3/15/13

Q and A - Parnell and The Time Has Past For an OFer


Jeff Carone asked -

Love your column Mack, don't stop posting your 8 am thoughts, always great to read.  As the Mets search (hopefully this is an ongoing process) for a young, RH corner OF with some pop, I was wondering if Bobby Parnell would be used as trade bait.  Until today, he was having a very good spring.  What do you think it would take to get Olt from Texas if Parnell was part of the deal?

Mack:

You know, I like the idea. I’ve never been comfortable with Parnell as a Met because I don’t think he ever has been either. I remember him from his early days and he was really upset when they converted him to a relief pitcher. Bobby (and it never was Bobby to him… he always wanted to be called Robert) thought of himself as a starter and, for all I know, may still do.

I think he would blossom in another organization and he’d be the perfect candidate to create a trade for a quality outfielder.

Look, two things…

            The Mets have already have been in play (Bourn and Upton) for two quality outfielders and failed at obtaining them. That’s at least once more than most teams get a chance at this process.

            You have to give up something decent to get something decent. There will not be any quality top-shelf outfielders placed on waivers in the next two weeks. We’re down to the utility players and it’s too late in spring training to figure out if somebody’s else’s throwaways are better than what we have.

The process of building a team is now within each organization and will remain that way until the all-star break. The Mets will revisit this process by dangling the availability of players like Johan Santana, John Buck, Frank Francisco, and Shaun Marcum. The lion share of their contracts will be eaten by the Mets in these offers but their availability will be out there to teams that feel they are a player or two away from a playoff run.

What will these players bring to the Mets?  Well, obviously not a player like Bourn or Upton who will be needed to be kept on the team trying to make the playoffs. No, all this process will offer is a chance at a quality prospect like Zack Wheeler, Travis d’Arnaud, or Noah Syndergaard.

The Mets blew it this year.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Parnell by himself will not net a premier prospect. However if you package him and 1 of our "interesting" mid level prospects like Aderlin Rodriguez, Logan Verrett, or Cory Mazzoni you could have a decent shot of netting someone in return. But as Mack said, no high upside players will be available until July.

JHernandez620 said...

If Parnell is having a great year by all-star break he can very well net us a top tier prospect from a team in contention and in desperate need for bullpen/closer help. Nevertheless, if Parnell is playing this good, would it be worth trading him long term? I'll say yes, depending on what prospect we get back and if someone else in our system, such as Familia or Mejia has shown signs of stepping up and assuming the closer role.