Denver has been in such a tizzy about the prospects of New York Mets prospect Noah Syndergaard, I saw the Broncos’ Ben Garland tweet about “@SyndeeGarland,” and I was like: “Does he have some inside info?” … until I realized he was tweeting about his mom, Syndee Garland.
Will the Mets trade for Troy Tulowitzki?
Can the Mets trade for Troy Tulowitzki?
Look, I cannot see Tulo still on the Rockies by this time next season. And clearly the Colorado shortstop could accelerate this process if he demands a trade. The Rockies are the worst pro team in town, and that’s saying something, considering that the Avalanche missed the playoffs, and the Nuggets would be on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament.
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The Mets need a shortstop and a big bat; the Rockies need a power pitcher a la Syndergaard, the stud who made his major-league debut this week.
So, yeah, on the surface, a Tulo trade to New York seems smart for both teams — but it really isn’t, at least not for New York. If I’m a Rockies fan, acquiring Syndergaard would be scintillating. But the more I think about this, the more I can’t see it happening. Or if it does, it means the Monforts will likely have to gobble a chunk of Tulo’s contract the size of Greeley.
The shortstop is due to make somewhere in the $120 million range in the remainder of his contract. He’s injury prone. He’s 30 (Tulo is 30? Man, time flies.). And the Ponzi’d Mets ownership is slowly recovering and seems to be operating on a tight budget.
So if the Mets were to trade for the shortstop, Colorado probably would have to eat a chunk of the contract.
And that leads us to the next question — would the Mets even be willing to trade Syndergaard in the first place? Or how about this question — honestly, why should they? A recent trend in baseball has shown front offices are skeptical to deal prospects for older all-stars. Some of baseball’s best teams, notably the St. Louis Cardinals, are deep because of development. Syndergaard is ranked as the No. 3 pitching prospect in baseball, and the Mets will control his contract situation for seven seasons.
Throw him in with Matt Harvey, 2014 NL rookie of the year Jacob deGrom and current Tommy John-er Zach Wheeler, and that’s an ’86 Mets type of staff. Quite simply — young starting pitching is vital to winning baseball, so if you’ve got it, why would you get rid of it?
RELATED: Will Troy Tulowitzki demand Dick Monfort and Jeff Bridich trade him?
Perhaps the Mets’ Steven Matz is the wild card. He’s 23 with a 1.70 ERA in Triple-A. Then again, they could have 37 Dwight Goodens in Triple-A, and the Mets still might not make a trade for Tulo’s contract.
Can the Mets win right now? They’re exceeding expectations, though some advanced stats suggest it might not last.
And they’re in the same division with Washington, which has a staff of 37 Dwight Goodens, meaning the Mets, even if well above .500, probably will be battling for one of two wild-card spots.
Yes, a healthy Tulo could help them in the short term. But is it worth the long-term investment?
“This (trade) feels like a fan’s pipe dream,” Keith Law, the renowned stat guru and an former MLB front office man, texted me Wednesday.
None of us want to endure the melodrama of, well, a Melo-drama, a la when Carmelo Anthony was traded by the Nuggets. In August of 2010, Melo demanded a trade, but Denver didn’t deal him until late February of 2011.
Naturally, the Rockies don’t want any distractions — but at this point, does it matter anyway? They entered Wednesday losers of 10 consecutive games.
The most-important thing that happens this season will be the Tulo trade (and maybe also the Carlos Gonzalez trade, though maybe they should wait until he cracks the Mendoza line before they start shopping him).
The Rockies are bad by even Rockies-bad standards. Along with the (hopeful) rise of Triple-A’s Jon Gray and the drafting of the No. 3 pick in the 2015 draft, this Tulo trade will be franchise-defining. Either they somehow find pitchers who can pitch in Colorado, or it won’t matter if the Rockies have 37 Tulowitzkis.
Benjamin Hochman: bhochman@denverpost.com or twitter.com/hochman
