So now what?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

The speculation I read is that it puts Grandyman in center. That's not ideal.

[MFS62]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: The speculation I read is that it puts Grandyman in center. That's not ideal.

The pitchers will just have to bear down and strike out more hitters.

Later

[TransMonk]

Grandy in center would be an adventure and I still dislike giving up Wheeler.

It will be very interesting to see who else the Mets add to the deal and/or if Cincy throws in any cash should a trade happen.

[Edgy MD]

The ever-reliable Joel Sherman reports that the availability of Wheeler is linked to the emergence is Michael Fulmer: 6-2 / 1.88 at Bingo, with 83 strikeouts and 23 walks in 86 innings. I'm wondering if AA Fulmer or Wounded Wheeler is a better chip on the market.

[Ceetar]

Edgy MD wrote: The ever-reliable Joel Sherman reports that the availability of Wheeler is linked to the emergence is Michael Fulmer: 6-2 / 1.88 at Bingo, with 83 strikeouts and 23 walks in 86 innings. I'm wondering if AA Fulmer or Wounded Wheeler is a better chip on the market.

I'd probably rather trade Fulmer than Wheeler if he had/had higher value.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Edgy MD wrote: The ever-reliable Joel Sherman reports that the availability of Wheeler is linked to the emergence is Michael Fulmer: 6-2 / 1.88 at Bingo, with 83 strikeouts and 23 walks in 86 innings. I'm wondering if AA Fulmer or Wounded Wheeler is a better chip on the market.

Not for nothing but I believe guys who get traded tend to get traded.

I'm a Wheeler Dealer.

[Frayed Knot]

Fuller would provide the trading partner (or the Mets for that matter) the full six years of control rather than Wheeler who'll be only around 3+ by the time he gets back to pitching (FA after 2020 season vs probably 2023)
Balance that out with the less "dynamic" stuff and the unproven nature of never having pitched in the bigs for Fulmer and it adds up to ... I dunno, take your pick.

[Guest d'Kong76]

T-minus 05:30:00 and counting...

[seawolf17]

I'm really torn between WHY CAN'T THIS TEAM DO ONE FRICKING THING RIGHT FOR ONCE and WHY ARE WE SO FRICKING DEMANDING IT'S JUST A BASEBALL TEAM.

[Guest d'Kong76]

I'm still numb from the last two games and the going's on in them.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

These past 24 hours were absolute murder on me. This has been the most exhilarating and stressful trade deadline for the Mets in forever.

[Frayed Knot]

Eh. I usually find myself more apprehensive about what might happen at these deadlines, more fraidy-scared, IOW, about what we might lose than about anticipating what we might get.
That said I've been OK with the relatively low-key deals so far, and while I approved of the aborted Gomez deal I can live with four more years of Wheeler & Flores and/or having them as chips for future stuff.

On the other hand I'm sick to death about yesterday's game, apprehensive about this upcoming series, and worried about our suddenly shaky bullpen.

[TransMonk]

Frayed Knot wrote: Eh. I usually find myself more apprehensive about what might happen at these deadlines, more fraidy-scared, IOW, about what we might lose than about anticipating what we might get. That said I've been OK with the relatively low-key deals so far, and while I approved of the aborted Gomez deal I can live with four more years of Wheeler & Flores and/or having them as chips for future stuff. On the other hand I'm sick to death about yesterday's game, apprehensive about this upcoming series, and worried about our suddenly shaky bullpen.

I'm in agreement with all of these statements.

I'm more worried about the next three games than I am about what happens at the deadline.

[Vic Sage]

I'm not excited by Bruce. He's a LHed RFer with a huge platoon split and he forces Grandy to CF, but yet he's preferable to a Coespedes or Upton because he's signed for 1 more year? So fucking what?
He'll end up sitting against some LHPs, and won't be able to produce in Citi the way he did in Cinncy (check his home/away splits). So Wheeler for Bruce is stupid. Yes, he's better than Nieuhenheis and Lagares offensively, but not as much as it would seem, and he hurts our CF defense. This move won't help us down the stretch OR next year. If they're so willing to move Wheeler, do it in a move that will make an impact right now. Gomez was the move to make, and they bailed because of money, not hip issues. that's a bullshit cover. they knew he had a hip issue when they made the deal in the first place, they just wanted to squeeze some cash out of the Brewers and they probably told Sandy to go fuck himself. So Houston said fine, send that solid CFer to us.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

It's all of it. But I need to say this: The Mets have been so very close to tapping an energy in the fan base like they haven't experienced in years. I think part of the fun of this is the sense that a trade brings a momentum to the team at a critical point in the year. And shirley this is a critical time!

