00:00:08
Speaker 1: What is up, Mets fans? Welcome back to another episode of the Mets Up podcast.
00:00:12
Speaker 2: Today, we're going to be going over the five hitters the Mets should trade for this offseason.
00:00:16
Speaker 1: We just dropped the pitchers.
00:00:17
Speaker 2: We're going to be doing all this kind of offseason content all offseason long, so make sure you are subscribed to Mets Up over here on YouTube. Big shout out to all our members who get access to these episodes on YouTube early.
00:00:27
Speaker 1: If you want to still listen.
00:00:28
Speaker 2: To us, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, drops the rating, drops the review, download and subscribe. The trade market, I think, is going to be hot this offseason. I think it is going to be electric. We got a bunch of good names on here.
00:00:39
Speaker 1: I think what we're going to get in that first month of the offseason is just going to be chaos offseason. That's going to be like hyper ADHD offseason. We're at the same time. The trademark is the one where I think you're going to have to pick your spots more. I think teams are going to be much more aggressive in free agency, but I do think lots of players will be available for trade. Player contracts are expiring. Teams are still going to want to trade them. So I think the first place we want to go might be a bit contentious in Mets world right now, but We kind of heard slight itty-bitty rumors last offseason. The Mets would be willing to possibly not have Francisco Lindor be their shortstop. It's possible. I don't think it's likely, but I think it's possible. With that being said, Astro shortstop Jeremy Pena, one year left on his deal. I don't love the long-term future prospects of Jeremy Pena. I love an individual year of Jeremy Pena right now. And he becomes a free agent, what, 2022? After this season. Yeah, so 2028, he'd become a free agent.
00:01:31
Speaker 2: Again, the individual stuff that you don't love is that the chase rate and the whiff rates and the walk rates are not particularly great. The offensive build is very inconsistent on what you get from Jeremy Pena, but you would be getting one of the better defensive shortstops, although I think this past year he struggled a bit.
00:01:46
Speaker 1: So maybe he's the guy you move to second base.
00:01:50
Speaker 2: Lindor was better defensively this year than Jeremy Pena in a very similar sample size.
00:01:54
Speaker 1: Pena's had an inconsistent defensive metrics the last few years, right? At the same time, he's dealt with significant, also not significant, soft tissue injuries, muscle injuries that happened to him a lot this year. I think it was an oblique. I want to say it was a hamstring. I'll double check for you guys right now, but that kind of seems like where OAA in the smaller samples, you only play a hundred games and maybe you play 30 of those while injured, which similar kind of happened Lindor this year. It could impact those metrics, right? I think he's still probably a good defensive shortstop. He also is funny because he, it's just, It's the offensive profile that we kind of went through to a slightly lesser degree just this past year with Bo Bichette, where you're just going up there ready to swing, which I don't think that's going to age gracefully at all. And Jeremy Payne is sneaky older than you would think right now. I think he's already 29 or 30. Yeah, next year will be his.
00:02:39
Speaker 2: Well, he'll turn 30 in September next year, so he has a full 29-year-old season left.
00:02:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, which is still a good time to play shortstop, because he was... A guy who played college ball, then he came up a little bit late anyway, broke out of the scene as like a 24-year-old, and the Astros were making those runs. At the same time, he really knows how to take advantage of pulled flag ball. He hunts fastballs, and he absolutely is great at depositing them, specifically in Houston to the Crawford boxes. That's this right kind of, I think, offensive fit as right-handed batter this Mets team theoretically could use.
00:03:07
Speaker 2: Is it crazy to say that, like, I know this is like a conversation about Jeremy Pena at a shortstop, but I truly think that they could move him to second base and just keep Lindor at shortstop.
00:03:17
Speaker 1: It's one year.
00:03:18
Speaker 2: I don't think you'd move Lindor off a shortstop for one year when he's here for all that time. And Jeremy Payton doesn't have an amazing arm either. So I feel like putting him at second base isn't a bad thing as well. The problem is, of course, is the Marcus Simeon conversation, although I think he's probably just going to end up getting cut at some point this year because of how horrible he's been. He kind of is what Marcus Simeon was when Marcus Simeon was like 29, 30 years old.
00:03:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, similar. Probably not to the same degree of offensive firepower that Simeon even had then. And a little bit less because Simeon did always make much better swing decisions. Yes, but I think.
00:03:50
Speaker 2: The idea of like high average guys, good defense, good athleticism.
00:03:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely. I was wrong about the oblique. It was a calf strain and a hamstring strain for Peña this year. So I think it could be second base if the Mets wanted to go there. I don't think you would bump off Lindor right now. You're so ready to bump him off shortstop. My thinking is that if you were to make an aggressive move for a shortstop, who the rest of the market will value defensively, I think, as a shortstop, and you're going to pay that price anyway, you're probably not going to pay it to put that player at second base. That's why I just don't see this happening because, again, the Mets are going to play pay premium for him being shortstop. You have to have a conversation with Lindori about that. Just a lot of things to do before the lockout starts on December 1st. Of course, I see that definitely.
00:04:30
Speaker 2: And we also don't know what the Astros are doing, which also kind of builds into the next guy we'll talk about too here with Isak Paredes. I actually like him more on this Mets team than I would Jeremy Pena for the reason that Isak Paredes plays third base. If Bo Bichette opts out, I think he is a better player than Bo Bichette, especially at the position. Would love to have him there. Paredes has also played first base. He's also played second base in his career. Not particularly well, but he has played it. He gives a lot more versatility. I also love the bat. He's another dead pull fly ball hitter. I don't think in his entire career he's ever hit a home run to the right side of the middle of the diamond, which is super impressive.
00:05:05
Speaker 1: I love him as a player. Again, I don't know what the Astros are ever doing.
00:05:09
Speaker 2: That organization is a fucking mess, but I would love to find a way to get him on the Mets.
00:05:14
Speaker 1: Well, I think we're getting some clarity on the Astros organizational plan here because Jim Crane is has been gallivanting around Houston this week with Brewers assistant general manager Matt Klein.
00:05:25
Speaker 3: What?
00:05:25
Speaker 1: Yes. Yesterday they were at an event together, Houston Sports Hall of Fame event. What? They walked on a red carpet together. What's that guy doing in Houston? Well, it seems like he's probably going to get hired to be their new po-po, but also at the same time you have Dictator Bagwell who sees the means of control of the whole organization. He's coup d'etat everybody else there. Ruined it. Yeah, but that's the thing, where if they maintain Bagwell being the guy on top, one, I don't think a guy like Matt Kline accepts that job and goes over to an organization like that. And two, if you keep Bagwell, you probably go full steam ahead with this aggressively mid-baseball team and just keep kind of swirling the toilet bowl together, where if you were to go very analytically-minded... you probably not only trade Paredes and Jeremy Pena, you take offers on Hunter Brown. You take offers on Jordan Alvarez if you wind up doing that with two years of control on those guys each, too. The Astros are the biggest pendulum swing team, I feel like, this entire offseason in baseball. I still would like Paredes. I don't think he gets enough credit for still being a good hitter just because he is so insanely pull-flat ball heavy. And at City Field, not really a terrible place for the pull-flat balls for a righty. Him, maybe specifically, because it really is just that wall-scraping power, but It usually doesn't play that poorly for righties.
00:06:33
Speaker 2: Well, it's like, it's the wall scraping power because he doesn't put a big XVLs, although career high or one of the best XVLs of his career, 109.5 this year. But. If you are looking at what Paredes did, like, this year at Citi Field, he still would have had 19 home runs as compared to, what, he had 25, I think, in Houston?
00:06:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a pretty big drop. It's a big drop, but I would still.
00:06:53
Speaker 2: Take 20 home runs at third base or first base right now compared to what we've had with an 800 OPS.
00:06:59
Speaker 1: I mean... Well, you don't have the 800 OPS if you lose six of those home runs, it turns out.
00:07:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, but.
00:07:03
Speaker 1: You might be losing 20 points of OPS at that point.
00:07:06
Speaker 2: But also he might be getting, he had a bunch of what? Didn't he have a bunch of singles off the Crawford boxes too? Because of how weird that is over there. Maybe he gets a few doubles.
00:07:14
Speaker 1: He's also not horrible at third base. He's completely fine at the position. I think you would get him to be a first baseman for sure. I don't think the Mets want to mess around. Well, it depends if Bo Bichette's back. And we are thinking now is a good chance Bo Bichette is back. Now I'm looking, I'm trying to see more. succinct park factors right here for right-handed batters in city field. I thought it was way more home run friendly there. No, it is. It is home run friendly there. It's not friendly.
00:07:36
Speaker 2: Stuff is weird too, though, because a lot of times it is dependent on what has been going on in the stadium. So if you have a lineup that is, it's the best we got.
00:07:45
Speaker 1: Yes. No, it is still the best we got, but that's why I like park factors to a degree. And that's why I can use them as, as a potential guide. We're praise his exact batted balls overlaid into the field last year. He would lose six home runs, but we know that city field in left field is, relatively kind to right-handed pull hitters. So it's not really kind to right-handed hitters to try to do anything else because we have a nice, besides P. Lonzo was able to get that ball over the fence over there in right center. But I do like Paredes and he's someone who oddly, even though he's been so consistent over the last few years, besides that spell with the cup, I don't think he'd cost very much to trade at all. No, I don't think it would be very expensive at all. you'd be able to trade a mid-level prospect to get one year of Isak Prey this. I think everyone would be pretty okay with that if the Astros go down this path again. Yeah, so I think that's definitely someone they should take a look at. Should we go for one of the crazies real quick just to mix it up? I'm down to go for one of the crazies, but also one of the guys left on here is my favorite one, a guy who I want on this team very badly.
00:08:37
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00:09:08
Speaker 1: It's still there.
00:09:08
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00:09:22
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00:09:38
Speaker 1: Vinny Pasquantino. You want him very badly. I think Vinny Pasquantino is a perfect fit for the Mets right now. And it's not only having a fun-loving first baseman with an Italian-sounding last name. That's only part of the fun for Mets fans. He's a Jets fan, too. He just seems like he's gotten some not-great coaching the last few years in Kansas City, where at a time when... physically he wouldn't be losing any bat speed, he has been hemorrhaging bat speed. And this year when he snapped back for August, September, we saw an uptick in that bat speed happen again. And with that late season flurry, he did kind of wind up being basically the same hitter he's been his entire career. The 2025 power surge I think you would really need stars to align to find that again. When I mentioned the fact that maybe has had the best coach in Kansas city, we don't even have anything. I had lead hitting coach right now. So we might need to get coach coaching remains to be seen with the Mets as we move forward.
00:10:28
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:10:28
Speaker 2: I think the quality of coaching is also remains to be seen with the New York Mets. I don't know if it is the best coaching either from that perspective.
00:10:35
Speaker 1: I want to keep doing like one really structured messed up video week. And then one just like classical podcast a week. Cause I do want to talk Mets coaching stuff. Did you, Did you get any snippets of Chelsea Janes on with Joe DiMeo on the Mets pod?
