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The New York Mets need to find offense in the worst way, and trading for Cincinnati Reds third baseman Todd Frazier would be the perfect remedy to the team’s woes.
Although Frazier plays almost exclusively at third base for the Reds, he’s athletic enough to play first base, and possibly even left field. The Mets could either move him to first base when David Wright returns and slide Lucas Duda to left field, or leave Duda at first and move Frazier to left. No matter where he would end up playing, having his bat in the lineup every day would improve the Mets’ offense drastically.
In order to acquire Frazier, the Mets would likely have to part with some of their young pitching. The team has seven or eight young and ultra-talented starting pitchers in their system, so I’m sure they could create an offer that would be appealing to the Reds. Although it may be an expensive move for the Mets in terms of prospects, the reward would be worth what the team is giving up. Frazier would make the Mets’ lineup much more dangerous, and when Wright returns, the batting order would be much deeper.
Frazier is only 29 years old, and he’s batting .293 with a .359 OBP, 20 home runs and 41 RBIs in 2015. He would instantly be the Mets’ leader in every category, except for OBP, where he would be second to Duda. Frazier even has eight stolen bases, which would also lead the Mets.
As a team, the Mets are batting .243 with a .307 OBP and averaging 3.85 runs per game. General manager Sandy Alderson should pay whatever ransom the Reds ask for, because Frazier would instantly make the Mets real contenders in the National League. As the team is currently constructed, the Mets will eventually begin to slide due the inability to score enough runs for their starting pitchers. Adding Frazier to the equation would make the Mets the favorites in the NL East.
Jason Fletcher is a MLB Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JasonFletcher25, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google+.
