Colorado Rockies: Examining a trade for Noah Syndergaard

Trade #3

Colorado Rockies Receive: RHP Noah Syndergaard

New York Mets Receive: IF/OF Ian Desmond, IF Pat Valaika, IF Colton Welker, IF Peter Lambert 

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Once again, cue the critics.

To me, Ian Desmond still has plenty of value, and there literally aren’t too many 20-20 players walking around, so the Mets are getting a really good player back, who is still capable of having Silver Slugger type seasons, plus he plays three positions.

But, for many Rockies fans, the Ian Desmond experience has largely been ruled a bust, and most feel the time is now to end it. So if you’re going to trade a semi-bad contract, you’re going to have to give up some pretty big sweeteners in the deal.

Colton Welker and Peter Lambert are the Rockies’ number two and three overall prospects, respectively, and both reside in MLB.com’s Top 100 prospect list as well. Both are coming off their best seasons as professionals, and both players’ values could not be higher than they are right now.

Welker is coming off a season that saw him hit .333/.383/.489 at High-A Lancaster with 13 home runs, 32 doubles, 82 RBI, and scored 72 runs in 114 games. He’s entering his age 21 season and will surely jump up the Top 100 prospect rankings when the season opens for 2019.

Lambert would be even tougher for me to give up than Welker, but if you’re getting Syndergaard back, it shouldn’t matter as much. In 15 starts at Double-A, Lambert went 8-2 with a 2.23 ERA in 92.2 innings. That’s dominant. He got called up to Triple-A and had some trouble adjusting, but he’s still just 21 years old, and has been trending upward for a while now.

If the Mets did a deal with Desmond in it, Colorado may have to toss in a Chris Rusin, Pat Valaika-type, or some other lower tier major league player to get it done, but once again, Syndergaard is worth the price.

Let us know on Twitter, @tysoncrocker2 and @RoxPileFS, if you think the Rockies should make a play for Syndergaard, and, if so, what they should give up to get him.