40-Man Roster Crush and Trades

Almost every Mets related site this weekend posted a story about how the Mets are about to face a 40 -Man Roster cut. In case you didn’t read any of it, the incredibly short version is the Mets have 8 players coming off of the 60 day DL list in November and 8 free agents which means their 40 man is already set. This leaves zero room for the Mets to protect prospects. There is a lot of speculation of cuts (like Valdespin) but the Mets are running out of room.

All caught up? Good.

I’m wondering if this will push the Mets to make a trade. The players the are crowding the 40-man (from the side of being on the roster and trying to get on) are of similar caliber. Captain Kirk and Lutz are good examples of this. They have potential, but not a lot of ceiling and are infected with an odd emotional attachment.

There’s probably not much the Mets could get in a trade for some of these players, but trading where we give up more 40-man players than we receive will help this problem go away.

The other, more optimistic, way to look at is this forces the Mets early in November to make a trade for a big player, or right before Rule V draft in December. This would involve trading one of Niese/Gee and one of Duda/Davis. A trade good also provide the spark to the fan base because right now it’s all talk about bringing in other talent, and frankly, starting to get boring.