Trading Noah Syndergaard to the ... Tampa Bay Rays
Remember the Mets’ shortstop debacle that ended with Wilmer Flores taking the reigns of the position for most of 2015? Well, Alderson tried to fix the issue in the winter leading up to the season.
Let’s do two things here: give Sandy points for trying to get creative, and give him more points for not making any rash decisions.
This was a potential blockbuster between the Mets, Washington Nationals, and Tampa Bay Rays, and would’ve included names such as Ian Desmond, Yunel Escobar, and Ben Zobrist. Desmond was the man on Alderson’s radar.
Ken Rosenthal (then of FOX Sports), detailed the talks via sources. Here’s how it played out, according to him:
The Nationals would have sent Desmond to the Rays for Zobrist and Escobar, the two players the Rays traded to the Athletics on Saturday. The Rays then would have flipped Desmond to the Mets. The roadblock was the Rays’ request for two top Mets prospects from a list of three – a price the Mets considered too steep for Desmond, who is entering his free-agent year. The Rays’ wish list included right-hander Noah Syndergaard, the Mets’ No. 1 prospect according to Baseball America. The other two targets are not known.
Trying to sidestep that steep price, Alderson attempted to engage with the Rays about Zobrist directly, but the asking price was just as steep.
Noah Syndergaard has had his health issues since the start of 2017, but seriously, can you imagine where the Mets as a club would be right now without both him AND deGrom at the top of their rotation?
Yeah, no thanks. Things don’t need to be any more painful than they already are.
