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The Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Mets have collaborated on a mutually beneficial trade at the 2015 MLB winter meetings. The Mets will send left-handed pitcher Jon Niese to the “Steel City” in exchange for second baseman Neil Walker. Rarely do you see teams do a one-for-one trade involving major league players, but this deal makes a lot of sense for both sides.
With Daniel Murphy becoming a free agent, the Mets needed a starting-caliber second baseman to replace him. Not only is Walker a solid starting second baseman, but it could be argued that he’s an upgrade over Murphy. First and foremost, Walker is a much better defender than Murphy as he’s only made 41 errors in 802 games played at second base while Murphy has committed 54 errors in 507 career games at the position.
Offensively, Murphy has a .288 career batting average to Walker’s .272, but Walker has the edge with a .338 OBP to Murphy’s .331. Walker also has hit 31 more career home runs and has seven more RBIs despite playing in 67 less games than Murphy to this point in their careers.
The best part of the deal for the Mets is that Niese was a cheap price to pay to get an upgrade at second base. With Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard, Jacob DeGrom, Steven Matz and Zack Wheeler, whenever he returns, there was no need for Niese, who finished with a 9-10 record, 4.13 ERA and 1.40 WHIP in 2015. So essentially, the Mets got rid of Niese’s $9 million contract for 2015 and got a solid piece to make another run at the World Series in 2016. I call that a win.
Jason Fletcher is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JasonFletcher25, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google+.