00:10:47
Speaker 2: I'm going to be so honest. Absolutely fucking not. I am not taking in any Mets content right now. There's some good clips I made on social media. It was just, again, about the absolute mess organizationally was with Carlos Mendoza and the assistant coaches this year where there were some instances where some veteran players were not really taking in with any of these new coaches were saying, and Carlos Mendoza was siding with players rather than his coaching staff, which definitely led to massive levels of dysfunction, potentially, theoretically, maybe with this team early on.
00:11:18
Speaker 1: In the season.
00:11:19
Speaker 2: That's like the most damning thing about David Stern's tenure with the Mets is allowing that shit to happen.
00:11:23
Speaker 1: 100%. And again, or if he wanted him fired, maybe it's damning about someone else with the Mets. Whatever really it was, Mendoza being a lame duck. And I don't know if that many Yankee fans watch this, but we're seeing something similar happen on the other side of town right now. Yeah, just a little bit.
00:11:36
Speaker 3: Mr.
00:11:36
Speaker 1: Cash is getting extended. And Aaron Boone did a great job this year, but he's going to manage on a one-year deal. So again, flip it back. Pascal Montino, he seems like based on his play, the approach, the raw power that he does have, even with the not tremendous bat speed, similarly being a pole hitter over there to the Coca-Cola corner, which I would like over there in city field as well. It just seems like you're going to get a wonderful, um, prime out of any Pascal Montino, two years of team control left, great guy to throw into a clubhouse. Like everything kind of seems like the stars are aligned. I don't think it'll cost a ton of trade either. Like this Timmy feels like an ideal trade target for the Mets.
00:12:09
Speaker 2: I think he's going to be a decent price just because he has a couple years of control.
00:12:14
Speaker 1: Two years, this year and the next. Yeah, still valuable.
00:12:17
Speaker 2: I think a lot of teams would like Vinny Pasquitino on their team. Just to throw cold water on it, because I like Vinny Pasquitino. I've been waiting for it. Obviously, a lot of the underlying stuff in terms of swing decisions and what he is as a player is phenomenal.
00:12:29
Speaker 1: He walks a ton. He doesn't strike out. He doesn't whiff. He swings at good pitches. Those are all things that we love to see.
00:12:35
Speaker 2: He's had some interesting comments in the past talking about bat speed, specifically where he's a guy who is very stuck in between what to do. He's talked about it publicly where he knows that bat speed is going to get him to that 30 home run power that he's shown before. But when he has the bat speed up, he ends up swinging and missing a lot and his swing decisions go down the drain. And he doesn't really like that because for him to feel comfortable, I don't think he.
00:12:59
Speaker 1: Likes being a low average guy.
00:13:01
Speaker 2: And we know that when bat speed comes, a lot of times you do swing and miss more, which is going to end up hurting some of the. consistency factors for Vinny Pasquantino or a lot of hitters around the league.
00:13:12
Speaker 1: So that's something that's interesting too.
00:13:13
Speaker 2: Like I know that again, the coaching maybe hasn't been the greatest in Kansas city, but at the same time, if this is a guy who's stuck in between and doesn't really seem to fully buy into it, I think that's something to keep in mind as well as it's just, he's not taking a step forward really like ever. He's kind of just been this a little bit better than league average offensive player now for his career and maybe that's a change of scenery thing and maybe the Mets could be the team that unleashes it there but when I see like 2000 plate appearances of just kind of the same thing always with flashes here and there I.
00:13:47
Speaker 1: Don't know if I'm as excited but he is obviously so.
00:13:51
Speaker 2: Much better than what the Mets have but then also you look at the slash line it's like I don't know close your eyes that's what Jared Young did this.
00:13:56
Speaker 1: Year yeah it kind of is what Jared Young did this year I am I do sometimes like to look at like the best case scenario which was that 20-25 when the bat speed went up and he went up across the board he got to 30 home runs he got to nearly 800 OPS in the year where offense was a little bit down league wide it just seems like and again that's why I don't think he will cost that much I think a lot of other teams will be like yeah we're getting You're kind of getting lefty Reese Hoskins to a degree from five years ago.
00:14:19
Speaker 2: Who's a similar player that's been traded over the last couple years that we could try and comp out to?
00:14:25
Speaker 1: I've been trying to find it here. I think Isak Paredes, but he hasn't really ever been a straightforward member of a trade. Is this Luis Garcia-ish? It could be kind of Luis Garcia-ish, and that was, again, an underwhelming volume-based return that wound up happening for him. There's another team with the Royals where I don't know what directions they go this offseason. There's probably a massive reset needed by this team. and you're just probably not going to compete for a playoff spot in the next two years while you have any Pascal Tignan on team control. Yeah, so the Nationals got two major league relievers. Yovani Cruz has legit stuff.
00:14:57
Speaker 2: Jake Bird is the weird one, and then Siebert and Grable, which I think you like as prospects but don't particularly have crazy hype, right?
00:15:04
Speaker 1: I like Siebert more. Cruz was the guy who looks like he'll be a high-leverage guy as soon as next season, but when you're a corner player who doesn't play elite defense, and like you said, has been inconsistent with the bat, it's not really a big... trade package you need anyway. And I do think that will work in the Mets' favor, because that is the position they need to work on the most right now. Yeah, no, they definitely need first base.
00:15:24
Speaker 2: Again, the thing that scares me about Vinny P is those are just Jared Young's numbers, but.
00:15:29
Speaker 1: Well, he's got Jared Young at home. But again, maybe there's probably another level on Jared Young as well. But I see something else being here for Vinny P. I think that especially his age and the skills that he's elite at That looks like a graceful aging and someone that has their best season when they're 30 or 31 years old. I'll give it a shot. If it doesn't cost much, why not? How about one that's going to cost a ton?
00:15:47
Speaker 3: Ton.
00:15:48
Speaker 1: Gunner Henderson. Why not? Why not Gunner Henderson? This is another one where I can almost point directly at the coaching that's being done with this team and what's wrong with him.
00:15:57
Speaker 2: 1000% because unlike the guys that we have mentioned, we have years where Gunnar Henderson is a top five player in Major League Baseball. Well, I mean, he was still ridiculously good that other year. He finished like top 10 in the MVP voter. So I guess not top five in Major League Baseball, but a top 25 player in Major League Baseball then for that other season. He is simply too good to be as bad as he's been the last two years. And I don't care if there's any sort of warning signs, things that tell you that maybe those are more of the players that he is.
00:16:27
Speaker 1: He is too fucking good. So Gunnar Henderson, again, this feels very, very coaching related. I did a trade video on my channel that came out, hopefully yesterday by the time you guys listen to this, as long as I get my thumbnail done in time before I gotta leave the house today. But Gunnar Henderson has become so unbelievably obsessed with pull fly balls. And we've been reading some articles about specifically the Orioles people try to trash the Orioles players development the last few years they are teaching that absolutely seemingly one size fits all you must pull your fly balls if you want to if you want to be a good baseball player in this organization funny because Pete Alonzo they brought him in and they're like go opposite field to you perfect yeah I mean that that's the only place he can home runs I think that's why they paid so much again like you are the righty who can actually hit for power here so we need you this badly that's why we're going to give you extra but Gunnar Henderson doing so and his pull fly ball rate jumped up to 23 percent this year it's It's a little bit below the ESOC parade. It's 33%, but when the major league average is 17%, coming into this season, Gunnar Henderson's career average is about 15%. Massive jump. In doing so, he's lost his superpower of swing decisions. That made him the great player. There's a cool function on Baseball Savant where you can see, compare two years of a player, and you can get zone-by-zone stats inside the strike zone and the parts just outside of it. High and away on Gunnar Henderson, between 2024 and this past season, he swung 27 percentage points more often. It's crazy. I know the samples are probably small in those little squares, but that's insane because he's not barreling that pitch up. He's letting his shoulder fly. He can't square it up whatsoever. And he performed horribly on those pitches. He's swinging more in the shadow, less in the heart. He seems so discombobulated in his baseball brain right now. And he played this whole year pissed off. He looked so mad every single Orioles game this year.
00:18:00
Speaker 2: Oh, he did not look particularly interested. Now they traded to one of his best friends, Natalie Rushman. He's also talked about, I think, like wanting to kind of hit free agency, which doesn't seem good for the Orioles. If he were to do that, it doesn't seem like an extension is coming. I think it's like a super lame fucking move for the Orioles to consider trading Gunnar Henderson.
00:18:17
Speaker 1: He should be like a lifetime Oriole based on how good he is.
00:18:20
Speaker 2: But if he is available, there probably isn't a package that would, the Mets would be able to give up that I would say no.
00:18:27
Speaker 1: Cause like, I probably wouldn't trade Benjamin McClain or Ewing. But you think they're going to ask? I don't think you can ask for Benjamin McClain. I think that's insane. Ewing might be the guy, and I'll tell you this, I probably would do that. we still have to do our video about who do you want for the next five years? More so Ewing or bench. I think that's going to be, that's going to be fun conversation. I love Ewing. I love Ewing. And this is not me asking for him to be traded.
00:18:49
Speaker 2: Don't, don't get it twisted like you guys do with the Zach Thornton bullshit. But if getting under Henderson made meant trading AJ Ewing.
00:18:56
Speaker 1: I would do it. I would consider him heavily. Only two years left for Gunnar Henderson on team control, and he's still only 25 years old because he came up so young. So you are getting two all-time peak seasons. He's another guy who I would love to just slot over at third base, not even think about it. Great arm. And you throw Bichette over the second. Now suddenly you're like, if Bo Bichette comes back to being Bo Bichette and Gunnar... Well, actually, if all three of those guys go back to being the players that he hoped them to be, that'd be the all-time underachieving infield from the 2026 season. I just... I don't think I would include AJ Ewing in that particular trade. When a guy does what he did in the Major League level, You're almost kind of untradeable to me for someone who– I basically haven't seen you play near your peak in over two years. I'm just saying, like, again, I have all the faith in A.J. Ewing. I'm just being devil's advocate for this. Fair.
00:19:41
Speaker 2: There's a world where that could be one of the most productive seasons of A.J.
00:19:46
Speaker 1: Ewing's career. I think that's not– I think there's a world where– Fair.
00:19:40
Speaker 3: No.
00:19:40
Speaker 1: No.
00:20:04
Speaker 2: But also at the same time, maybe we don't have to trade AJ. Can we find a package where we trade every single other prospect?
00:20:10
Speaker 1: Can we do that? Yeah, I think because I would prefer that. I think if you focus something on Jefferson Ross and Mitch boy, you can definitely get a trade like this for Gunnar Henders. Probably a special, a couple more guys. No, definitely a couple more guys. You center a package around those guys. I think then you could start to build off from there. Can pitchers lower in the organization? I mean, when we talked about their pitching trades last video, both of us didn't mention Tong. I don't know if that was just us putting him out of our brains or us not wanting to trade him, but I still think that after what he showed down the stretch, he does have some trade value. Tong, Rojas, Tucci. There's still got to be more, I think. You think there's still got to be more than that? Two years of Gunnar Henderson? I think you named one top 100 prospect. Well, we don't really have any top 100 prospects. I know. That's why I think it has to be more.
