While Mets fans understandably liked Asdrubal Cabrera, it is important to note he is an impending free agent who has been the worst defensive second baseman in baseball this year.  Couple that with the Mets apparent unwillingness to eat salary in any deal, and it is hard to believe the team would get a significant return for Cabrera.

Well, in what should prove to be quite a surprise, the Mets not only got a good return, they got a far better return for Cabrera than they received for Jeurys Familia.

While an imperfect comparison on many levels, this trade is akin to the Mets obtaining Zack Wheeler from the San Francisco Giants for Carlos Beltran.  Certainly, it was easy to make this connection seeing both of them pitch yesterday with both of them providing their own run support and giving their team a chance to win.

Now, Beltran is a Hall of Famer, and Wheeler was a former sixth overall pick in the draft.  Still, the comparisons of Wheeler to new Met Franklyn Kilome is quite interesting.

Both pitchers were in their early 20s at the time of the trade, and both were on the precipice of Top 100 prospect lists.  With respect to both, while they could ramp it up into the upper 90s, and they both had secondary pitch and control issues.

Consider that at the time of the trade, Wheeler was walking 4.8 batters per nine for the Giants’ California (Single-A) affiliate.  For his part, Kilome has been walking 4.5 batters per nine for the Phillies Double-A affiliate.  Of course, the biggest difference between the two is Wheeler was able to put batters away.

In fact, Wheeler was striking out over ten batters per nine innings.  For his part, Kilome has struck out 7.8 batters per nine in his minor league career.  This includes a 7.3 K/9 with the Phillies prior to this year.

This is what makes Kilome an interesting prospect.  This is a guy with tremendous stuff, who just needs someone to get through to him and unlock that potential.  That task is first up to Rumble Ponies pitching coach Frank Viola.

Looking at Kilome’s first start with Binghamton, he walked just one batter in seven innings.  It’s possible Viola has already started getting Kilome to make the tweaks he needs.  It’s also possible this is a one start blip.

If the Mets get through to Kilome, they have a guy who could be a middle of the rotation starter.  Maybe more.  If not, they have another late inning bullpen arm who is living in the upper 90s.  In either event, that’s not a bad ceiling or floor when you consider the Mets traded away a rental without a true position.