Could the New York Mets Possibly Hold a Fire Sale This Summer?

In a post about the top trade chips each team in the National League East has, Mike Axisa of MLBTradeRumors.com assessed the Mets.

In discussing them Axisa left open the possibility that ownership could cut ties with general manager Omar Minaya and have a full-blown fire sale, trading everyone except David Wright.

That got me thinking about the possibilities of this happening.

First of all, the Mets should be competitive this season. They might not be a strong challenge for the Phillies for the East, but they can at least compete along with anyone for the Wild Card. Minaya’s job is probably safe as long as this is the case.

So the only way they would consider firing Minaya midseason is if the Mets crash early and don’t show signs of a rebound. That could happen, especially if Carlos Beltran doesn’t come back or has a setback or two. But it probably would take more than just Beltran not returning; it would also probably mean one or a few other veterans are underperforming.

That would mean that even if an incoming GM wanted to have a fire sale, assuming he could convince ownership to completely rebuild, he would be trying to trade under-performing veteran players. Good luck trying to get top dollar for guys like Beltran, who would come with injury question marks, or maybe Oliver Perez, but who wants an inconsistent pitcher who comes with a $13 million a year price tag?

A contending team might be interested in Luis Castillo, who only has one year left on his contract after this season, but in order to get anything of long-term value in exchange, they’d have to eat most or all of his contract. What kind of fire sale is it if you are paying all of your players to play somewhere else?

It would probably be tough to even get top dollar for a guy like Jose Reyes, who, legitimately or not, comes with a big red flag due to how much time he’s spent on the DL during his career.

Nobody wanted to give Jason Bay $65 million this past offseason, no matter how long he waited. What makes anyone think that the Mets would find a huge market for him?

Realistically, David Wright and Johan Santana would be the only veterans the Mets could deal that would attract packages including blue-chip prospects. It’s possible to envision Santana getting dealt in the name of rebuilding, but Wright? That’s hard to see.

So that leaves the Mets with only one veteran who can really fetch a deal that could have a big impact on the team’s future. So is it worth it? It seems hard to justify, especially for a team with a brand-new, beautiful ballpark.

Besides, the Mets only have three major contracts that will last into the 2012 season: those of Santana, Wright, and Bay. Those are pretty good players to try to build prospects around if they chose to.

What do you think, Mets fans? If the Mets are on the outside looking in the playoff race by July 15, should they fire Minaya and go with a fire sale?

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