In another daily article speculating on who the Mets could trade with, today we focus on the Orioles.
The Orioles have three needs in a division that is fairly close: a starter, a reliever and another catcher. The Mets could help in two of those areas. Colon being the starter and Plawecki being the catcher. They are pieced together right now at catcher, but there isn’t a guarantee that they will be able to keep Wieters once he becomes a free agent. Their catching prospect, Chance Sisco, is still a while off in development.
The reason I list both Plawecki and Colon is their combination of prospect and veteran, a combination of help later and help now, not only helps the Orioles, it can get a better package from the Mets.
The more well known prospects out of the Orioles system are all arms, but they have three position players in the ranks that are interesting, and the Mets should take a look:
Dariel Alvarez: The Cuban defector outfielder is having a strong second season in the Orioles Farm System. This year between AA and AAA he is hitting .308 with a .328 OBP and 14 homers over 410 plate appearances. His weakness in some ways might be his strength. He will be 26 next year. If the Mets acquire him this year, he would be worth a shot in the outfield to see if he can contribute on a high level next season. He’s a “win now” mode type move for the Mets although he doesn’t fill in the biggest need, a consistent power bat.
Christian Walker: The 23 year old first basement is hitting .302 between AA and AAA this year with a .513 slugging from hitting 20 homers. He’s a power bat. Acquiring Walker would give the Mets the option next year, if they don’t find a LF, of moving Granderson to left, Duda to right and Walker to first as a bridge to Smith.
Mike Yastrzemski: The final position player the Mets should look at is another OF. He has played in three levels this year (A, A+, AA) and has hit a combined .310 with a .366 OBP and a .533 SLG. Out of the players listed here, he is the farthest time wise from the majors. Over his 381 AB’s this season he has 118 hits, 24 2B, 14, 3B and 11 HR, which is intriguing. He has also walked 29 times and stolen 17 bases.
All of these players are considered to be in the lower top 10 Orioles prospects at the midpoint of this season according to the Baltimore Sun. I could see Colon landing one of these players but if the Mets ate some salary and traded Plawecki, considered to be a Top 5 or Top 3 prospect in the Mets organization, I wonder if the Mets and Orioles could work out a package for all three.
