With GM Sandy Alderson set to cut as much payroll as possible for the cash strapped New York Mets, rumors began flying around, Wednesday that the Mets could look to deal third baseman David Wright either this year, or in the offseason.According to WFAN, a baseball source believes that if the Mets re-sign Jose Reyes, they would not object to trading Wright to save payroll.
Wright who has two years left on his contract, became the subject of a slight by owner Fred Wilpon, when the bankrupt owner called the All Star a "good player, but not a superstar" in the New Yorker magazine a week ago.
According to the scout who spoke to the Daily News: “Look at their club and look at the other shortstops around the league, and trading Wright makes more sense,” said the scout. “You can play (Daniel) Murphy at third and he’ll give you enough offense there. But you can’t replace Reyes’ offense with (Ruben) Tejada.”
The scout added: “Really, there are only a couple of shortstops in baseball that are on Reyes’ level, and Sandy is all about value, so I think when it comes down to it, he’d rather re-sign Reyes and trade Wright.”
True, Reyes has a lot more value than Wright at this point of the year, and his importance to the Mets success trumps that of Wright as well. Reyes' ability to steel bases, hit with some power, and gather up triples is hard to find, especially for a short stop. The Mets could always find a power hitting third baseman.
That being said, Reyes' value may never be higher. Trading Reyes now would make the most sense, since the Mets could get the most in return in terms of prospects and young major league ready players.
Wright, would not garner a lot in a trade right now. In the off-season, he could, possibly garner a lot more interest from teams in search of a third baseman, or even a DH.
Either way it is clear that stars like Carlos Beltran, Francisco Rodriguez, Johan Santana, Wright and Reyes are ALL on their way out of town.
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