00:20:55
Speaker 2: And I think Tong is definitely not a top 100 guy right now. I think you need to name more. I think it has to be like, I think you even have to, you have to throw some of the crazy like helium names too. And the ceiling guys were like, Looking at the Mets farm system right now, Jefferson Rojas obviously would have to be in this trade 100%. Doesn't really fit the Orioles MO of guys.
00:21:15
Speaker 1: I'll be for real. I think you might be overestimating the Gunnar Henderson trade value right now. I see this as being kind of more similar to where it's a different personality fit. I think it's not that dissimilar to where Jas Chisholm's trade value was when he got traded to the Yankees. No shot. No shot. It's way higher, dude. Way higher. Gunnar Henderson has eight win seasons on the books.
00:21:36
Speaker 2: I think it's higher, but I'm not sure if it's way higher. He has one eight win season on the books. And also, Jas Chisholm got traded for fucking crumbs. What?
00:21:42
Speaker 1: We got traded for a borderline one French top 100 prospect and two other guys who they hoped to contribute at the major league level. I just wanted to.
00:21:48
Speaker 2: Be known that I was all over Augustine Ramirez being fucking dog shit. So that top 100 nonsense was Yankees propaganda.
00:21:57
Speaker 1: 100%. That's right. I forgot how injury riddled those seasons in Miami was for Jazz. Jazz was, yeah. Jazz is not the same. I forgot that he didn't have those really good seasons for the Yankees just now. So is there any more similar player comp for someone who's flash superstar ability but didn't sustain it with two more years of team control remaining. Let's see. I'm trying to think of names. Think about one year of team control remaining, light years better and more consistent than Gunnar Henderson, at the same time, at a similar age, Francisco Lindor. The Mets traded top 100 prospects, though. The Mets traded one top 100 prospect. A former top 10 prospect. A former top 10 prospect who everyone knew wasn't good anymore. Well, not everyone. The Guardians thought he was good. I don't know if they thought he was that good. I think that was an Andres Jimenez trade. And I think that was, again, one year of team control. Changed it a lot. Add more on top of that. Right now, where Jonah Tong is, to me, might be more valuable than where Ahmed Rosario was ahead of that season. I don't know about that. Ahead of that season? Ahmed Rosario had multiple years of being bad in the major leagues. It was very clear. There was nothing coming here.
00:22:56
Speaker 2: I think that's a little bit of hindsight clouding the judgment a little bit there.
00:23:01
Speaker 1: When Ahmed Rosario got traded to the Guardians... Like, Rosario, after 2019, as a 23-year-old, because.
00:23:07
Speaker 2: I mean, who cares about the COVID season? We're not going to talk about 43 games. As a 23-year-old, he had a basically league average offense. He was starting to steal. He was starting to get hot in that second half.
00:23:16
Speaker 1: You're talking about 2019 with the juice ball for 30 games. Yeah, but that's what everyone was doing.
00:23:21
Speaker 2: You can't do the hindsight of what he was valued at then being.
00:23:24
Speaker 1: Like, well, now we know the juice balls. Everyone, we know that year was bullshit. Again, back to my comp. We can think about Joe and Tom just had a month of good pitching.
00:23:33
Speaker 2: I don't think anybody is— I think Ahmed Rosario has more value than Jonah Tong did when they got traded. When Ahmed Rosario was part of that trade— We talk about how Jonah Tong is a reliever all the time on this channel.
00:23:42
Speaker 1: These smart organizations know that. At the time, we knew Ahmed Rosario was never going to be a big league everyday regular. Ahmed Rosario, when that trade happened, was 24 years old. He had almost 1,600 major league played appearances. He was 10% worse than league average, and he was a dogshit defender.
00:23:55
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:23:56
Speaker 1: That was not a super valuable trade asset. That still had value in this trade market. That was value in terms of you can be a major league utility player.
00:24:05
Speaker 2: And we get talked about all the time how valuable that is. He has so much more shine than Jonah Tonga does at this trade value.
00:24:11
Speaker 1: I don't think at that time he did any more at all. When he was in that trade, I was like, thank God he's in this trade. Yeah, but that's us watching him play every day. Exactly. The Guardians are a smart org. They circled him.
00:24:20
Speaker 2: The other two guys, if you want to convince me that Josh Wolfe and Isaiah Green, those were nothing burgers.
00:24:27
Speaker 1: Absolute nothing burgers. The trade was about him. We're just recounting the Francisco Indoor trade right now, five years later. But that's my point, is that... And that was also one year of control. One year of control.
00:24:38
Speaker 2: And that team was like, there's a 0% chance we're bringing him back.
00:24:41
Speaker 1: One year of control, but a much better baseball player. Yes, much more consistently good baseball player. Much more consistent, much better, and everything together was a lot easier. I think... I'm trying to... Again, who's like.
00:24:50
Speaker 2: Again, shortstop's such a weird position because we don't really have the historical data of good guys being traded as shortstops.
00:24:56
Speaker 1: Otherwise, last five years, top of my head right now, I was thinking shortstop trades. Good podcasting right now. Maybe some teams don't even see him as a shortstop anymore. Henderson's had pretty bad defensive metrics going back a few years. I think most teams would say you're going to probably be a third baseman. I agree. I think that he's... I mean, depends on the team. Yeah, depends on the team. Let's see, who are these other infielders who've been traded in the last decade here? Troy Tulewitzki, but he's another, like, you can't compare those. Very unique figure.
00:25:23
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:25:23
Speaker 1: Incredibly unique. Are we forgetting a very obvious shortstop being traded? I'm sure someone's screaming at their computer right now. I mean, the trade turned into a mid-season trade, but that's also a very different feeling. He also went with Max Scherzer.
00:25:36
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:25:36
Speaker 1: Adamez, but that was different at the time as well. Yeah. Adamez was never as good as Gunnar Henderson either. No, not at all. There was potential to forecast on him, but nothing super obvious. Who is the player? I mean, the Javi Baez trade.
00:25:50
Speaker 2: You get pico arms i mean you could say that one they got uh they got a a for sure top 100 prospect.
00:25:56
Speaker 1: In pca yeah i remember which team was on the other side of that but that was a pretty bad trade at the time um shout zach scott he's fabulous and don't say his name um yeah otherwise that's kind of where we're at for middle infielders being traded i'm gonna go i'm gonna do one quick scroll on third baseman.
00:26:11
Speaker 2: Yeah i'm trying to think how loud who the we'd Probably should have been a little more prepared of trying to find who the comp was before this.
00:26:18
Speaker 1: No, we got here in our own special way. I mean, Devers, but different because he had the big deal already. Arenado. These guys don't really get traded. Arenado, but it was a huge deal. It was Machado in the middle of the season on a half-year control left like this. This exact time frame for where Gunnar Henderson is is not a time to be traded. Which is why I think it's very likely he doesn't get traded.
00:26:38
Speaker 2: If he was good this year, we could have done the in-between Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor, which is so funny because they're on this team together.
00:26:44
Speaker 1: But Juan Soto was way better than Gunnar. Maybe it just is hard to find a trade competition right now. Josh Donaldson, way back. But he wasn't even that good. When he got traded from the A's. He was a great hitter at the time. He wasn't this level, though. Gunnar Henderson's coming off a year where he was a league average bat. 700 OPS. After last year, he was like 15% better, 20% better.
00:27:06
Speaker 4: I guess.
00:27:06
Speaker 1: I guess. Maybe it is Josh Donaldson. The peak was phenomenal. Very different types of players than Josh Donaldson. I think a different type. Maybe not the different type of personality. No, they're kind of the same, honestly. Yeah, when that trade happened, I think that was similar. But that's also a time when baseball was a little bit different. These values were a little bit different. Baseball was a little dumb then, still.
00:27:23
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:27:24
Speaker 1: The Orioles could be a little dumb right now. I'm not trying to say they're going to be dumb, but I think if you gave a trade package of Voight or Rojas plus Tong plus Santucci, you're pretty close to the front of the line.
00:27:36
Speaker 2: I think you give me all four of those and I buy it. I don't think you can just do one of Voight or Rojas. I think it's got to be both.
00:27:41
Speaker 1: I don't think they have to do both. I think these guys always get traded for less than we think every single time it happens. We'll find out. We'll find out. We'll see. We'll find out when he doesn't get traded. I hope you're right. I hope you're right. I get nervous. Add this one to the Mark and James arguments in the Mets sub lore. Is Jonah Tong right now more valuable than Ahmed Rosario at the end of the 2020 season? Let us know in the comments. Let us know in the comments. Let us know in the comments.
00:28:02
Speaker 2: I'll tell you what, they're both not very valuable. That's ultimately what the real conversation is. That was my whole point.
00:28:07
Speaker 1: Who's the best of the worst? That was my entire point going through that list right there. Last guy in this list of four or five Yandy Diaz. Yandy Diaz is going to get traded. We have so much track record that the Rays do this. Guess what?
00:28:20
Speaker 2: They just did it with Brendan Lau this past off season. When he went to the Pittsburgh pirates, Yandy Diaz will be traded. The thing that makes it a little bit awkward for the Mets is that Yandy Diaz is horrendous at first base. And We just had an entire offseason talking about first base defense. You know, we can kind of glaze over that a little bit, but Yandy Diaz can't really play first base, but one thing that he can do is mash. He is one of the most underrated hitters in Major League Baseball over the last few seasons. We talked about this when we were coming back from our trip from Tahoe.
00:28:51
Speaker 1: His numbers are ridiculous over the last three, four years. Oh, consistently. Every single year, he is that good. He only gets, like you said, He hasn't played first base even in a full year. He hasn't touched dirt this year with a glove on his hand. He's really bad at it. Yeah, but this Mets team could just use a bat in general.
00:29:09
Speaker 2: If Yanni Diaz has to fake it at first base for 30 games, I won't love that. But in terms of what you probably are still getting from him as a hitter, where just to talk about the numbers Mark was going on in a second, since the start of the 2022 season, just seeing this now, Yanti Diaz is 40% better in league average at the bat with a 300 batting average, 375 on base, 460 slug. And now in three of the last four years, he's actually hit 20 home runs, which before that he had never done his career.
00:29:37
Speaker 1: Which would be so sick. It's, just have this bet.
00:29:41
Speaker 2: Honestly, even if he's just an everyday right-handed DH, which we know is kind of not like the way that people want to roll. But even if that's his role, the Mets team is much better. The Mets team is much better already.
00:29:51
Speaker 1: It's definitely the way a lot of people don't want to roll. It's also the way like the best team in baseball is rolling. Yeah, of course. Which is cool with me. I'll take Yandy all day. No, he's just that good of a hitter. He never swings and misses. He swings really hard. He hits the ball incredibly hard. He gets on base at basically the highest clip in the entire league, going on a four-year stretch right now.
