Exploring The Mets' Lack Of Trade Options

With Carlos Beltran headed for an MRI tomorrow and still no sign of Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, and Oliver Perez, I think now is an appropriate time to discuss trading for someone who could provide some steady offense, especially if Beltran hits the DL.

The problem for the Mets is they have very few trade chips to work with.

Their top organizational prospect, Fernando Martinez was recently called up and didn’t perform the way they would have liked. While he still has tremendous upside, the lack of success certainly didn’t help his stock.

Another player who has been widely sought after on the Mets roster is reliever, Bobby Parnell. The problem with Parnell is he has struggled a bit recently, however the Mets cannot afford to lose him as he is still an integral part of the bullpen.

In other words the Mets would probably have to package together both Fernando Martinez and a pitching prospect such as Jon Niese (who is having a rough year in the minors) or Brad Holt.

Now most importantly is who should the Mets target in return? It’s ridiculous that the Mets would even consider names like Nick Johnson, whose consistently hurt and Adam Dunn, who could’ve been had this off-season without surrendering talent.

A better option for the Mets would be Matt Holliday, who is currently in his contract year with the A’s. The problem is the A’s GM Billy Beane is in no hurry to trade Holliday, despite the fact that the team  isn’t poised to even make the playoffs.

Even if he were enticed by an offer from the Mets, is Holliday worth trading the future for? In the previous three seasons Holliday has averaged 31 home runs per season. It is important to note, however that a majority of those home runs came in Coors Field, which is a notorious hitter’s park.

This season, which is Holliday’s first away from Coors, he has hit only 8 home runs. This is the same number that Gary Sheffield, who makes the league minimum, makes.

On top of that Holliday would only be under team control for a few months or so before he hits the free agent market. Is it worth further depleting the farm for a player that could be had in the off-season for money? To me the answer is an emphatic no. It should be interesting to see what Omar does in the coming days and weeks.