4 Yankees-Mets trades that could work as rumors swirl

The New York Mets are having a fire … sale. But, here’s the catch: they’re only planning on selling the pieces of their regime that have lost traction on their jobs as the rest of the roster has leveled up. Is that something the Yankees might be interested in? Picking up the pieces and buying low on a few Mets with potential?

“Grabbing the Mets who’ve lost their jobs” doesn’t exactly sound like a Big Brother move, but Brian Cashman has made a recent career out of picking up depreciated assets and (mostly) turning their lives around, and he has a prime opportunity to do it again with a trio of Mets who seem to be on the block.

Oh, and we’ve thrown an extra trade in for good measure, considering Starling Marte will be holding down center field in Flushing for the next four years.

Never mind that he should be in the Bronx, but we digress.

None of the pieces the Mets are offering have reached the 2021-22 offseason with the type of momentum they were likely hoping for, but a few of them have shown off an impressive pedigree in recent years.

What do the Yankees need, other than an injection of young offense wherever they can get it? Versatility matters, as does athleticism.

We prefer a pair of these trades over the others, but it’s worth estimating what a deal might look like for any of the three extremely available names — plus the fourth, more interesting deal we threw in for good measure.

These 4 Yankees-Mets trades could work as rumors swirl

4. Yankees-Jeff McNeil Trade

Hey, if there’s a rodent problem in the Yankees clubhouse, double bonus!

Jeff McNeil just posted his first representatively bad season of his four-year career in 2021, but prior to that, he legitimately put up three of the best debut seasons for a second baseman in MLB history.

Don’t believe us? Understandable! But it’s true — he finished sixth in the Rookie of the Year race with a 138 OPS+ in his debut, made the All-Star team with a 143 mark in his second year, and put up a 130 in the shortened 2020 campaign … before posting an 88 and just 1.4 WAR last year.

Still … the Yankees could use someone to rove around, fill in in left field, and play the floating DJ LeMahieu role the front office envisioned prior to the 2019 season. If Gio Urshela is traded, as many suspect he will be, McNeil could be an excellent utility squirrel.

Not quite as easy to find a role for him without Gleyber Torres being traded, too, but we digress. If only he could play a bang-up shortstop.

Controllable through 2024, the Mets would be wise not to undersell McNeil after his difficult 2021, the first step back of his entire career. In trading with a crosstown rival, especially, Billy Eppler must be careful not to take his opponent lightly. How about Clarke Schmidt, Deivi Garcia and hidden gem Brandon Lockridge for McNeil? That’s a top-five pitching prospect, a top-20 outfield prospect who many believe could reach MLB this season, and a complete wild card former top prospect pitcher (who, objectively, is slipping into the Andújar/Frazier zone at the moment). If the Mets prefer pedigree over quantity, this might have to look more like Luis Medina/Ken Waldichuk, at which point the Yankees might well balk, especially considering they’re treating Joey Gallo like a left fielder more than a center fielder these days.

Something to keep an eye on, though. Likely the best player the Mets are dangling, but likely not a fit in the Bronx.

3. Yankees-Dominic Smith Trade

The issues we learned about from Dominic Smith’s 2021 season are glaring. Without a universal DH, he doesn’t quite work in the National League — and he certainly doesn’t work as a starter for the Mets, who can’t evict their 50-homer Polar Bear from first base in exchange for their 26-year-old contact specialist who’s somehow rougher at the position than Pete Alonso.

Smith isn’t a full-time left fielder. He’s closer to a first baseman, but his 2021 threw his ability to stick as a starter into question after his 2020 did so much good in arguing his case.

Now, Smith needs to rebuild the value he lost, and he could do it by playing Luke Voit’s backup role in 2022 at the right price in the Bronx.

Still just 26, Smith turned a major corner in 2019, playing sporadically (89 games, 32 in left) while posting a 132 OPS+ that suggested a role in this core. 2020 confirmed that notion; he socked 10 home runs in 50 games, batting .316, posting a 168 OPS+ and finishing 13th in the MVP race for a team that whiffed the playoffs.

Unfortunately, Smith’s 2021 featured a complete reset. He looked a step slow in the field. His power nosedived back to 11 homers in 145 games. His offensive metrics were poor (barrel percentage in the 31st percentile, average exit velocity in the 43rd), and his outfield defense was beyond suspect (the literal first percentile in outs above average). Smith is almost back to zero, and could use a short porch to flip line drives up and over, if you know what we mean.

What if the Yankees exchanged Garcia, their own reclamation project, for Smith, then tossed in some projectable talent to justify the swap? After all, Smith’s track record may be short, but it’s much longer than Deivi’s.

Dom for Deivi and Hayden Wesneski. Who says no?

1. Yankees-Brandon Nimmo Trade

Well, well, well. We’re going off the board here.

If the ultimate ability is availability, Brandon Nimmo doesn’t have it. The uber-talented center fielder and elite leadoff man/OBP linchpin played in 92 games last season, following a 69-game campaign in 2019.

In that limited time, though, he did put up 3.6 more WAR and an OPS+ of 132, which follows marks of 145, 111 and 148.

Somehow, Nimmo — who loves to get hit with a baseball more than anybody — is a free agent after the 2022 season. We haven’t heard anything about his potential availability, but he switched agents to Scott Boras several weeks ago ahead of post-lockout extension negotiations. Will the Mets be willing to pay up? He’s the team’s projected starting left fielder entering 2022, and it stands to reason the Mets have soured far more on McNeil … but maybe something flips if the negotiations go poorly and the team realizes there’s no way they can pay Nimmo what he wants next winter for what has amounted to part-time duty more often than not these past few seasons.

Cash would be remiss to not at least ask, even though there won’t be a Boras-led extension in the Bronx, either.

Despite his health limitations, the Yankees will have to pay up to add Nimmo as a pitch-perfect Aaron Hicks replacement plan for one season and one season only. This conversation starts with Oswald Peraza or Luis Gil as the headliner, depending on Cashman’s negotiating skills, and includes another top-10 prospect to boot.

We don’t make the rules, and expect the Mets to lay down the law here. But it’s worth asking: how much do you really love your oft-injured, out-of-position outfielder on the verge of a massive payday? Anything we can do to help?

3 surprise trades Yankees can make when MLB Lockout ends

The New York Yankees can pull off these three surprise trades when the MLB Lockout ends and they can legally fill their gaps again.