00:30:08
Speaker 2: I think he will be 36 next year, though, so just conversation.
00:30:12
Speaker 1: Well, that's also why he won't cost a ton, despite these big accolades. And he's only in a one-year deal. You're not signing him for huge money. That's not part of this equation whatsoever. It's also why the Rays are, again, likely going to trade him, almost guaranteed.
00:30:23
Speaker 2: What would you think in a trade for him?
00:30:26
Speaker 1: So much less than you could ever imagine.
00:30:27
Speaker 2: No, I know, but name a guy. Where do you think the top... What's the most expensive you think he'd cost in the Mets system?
00:30:33
Speaker 1: I mean, even a guy like Wenninger, I think if that's too expensive, like a hopeful back-end starter. Okay. I could see the Rays wanting, trying to get their hands on a guy like Chris Suero. I was looking at him. I know. I could see that being the one I regret, honestly, despite, again, someone who's like a basically fringe 26-man roster future, guys. Maybe like a Randy Guzman. That seems, yeah, I guess so too. I mean, even look at, they got dusted in that Brandon Loud three-team trade this year. It was horrible. We don't know the future yet, but that's kind of what Jacob Melton felt like, trying to fill a need for them, trying to do some developmental magic. We hope you can be the center fielder, but we think you'll probably be a fourth outfielder nonetheless. And they also got that pitcher, I'm sure we'll hear about in a year, Anderson, Anderson something. I don't want to say Anderson Espinosa. That's way back with the Padres. Who is it? These names are just flooding in. He was the one they pulled from the... The Astros org. I think he spent a lot of the year injured. Anderson Reyes. Let's see. Can I find the name? It's just giving me Nick Anderson. No, Nick Anderson. I'm scrolling on there. Roster Resource right now. But do you think that's what it would take to get one year of Yandy Diaz? Anderson Brito. Anderson Brito, yeah. He was pretty sure it was a curveball. There was some really good breaking ball quality that he had. Figuring out after that. But I would love to get Yandy Diaz on this team. I think he... He's got the testosterone, too. He's got big muscles. The idea of just ripping the tomahawk steak off the bone, him and Caminero together in that dugout celebrating the pennant, I would like that on this team. I would love Francisco Alvarez to hang out with Yandy Diaz. Maybe. That should be your role model.
00:32:04
Speaker 2: Yandy Diaz is 6 feet tall, 240 pounds, and all he does is just take war hacks and mash, but also has good swing decisions and gets on base.
00:32:14
Speaker 1: Francisco Alvarez, look across the way. That might be your future. I mean, I can see Francisco Alvarez breaking out 32 years old in a similar fashion. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. No more cashing. I was thinking about Francisco Alvarez in some of these trade packages we were making and not being very accurate on during this video.
00:32:31
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:32:31
Speaker 1: I think specifically with the Orioles, that wouldn't make sense because him and Basayo, that's just like two sides of a different coin. Yeah. What you hope Francisco Alvarez was supposed to be three years ago is kind of how Basayo feels right now. And I don't think either of them are particularly good at the actual position, so that's pretty difficult to swallow. Although... Well, I guess Basayo did a great job on everything but framing. Yeah, well, and Alvarez just can't really do much. Otherwise, guys that we've mentioned, but I don't really know how available they are or how interested the Mets would be. I think Alec Burleson will become available this offseason. Mark doesn't, but I think the Cardinals are still going to be very much in acquisition mode for their team, like volume acquisition mode and just dump more Major League talent if they think they can.
00:33:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just don't think he's going to be available yet. I think maybe next offseason could be the one. I also like, he feels like he's going to be a cheap extension where he might just keep him, because why not?
00:33:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with that. He's one of the most productive hitters in baseball. He's clearly a team leader. I think they're in a bit of an Ivan Herrera situation, though, where Leo Bernal, if you guys weren't paying attention mid-September, Leo Bernal lit the world on fire. Cardinals prospect catcher. Ivan Herrera could be a guy definitely I could see on the move. That could be a guy's trade, too. But he's four years of control, no clear position. That's just an odd time for them to trade him. I think they're going to just give him a first baseman's glove and say, good luck. They have to. Have fun. So that's why I think that they could find a way to trade Burleson. Again, Burleson's a really functional player. Burleson is like the Andy Diaz of Vinny Pasquitino's right now. Nice. Right?
00:34:01
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:34:01
Speaker 1: Just underrated. Underrated doesn't get the love. Underweight doesn't get the love, but he's just going to spit out these 800 OPS seasons with slightly underwhelming home run tolls. Besides this year, we blasted 26, and he was, I think, the second in the NL in RBI, something like that.
00:34:14
Speaker 2: Can I give you some reclamation project losers that I'd like to take a shot on?
00:34:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, very kind. All right.
00:34:20
Speaker 2: Well, this guy you probably don't have to trade for. Burleson led all the baseball in RBI, so I take that back.
00:34:24
Speaker 1: Burleson's the man. Burleson's awesome. I didn't realize you jumped ahead of Pete. Underrated. There you go. You did it. I underrated him live. All right.
00:34:31
Speaker 2: You're probably not going to have to trade for this guy, but I don't know. Let's trade Mark Vientos.
00:34:34
Speaker 1: For Ryan Mountcastle. I'm in. Let's do it. I think we'll probably just wait until both of those teams cut each of those guys. That's fair. That's fair. But I'll take Ryan Mountcastle as a reclamation project. 100%. Really good contact when he makes contact. We need a right-handed hitter.
00:34:47
Speaker 2: Tristan Casas is going to get out of Boston at some point. There's no way that they keep that guy. I think they've been wanting to get rid of him for years. I think he is an absolute pain in the ass, and I think he would just be left-handed Mark Vientos, but I think he's better.
00:35:00
Speaker 1: I think he's got a way better floor than Mark Vientos. It's been so long since we've seen Tristan Casas be a functional baseball player. Yeah, for free. I'm interested in him.
00:35:09
Speaker 2: I also like the idea of taking a look at Spencer Torkelson if he's actually available.
00:35:14
Speaker 1: I think he will be available. I honestly think he might be a non-tender candidate.
00:35:17
Speaker 4: Really?
00:35:19
Speaker 1: He just hits too many home runs. But I guess they don't care. Kyle Schwarber got DFA'd non-tender. That's what I'm saying. Kyle Schwarber got DFA'd in a similar spot. Cody Bellinger. Yeah, Cody Bellinger got DFA'd non-tendered. Torkelson is as righty when it's good power, it's not great power. And he can't play a lick of defense. They're going to be like, what are we doing here? Yeah, this year was really, really bad for him. But he's a talented hitter. He's given us too many good sparks. I think sneakily, in a weird way, these teams don't line up for trades often. But Luis Garcia, I think the A's are going to just take calls on him. One year left of team control. They have so many corner-only guys that can't really do that much besides MASH. So I don't think they'd be that upset, depending on what happens with Giancarlo Stanton. But it's very difficult to have a roster with Giancarlo Stanton, Luis Garcia, and Ben Rice on your team. I will tell you this, too.
00:36:02
Speaker 2: I ultimately think the Mets are going to be one of the frontrunners to get Teruaki Sato as well, who I think could be the first baseman for this team.
00:36:07
Speaker 1: So that might also foil all these plans. I'll sneak this into the end of this.
00:36:11
Speaker 2: I don't know how much I love Sato if he winds up getting a monster deal. If his deal looks like Okamoto's deal, or probably it'll be bigger than Murakami's deal, then I would like him.
00:36:20
Speaker 1: But if you're looking at the Seisuzuki deal or the Yoshida deal, I think I would be kind of reluctant to go in on Sato. We'll dive in deeper. We'll do another episode about those guys once we get more clarity on them soon. Other names I'm just going to throw out. Is Brendan Donovan available? How is his head?
00:36:34
Speaker 2: I know he dealt with a lot of concussion stuff going on. That's a little bit scary just for him personally and then also as an organization, but He would fit a lot of what I think the Mets are looking for with get on base, play good defense in multiple positions.
00:36:44
Speaker 1: And then also Ezekiel Duran. Are the Rangers moving him?
00:36:48
Speaker 2: He'd be a nice little actual good utility player for the Mets to grab.
00:36:52
Speaker 1: He has only two or one year team control left as well? I think he's a 2029 free agent. Yeah, he's a 2029 free agent. They need baseball players on that team so badly. So badly.
00:37:01
Speaker 2: That's why they probably don't trade him, but also at the same time, the Rangers are below.
00:37:05
Speaker 1: They're a bad org right now. That's kind of it.
00:37:08
Speaker 2: Hey, Oscar?
00:37:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, Teoscar's one that makes weirdly tons of sense. I'm sure he's not going to be in the Dodgers next year. I feel like they want to dump him in glass now. And the Mets could just use another right-handed, DH-ish, outfield-ish bat. Which would be Teoscar. Like if him and Solo just all traded playing bad defense every single day. Like one of the DHs the other day. I probably still think Teoscar's going to be like 15% better than league average. Yeah, which I wouldn't mind.
00:37:31
Speaker 4: C.J.
00:37:31
Speaker 1: Abrams is going to be available. I doubt they trade him in the division. Josh Young.
00:37:37
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:37:37
Speaker 1: Again, depending on Bobachet, probably doesn't make sense. I mentioned Kerry Carpenter with you off, Karen, but the Mets probably don't need another lefty bat, and I don't know, it really just depends on if they have any, even like a modicum of faith in Jorge Polanco, which I do not, so we'll see if they actually do. I think that's it. I would love to just, I would love to just throw a stack for Jordan Alvarez. Oh, and whatever they want. AJ Ewing for him? Yeah, then I would put AJ Ewing in a deal for Jordan. Would you put Carson Bench for him? Yeah. Wow, okay. For Jordan, for two years of Jordan? I just wanted to hear. If we could have, if we could have, Juan Soto and Jordan Alvarez in the same lineup? Spider-Man meme. Hey, the Astros are the really interesting team to think about this offseason. They hold a lot of the keys.
00:38:18
Speaker 2: Throw a fucking glove. First base glove on Jordan Alvarez. It's crazy he hasn't played that position more.
00:38:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, right. But I think that's it.
00:38:25
Speaker 2: Yeah. Let us know who you guys think the Mets should trade for down in the comments section below. Subscribe to Mets Up over here on YouTube. If you're listening to us, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google. Drop us a rating, drop us a review, download, and subscribe. You can follow James on social media at James Shiano.
00:38:37
Speaker 1: I'm Giraffe Nick Mark. We'll catch you guys on the next one. Peace out. Peace out, guys. Go Mets.
Speaker 1: What is up, Mets fans? Welcome back to another episode of the Mets Up podcast.
00:00:12
Speaker 2: Today, we're going to be going over the five hitters the Mets should trade for this offseason.
00:00:16
Speaker 1: We just dropped the pitchers.
