Mets Should Consider Trading ROY Jacob deGrom in Winter Blockbuster

Sometimes a suggestion involving a certain team possibly considering trading a specific player can rightfully be called a little crazy. Sometimes, though, a little crazy is just what's needed to get the job done.

To that end, here's said suggestion: The New York Mets should consider trading Jacob deGrom, the insanely popular, gangly bodied, long-haired, freshly minted National League Rookie of the Year.

OK, so maybe that's more than a "little" crazy. But then, maybe it's not.

The Mets, as everyone well knows, are looking to move a starting pitcher—maybe even two—but the club so far is dangling only the likes of Jon Niese, Dillon Gee and Bartolo Colon.

As Jon Heyman of CBS Sports writes:

"

Gee and Niese are reasonably priced veterans, and while Colon has $11 million left on his contract, the Mets aren't currently offering to pay down any of it, which is understandable in this environment of escalating prices. Niese has $17 million to go through the 2016 season, and Gee, who made $3.425 million last year, is second-time arbitration eligible in 2015.

"

Thing is, none of that trio is anything more than a back-of-the-rotation arm. In this market, with so many starters available via free agency and trade, the type of pitcher the Mets are looking to move just isn't going to bring much back to make them that much better at other positions.

Kathy Kmonicek/Associated Press

To wit, there's still Max Scherzer, James Shields, Ervin Santana and Brandon McCarthy on the open market.

And here's a quick rundown of some of the names that have been floated as trade candidates: the Philadelphia Phillies' Cole Hamels, Johnny Cueto and Mat Latos of the Cincinnati Reds, the Washington Nationals' Jordan Zimmermann and Doug Fister, and Tyson Ross, Andrew Cashner and Ian Kennedy of the San Diego Padres.

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That's a buyer's market for pitching if there ever was one.

And that's bad for the Mets, who are sellers. Each and every one of the above arms are better and more valuable than what the Mets are peddling.

Unless, of course, general manager Sandy Alderson were to get creative and think outside the box.

Like, seeing what deGrom would get the Mets in a trade.

Yes, really. And here's why.

After six (S-I-X!) consecutive losing seasons, the Mets finally are on the upswing, having intermixed a nice collection of young talent with proven veterans.

The club, however, still has some needs, including in the bullpen, bench depth and, primarily, at shortstop.

For now, the club is claiming they'll give Wilmer Flores a chance, per Adam Rubin of ESPN New York. But the former top prospect is a bat-first player who can hit a little but doesn't have the range or defensive chops to handle a premium up-the-middle position for an extended period.

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The top free-agent options are Jed Lowrie, Asdrubal Cabrera and Stephen Drew. Meanwhile, Didi Gregorius was just traded to the hated New York Yankees, and Alexei Ramirez appears to be unavailable now that the Chicago White Sox have reloaded to make a go of it in 2015.

The Mets simply don't have much to work with. Especially if they're intent on offering only Niese/Gee/Colon.

But if they were to bring deGrom to the table? Heck, things would get a whole lot more interesting really fast.

Sure, the same argument that there's too much pitching already on the market can be used as a counter point here, too, and that could dilute deGrom's value.

Except for three key factors. One: deGrom is better than Niese, Gee or Colon, which means he'd fit in with that pack of available arms.

Two: Now that Lester has signed with the Chicago Cubs for $155 million, per Carrie Muskat of MLB.com, the market will move, but not every one of those trade-chip starters actually will be swapped.

And three: Most of them have but a year of team control left, whereas deGrom has (count 'em) five, making him a much more intriguing and valuable target, one that would stand out for all teams based on both his salary (more or less the league minimum) and performance.

Speaking of performance, deGrom posted a 2.69 ERA and 1.14 WHIP with 144 strikeouts in 140.1 innings. After debuting on May 15, he went from relative unknown to Rookie of the Year in less than six short months, which is about as much of an overnight sensation as there can be in baseball.

