Chicago Cubs: What if the Mets offered……

What would you trade for the Mets’ Syndergaard?

The Chicago Cubs and the New York Mets have been linked together as potential trade partners for several months. Both teams have what the other team needs. The Cubs have an abundance of young and talented infielders, while the Mets have collected a fair number of young pitching prospects.

The best of the Mets pitching prospects would seem to be Noah Syndergaard, who they have on their big league club right now. Syndergaard is 2-2 with a 2.55 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, and 22 strikeouts. The 22-year-old is a monster of a pitcher – standing at six foot-six inches tall and weighs 244 pounds.

The Cubs would have to pay a hefty price to reel him in from the Mets. I think it’s safe to say that Kris Bryant is not available; I think he wouldn’t be available for anyone not named Mike Trout – maybe not even him.

So who would the Cubs trade for him and what would the Mets want?

Say you’re Jed Hoyer or Theo Epstein for a day and the Mets General Manager, Sandy Alderson calls you up. He says that he has enough pitching, but he needs that big time infielder to make his team into a contender. He knows that Bryant isn’t available, but he’s willing to trade Syndergaard.

The catch is that it will cost you one of the two combinations of players: Addison Russell, Albert Almora, and Pierce Johnson or Javier Baez, Kyle Schwarber, C.J. Edwards.

To help soften the loss of those players, the Mets will throw in Gabriel Ynoa, the No. 14 ranked prospect in the Mets system.

He is a 22-year-old right-handed pitcher, who has excellent command and walks very few batters. He’s a smart pitcher with his average velocity around 93 MPH, but a peak of 96 MPH. Ynoa is projected to be a back of the end starter for your rotation.

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Do you do the trade? If yes, who are you willing to part with?

For argument sake, if this were up to me and I said yes, I’d send them the package of Baez, Schwarber, and Edwards. To me Russell is right up there with Bryant and Anthony Rizzo as far as players I wouldn’t move for almost anything in baseball. Almora has shown signs of being a future starting center fielder for the Cubs.

While losing Baez, Schwarber, and Edwards would sting some, I think they’d be easier to let go. Both Baez and Schwarber have unlimited power and will probably both hit over 25-30 home runs each year. Edwards could be a future all-star as a closer, but I don’t see him developing into a starting pitcher.

Ultimately, I wouldn’t do the trade. There are a lot of great things being said about Syndergaard and from what I’ve seen of him, he looks like he’ll be an outstanding pitcher. If he stays healthy and continues to develop, he’ll probably be an all-star caliber pitcher.

The concern that I’d have about him, is the same concern that Epstein has voiced – you worry about these young pitchers and the growing need for Tommy John surgery on these young arms.

The injury concern, the fact that there will be a lot of top-tier starting pitching available in free agency, and the lack of real run producing power bats in baseball would be enough for me to say no to the trade or any trade that isn’t a full advantage for the Chicago Cubs involving their core prospects for young arms.

Next: Brighter Future: Kris Bryant or Bryce Harper?