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The New York Mets haven’t even made it one full turn through their newly-implemented six-man rotation, and already there are rumblings that the team would like to ditch that plan and return to a conventional five-man rotation. That desire has created rumors that the team is now increasing its efforts to trade away one of its starting pitchers, most notably Dillon Gee or Jon Niese. The Mets have been open to trading either one of them since the end of last season, but now that the Mets have six legitimate major league starters on their roster, not to mention Steven Matz waiting in the wings and Rafael Montero working his way back from injury, now is the time to trade.
Gee and Niese have been solid pitchers for the Mets over the years, not to mention good soldiers for pitching to the best of their ability when they knew the Mets were in re-building mode the last few seasons. But with the Mets finally getting all of their high-end pitching talent to the big leagues, or in the case of Matz ever so close to the big leagues, there’s just no room for Niese and Gee in the rotation. Niese has shown signs of regressing from the pitcher he’s been the last three years, while Gee is a solid back-of-the-rotation starter who just can’t compare talent-wise with the Mets’ young flame throwers. Short of continuing on with a six-man rotation or moving one of them to the bullpen, at least one of them needs to be traded.
Of course, trading either one is easier said than done. At this point in the season, few teams are looking to make a deal — only a handful of teams believe they’re out of contention already, so few teams are preparing to go into sell mode ahead of the trade deadline in late July. Aside from that, the pitchers won’t command much on the trade market. Teams are concerned about the health of Niese’s shoulder, not to mention the $9 million price tag he carries for 2016. As for Gee, he’s viewed no differently than most back-end starters, giving teams little reason to give up something substantial to acquire a pitcher of his caliber.
If the Mets are going to trade Niese or Gee, and for all intents and purposes they need to trade one of them, they will have to set a more reasonable price for them than they have in the past. The Mets may not get as much as they want for either player, but perhaps they can find something of value in the short term. Surely there’s a team out there that’s desperate for pitching and is able to give the Mets a fair trade: someone to fill in at third base for a short period of time or provide some depth for the aging members of their corner outfield, or a proven utility player who can fill whatever void the Mets may have.
Trading away Niese or Gee may not give the Mets a player on the top of their wish list, may not even get them a useful player like Ben Zobrist and Martin Prado. But with some determination and a little creativity, surely the Mets can get something of value in return for Niese and Gee. If nothing else, trading one of them would bring a bit of stability to their rotation and some closure on the whole six-man rotation issue. In accomplishing that alone, there is some value in trading either Niese or Gee, and now appears to be the time to make such a move.
Bryan Zarpentine is a New York Mets writer at www.RantSports.com. Like him on Facebook, follow him on twitter @BZarp and add him on Google.
