The Mets player most likely to be traded this week is the focus of trade talks at the winter meetings in San Diego.
We've been hearing for days now that the Mets are looking to trade one of their veteran starting pitchers, and more recently we've learned that Dillon Gee is the most likely of those starters to be dealt. The Mets have had talks with multiple teams, including the Rangers and Giants, about Gee this week, but now the Rockies have emerged as an aggressive suitor.
Lefty pitcher Rex Brothers's name was mentioned earlier today as a player the Mets were interested in wresting from Colorado's roster, but Newsday's Marc Carig throws some cold water on that one:
Told Brothers' name not currently in Rockies-Mets talks regarding Gee. Always can shift. But not a piece at the moment.
— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) December 11, 2014
Carig adds that the Mets aren't dead set on getting any particular player from the Rockies—or any team, one might imagine—in exchange for Gee:
Re: trade talks on Gee specifically, sounds like Mets keeping it wide open on return. Could take prospect; could take RH bat/LH relief.
— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) December 11, 2014
Gee, who had an up-and-down year with the Mets in 2014, earned $3.6 million last season, his first year of arbitration eligibility. He stands to make a decent raise on top of that in arbitration this winter, and he'll be under team control through 2016 before finally becoming a free agent. The Mets aren't going to merely give him away, but his rising salary, modest upside, and checkered injury history conspire to limit the type of player the Mets could reasonably expect in exchange.