mlb general discussion thread for june

As the Mets season continues to spiral downward, with a new injury every day, a familiar and beloved figure in the organization made the news recently and you know what, it's the worst possible news for the team. David Wright, the former all-star who hasn't appeared in a major league game in over 2 years now, is finally set to resume baseball activities within the next 1-3 weeks.

So, when and if he does finally come back, he'll take up a valuable roster spot for either a contributing member of the team or a kid trying to get some experience, he'll play in 20 or so games before getting hurt, the team won't put him on the DL for 4-5 days, seeing if he can right the ship on his own, thus putting the team a man short for a week or so, before finally putting him back on the shelf where he belongs.

Look, I love David Wright, you love David Wright, we all love David Wright, but for fuck's sake, RETIRE! We all admire your tenacity and drive to get back out there but it's over. Stop the charade now once and for all and stop taking up a valuable roster spot every now and again. Hang em up and step into the role of team spokesman, appearing at junkets at the stadium or at charity events which is what you should have done already.

2 MLB Insiders - Jon Heyman and Bob Nightengale have linked Machado to the Phils at the trade deadline.

I really hope this doesn't mean the departure of any combination of top pitching prospect Sixto Sanchez, J.P. Crawford, Scott Kingery etc.

One of Franco or Crawford would have to be included.

Would love to have him here but why not just throw the moon and stars at him this free agency?

Unless the plan is to 'go for it' now and they know full well before a trade he's going to re-ink here - and then land Harper free agency too.

Maybe he can be had for 50 cents on the dollar?

Be quite the coup to land both Machado and Harper since they're going to have major $$$ from the Comcast Deal and pretty much unlimited coin to throw around.

Franco has been a pleasant surprise this year at 3rd - I wrote him off after he was supposed to be the cornerstone of the rebuild years ago and had shown no discipline at the plate always swinging for the fences.  

Crawford was once considered the #1 prospect in all of ball - despite his struggles - he's still young.

I can't believe Machado is only 25 years old.

If they can get a guarantee he'll re-sign here and have to part with Crawford and say a top pitching prospect in the minors and then 2 or 3 2nd tier mid level prospects - I think you've got to do it.

Os risk getting nothing for him.  That may be all it takes.  Hell look what the Marlins got for Stanton.  

Don't blame the Marlins, it's some sort of Yankee magic fairy dust.  They trade for guys and give up extra bottles of water that they had in storage, but they trade away rentals to other teams and get a massive haul of blue chip prospects.  

Actually, blame the Marlins.  They traded Ozuna for some really cute pictures of my dog.  She's the best! 

To sign BOTH guys would essentially preclude them from signing anyone else and make it difficult to patch holes without going over the luxury tax threshold, which I'm not sure they're willing to do.  Plus, they're in a great spot right now but going by what their salary situation is right now, adding those two guys at what is assumed to be an AAV of $25m per year (at least, if not more), then you're looking at about 40% of your salary going to two players.  You're better off signing one of those guys and spreading the rest around to get back end rotation depth, bullpen arms, a dependable veteran utility man, etc.  If you're paying $50m to those two guys, then you're relying on dregs and hail mary type players to fill holes.  

That's all cute and great, but it's not going to happen and it really doesn't make any sense, from a baseball perspective or a business perspective.  Signing both of those guys may reap immediate returns, but would quickly quash their ability to retain that team.  You sign one of those guys, you're basically vaulted into a top contender.  

To answer your question, the answer is Trout, but the Mets don't have the types of returns the Angels would want.  They want a crop of MLB-ready top level talent under team control and the Mets just don't have enough of that.  I'm happy if they push for either Harper or Machado but I just don't see it happening.  They're happy to play this stupid game of small ball....when it suits them.  Then they spend $16m on shit stacks like Jason Vargas.  They don't want Mike Moustakas because on-base Todd Frazier and his .215 average may become available!   

Remember those awesome Harvey-Betts talks from years ago? If only......

Agreed. I like David Wright as well, but he's done.