Asking price will be high for aces
DENVER — Jacob deGrom is available, but any potential offer should include plenty of icing.
As the Mets weigh their options for 2018 — whether they should be sellers, sit tight or perhaps at some point move into the range they can consider buying heading into the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline — deGrom is the main prize others want, and team officials are now willing to at least listen to proposals for the ace right-hander.
Metaphorically speaking, a team official put the price on deGrom at “six donuts.” Teams calling the Mets will have a shot at deGrom at that asking price, but should know that “three donuts probably isn’t going to get it done.”
In baseball terms, the Mets believe deGrom is worth multiple stud prospects, limiting the number of teams that might be a match.
But there is also no hurry to trade deGrom, given that he is under club control through the 2020 season and the Mets could still receive a strong return for the right-hander in the future. But he might be at his peak trade value at the moment, given his performance and distance to free agency.
DeGrom, who lowered his major-league leading ERA to 1.51 on Monday against the Rockies, has allowed one run or less in nine of his previous 11 appearances.
More likely is the possibility of the Mets entertaining offers for Noah Syndergaard should the Mets fail to make significant headway in the playoff chase in the coming weeks. But there are plenty of other names that could be moved, with Jeurys Familia, Asdrubal Cabrera and Zack Wheeler among the players that would bring some level of respectable return.
One line of thinking within the industry is the Mets are making it known deGrom and Syndergaard are available, with the unlikelihood of trading either, and could then try to push Wheeler on teams who inquire about either of the higher-end pitchers.
Wheeler’s stock has risen in recent weeks to the point he has become a trusted middle-of-the-rotation option for the Mets. Overall, the right-hander is 2-5 with a 4.82 ERA, and he did nothing to dissuade talent evaluators in his most recent pitching performance, Sunday in Arizona, where he was hitting 99 mph on the radar gun.
The Mets went into sell mode last summer and unloaded Lucas Duda, Addison Reed, Jay Bruce, Neil Walker and Curtis Granderson for seven minor league relievers.