Steve Mitchell – USATODAY Sports
Major League Baseball, like any other major sports league, is filled with rumors. One rumor that has continued to pop up over the past month or so is the New York Mets interest in acquiring Miami Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton. While Stanton fits a dire need of the Mets (a right fielder with a ton of power), trading for a high-profile player that every team in baseball would love to have, is just not something the Mets are in position to do at the moment.
Simply put, the price for Stanton is far too high. In the event the Marlins make him available, the amount of suitors that would be interested would drive the price for him way up in terms of the prospects it would take to acquire him in a trade.
The Mets have finally amassed a strong contingent of prospects in the minor leagues, enough to make them a legitimate contender in a potential Stanton Sweepstakes if they were willing to part with their top prospects, but after all they’ve done to improve their farm system, it would be foolish to blow it all on one player.
To get Stanton, the Mets would undoubtedly have to give up top pitching prospect Zack Wheeler and top catching prospect Travis d’Arnaud, and probably even more players than that. As tempting as it might be to trade for Stanton, giving up those elite prospects may not be worth it in the long run, as the Mets need as many quality players as they can get, more so than one superstar player.
Moreover, the Mets need to focus their organization around pitching and, to a certain extent, defense. General manager Sandy Alderson can’t let his desire to acquire power hitters outweigh the need for quality pitching, which is increasingly important as the existence of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball has become less prevalent.
The plan to build through the farm system is on track and nearly ready to come to fruition, and Alderson can’t change course now in search of big-money players. The team and the farm system have come a long way since Alderson took over, and they need to stay the course.
Bryan Zarpentine is a New York Mets writer at www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter @BZarp and add him on Google+.
