A pitching staff flush with talent and guys having pretty years, it almost seems like a must for the Mets to make some sort of swap with them.

If a reunion with Robertson makes you sick because you hate rehashing old ideas, then look away from this last trade. Yet another member of last year’s trade returns.

3) The Mets trade Justin Jarvis to the Detroit Tigers for Mark Canha

Among the rewound trades, this is actually the most realistic to happen. The Detroit Tigers sell Mark Canha in the midst of a down year to the Mets to rid themselves of the remainder of his salary. In return, all they get back is a struggling already Rule 5 Draft eligible pitcher in Justin Jarvis.

If Jarvis is of no interest, the Tigers could always pivot and ask for Jeremiah Jackson instead. A piece the Mets picked up last year in exchange for Dominic Leone, he has also fallen out of the good graces. Poor plate discipline has kept him stuck in Double-A where he has now played almost 300 career games.

Canha on the Mets could make some sense if the team wants to secure themselves a right-handed hitter who can mash lefties. More of a first baseman than corner outfielder these days, the Mets would have to rely on a defensive substitution for the final innings or hope the ball doesn’t get hit Canha’s way.

As “real” as this trade could feel, the urgency to bring in a higher salaried player like Canha to ride the bench just isn’t there quite yet. Jeff McNeil has started to hit and with Starling Marte not ruled out for the rest of the year, we can probably pass on this trade.

Stranger trades have happened. A recent favorite in Mets history was trading Jay Bruce in 2017 for Ryder Ryan. In 2020, Ryan was traded to the Rangers for Todd Frazier. In a weird way, the Mets traded 2017 Bruce for 2020 Frazier.

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