What could the New York Mets do to boost their pitching staff at the trade deadline?
For the New York Mets, the upcoming trade deadline is going to be a crucial turning point.
The first couple months of the season were a dream in Queens, but the next six weeks were a nightmare. That period of struggles showed that although the Mets clearly get the most mileage out of their pitchers these days, that group just isn't all that talented.
If the Mets can improve both their rotation and their bullpen at the Jul. 31 deadline, they could reassert themselves as contenders in a National League with a lot of good teams, but no dominant ones so far.
To that end, one baseball insider is suggesting they use the Minnesota Twins as a "one-stop shop."
On Sunday, Jon Heyman of the New York Post proposed a trade in which the Twins would send starting pitcher Joe Ryan and relievers Louis Varland and Danny Coulombe to the Mets for top pitching prospect Brandon Sproat and top infield prospect Jett Williams.
"Wouldn’t it be nice if the Mets could also see if the Twins would make CF Byron Buxton available? Either way, this is obviously a long shot, as the Twins are on the cusp of the race (plus, Ryan is far from a rental)," Heyman wrote.
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"The Mets weren’t willing to include this exact combo of top prospects in a package for Garrett Crochet, but while Ryan isn’t quite Crochet, he has 2 ¹/₂ years to go. Plus of course, they’d be getting two red-hot relievers, including a lefty."
Ryan is the obvious lynchpin in this deal, as the All-Star has a 2.72 ERA and a minuscule 0.915 WHIP this season. The Twins aren't under pressure to trade him now, but they might get the maximum haul if they did.
And Sproat and Williams are very good prospects, so it would be highly intriguing to find out if that were the haul that convinced Minnesota to pull the trigger.
More MLB: Yankees predicted to land two Diamondbacks All-Stars in massive deadline haul
Category: Baseball
