Mariners’ Former Top Prospect on the Move: Mets Trade Idea Would Land Highly-Touted Player
The New York Mets have to at least be considering trading Brett Baty this winter.
At one point, the 25-year-old third baseman was the top prospect in the Mets’ system. But after three years of brief, unsuccessful major league cameos, Baty doesn’t have a clear path to playing time in Queens.
Because he’s still young, and has consistently crushed the ball in the minor leagues, there should be plenty of teams that have an interest in acquiring Baty. That includes an American League team who is constantly searching for impact bats, regardless of position.
On Monday, Noah Wright of FanSided proposed that the Mets could send Baty to the Seattle Mariners, straight-up, for former top pitching prospect Emerson Hancock, who has yet to crack Seattle’s loaded rotation by age 25.
“With the Mets needing bullpen depth and the Mariners needing third base depth, the two teams make sense in this one-for-one trade.”
Hancock has 15 career big-league starts, including 12 this past season. He has a 4.71 ERA in those starts, but at Triple-A this past season, he had a 3.43 ERA in 94 1/3 innings. He was the Mariners’ first-round pick (6th overall) in the 2020 draft.
There’s no reason both players shouldn’t be available, so from that standpoint, the deal makes sense for both sides. The holdup could be one team believing their young player is worth more in a deal than another unproven commodity.
