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New York Mets Do Not Need to Trade Pitching to Upgrade Offense

By Stephen Conway

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The New York Mets enter the second half of their 2015 campaign in second place in the NL East, right where expectations had them. Whether they have exceeded expectations or fell short, is up to the discretion of Mets fans and analysts, but in my opinion, they are right in line. Five games over .500, New York, as of now is in a great place to make a postseason run. They need offensive help to do that, however, and they don’t necessarily need to trade for it.

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I know what you’re thinking. How can they get offensive help and not trade for a big bat? My thought process is this. There isn’t anybody big on the market that warrants trading top prospects. Ben Zobrist is a nice piece to the puzzle, but I would not trade a top prospect for him. There are other ways to get offensive help without trading for B level players.

It hasn’t worked recently. New York has brought in the likes of Curtis Granderson, Michael Cuddyer, John Mayberry Jr.; all respectable players, but not one who is a “home run” immediate upgrade to the offense. It hasn’t worked the past few years, and its not going to work with the crop of players on the trading block this year.

Secondly, why weaken a strength. The Mets have not had a significant strength on their roster in a long time, and they finally have one in their pitching. It would be an absolute shame to trade one of the five-headed monster that is Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Zack Wheeler, or Steven Matz. The amount of time the organization has invested in them and the amount of the success each of these pitchers have had in their young careers, it would be detrimental to break this superstar rotation up. New York now has three potential closers in Jeurys Familia, Jenrry Mejia, and Bobby Parnell. It wouldn’t be a bad idea in trying to ship either Mejia or Parnell somewhere.

The solution? To bring up prospects to the majors who haven’t been to the big leagues yet. What do I mean by that? New York has brought up the likes of Kirk Nieuwenhuis, John Mayberry Jr., Eric Campbell, Daniel Muno, Johnny Monell, Darrell Ceciliani, Anthony Recker and Dilson Herrera to fill out there bench. Neither one of these guys is batting over .210, and seven out of the eight are batting under .200. Its time for the experiment to end, and try out a new crop of prospects from the minor leagues.

Some players from the minors to consider bringing up are T.J. Rivera, Jayce Boyd, Matt Reynolds, Michael Conforto, Gavin Cecchini, and Brandon Nimmo. All of these guys are top prospects in the farm system, and at this point in the season, deserve a look at the bigs. Nieuwenhuis, Mayberry Jr. and Campbell especially, have been given plenty of opportunities. Its time New York gives some other guys a shot.

New York is desperately in need of offensive help. I understand that something needs to be done, and something will be done, but I really do not want to see the Mets deal one of their star pitchers, unless the return is substantial.

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