There's been plenty of speculation that the Mets will eventually trade from their deep pool of young pitchers to acquire position players the team so desperately needs. The Mets have plenty of pitchers in the minors who could be part of a trade sometime before the trade deadline, but those prospects—even Noah Syndergaard—are still prospects. They haven't pitched in the big leagues yet, and there is no guarantee that any one pitcher will be great if and when he gets there.
That's where Dillon Gee comes into play. Drafted by the Mets in the 21st round of the 2007 amateur draft, Gee climbed the minor league ladder starting in Brooklyn that year. He made 28 starts in Buffalo in 2010 with a 4.96 ERA but featured good strikeout and walk rates. He debuted with the Mets that September, and he's been a fixture in the Mets' rotation since the beginning of 2011.
Gee was okay in 2011, but he showed improved strikeout and walk rates last year before his season came to a premature end because of a blood clot in his pitching shoulder. What might have been his breakout season would have to wait until this year.
The first couple of months of the season were pretty rough, as Gee's fastball wasn't as fast as it had been before surgery and he put together a 6.34 ERA by May 25. But he turned his season around with an outstanding start at Yankee Stadium on May 30 and has shown the promise he flashed this year ever since.
Availability
Given the crop of young arms the Mets are developing in the minor leagues, Gee may very well be on the trading block. He's still just 27 years old and will only hit his first year of salary arbitration next year. He's under team control for two years after that and can't hit free agency until after the 2016 season.
The Market
Several contending teams could use help in their starting rotations: the Blue Jays, Orioles, Giants, Indians, Rockies, Rays, and Diamondbacks. Baltimore just picked up Scott Feldman, of course, but the could still be in search of another starting pitcher. On the whole, these teams don't figure to make a big move for a pitching prospect since they're in the hunt right now. Gee might not be flashy, but he's a proven major league commodity.
The Return
Since these are contending teams, they're not likely to send a major league position player to the Mets in return for Gee. The Mets would likely aim for a prospect, or package of prospects, who could reasonably slot into the team's Opening Day lineup in 2014. If they're able to net such a return with Gee, it's hard to imagine they wouldn't make a deal. Most of the teams mentioned above had at least a couple of prospects on Minor League Ball's Top 150 list before the season began.