Let's Make A Deal

[TransMonk]

Hello Brewerfan.net. I'm a visitor from www.cranepoolforum.net, which is a New York Mets fan forum. This off-season, we are conducting a project where posters from our forum go out to forums from other teams in the hopes of making a mock deal that would or could benefit both of our respective clubs. I am the lone Mets fan from our forum living in Wisconsin and thought that I would choose the Brewers as my team to attempt a deal with. It looks like you guys have a great place to talk baseball here and wanted this forum to be the one I chose to come to.

For the purposes of this exercise, I would be acting as the GM of the Mets, and you guys collectively would act as the GM of the Brewers. Of course, any deals being discussed would be reviewed by the members of my forum as well and their input could sway any negotiations I may take. This project is strictly for fun, but I'm not here to make any blockbuster "fantasy" deals. We're just looking for intelligent and realistic ways that both of our ball clubs could benefit from a deal. I'll do my best to answer any questions on any Mets players (majors or minors) that you may have…if you can do the same for me.

Here is the thread devoted to this project on our site: http://cranepoolforum.net/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=7789

Here, for your reference, is the Mets' organizational statistics from last year: http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYM/2007_orgbat.shtml

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYM/2007_orgpit.shtml

Here goes:

I'm interested in obtaining Ben Sheets from the Brewers. 2008 would be his walk year and his salary demands should be fairly hefty for 2009 and beyond. Is there a deal we can make so that the Brewers receive something for him before he potentially walks away as a free agent after next season?

Let me know where we can start, and of course if you're interested in any Mets players outside of a Sheets deal, I'm all ears. If nothing else, feel free to stop by our forum anytime to talk baseball or other stuff.

[Roscoe Chill]

Actually I think the Mets and Brewers are a perfect match for a Ben Sheets deal. But the return for Sheets would have to include probably three out of: Lastings Milledge/Carlos Gomez, Aaron Heilman, Philip Humber, Mike Pelfrey. Just my opinion.

[zurch1818]

I don't know if we can make a deal with comments like this:

 

TransMonk: I'm getting ready to tackle the Brewer's board over the weekend. I'm planning on inquiring about Sheets. Any of their other batters or pitchers intrigue anyone?

 

DocTee: Richie Weeks.

 

link

[dadofandrew]

I'd say Milledge and one other would be enough, or maybe a prospect of lesser value than those mentioned. A Sheets/OF combo might be worth 3.

[joshjs]

Cool project. How about Sheets for Milledge and Heilman?

[trwi7]

DocTee a page later: Weeks was farmed out last year if I remember, and may just need a change of scenery. Maybe he just needs to be around a winner like WWSB. If Castillo cannot be resigned, he'd be as good a target as any other, I would imagine, and is preferable to Josh Barfield, IMHO.

 

Boo Weeks is untouchable.

[billyhallfan]

NYM Gets:

Ben Sheets

Alcides Escobar

Tony Gwynn Jr.

 

MIL Gets:

Aaron Heilman

Fernando Martinez OR Deolis Guerra

Carlos Gomez

 

 

TRANSMONK--would the Mets be willing to move Martinez? I really like him.

[Team Canada]

Fun idea.

 

Let try not to knock random posts from that board but address TM's question and talk with him about what a good deal might be.

[sbrylski]

I'm guessing the Mets organization still thinks very highly of him, but I'd love to grab Fernando Martinez too. 18 and in AA? Just based on stats, I'm guessing he'll start there again next season, but he could be a regular by age 21 if he continues to develop like everyone says he will.

[billyhallfan]

if they get sheets, i don't see why they wouldn't, but it would be hard to get the sportsradios to say anything positive about that trade.

 

i would do it for just heilman and martinez.

 

but that would probably be too much, i just like martinez

[ILuvDaBush]

I'd do Pelfrey and Gomez for a year of Sheets. Pelfrey has a killer sinker and Gomez would add some necessary speed to our lineup, while also still allowing us to sprinkle in Gwynn and Gross starts. And the deal has a huge ceiling.

[billyhallfan]

sprinkle in Gwynn and Gross starts.

 

sprinling in some starts for Gwynn would not be a thing that I see as a positive...

[twobrewers]

Just a few things to keep in mind...

Sheet is currently a "B" ranked player. Assuming he is able to stay healthy at all this year, I think their is a good chance he would move into an "A" ranking. If he played this year as a Brewer, and we let him go - we would receive a first and sandwich pick for him. (While benefiting from having him this whole year)

So my contention is that Sheets is worth at least two high quality players at a minimum.

The other problem is that the Brewers have a legitimate shot of winning this year. And having a starting rotation anchored by Sheets, Yovanni, Villanueva and Suppan would play a big role in that. If the Brewers are to trade Sheets, they would likely decrease their chances of winning this year. So the Mets would have to be willing to part with players that are very close to MLB ready - so that the Brewers would be even better poised to win in 2009 & 2010.

