Why Mets shouldn’t deal ace to Yankees
Mets general manager Brodie
Van Wagenen would be crazy
to deal Syndergaard to the
Yankees.
Zach
Gewelb
BY ZACH GEWELB
As the Winter Meetings
progressed, rumors began
circulating that the Yankees
and Mets were discussing a
potential three-team trade
with the Marlins that would
send Noah Syndergaard to
the Yankees, JT Realmuto
to the Mets and prospects —
or possibly Miguel Andujar
— to Miami.
While, in theory, this
would be an intriguing
idea, there seems to be too
many obstacles to overcome
in such a trade, making this
scenario an unlikely one.
First, the Yankees and
Mets don’t trade with each
other.
The last time the teams
made a trade was in 2004,
when the clubs swapped Mike
Stanton for Felix Heredia.
The New York teams discussed
trades for Neil Walker
and Jay Bruce in 2017, but
could not make things work.
But there seems to be a new
era in Queens, one in which
Mets general manager Brodie
Van Wagenen has said
he will be aggressive and
bold; this three-team deal
would certainly qualify.
But one of the reasons
the Walker and Bruce trades
fell through in 2017 was that
the Wilpons did not want to
send any pieces to the Bronx
that would help the Yankees
win the World Series.
Walker and Bruce were
depth pieces on expiring contracts
and the Wilpons still
would not approve any deal
with the Yankees. Syndergaard
is a completely different story.
Syndergaard would slot in
at the top of the Yankees’ rotation
and still has three years
of team control remaining.
He’s a cost-controlled
ace, and — unlike Bruce and
Walker — he would drastically
improve the Yankees’
World Series chances.
So while Van Wagenen
may have more freedom
to make his bold moves, it
would be hard to imagine
the Wilpons signing off on
a deal that would send the
marketable ace across town
to the Yankees.
Beyond the whole Yan-
kees-Mets angle to all this,
the rumored swap doesn’t
make a whole lot of baseball
sense for the Mets.
Van Wagenen has said he
wants to add to his team’s
core rather than remove
pieces. Trading Syndergaard
for multiple highceiling
players who are
big-league ready — which
was rumored earlier in the
offseason — would make
sense.
Yes, the Mets would be
losing a top-notch pitcher,
but moving him to fill multiple
holes on the big league
roster is different than moving
him for just one, no matter
how good Realmuto is.
While the three-team
trade rumors seem to be
dying down, the Mets are
still interested in acquiring
Realmuto in a traditional
trade with Miami.
They might have to part
with Amed Rosario, Micahel
Conforto, or Brandon Nimmo
to make it happen — but
losing either of those would
be an easier pill to swallow
as opposed to losing Syndergaard
to the Yankees.
Reach reporter Zach
Gewelb by e-mail at zgewelb@
cnglocal.com or by phone at
(718) 260–4539.
TIMESLEDGER,54 DEC. 14-20, 2018 TIMESLEDGER.COM