00:00:17
Speaker 2: We're going to be doing all this kind of offseason content all offseason long, so make sure you are subscribed to Mets Up over here on YouTube. Big shout out to all our members who get access to these episodes on YouTube early.
00:00:27
Speaker 1: If you want to still listen.
00:00:28
Speaker 2: To us, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, drops the rating, drops the review, download and subscribe. The trade market, I think, is going to be hot this offseason. I think it is going to be electric. We got a bunch of good names on here.
00:00:39
Speaker 1: I think what we're going to get in that first month of the offseason is just going to be chaos offseason. That's going to be like hyper ADHD offseason. We're at the same time. The trademark is the one where I think you're going to have to pick your spots more. I think teams are going to be much more aggressive in free agency, but I do think lots of players will be available for trade. Player contracts are expiring. Teams are still going to want to trade them. So I think the first place we want to go might be a bit contentious in Mets world right now, but We kind of heard slight itty-bitty rumors last offseason. The Mets would be willing to possibly not have Francisco Lindor be their shortstop. It's possible. I don't think it's likely, but I think it's possible. With that being said, Astro shortstop Jeremy Pena, one year left on his deal. I don't love the long-term future prospects of Jeremy Pena. I love an individual year of Jeremy Pena right now. And he becomes a free agent, what, 2022? After this season. Yeah, so 2028, he'd become a free agent.
00:01:31
Speaker 2: Again, the individual stuff that you don't love is that the chase rate and the whiff rates and the walk rates are not particularly great. The offensive build is very inconsistent on what you get from Jeremy Pena, but you would be getting one of the better defensive shortstops, although I think this past year he struggled a bit.
00:01:46
Speaker 1: So maybe he's the guy you move to second base.
00:01:50
Speaker 2: Lindor was better defensively this year than Jeremy Pena in a very similar sample size.
00:01:54
Speaker 1: Pena's had an inconsistent defensive metrics the last few years, right? At the same time, he's dealt with significant, also not significant, soft tissue injuries, muscle injuries that happened to him a lot this year. I think it was an oblique. I want to say it was a hamstring. I'll double check for you guys right now, but that kind of seems like where OAA in the smaller samples, you only play a hundred games and maybe you play 30 of those while injured, which similar kind of happened Lindor this year. It could impact those metrics, right? I think he's still probably a good defensive shortstop. He also is funny because he, it's just, It's the offensive profile that we kind of went through to a slightly lesser degree just this past year with Bo Bichette, where you're just going up there ready to swing, which I don't think that's going to age gracefully at all. And Jeremy Payne is sneaky older than you would think right now. I think he's already 29 or 30. Yeah, next year will be his.
00:02:39
Speaker 2: Well, he'll turn 30 in September next year, so he has a full 29-year-old season left.
00:02:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, which is still a good time to play shortstop, because he was... A guy who played college ball, then he came up a little bit late anyway, broke out of the scene as like a 24-year-old, and the Astros were making those runs. At the same time, he really knows how to take advantage of pulled flag ball. He hunts fastballs, and he absolutely is great at depositing them, specifically in Houston to the Crawford boxes. That's this right kind of, I think, offensive fit as right-handed batter this Mets team theoretically could use.
00:03:07
Speaker 2: Is it crazy to say that, like, I know this is like a conversation about Jeremy Pena at a shortstop, but I truly think that they could move him to second base and just keep Lindor at shortstop.
00:03:17
Speaker 1: It's one year.
00:03:18
Speaker 2: I don't think you'd move Lindor off a shortstop for one year when he's here for all that time. And Jeremy Payton doesn't have an amazing arm either. So I feel like putting him at second base isn't a bad thing as well. The problem is, of course, is the Marcus Simeon conversation, although I think he's probably just going to end up getting cut at some point this year because of how horrible he's been. He kind of is what Marcus Simeon was when Marcus Simeon was like 29, 30 years old.
00:03:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, similar. Probably not to the same degree of offensive firepower that Simeon even had then. And a little bit less because Simeon did always make much better swing decisions. Yes, but I think.
00:03:50
Speaker 2: The idea of like high average guys, good defense, good athleticism.
00:03:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely. I was wrong about the oblique. It was a calf strain and a hamstring strain for Peña this year. So I think it could be second base if the Mets wanted to go there. I don't think you would bump off Lindor right now. You're so ready to bump him off shortstop. My thinking is that if you were to make an aggressive move for a shortstop, who the rest of the market will value defensively, I think, as a shortstop, and you're going to pay that price anyway, you're probably not going to pay it to put that player at second base. That's why I just don't see this happening because, again, the Mets are going to play pay premium for him being shortstop. You have to have a conversation with Lindori about that. Just a lot of things to do before the lockout starts on December 1st. Of course, I see that definitely.
00:04:30
Speaker 2: And we also don't know what the Astros are doing, which also kind of builds into the next guy we'll talk about too here with Isak Paredes. I actually like him more on this Mets team than I would Jeremy Pena for the reason that Isak Paredes plays third base. If Bo Bichette opts out, I think he is a better player than Bo Bichette, especially at the position. Would love to have him there. Paredes has also played first base. He's also played second base in his career. Not particularly well, but he has played it. He gives a lot more versatility. I also love the bat. He's another dead pull fly ball hitter. I don't think in his entire career he's ever hit a home run to the right side of the middle of the diamond, which is super impressive.
00:05:05
Speaker 1: I love him as a player. Again, I don't know what the Astros are ever doing.
00:05:09
Speaker 2: That organization is a fucking mess, but I would love to find a way to get him on the Mets.
00:05:14
Speaker 1: Well, I think we're getting some clarity on the Astros organizational plan here because Jim Crane is has been gallivanting around Houston this week with Brewers assistant general manager Matt Klein.
00:05:25
Speaker 3: What?
00:05:25
Speaker 1: Yes. Yesterday they were at an event together, Houston Sports Hall of Fame event. What? They walked on a red carpet together. What's that guy doing in Houston? Well, it seems like he's probably going to get hired to be their new po-po, but also at the same time you have Dictator Bagwell who sees the means of control of the whole organization. He's coup d'etat everybody else there. Ruined it. Yeah, but that's the thing, where if they maintain Bagwell being the guy on top, one, I don't think a guy like Matt Kline accepts that job and goes over to an organization like that. And two, if you keep Bagwell, you probably go full steam ahead with this aggressively mid-baseball team and just keep kind of swirling the toilet bowl together, where if you were to go very analytically-minded... you probably not only trade Paredes and Jeremy Pena, you take offers on Hunter Brown. You take offers on Jordan Alvarez if you wind up doing that with two years of control on those guys each, too. The Astros are the biggest pendulum swing team, I feel like, this entire offseason in baseball. I still would like Paredes. I don't think he gets enough credit for still being a good hitter just because he is so insanely pull-flat ball heavy. And at City Field, not really a terrible place for the pull-flat balls for a righty. Him, maybe specifically, because it really is just that wall-scraping power, but It usually doesn't play that poorly for righties.
00:06:33
Speaker 2: Well, it's like, it's the wall scraping power because he doesn't put a big XVLs, although career high or one of the best XVLs of his career, 109.5 this year. But. If you are looking at what Paredes did, like, this year at Citi Field, he still would have had 19 home runs as compared to, what, he had 25, I think, in Houston?
00:06:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a pretty big drop. It's a big drop, but I would still.
00:06:53
Speaker 2: Take 20 home runs at third base or first base right now compared to what we've had with an 800 OPS.
00:06:59
Speaker 1: I mean... Well, you don't have the 800 OPS if you lose six of those home runs, it turns out.
00:07:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, but.
00:07:03
Speaker 1: You might be losing 20 points of OPS at that point.
00:07:06
Speaker 2: But also he might be getting, he had a bunch of what? Didn't he have a bunch of singles off the Crawford boxes too? Because of how weird that is over there. Maybe he gets a few doubles.
00:07:14
Speaker 1: He's also not horrible at third base. He's completely fine at the position. I think you would get him to be a first baseman for sure. I don't think the Mets want to mess around. Well, it depends if Bo Bichette's back. And we are thinking now is a good chance Bo Bichette is back. Now I'm looking, I'm trying to see more. succinct park factors right here for right-handed batters in city field. I thought it was way more home run friendly there. No, it is. It is home run friendly there. It's not friendly.
00:07:36
Speaker 2: Stuff is weird too, though, because a lot of times it is dependent on what has been going on in the stadium. So if you have a lineup that is, it's the best we got.
00:07:45
Speaker 1: Yes. No, it is still the best we got, but that's why I like park factors to a degree. And that's why I can use them as, as a potential guide. We're praise his exact batted balls overlaid into the field last year. He would lose six home runs, but we know that city field in left field is, relatively kind to right-handed pull hitters. So it's not really kind to right-handed hitters to try to do anything else because we have a nice, besides P. Lonzo was able to get that ball over the fence over there in right center. But I do like Paredes and he's someone who oddly, even though he's been so consistent over the last few years, besides that spell with the cup, I don't think he'd cost very much to trade at all. No, I don't think it would be very expensive at all. you'd be able to trade a mid-level prospect to get one year of Isak Prey this. I think everyone would be pretty okay with that if the Astros go down this path again. Yeah, so I think that's definitely someone they should take a look at. Should we go for one of the crazies real quick just to mix it up? I'm down to go for one of the crazies, but also one of the guys left on here is my favorite one, a guy who I want on this team very badly.
00:08:37
Speaker 3: AJ, in this postseason, there is a chance for a fan base to get very excited to witness either their first ever World Series title or a World Series title that hasn't been in a long time, right? So if you're a fan out there and you're going, man, some things never change. No, in baseball, it can turn around. But here's what really doesn't change. Mint Mobile, 15 bucks a month on your wireless bill. It's been there since we started talking about Mint Mobile and it will continue.
00:09:08
Speaker 1: It's still there.
00:09:08
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00:09:22
Speaker 3: Go to mintmobile.com slash territory. That's mintmobile.com slash territory for $ 15 a month. $ 45 upfront payment required equivalent to $ 15 a month. New customers on first three-month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details. Who?
00:09:38
Speaker 1: Vinny Pasquantino. You want him very badly. I think Vinny Pasquantino is a perfect fit for the Mets right now. And it's not only having a fun-loving first baseman with an Italian-sounding last name. That's only part of the fun for Mets fans. He's a Jets fan, too. He just seems like he's gotten some not-great coaching the last few years in Kansas City, where at a time when... physically he wouldn't be losing any bat speed, he has been hemorrhaging bat speed. And this year when he snapped back for August, September, we saw an uptick in that bat speed happen again. And with that late season flurry, he did kind of wind up being basically the same hitter he's been his entire career. The 2025 power surge I think you would really need stars to align to find that again. When I mentioned the fact that maybe has had the best coach in Kansas city, we don't even have anything. I had lead hitting coach right now. So we might need to get coach coaching remains to be seen with the Mets as we move forward.