I dunno. There is a massive, pent-up plague of pennant fever that can be unleashed on this fan base. Sandy knows this too. It just needs the right trigger at the right moment.

[Edgy MD]

Vic Sage wrote: Gomez was the move to make, and they bailed because of money, not hip issues. that's a bullshit cover. they knew he had a hip issue when they made the deal in the first place

They even more explicitly knew he had a salary in the first place.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Bruce shouldn't be unexciting. He's not ideal inasmuch as he's not a CF, hits LH, etc., but he's got the 15th highest OPS in the National League, and look:

April-.713
May-.754
June-.840
July-.985

Don;t see how that wont help in the stretch. Can't see why he wouldn't be tradeable in December.

[Ceetar]

Bruce is good, and healthy. He's only 28. His Career splits against lefties aren't horrible. And it's a trade there, because if he does hurt the defense( right now he'd play right with Curtis in left?) it's probably because either they got someone else or Cuddyer is back and hitting lefties.

[seawolf17]

I'm okay with Bruce. He's basically Lucas Duda without the walks, but he certainly gives us more than Cuddyer/Kirk does.

[Frayed Knot]

I'm surprised no one has brought up the most Mets-ian scenario of them all: We trade for Justin Upton but wind up missing out on the post-season by one game ... yesterday's game.

[Edgy MD]

seawolf17 wrote: I'm okay with Bruce. He's basically Lucas Duda without the walks, but he certainly gives us more than Cuddyer/Kirk does.

Plus... arm porn!

Mets have a history of buying right fielders mid-season with big gunzz: Claudell Washington, Ellis Valentine, Richard Hidalgo, Jeff Francoeur...

[Vic Sage]

Ceetar wrote: Bruce is good, and healthy. He's only 28. His Career splits against lefties aren't horrible. And it's a trade there, because if he does hurt the defense( right now he'd play right with Curtis in left?) it's probably because either they got someone else or Cuddyer is back and hitting lefties.

i guess it depends on how you define "horrible". The platoon differential in OPS is 90 points (.820-.730), dropping him from a productive hitter to a hitter that's not so much. Maybe not horrible, but not good. But more pronounced is his 100+ home/away split (.845 -.743), indicating how much the Great American Ballpark has inflated his numbers. And if Grandy plays LF, then you still have a NIeuhy/Lagares platoon in CF and no place for Conforto or Cuddyer.

So yes, i guess it'd be a slight overall improvement in our offense, replacing Cuddyer/Comforto with the road version of Bruce (with Cuddyer against LHP [eventually] and Conforto back in AA). And it probably improves our overall defense in that alignment, with Grandy going to LF and Bruce's arm in RF. But is this upgrade enough? Does it fix our leadoff problem? Our LH/RH imbalance? Our offensive hole in CF? no, it just gives us another .250 hitter who can hit it out of certain parks. Color me unexcited, considering Gomez actually did fit all those criteria.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Latest: Reds balky at Wheeler, Mets looking elsewhere.

Joel Sherman ?@Joelsherman1 1m1 minute ago #Mets are talking lots of scenarios and believe they will get bat(s)

[Edgy MD]

A lot of cold twitter water being thrown on Bruce stories in the last hour and a half.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Not seeing any of that in his feed (or anywhere else), either. I mean, I'd take it and like it. I like his bat, his game, AND his careless whispering.

I'm not trying to call anyone out here but this was bothering me since I'm a bit of the designated Joel Sherman Defender here -- IMO he's solid, fair, usually accurate, often first -- and I read him enough to know doesn't traffic in 'gut feelings' -- he's a journo. Not to mention I suck him up and never saw the tweet.

Anyway I Topsy'd the above tweet and --



That's not Joel Sherman. That's some guy on the Internet with 61 followers.

[Edgy MD]

Sixty-one followers? Where do I sign up for that action?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

..

Edited July 31, 2015 by Guest

[Edgy MD]

MFS62 wrote: Joel Sherman ? @ Joelsherman1After canceling the Gomez trade, I have a gut feeling the #Mets are going to land Josh Reddick before the deadline Later

My guess is our colleague isn't a particularly sophisticated Twitter user (I share his shame), and mistook a tweet that appeared under Sherman's profile (because it led with @Joelsherman1) as coming from Sherman himself.

[Guest d'Kong76]

T-minus 02:30:00 and counting...

[seawolf17]

Frayed Knot wrote: I'm surprised no one has brought up the most Mets-ian scenario of them all: We trade for Justin Upton but wind up missing out on the post-season by one game ... yesterday's game.

No, the most Mets-ian scenario is that PLUS the Mets needing the Diamondbacks to win on the last game of the season but Carlos Gomez, Astro, makes a game-saving catch.