5 trade targets from the New York Mets for the Colorado Rockies

The New York Mets and Colorado Rockies are very similar in a few ways. Both teams have not necessarily been in the best graces with their fanbases as both teams owners and front offices have had their fair shares of public relations disasters in years.

The old owners of the Mets, the Wilpon family, were a walking trainwreck. The Wilpons were part owners of the Mets since the early 80s but they became majority owners in 2002.

Since then, they lost a ton of money in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme so, for the better part of a decade, they acted like a small market team. They came under controversy for their new stadium, Citi Field, for the lack of Mets history behind it, Wilpon frequently ripped players in the public sphere (the biggest instances happened in 2011), they went through a ton of managers, a lot of bad free agent signings (Jason Bay, Yoenis Céspedes, Oliver Pérez, Luis Castillo, Kaz Matsui, etc.), and a lot of bad trades too (Robinson Cano, Scott Kazmir, etc.).

You can read about the worst of the Wilpons from our colleagues over at Rising Apple from this article from last year.

With a new owner in Steve Cohen, the Mets started to spend money again but they are constantly riddled with issues. Since he became the principal owner a little more than one calendar year ago, Cohen has gone through five GM’s, Jacob deGrom was injured, there was the whole “thumbs down” debacle, Marcus Stroman had plenty of run-ins with people on Twitter, and many other drama-filled musings.

The Rockies have not had as much drama around them but they still have had owner issues with Dick Monfort, GM issues (Jeff Bridich), drama around players (Nolan Arenado, Trevor Story, etc). because of front office mishaps, and chief among them, few transactions to improve upon a lackluster team.

The Mets, though, have made moves this offseason to improve their team. The Rockies will have to make some moves after the lockout, which is why we have been doing this trade target series.

From a Rockies buying perspective, here are five players off the New York Mets 40-man roster that they should consider as a trade target.

New York Mets infielder Jeff McNeil is an intriguing fit for the Colorado Rockies

New York Mets infielder Jeff McNeil is a likely trade candidate once the lockout ends and he is a good fit for the Colorado Rockies.

McNeil, who turns 30 about a week after Opening Day, is a former All-Star for the Mets and it seemed like he would be a stalwart of the team for years to come. But after seeing a drop in production and a very public altercation with Francisco Lindor, who is contracted to be with the Mets for the next ten years, it looks like the Mets will trade him. Mike Puma of The New York Post recently reported that “there is some expectation within the industry the Mets will trade” either McNeil or the next person who happens to be on our list.

In 2021, in 120 games, McNeil hit .251/.319/.360 with seven homers and 35 RBI and an OPS+ of 88. In 2020, he hit .311/.383/.454 with four homers and 23 RBI along with an OPS+ of 130 in 52 games in the pandemic-shortened season. 2019 was his All-Star season and he had a great season.

He played in 133 games and he had 38 doubles, 23 homers, and 75 RBI with a slash line of .318/.384/.531 and an OPS+ of 143.

The Rockies have been known to like their versatile players and McNeil is just that. The Rockies need an infielder and, primarily, McNeil plays second base but he also has extensive playing time at third, left field, and right field as well. Additionally, he played shortstop, first base, and center field in the minor leagues.

McNeil is arbitration-eligible for the first time this offseason and he is slated to get around $2.8 million in arbitration so he would be a relatively cheap option for the Rockies.

New York Mets first baseman/outfielder Dominic Smith is a potential fit for the Colorado Rockies

New York Mets first baseman Dominic Smith was the other player named by The New York Post as possibly on the move after the lockout ends and his bat could help the offense for the Colorado Rockies.

Smith, 26, has shown bouts of being a great MLB player but he has yet to show the consistency of being a quality MLB player.

In 2021, Smith in 145 games, which is his all-time high in the majors and he had 11 homers and 45 RBI with a slash line of .244/.304/.363 and an OPS+ of 84. That coupled with his poor defense (-3 Defensive Runs Saved, or DRS) meant that he had a -0.7 rWAR season.

In contrast, he had a fantastic 2020 season as he actually garnered NL MVP votes. In 50 games, he hit 10 homers and had 42 RBI with a slash line of .316/.377/.616 and an OPS+ of 168.

In 2019, he wasn’t quite as good but still pretty good as, in 89 games, he had an OPS+ of 132.

Smith primarily played left field in 2021 but, defensively, he’s well below average there. He is better as a first baseman or a DH.

The Rockies already have C.J. Cron at first base but Smith even could be a good, left-handed bat off the bench if the Mets don’t have a terribly high asking price.

New York Mets infielder Robinson Cano could be a fit for the Colorado Rockies … at the right price

As we mentioned earlier, this trade by the New York Mets for Robinson Cano is not one of their best trades in recent years. They assumed nearly all of Cano’s contract from the Seattle Mariners and if they want to get rid of their infield logjam, they could trade to the Colorado Rockies … if they take on most of the remainder of the contract.

Cano, 39, signed a ten-year deal with Seattle that started in the 2014 season. He was great in his first season in Seattle (142 OPS+ in 157 games and he came in 5th in AL MVP voting) but since then, he has been a shell of his former self.

His problem in recent years has been steroids. In what ended up being his final season in Seattle (2018), Cano was popped for PED use and specifically, the use of Furosemide, which is best known as Lasix, which is a diuretic. He served 80 games for that.

In 2021, he was popped for steroids again. This time, he was using Stanozolol, which is used to treat hereditary angioedema. Since it was his second offense, he was suspended for 162 games, or the entire season.

In 2020, he was good as, in 49 games, he had 10 homers and 30 RBI with a slash line of .316/.352/.544. That amounted to an OPS+ of 143, which was his best since 2013, which was his final season with the Yankees.

Can Cano replicate that or something close to that? Can he stay off PEDs? Those are two big questions but the biggest one, if the Mets want to trade him, is how much of his salary are they willing to pay?

He is owed $24 million in each of the next two seasons. Seattle is paying for $3.75 million of it in each season. To get a better return from the Rockies, the Mets would have to cover most of the contract.

Cano isn’t very versatile either as he plays second (and the Rockies do need an infielder) and he has played a handful of games at first and two games at third back in 2018 but if the price is right, he could be a good bat for the Rockies.

New York Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo would be a good fit for the Colorado Rockies

Back in October, we looked at one target from each and every MLB team that the Colorado Rockies should have and Brandon Nimmo was our choice for the New York Mets.

As we said at the time, the Colorado Rockies need quality outfielders. They have a lot of quantity but not a lot of quality. This is why the Rockies have said that they need to improve their offense and, likely, this comes from an outfielder. Nimmo qualifies as that. The problem is that he is frequently injured

In 2021, Nimmo only played in 92 games due to a hamstring strain but he had 17 doubles, eight homers, and 28 RBI with a slash line of .292/.401/.437. That amounted to an OPS+ of 132.

In 2020, Nimmo played in 55 games and he had a slash line of .280/.404/.484 with eight homers and 18 RBI. He had a 145 OPS+. In 2019, Nimmo only played in 69 games due to a bulging disk in his neck but he still hit .221/.375/.407 with an OPS+ of 111.

2018 is the only season where he has played in more than 100 games as he played in 140. He hit .263/.404/.483 with 17 homers, 47 RBI, and he had an OPS+ of 148.

The Cheyenne, Wyoming native grew up a Rockies fan but the injury history (especially playing at altitude) could be an issue. Additionally, he is entering his final year of arbitration so they would only have one year of control with him before he becomes a free agent.

Our trade target series for the Colorado Rockies will continue through the National League East with the Philadelphia Phillies up next.