But just how much of that will carry over into 2015 and beyond? And would the Mets be wise to move deGrom now, while he's a ridiculously hot commodity?

After all, entering last season, deGrom was nobody's idea of a top prospect, having barely cracked Baseball America's top 10 Mets prospects in November 2013—as No. 10.

He's also already 26 and heading into his age-27 season in 2015, so this isn't exactly a young phenom so much as it's a pitcher who was drafted in the ninth round in 2010 out of Stetson University who then spent parts of five seasons in the minors before making it to the majors.

During that slow climb to The Show—one that was interrupted, by the way, by Tommy John surgery on his elbow back in 2011—deGrom fashioned a minor league ERA of 3.62, a WHIP of 1.28 and 7.4 strikeouts per nine, all of which he far surpassed with the Mets.

That could be a sign of a pitcher coming into his own at the highest level after the former shortstop began pitching as a junior in college.

Or it could be an indication that what deGrom did in New York from May through September—with a disabled list stint for nothing short of shoulder soreness thrown in—was perhaps a little too good to be true.

He certainly looked the part of top-of-the-rotation starter, but it's not unreasonable to question his health or whether that will be his true performance level going forward.

Another reason the Mets are in position to consider trading deGrom? They already have a full five-man rotation and then some, which is why they're looking to move an arm or two.

"They have plenty of pitching depth," as Marc Carig of Newsday writes, "with top prospect Noah Syndergaard on the horizon, Jacob deGrom and Zack Wheeler emerging as solid starters and ace Matt Harvey returning after rehabbing from Tommy John surgery."

Throw in the Niese-Gee-Colon trio, and that's seven starters for five spots. After that, there's still big league ready right-hander Rafael Montero and 2009 second-rounder Steven Matz, a 23-year-old lefty who broke out with a 2.24 ERA in reaching Double-A last season.

There's no such thing as too much pitching, as the adage goes, but the Mets are putting that concept to the test.

For a team that has finished in the bottom third of the sport in runs scored every year since 2012, maybe using deGrom to land a little more offense isn't such a bad idea?

And don't forget: While the circumstances were different, the last time the Mets traded a popular pitcher who had just placed an award on his mantle, they sent 2012 NL Cy Young R.A. Dickey to the Toronto Blue Jays and got Travis d'Arnaud and Noah Syndergaard in a December 2012 deal that has worked out better for them than the Jays.

Understandably, everyone with the Mets—from Alderson to manager Terry Collins to the fans—loves deGrom, the new overnight sensation with the bean-pole frame and, oh, that hair.

So why would the Mets trade him? Exactly because everyone, including evaluators and front-office execs with other organizations, loves him.

A 26-year-old with an injury history who came from out of nowhere to become the next big thing in New York? Maybe the time is now to capitalize on that before his performance drops off or he gets hurt again.

The bottom line is that the Mets could try to stick with their current plan of moving Niese, Gee or Colon, which won't get them much, especially in this market.

Or they could entertain the concept of trading deGrom at peak value right now for either a promising shortstop (think: Starlin Castro of the Cubs or Jurickson Profar of the Texas Rangers) perhaps with something else included, too, or for a haul made up of young big league-ready position players and prospects.

Given the pitching depth in Flushing, the team still could build around Harvey, Wheeler, Syndegaard and others. Not to mention, the Mets also would have the players they get back for deGrom, too.

No one's saying this isn't a risky move. No doubt, it is. But it's not as if deGrom himself is guaranteed to be successful and healthy. He comes with concerns of his own as is.

What is guaranteed, however, is that deGrom has so much cachet at the moment that teams would be fighting for the chance to get him.

With a Niese or Gee or Colon, that's just not going to happen. Correction: It isn't happening.

So forget those three. If the Mets really want to trade a pitcher to make themselves better quicker, the one they should consider trading is the one they might least want to give up right now.

Statistics are accurate through the 2014 season and courtesy of MLB.com, Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.

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