Ask The Fans

I run a fantasy league with far too many players and far too many teams. At any one time at least 500 players are floating around the 20 teams in the league and for non-paying owners we're all pretty involved, enthusiastic and aggressive. We're like a bunch of children arguing over the merits and flaws of various X-Men. However, I'd say that 16 out of 20 of the owners know their baseball and make sound arguments for things.

I asked them:

If the Mets are sellers at the deadline, and everyone was available, who would your trade for and what would you offer?

I closed commenting from Met fans (the majority of the league) and let the fans of various other teams give their opinions on what they'd give for who.

Atlanta:

Mr. Carter is a Brave fan who I've known for some years (purely online communication) and we've had mature and interesting debate on the NL East. This began on the Met message boards of ESPN and has continued largely into our fantasy league. Like most Brave fans, Mr. Carter loves himself some Bravo prospects. However for Jose Reyes... here is what he's come up with:

Atlanta Gets:
SS - Jose Reyes

NY Mets Get:
SP - Arodys Vizcaino
SP - Chris Masters
SP - Dimaster Delgado

Sorry I just can’t find any way to rationalize to myself giving up Teheran, Minor, Delgado, Salcedo, Perez, or Lipka for a rental player. Depending on needs Christian Bethancourt could be a target for the Mets. He hasn’t done much so far in the minors but is still really young and has monster upside as a catcher. Ive seen reports that said he’d probably have the best arm in baseball if he came up now but wouldn’t be able to hit.Frankly, the Mets would be stupid to take this deal and I think Mr. Carter knows it.

The largest issue is that all of the players he's offered are in A+ baseball. This, in turn, means that none of them can contribute in 2011 or 2012. While none of the players he's listed are worthless I think that Brave fans would delude themselves if they thought that they could get Reyes without giving up one of the: Teheran bunch. Add to this that the Mets trading Reyes within the NL East would be near impossible and that price-tag goes up.

Detroit:

I met Mr. Oom as he came into the league in the middle of year 1. He wasn't super baseball savvy at first but thanks to the insanity of the league I like to think this Tiger fan has rekindled his love of baseball minutia.

Detroit Gets:
SS - Jose Reyes

NY Mets Get:
SP - Andrew Olliver
SP - Charlie Furbush
OF - Daniel Fields
3B - Nick Castellanos

Third base is basically a black hole of death now that Brandon Inge has proved to be an average/below average fielder (which was once his only saving grace). Batting near the mendoza line, a rough K/BB, and with more limited range and erratic throws, there's not much to like barring yesterday's game winning triple over Minnesota. Every dog has his day. Jhonny Peralta has been surprisingly great for the Tigers, and a move to third would make him even better!

This package makes a lot more sense for the Mets. Olliver and Furbush are good AAA pitchers with solid upside. Fields and Castellanos make little sense for the Mets as they play positions the Met farm has depth at, but that isn't the end of the world. Mr. Oom who made this package goes on to say that he'd go after Wright as well but would balk at giving up Jacob Turner. The rest of the league agreed that Turner would need to be part of the deal if Wright were on the table.

New York, AL:

I've known Mr. Reitman for years and years. We met when we were in Elementary school... or maybe even earlier. He's probably the guilty party when it comes to my insane following of baseball. Sure, he's a grubby Yankee fan. Sure, he cheats at All-Star Baseball 2001. Sure, he will never admit that Scott Brosius was inferior to Robin Ventura, but he isn't as bad as MOST Yankee fans.

NY Yankees Get:
SP - Mike Pelfrey

NY Mets Get:
SP - Nik Turley
RP - Fernando Hernandez

or

NY Yankees Get:
SP - R.A. Dickey

NY Mets Get:
RP - Fernando Hernandez
SP - Zachary Nuding

or

NY Yankees Get:
OF/DH - Carlos Beltran

NY Mets Get:
SP - David Phelps
3B - Robert Lyerly

or

NY Yankees Get:
SS - Jose Reyes

NY Mets Get:
SP - David Phelps
SP - Nik Turley
SP - Chase Whitley

R.A. Dickey is probably only worth a couple C-Level fillers or maybe a decent RP... meaning not a top prospect but an RP doing well. Beltran is worth a couple middle B prospects but no more than two. I'd give up a decent B and a C for Pelfrey and probably a trio of Bs for Reyes. Reyes is worth more but we have no opening.

Mr. Reitman... NO opening? I'm sorry but I wouldn't be thrilled to have the Captain holding SS for the next few years and players like Reyes don't come along frequently. Less frequently do they get traded by big-market clubs. The key to most of these deals is that the Yankees aren't giving up "A" level prospects but they are giving up players who could impact the club in the somewhat near-ish future. The Beltran trade is the only one that looks remotely acceptable to me.

In conclusion, the Mets want to make some trades but getting top prospects back is not a sure thing. Also... UNDERSTAND... that other fans don't value our players as highly as we do. Likely if we were asked about acquiring THEIR players we'd balk at sending Wilmer Flores, Matt Harvey or Jeurys Familia. It's reality.