The Brewers don't want to send their young, unproven right-hander to the Mets in exchange for their young, unproven first baseman.
With three teams reportedly interested in trading for Mets first baseman Ike Davis, you figure a deal will get done sooner or later, but nothing has solidified yet. At least part of the reason why is that the Mets want young pitching, and the Brewers don't want to give up one of their talented young pitchers.
Ken Rosenthal reported this morning that the Mets are asking for 25-year-old right handed pitcher Tyler Thornburg in exchange for Davis, but that the Brewers don't want to give him up. As a starter in Triple-A last season, Thornburg had a 5.79 ERA in 74.2 innings, but his peripherals were much more impressive. He struck out 10.49 batters per nine innings compared to 3.50 walks.
Working as as swingman in the majors, Thornberg saw his strikeout rate drop to 6.48 per nine while his walks stayed the same, but his ERA magically dropped to 2.03 thanks to an increase in strand rate and an unsustainable home run-to-fly ball ratio.
Seeing as how Thornberg hasn't yet proven himself in the majors, he would seem to be a fair piece to give up for Davis, who also hasn't proven that he is a viable starter in the long-term. However, if the Brewers don't want to give him up, the Mets may need to start talking more seriously with their other reported suitors, the Pirates and Rays.