00:10:28
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:10:28
Speaker 2: I think the quality of coaching is also remains to be seen with the New York Mets. I don't know if it is the best coaching either from that perspective.
00:10:35
Speaker 1: I want to keep doing like one really structured messed up video week. And then one just like classical podcast a week. Cause I do want to talk Mets coaching stuff. Did you, Did you get any snippets of Chelsea Janes on with Joe DiMeo on the Mets pod?
00:10:47
Speaker 2: I'm going to be so honest. Absolutely fucking not. I am not taking in any Mets content right now. There's some good clips I made on social media. It was just, again, about the absolute mess organizationally was with Carlos Mendoza and the assistant coaches this year where there were some instances where some veteran players were not really taking in with any of these new coaches were saying, and Carlos Mendoza was siding with players rather than his coaching staff, which definitely led to massive levels of dysfunction, potentially, theoretically, maybe with this team early on.
00:11:18
Speaker 1: In the season.
00:11:19
Speaker 2: That's like the most damning thing about David Stern's tenure with the Mets is allowing that shit to happen.
00:11:23
Speaker 1: 100%. And again, or if he wanted him fired, maybe it's damning about someone else with the Mets. Whatever really it was, Mendoza being a lame duck. And I don't know if that many Yankee fans watch this, but we're seeing something similar happen on the other side of town right now. Yeah, just a little bit.
00:11:36
Speaker 3: Mr.
00:11:36
Speaker 1: Cash is getting extended. And Aaron Boone did a great job this year, but he's going to manage on a one-year deal. So again, flip it back. Pascal Montino, he seems like based on his play, the approach, the raw power that he does have, even with the not tremendous bat speed, similarly being a pole hitter over there to the Coca-Cola corner, which I would like over there in city field as well. It just seems like you're going to get a wonderful, um, prime out of any Pascal Montino, two years of team control left, great guy to throw into a clubhouse. Like everything kind of seems like the stars are aligned. I don't think it'll cost a ton of trade either. Like this Timmy feels like an ideal trade target for the Mets.
00:12:09
Speaker 2: I think he's going to be a decent price just because he has a couple years of control.
00:12:14
Speaker 1: Two years, this year and the next. Yeah, still valuable.
00:12:17
Speaker 2: I think a lot of teams would like Vinny Pasquitino on their team. Just to throw cold water on it, because I like Vinny Pasquitino. I've been waiting for it. Obviously, a lot of the underlying stuff in terms of swing decisions and what he is as a player is phenomenal.
00:12:29
Speaker 1: He walks a ton. He doesn't strike out. He doesn't whiff. He swings at good pitches. Those are all things that we love to see.
00:12:35
Speaker 2: He's had some interesting comments in the past talking about bat speed, specifically where he's a guy who is very stuck in between what to do. He's talked about it publicly where he knows that bat speed is going to get him to that 30 home run power that he's shown before. But when he has the bat speed up, he ends up swinging and missing a lot and his swing decisions go down the drain. And he doesn't really like that because for him to feel comfortable, I don't think he.
00:12:59
Speaker 1: Likes being a low average guy.
00:13:01
Speaker 2: And we know that when bat speed comes, a lot of times you do swing and miss more, which is going to end up hurting some of the. consistency factors for Vinny Pasquantino or a lot of hitters around the league.
00:13:12
Speaker 1: So that's something that's interesting too.
00:13:13
Speaker 2: Like I know that again, the coaching maybe hasn't been the greatest in Kansas city, but at the same time, if this is a guy who's stuck in between and doesn't really seem to fully buy into it, I think that's something to keep in mind as well as it's just, he's not taking a step forward really like ever. He's kind of just been this a little bit better than league average offensive player now for his career and maybe that's a change of scenery thing and maybe the Mets could be the team that unleashes it there but when I see like 2000 plate appearances of just kind of the same thing always with flashes here and there I.
00:13:47
Speaker 1: Don't know if I'm as excited but he is obviously so.
00:13:51
Speaker 2: Much better than what the Mets have but then also you look at the slash line it's like I don't know close your eyes that's what Jared Young did this.
00:13:56
Speaker 1: Year yeah it kind of is what Jared Young did this year I am I do sometimes like to look at like the best case scenario which was that 20-25 when the bat speed went up and he went up across the board he got to 30 home runs he got to nearly 800 OPS in the year where offense was a little bit down league wide it just seems like and again that's why I don't think he will cost that much I think a lot of other teams will be like yeah we're getting You're kind of getting lefty Reese Hoskins to a degree from five years ago.
00:14:19
Speaker 2: Who's a similar player that's been traded over the last couple years that we could try and comp out to?
00:14:25
Speaker 1: I've been trying to find it here. I think Isak Paredes, but he hasn't really ever been a straightforward member of a trade. Is this Luis Garcia-ish? It could be kind of Luis Garcia-ish, and that was, again, an underwhelming volume-based return that wound up happening for him. There's another team with the Royals where I don't know what directions they go this offseason. There's probably a massive reset needed by this team. and you're just probably not going to compete for a playoff spot in the next two years while you have any Pascal Tignan on team control. Yeah, so the Nationals got two major league relievers. Yovani Cruz has legit stuff.
00:14:57
Speaker 2: Jake Bird is the weird one, and then Siebert and Grable, which I think you like as prospects but don't particularly have crazy hype, right?
00:15:04
Speaker 1: I like Siebert more. Cruz was the guy who looks like he'll be a high-leverage guy as soon as next season, but when you're a corner player who doesn't play elite defense, and like you said, has been inconsistent with the bat, it's not really a big... trade package you need anyway. And I do think that will work in the Mets' favor, because that is the position they need to work on the most right now. Yeah, no, they definitely need first base.
00:15:24
Speaker 2: Again, the thing that scares me about Vinny P is those are just Jared Young's numbers, but.
00:15:29
Speaker 1: Well, he's got Jared Young at home. But again, maybe there's probably another level on Jared Young as well. But I see something else being here for Vinny P. I think that especially his age and the skills that he's elite at That looks like a graceful aging and someone that has their best season when they're 30 or 31 years old. I'll give it a shot. If it doesn't cost much, why not? How about one that's going to cost a ton?
00:15:47
Speaker 3: Ton.
00:15:48
Speaker 1: Gunner Henderson. Why not? Why not Gunner Henderson? This is another one where I can almost point directly at the coaching that's being done with this team and what's wrong with him.
00:15:57
Speaker 2: 1000% because unlike the guys that we have mentioned, we have years where Gunnar Henderson is a top five player in Major League Baseball. Well, I mean, he was still ridiculously good that other year. He finished like top 10 in the MVP voter. So I guess not top five in Major League Baseball, but a top 25 player in Major League Baseball then for that other season. He is simply too good to be as bad as he's been the last two years. And I don't care if there's any sort of warning signs, things that tell you that maybe those are more of the players that he is.
00:16:27
Speaker 1: He is too fucking good. So Gunnar Henderson, again, this feels very, very coaching related. I did a trade video on my channel that came out, hopefully yesterday by the time you guys listen to this, as long as I get my thumbnail done in time before I gotta leave the house today. But Gunnar Henderson has become so unbelievably obsessed with pull fly balls. And we've been reading some articles about specifically the Orioles people try to trash the Orioles players development the last few years they are teaching that absolutely seemingly one size fits all you must pull your fly balls if you want to if you want to be a good baseball player in this organization funny because Pete Alonzo they brought him in and they're like go opposite field to you perfect yeah I mean that that's the only place he can home runs I think that's why they paid so much again like you are the righty who can actually hit for power here so we need you this badly that's why we're going to give you extra but Gunnar Henderson doing so and his pull fly ball rate jumped up to 23 percent this year it's It's a little bit below the ESOC parade. It's 33%, but when the major league average is 17%, coming into this season, Gunnar Henderson's career average is about 15%. Massive jump. In doing so, he's lost his superpower of swing decisions. That made him the great player. There's a cool function on Baseball Savant where you can see, compare two years of a player, and you can get zone-by-zone stats inside the strike zone and the parts just outside of it. High and away on Gunnar Henderson, between 2024 and this past season, he swung 27 percentage points more often. It's crazy. I know the samples are probably small in those little squares, but that's insane because he's not barreling that pitch up. He's letting his shoulder fly. He can't square it up whatsoever. And he performed horribly on those pitches. He's swinging more in the shadow, less in the heart. He seems so discombobulated in his baseball brain right now. And he played this whole year pissed off. He looked so mad every single Orioles game this year.
00:18:00
Speaker 2: Oh, he did not look particularly interested. Now they traded to one of his best friends, Natalie Rushman. He's also talked about, I think, like wanting to kind of hit free agency, which doesn't seem good for the Orioles. If he were to do that, it doesn't seem like an extension is coming. I think it's like a super lame fucking move for the Orioles to consider trading Gunnar Henderson.
00:18:17
Speaker 1: He should be like a lifetime Oriole based on how good he is.
00:18:20
Speaker 2: But if he is available, there probably isn't a package that would, the Mets would be able to give up that I would say no.
00:18:27
Speaker 1: Cause like, I probably wouldn't trade Benjamin McClain or Ewing. But you think they're going to ask? I don't think you can ask for Benjamin McClain. I think that's insane. Ewing might be the guy, and I'll tell you this, I probably would do that. we still have to do our video about who do you want for the next five years? More so Ewing or bench. I think that's going to be, that's going to be fun conversation. I love Ewing. I love Ewing. And this is not me asking for him to be traded.
00:18:49
Speaker 2: Don't, don't get it twisted like you guys do with the Zach Thornton bullshit. But if getting under Henderson made meant trading AJ Ewing.
00:18:56
Speaker 1: I would do it. I would consider him heavily. Only two years left for Gunnar Henderson on team control, and he's still only 25 years old because he came up so young. So you are getting two all-time peak seasons. He's another guy who I would love to just slot over at third base, not even think about it. Great arm. And you throw Bichette over the second. Now suddenly you're like, if Bo Bichette comes back to being Bo Bichette and Gunnar... Well, actually, if all three of those guys go back to being the players that he hoped them to be, that'd be the all-time underachieving infield from the 2026 season. I just... I don't think I would include AJ Ewing in that particular trade. When a guy does what he did in the Major League level, You're almost kind of untradeable to me for someone who– I basically haven't seen you play near your peak in over two years. I'm just saying, like, again, I have all the faith in A.J. Ewing. I'm just being devil's advocate for this. Fair.
00:19:41
Speaker 2: There's a world where that could be one of the most productive seasons of A.J.
00:19:46
Speaker 1: Ewing's career. I think that's not– I think there's a world where– Fair.
00:19:40
Speaker 3: No.
00:19:40
Speaker 1: No.
00:20:04
Speaker 2: But also at the same time, maybe we don't have to trade AJ. Can we find a package where we trade every single other prospect?
