CITY DUMP! METS’ VETS FOR SALE
Unhappy Cabrera demands a trade: Puma, Kernan /
SAN FRANCISCO — A brutal stretch of baseball has left the Mets planning to become sellers heading to the trade deadline and immediately ready to hear offers. Multiple industry sources confirmed Friday that Mets brass are open to trading veteran players, particularly those with expiring contracts, in an effort to restock for the future.
One source said the Mets aren’t actively shopping players, though they are open to hearing trade proposals. But the Mets also seem skeptical anything will develop within the next few weeks. Typically, the trade market doesn’t blossom until after the All-Star break.
Addison Reed, Jerry Blevins, Jay Bruce, Lucas Duda, Asdrubal Cabrera and Curtis Granderson are among the players who could be of interest to contenders.
“I think we have to be realistic about where we are,” general manager Sandy Alderson said. “That’s not to say we are throwing in the towel by any means, but we haven’t played very well the last 10 days. We need to play better.
“Things can turn around the next 10 days, but guess what: they need to. In the meantime we have to be realistic about where we are in the division race, realistic about where we are in the wild-card. I don’t want to whitewash this. We haven’t played very well. We need to play better and if we don’t we have to be prepared to recognize that.”
Blevins and Cabrera have club options for 2018, but players such a Bruce, Duda, Granderson and Reed can become free agents after this season. Cabrera, upset with his shift to second base, said Friday he has told his agent to facilitate a trade.
The Mets entered play Friday night a season’s worst 31-41 after getting swept in four games in Los Angeles. Overall, the Mets had lost seven of eight games since Alderson’s pronouncement his team has “good players.”
Reed and Blevins could be the Mets’ two biggest trade chips. The right-handed Reed has filled the closer’s role this season for the Mets with Jeurys Familia on the disabled list, after last year emerging as maybe the MVP of the pitching staff in the setup role. The left-handed Blevins has been the Mets’ most dependable reliever and could be considered a good value for a playoff contender given that his contract includes a club option for 2018 worth $7 million.
Bruce is enjoying a strong season — with 19 homers and 48 RBIs entering Friday — after struggling in the second half last year, and could interest teams in need of lefty power. Duda also falls into that category and might interest AL teams needing a first-baseman/DH.
The Mets tried to trade Bruce last winter, but kept him after not finding a suitable offer. Alderson also was open to the idea of trading Granderson last offseason.
Alderson was a buyer the past two seasons heading to the trade deadline, landing Yoenis Cespedes in 2015 and Bruce last year. But the Mets are buried in both the NL East and wild-card races after a horrendous stretch in which the starting rotation has faltered.
The Mets ideally would like to restock a farm system that has become depleted of higher-end prospects, but it’s unlikely any of their available pieces would command such a haul.
Nevertheless, players such as Reed, Bruce, Duda and Granderson are unlikely to be re-signed after this season and the Mets would like to recover young talent.
“The bottom line is right now there little or no market for any player because there are too many teams that haven’t decided whether they are buyers or sellers,” Alderson said. “Quite often, very few or any deals get done this early in the summer.”