I have a feeling the Mets will balk at Milledge and Pelfrey. But anything less than that, and I would just take my chances that Sheets remains healthy this year and take the compensatory picks for him if/when he walks. (Let Jack Z turn them to gold)

Sheets may have had a down year, but he still posted a 12-5 record, 3.82 ERA and 1.24 WHIP. I would have a hard time imagining our team being better without him.

[mothershipconnection]

How well does Milledge play CF? He's a lot more interesting to me as a CF than corner guy if he plays well enough, considering we may need to move Braun, have Hart, and have Laporta moving up the system. He's still so young that he has value as a corner guy, but we clearly have a need for a CF if a Braun/Hall reshuffling occurs.

 

I don't honestly know what objective value he has now, but I discount Milledge somewhat, as many do, because of his character issues.

[bklynbrewcrew]

Sorry dude the Mets have absolutely nothing in the system worth trading Sheets for. Milledge is a young Gary Sheffield in terms of attitude so I say no thanks to him; Humber and Pelfrey are nothing more than potential 4th and 5th starters so neither is intriguing enough to trade Sheets for. I am sorry Sheets is not someone we should be trading, we need to get him locked up to a long term deal.

[brosto1]

There are plenty of options in the Mets' system in a deal for Sheets. Milledge or Gomez would have to be included and a major league ready pitcher, Pelfrey would be my first choice but would probably be fine with Heilman, Mulvey, or perhaps even Joe Smith if another young arm would be included in the deal.

[logan82]

If this was last year even we might have traded Sheets in his final year, but we are now at a point where we want to win now and a trade that makes us worse in the short term is no longer acceptable.

 

I wouldn't trade Sheets, Gallardo, Villanueva, Hart, or any of our starting infield(Braun/Hardy/Weeks/Fielder).

[billyhallfan]

Sorry dude the Mets have absolutely nothing in the system worth trading Sheets for.

 

Do you know who Fernando Martinez is?

 

I wouldn't trade Sheets for Martinez straight up, the mets would have to give some more, but don't say there is nothing, that is not accurate, they do have some nice prospects.

[trwi7]

Sorry dude the Mets have absolutely nothing in the system worth trading Sheets for.

 

Do you know who Fernando Martinez is?

 

I wouldn't trade Sheets for Martinez straight up, the mets would have to give some more, but don't say there is nothing, that is not accurate, they do have some nice prospects.

 

By the time Martinez is ready for the majors Prince, Weeks and Hardy will all be nearing free agency. Nobody is saying they don't have nice prospects but the really nice ones like Martinez and Guerra are really far from the majors which is fine if we had no plans of competing but since we do it offers no help.

[logan82]

Oh, and tell your guys that Hall had a pretty bad April and May in CF, but got quite a bit better by the end of the year. Also, despite batting only .235 for the year, Weeks had a .373 OBP with a .807 OPS so we are pretty happy with him.

 

This is a pretty cool project you guys have going over there.

[twobrewers]

we are now at a point where we want to win now and a trade that makes us worse in the short term is no longer acceptable.

In general this statement is true. But to use it as an absolute is incorrect. What if we were able to decline slightly in the short term, with the potential to increase greatly in the long term?

 

As I have said before, the only way we can trade Sheets is if it makes us a significantly better team for 2009 and 2010.

 

Nobody is saying they don't have nice prospects but the really nice ones like Martinez and Guerra are really far from the majors which is fine if we had no plans of competing but since we do it offers no help.

Exactly. We can take on prospects to some extent, but they would need to be MLB ready either this year or next. I have no interest in trading Sheets for an AA player with a very high ceiling. If that was the case, I would rather keep him this year and just take the two drafts picks. (Since the draft picks might be ready at the same time as Martinez - and we would have been able to make a run this year yet with Sheets)

And thanks TransMonk for this idea.

[mothershipconnection]

Honestly, we'll probably get the best return for Sheets in July, when we'll also have a much better idea of how much we'll need him. I know this thread is hypothetical, but in reality I don't think it's that likely we'd trade Ben before July.

[logan82]

twobrewers wrote:

In general this statement is true. But to use it as an absolute is incorrect. What if we were able to decline slightly in the short term, with the potential to increase greatly in the long term?

Trading Sheets would involve more than a slight decline, even at only 140 innings. The only holes we will have in 2009 and 2010 are pitching and maybe catcher. In return for Sheets we would have to get a pitcher better than Parra, Bush, Capuano, and Vargas.

[Oldcity]

Nobody has mentioned John Maine yet. I wouldn't think the Mets would want to give him up, but Maine and Gomez would be interesting.

[trwi7]

Nobody has mentioned John Maine yet. I wouldn't think the Mets would want to give him up, but Maine and Gomez would be interesting.

 

I would love to get Maine. The problem is I doubt the Mets would want to trade him. He's young, cheap and under the Mets control and he's coming off a very good year. They'd want Sheets to go along with Martinez, Perez and Maine so I think they would only be offering prospects.