00:20:10
Speaker 1: Can we do that? Yeah, I think because I would prefer that. I think if you focus something on Jefferson Ross and Mitch boy, you can definitely get a trade like this for Gunnar Henders. Probably a special, a couple more guys. No, definitely a couple more guys. You center a package around those guys. I think then you could start to build off from there. Can pitchers lower in the organization? I mean, when we talked about their pitching trades last video, both of us didn't mention Tong. I don't know if that was just us putting him out of our brains or us not wanting to trade him, but I still think that after what he showed down the stretch, he does have some trade value. Tong, Rojas, Tucci. There's still got to be more, I think. You think there's still got to be more than that? Two years of Gunnar Henderson? I think you named one top 100 prospect. Well, we don't really have any top 100 prospects. I know. That's why I think it has to be more.
00:20:55
Speaker 2: And I think Tong is definitely not a top 100 guy right now. I think you need to name more. I think it has to be like, I think you even have to, you have to throw some of the crazy like helium names too. And the ceiling guys were like, Looking at the Mets farm system right now, Jefferson Rojas obviously would have to be in this trade 100%. Doesn't really fit the Orioles MO of guys.
00:21:15
Speaker 1: I'll be for real. I think you might be overestimating the Gunnar Henderson trade value right now. I see this as being kind of more similar to where it's a different personality fit. I think it's not that dissimilar to where Jas Chisholm's trade value was when he got traded to the Yankees. No shot. No shot. It's way higher, dude. Way higher. Gunnar Henderson has eight win seasons on the books.
00:21:36
Speaker 2: I think it's higher, but I'm not sure if it's way higher. He has one eight win season on the books. And also, Jas Chisholm got traded for fucking crumbs. What?
00:21:42
Speaker 1: We got traded for a borderline one French top 100 prospect and two other guys who they hoped to contribute at the major league level. I just wanted to.
00:21:48
Speaker 2: Be known that I was all over Augustine Ramirez being fucking dog shit. So that top 100 nonsense was Yankees propaganda.
00:21:57
Speaker 1: 100%. That's right. I forgot how injury riddled those seasons in Miami was for Jazz. Jazz was, yeah. Jazz is not the same. I forgot that he didn't have those really good seasons for the Yankees just now. So is there any more similar player comp for someone who's flash superstar ability but didn't sustain it with two more years of team control remaining. Let's see. I'm trying to think of names. Think about one year of team control remaining, light years better and more consistent than Gunnar Henderson, at the same time, at a similar age, Francisco Lindor. The Mets traded top 100 prospects, though. The Mets traded one top 100 prospect. A former top 10 prospect. A former top 10 prospect who everyone knew wasn't good anymore. Well, not everyone. The Guardians thought he was good. I don't know if they thought he was that good. I think that was an Andres Jimenez trade. And I think that was, again, one year of team control. Changed it a lot. Add more on top of that. Right now, where Jonah Tong is, to me, might be more valuable than where Ahmed Rosario was ahead of that season. I don't know about that. Ahead of that season? Ahmed Rosario had multiple years of being bad in the major leagues. It was very clear. There was nothing coming here.
00:22:56
Speaker 2: I think that's a little bit of hindsight clouding the judgment a little bit there.
00:23:01
Speaker 1: When Ahmed Rosario got traded to the Guardians... Like, Rosario, after 2019, as a 23-year-old, because.
00:23:07
Speaker 2: I mean, who cares about the COVID season? We're not going to talk about 43 games. As a 23-year-old, he had a basically league average offense. He was starting to steal. He was starting to get hot in that second half.
00:23:16
Speaker 1: You're talking about 2019 with the juice ball for 30 games. Yeah, but that's what everyone was doing.
00:23:21
Speaker 2: You can't do the hindsight of what he was valued at then being.
00:23:24
Speaker 1: Like, well, now we know the juice balls. Everyone, we know that year was bullshit. Again, back to my comp. We can think about Joe and Tom just had a month of good pitching.
00:23:33
Speaker 2: I don't think anybody is— I think Ahmed Rosario has more value than Jonah Tong did when they got traded. When Ahmed Rosario was part of that trade— We talk about how Jonah Tong is a reliever all the time on this channel.
00:23:42
Speaker 1: These smart organizations know that. At the time, we knew Ahmed Rosario was never going to be a big league everyday regular. Ahmed Rosario, when that trade happened, was 24 years old. He had almost 1,600 major league played appearances. He was 10% worse than league average, and he was a dogshit defender.
00:23:55
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:23:56
Speaker 1: That was not a super valuable trade asset. That still had value in this trade market. That was value in terms of you can be a major league utility player.
00:24:05
Speaker 2: And we get talked about all the time how valuable that is. He has so much more shine than Jonah Tonga does at this trade value.
00:24:11
Speaker 1: I don't think at that time he did any more at all. When he was in that trade, I was like, thank God he's in this trade. Yeah, but that's us watching him play every day. Exactly. The Guardians are a smart org. They circled him.
00:24:20
Speaker 2: The other two guys, if you want to convince me that Josh Wolfe and Isaiah Green, those were nothing burgers.
00:24:27
Speaker 1: Absolute nothing burgers. The trade was about him. We're just recounting the Francisco Indoor trade right now, five years later. But that's my point, is that... And that was also one year of control. One year of control.
00:24:38
Speaker 2: And that team was like, there's a 0% chance we're bringing him back.
00:24:41
Speaker 1: One year of control, but a much better baseball player. Yes, much more consistently good baseball player. Much more consistent, much better, and everything together was a lot easier. I think... I'm trying to... Again, who's like.
00:24:50
Speaker 2: Again, shortstop's such a weird position because we don't really have the historical data of good guys being traded as shortstops.
00:24:56
Speaker 1: Otherwise, last five years, top of my head right now, I was thinking shortstop trades. Good podcasting right now. Maybe some teams don't even see him as a shortstop anymore. Henderson's had pretty bad defensive metrics going back a few years. I think most teams would say you're going to probably be a third baseman. I agree. I think that he's... I mean, depends on the team. Yeah, depends on the team. Let's see, who are these other infielders who've been traded in the last decade here? Troy Tulewitzki, but he's another, like, you can't compare those. Very unique figure.
00:25:23
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:25:23
Speaker 1: Incredibly unique. Are we forgetting a very obvious shortstop being traded? I'm sure someone's screaming at their computer right now. I mean, the trade turned into a mid-season trade, but that's also a very different feeling. He also went with Max Scherzer.
00:25:36
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:25:36
Speaker 1: Adamez, but that was different at the time as well. Yeah. Adamez was never as good as Gunnar Henderson either. No, not at all. There was potential to forecast on him, but nothing super obvious. Who is the player? I mean, the Javi Baez trade.
00:25:50
Speaker 2: You get pico arms i mean you could say that one they got uh they got a a for sure top 100 prospect.
00:25:56
Speaker 1: In pca yeah i remember which team was on the other side of that but that was a pretty bad trade at the time um shout zach scott he's fabulous and don't say his name um yeah otherwise that's kind of where we're at for middle infielders being traded i'm gonna go i'm gonna do one quick scroll on third baseman.
00:26:11
Speaker 2: Yeah i'm trying to think how loud who the we'd Probably should have been a little more prepared of trying to find who the comp was before this.
00:26:18
Speaker 1: No, we got here in our own special way. I mean, Devers, but different because he had the big deal already. Arenado. These guys don't really get traded. Arenado, but it was a huge deal. It was Machado in the middle of the season on a half-year control left like this. This exact time frame for where Gunnar Henderson is is not a time to be traded. Which is why I think it's very likely he doesn't get traded.
00:26:38
Speaker 2: If he was good this year, we could have done the in-between Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor, which is so funny because they're on this team together.
00:26:44
Speaker 1: But Juan Soto was way better than Gunnar. Maybe it just is hard to find a trade competition right now. Josh Donaldson, way back. But he wasn't even that good. When he got traded from the A's. He was a great hitter at the time. He wasn't this level, though. Gunnar Henderson's coming off a year where he was a league average bat. 700 OPS. After last year, he was like 15% better, 20% better.
00:27:06
Speaker 4: I guess.
00:27:06
Speaker 1: I guess. Maybe it is Josh Donaldson. The peak was phenomenal. Very different types of players than Josh Donaldson. I think a different type. Maybe not the different type of personality. No, they're kind of the same, honestly. Yeah, when that trade happened, I think that was similar. But that's also a time when baseball was a little bit different. These values were a little bit different. Baseball was a little dumb then, still.
00:27:23
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:27:24
Speaker 1: The Orioles could be a little dumb right now. I'm not trying to say they're going to be dumb, but I think if you gave a trade package of Voight or Rojas plus Tong plus Santucci, you're pretty close to the front of the line.
00:27:36
Speaker 2: I think you give me all four of those and I buy it. I don't think you can just do one of Voight or Rojas. I think it's got to be both.
00:27:41
Speaker 1: I don't think they have to do both. I think these guys always get traded for less than we think every single time it happens. We'll find out. We'll find out. We'll see. We'll find out when he doesn't get traded. I hope you're right. I hope you're right. I get nervous. Add this one to the Mark and James arguments in the Mets sub lore. Is Jonah Tong right now more valuable than Ahmed Rosario at the end of the 2020 season? Let us know in the comments. Let us know in the comments. Let us know in the comments.
00:28:02
Speaker 2: I'll tell you what, they're both not very valuable. That's ultimately what the real conversation is. That was my whole point.
00:28:07
Speaker 1: Who's the best of the worst? That was my entire point going through that list right there. Last guy in this list of four or five Yandy Diaz. Yandy Diaz is going to get traded. We have so much track record that the Rays do this. Guess what?
00:28:20
Speaker 2: They just did it with Brendan Lau this past off season. When he went to the Pittsburgh pirates, Yandy Diaz will be traded. The thing that makes it a little bit awkward for the Mets is that Yandy Diaz is horrendous at first base. And We just had an entire offseason talking about first base defense. You know, we can kind of glaze over that a little bit, but Yandy Diaz can't really play first base, but one thing that he can do is mash. He is one of the most underrated hitters in Major League Baseball over the last few seasons. We talked about this when we were coming back from our trip from Tahoe.
00:28:51
Speaker 1: His numbers are ridiculous over the last three, four years. Oh, consistently. Every single year, he is that good. He only gets, like you said, He hasn't played first base even in a full year. He hasn't touched dirt this year with a glove on his hand. He's really bad at it. Yeah, but this Mets team could just use a bat in general.
00:29:09
Speaker 2: If Yanni Diaz has to fake it at first base for 30 games, I won't love that. But in terms of what you probably are still getting from him as a hitter, where just to talk about the numbers Mark was going on in a second, since the start of the 2022 season, just seeing this now, Yanti Diaz is 40% better in league average at the bat with a 300 batting average, 375 on base, 460 slug. And now in three of the last four years, he's actually hit 20 home runs, which before that he had never done his career.
00:29:37
Speaker 1: Which would be so sick. It's, just have this bet.
00:29:41
Speaker 2: Honestly, even if he's just an everyday right-handed DH, which we know is kind of not like the way that people want to roll. But even if that's his role, the Mets team is much better. The Mets team is much better already.
