ESPN’s Buster Olney writes today that he expects the Mets to listen to offers for David Wright in the offseason. It’s the perfect time contractually to trade Wright because he only has one year left on his contract plus a team option for 2013 that is eliminated if he’s traded. Next season he’ll make $15 million and the 2013 option is for $16 million with a $1 million buyout.
Olney expects the Rockies and Angels to be in on the bidding for Wright. I’m sure there would plenty of other teams that would contact Sandy Alderson if they knew that Wright was available. His contract is very much aligned with his on-field value and with only one year left, there’s almost no down side for a team to acquire him. If the first year doesn’t work out let him to free agency for, presumably, Type A compensation.
The problem for the Mets is that if they trade Wright, they need to re-sign Jose Reyes or the team will be in danger of completely cratering for seasons to come. If the Mets trade Wright and don’t re-sign Reyes, it will clearly be a salary dump move to help alleviate the Madoff situation. And that won’t sit well with fans like me.
Timing could be an issue as well. Free agency starts five days after the World Series ends and Reyes will be one of the most valuable players in free agency. He may sign a new contract quickly, which wouldn’t give Alderson much time to work out a trade for Wright. That could be the most difficult aspect of this.
Thanks to MLBTradeRumors for the tip.
The Mets Report 