00:29:51
Speaker 1: It's definitely the way a lot of people don't want to roll. It's also the way like the best team in baseball is rolling. Yeah, of course. Which is cool with me. I'll take Yandy all day. No, he's just that good of a hitter. He never swings and misses. He swings really hard. He hits the ball incredibly hard. He gets on base at basically the highest clip in the entire league, going on a four-year stretch right now.
00:30:08
Speaker 2: I think he will be 36 next year, though, so just conversation.
00:30:12
Speaker 1: Well, that's also why he won't cost a ton, despite these big accolades. And he's only in a one-year deal. You're not signing him for huge money. That's not part of this equation whatsoever. It's also why the Rays are, again, likely going to trade him, almost guaranteed.
00:30:23
Speaker 2: What would you think in a trade for him?
00:30:26
Speaker 1: So much less than you could ever imagine.
00:30:27
Speaker 2: No, I know, but name a guy. Where do you think the top... What's the most expensive you think he'd cost in the Mets system?
00:30:33
Speaker 1: I mean, even a guy like Wenninger, I think if that's too expensive, like a hopeful back-end starter. Okay. I could see the Rays wanting, trying to get their hands on a guy like Chris Suero. I was looking at him. I know. I could see that being the one I regret, honestly, despite, again, someone who's like a basically fringe 26-man roster future, guys. Maybe like a Randy Guzman. That seems, yeah, I guess so too. I mean, even look at, they got dusted in that Brandon Loud three-team trade this year. It was horrible. We don't know the future yet, but that's kind of what Jacob Melton felt like, trying to fill a need for them, trying to do some developmental magic. We hope you can be the center fielder, but we think you'll probably be a fourth outfielder nonetheless. And they also got that pitcher, I'm sure we'll hear about in a year, Anderson, Anderson something. I don't want to say Anderson Espinosa. That's way back with the Padres. Who is it? These names are just flooding in. He was the one they pulled from the... The Astros org. I think he spent a lot of the year injured. Anderson Reyes. Let's see. Can I find the name? It's just giving me Nick Anderson. No, Nick Anderson. I'm scrolling on there. Roster Resource right now. But do you think that's what it would take to get one year of Yandy Diaz? Anderson Brito. Anderson Brito, yeah. He was pretty sure it was a curveball. There was some really good breaking ball quality that he had. Figuring out after that. But I would love to get Yandy Diaz on this team. I think he... He's got the testosterone, too. He's got big muscles. The idea of just ripping the tomahawk steak off the bone, him and Caminero together in that dugout celebrating the pennant, I would like that on this team. I would love Francisco Alvarez to hang out with Yandy Diaz. Maybe. That should be your role model.
00:32:04
Speaker 2: Yandy Diaz is 6 feet tall, 240 pounds, and all he does is just take war hacks and mash, but also has good swing decisions and gets on base.
00:32:14
Speaker 1: Francisco Alvarez, look across the way. That might be your future. I mean, I can see Francisco Alvarez breaking out 32 years old in a similar fashion. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. No more cashing. I was thinking about Francisco Alvarez in some of these trade packages we were making and not being very accurate on during this video.
00:32:31
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:32:31
Speaker 1: I think specifically with the Orioles, that wouldn't make sense because him and Basayo, that's just like two sides of a different coin. Yeah. What you hope Francisco Alvarez was supposed to be three years ago is kind of how Basayo feels right now. And I don't think either of them are particularly good at the actual position, so that's pretty difficult to swallow. Although... Well, I guess Basayo did a great job on everything but framing. Yeah, well, and Alvarez just can't really do much. Otherwise, guys that we've mentioned, but I don't really know how available they are or how interested the Mets would be. I think Alec Burleson will become available this offseason. Mark doesn't, but I think the Cardinals are still going to be very much in acquisition mode for their team, like volume acquisition mode and just dump more Major League talent if they think they can.
00:33:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just don't think he's going to be available yet. I think maybe next offseason could be the one. I also like, he feels like he's going to be a cheap extension where he might just keep him, because why not?
00:33:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with that. He's one of the most productive hitters in baseball. He's clearly a team leader. I think they're in a bit of an Ivan Herrera situation, though, where Leo Bernal, if you guys weren't paying attention mid-September, Leo Bernal lit the world on fire. Cardinals prospect catcher. Ivan Herrera could be a guy definitely I could see on the move. That could be a guy's trade, too. But he's four years of control, no clear position. That's just an odd time for them to trade him. I think they're going to just give him a first baseman's glove and say, good luck. They have to. Have fun. So that's why I think that they could find a way to trade Burleson. Again, Burleson's a really functional player. Burleson is like the Andy Diaz of Vinny Pasquitino's right now. Nice. Right?
00:34:01
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:34:01
Speaker 1: Just underrated. Underrated doesn't get the love. Underweight doesn't get the love, but he's just going to spit out these 800 OPS seasons with slightly underwhelming home run tolls. Besides this year, we blasted 26, and he was, I think, the second in the NL in RBI, something like that.
00:34:14
Speaker 2: Can I give you some reclamation project losers that I'd like to take a shot on?
00:34:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, very kind. All right.
00:34:20
Speaker 2: Well, this guy you probably don't have to trade for. Burleson led all the baseball in RBI, so I take that back.
00:34:24
Speaker 1: Burleson's the man. Burleson's awesome. I didn't realize you jumped ahead of Pete. Underrated. There you go. You did it. I underrated him live. All right.
00:34:31
Speaker 2: You're probably not going to have to trade for this guy, but I don't know. Let's trade Mark Vientos.
00:34:34
Speaker 1: For Ryan Mountcastle. I'm in. Let's do it. I think we'll probably just wait until both of those teams cut each of those guys. That's fair. That's fair. But I'll take Ryan Mountcastle as a reclamation project. 100%. Really good contact when he makes contact. We need a right-handed hitter.
00:34:47
Speaker 2: Tristan Casas is going to get out of Boston at some point. There's no way that they keep that guy. I think they've been wanting to get rid of him for years. I think he is an absolute pain in the ass, and I think he would just be left-handed Mark Vientos, but I think he's better.
00:35:00
Speaker 1: I think he's got a way better floor than Mark Vientos. It's been so long since we've seen Tristan Casas be a functional baseball player. Yeah, for free. I'm interested in him.
00:35:09
Speaker 2: I also like the idea of taking a look at Spencer Torkelson if he's actually available.
00:35:14
Speaker 1: I think he will be available. I honestly think he might be a non-tender candidate.
00:35:17
Speaker 4: Really?
00:35:19
Speaker 1: He just hits too many home runs. But I guess they don't care. Kyle Schwarber got DFA'd non-tender. That's what I'm saying. Kyle Schwarber got DFA'd in a similar spot. Cody Bellinger. Yeah, Cody Bellinger got DFA'd non-tendered. Torkelson is as righty when it's good power, it's not great power. And he can't play a lick of defense. They're going to be like, what are we doing here? Yeah, this year was really, really bad for him. But he's a talented hitter. He's given us too many good sparks. I think sneakily, in a weird way, these teams don't line up for trades often. But Luis Garcia, I think the A's are going to just take calls on him. One year left of team control. They have so many corner-only guys that can't really do that much besides MASH. So I don't think they'd be that upset, depending on what happens with Giancarlo Stanton. But it's very difficult to have a roster with Giancarlo Stanton, Luis Garcia, and Ben Rice on your team. I will tell you this, too.
00:36:02
Speaker 2: I ultimately think the Mets are going to be one of the frontrunners to get Teruaki Sato as well, who I think could be the first baseman for this team.
00:36:07
Speaker 1: So that might also foil all these plans. I'll sneak this into the end of this.
00:36:11
Speaker 2: I don't know how much I love Sato if he winds up getting a monster deal. If his deal looks like Okamoto's deal, or probably it'll be bigger than Murakami's deal, then I would like him.
00:36:20
Speaker 1: But if you're looking at the Seisuzuki deal or the Yoshida deal, I think I would be kind of reluctant to go in on Sato. We'll dive in deeper. We'll do another episode about those guys once we get more clarity on them soon. Other names I'm just going to throw out. Is Brendan Donovan available? How is his head?
00:36:34
Speaker 2: I know he dealt with a lot of concussion stuff going on. That's a little bit scary just for him personally and then also as an organization, but He would fit a lot of what I think the Mets are looking for with get on base, play good defense in multiple positions.
00:36:44
Speaker 1: And then also Ezekiel Duran. Are the Rangers moving him?
00:36:48
Speaker 2: He'd be a nice little actual good utility player for the Mets to grab.
00:36:52
Speaker 1: He has only two or one year team control left as well? I think he's a 2029 free agent. Yeah, he's a 2029 free agent. They need baseball players on that team so badly. So badly.
00:37:01
Speaker 2: That's why they probably don't trade him, but also at the same time, the Rangers are below.
00:37:05
Speaker 1: They're a bad org right now. That's kind of it.
00:37:08
Speaker 2: Hey, Oscar?
00:37:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, Teoscar's one that makes weirdly tons of sense. I'm sure he's not going to be in the Dodgers next year. I feel like they want to dump him in glass now. And the Mets could just use another right-handed, DH-ish, outfield-ish bat. Which would be Teoscar. Like if him and Solo just all traded playing bad defense every single day. Like one of the DHs the other day. I probably still think Teoscar's going to be like 15% better than league average. Yeah, which I wouldn't mind.
00:37:31
Speaker 4: C.J.
00:37:31
Speaker 1: Abrams is going to be available. I doubt they trade him in the division. Josh Young.
00:37:37
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:37:37
Speaker 1: Again, depending on Bobachet, probably doesn't make sense. I mentioned Kerry Carpenter with you off, Karen, but the Mets probably don't need another lefty bat, and I don't know, it really just depends on if they have any, even like a modicum of faith in Jorge Polanco, which I do not, so we'll see if they actually do. I think that's it. I would love to just, I would love to just throw a stack for Jordan Alvarez. Oh, and whatever they want. AJ Ewing for him? Yeah, then I would put AJ Ewing in a deal for Jordan. Would you put Carson Bench for him? Yeah. Wow, okay. For Jordan, for two years of Jordan? I just wanted to hear. If we could have, if we could have, Juan Soto and Jordan Alvarez in the same lineup? Spider-Man meme. Hey, the Astros are the really interesting team to think about this offseason. They hold a lot of the keys.
00:38:18
Speaker 2: Throw a fucking glove. First base glove on Jordan Alvarez. It's crazy he hasn't played that position more.
00:38:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, right. But I think that's it.
00:38:25
Speaker 2: Yeah. Let us know who you guys think the Mets should trade for down in the comments section below. Subscribe to Mets Up over here on YouTube. If you're listening to us, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google. Drop us a rating, drop us a review, download, and subscribe. You can follow James on social media at James Shiano.
00:38:37
Speaker 1: I'm Giraffe Nick Mark. We'll catch you guys on the next one. Peace out. Peace out, guys. Go Mets.
