The Mets have a number of needs this offseason, and despite those needs, the team is of the belief they can contend in 2019. Two of those needs are a right-handed hitter and a bullpen arm. That’s an expensive item to add in free agency, especially with the team needing to rebuild their bullpen and possibly add a catcher.

The Mariners are rebuilding, and they have those pieces in Mitch Haniger and Edwin Diaz.  The issue is the Mariners don’t want to trade those players as they see them as building blocks for the future.

Typically, this is just talk. Untouchable players, especially relievers, are almost always available. The trick is you need to be bowl a team over to get the player, or the player has to force their way out. Remember, Christian Yelich was not available until he became a Brewer. Craig Kimbrel was untouchable until he became a Padre.

The catch is you need to have the prospects to make one of the proverbial godfather offers to pry those players away. Looking at the Mets farm system, while it is improving, it is difficult to argue they have enough to pull off the feat. If the Mariners like Peter Alonso or Andres Gimenez, they could acquire one of Haniger or Diaz, but not both.

That is unless the Mets get creative.

If you create a list of the most untradeable contracts in baseball, you will see Albert Pujols, Chris Davis, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Robinson Cano.  Moving Cano is made all the more difficult by his no-trade clause.  Add his steroid suspension last year, and it would be completely and utterly shocking to see the Mariners trade Cano.

That doesn’t meant they’re not trying.  Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports the Mariners have contacted both the Mets and Yankees about taking on Cano’s contract.  In the article, it was revealed the Mariners were not willing to take back Ellsbury in the deal.

Considering the Mets budget limitations and how they were burned by the David Wright and now Yoenis Cespedes contracts, it’d be shocking to see the team take on Cano’s contract, and that is before you consider all of his red flags.  At 36, he still has five years $120 million on his deal.  None of this should mean Cano should be off the table for the Mets.

The Mets do have some bad contracts of their own.  For example, Jay Bruce is owed $28 million over the next two years.  Jason Vargas is owed $8 million next year with a $2 million buy out should the Mets not pick up his $8 million option. You could certainly argue Cano would be much more productive than Bruce and Vargas combined. Still, that leaves you assuming four years and $96 million. The Mets would really have to be enticed to take that on from the Mariners.

Haniger and Diaz would be awfully enticing.

If you look at it through the prism of five years $120 million for Cano, you would not do that deal. However, five years and roughly $170 for Cano, Haniger, and Diaz doesn’t look too bad.  That’s roughly $11 million per year per player.  That’s certainly fair value for those players.

Dumping some contracts like Bruce and Vargas could make it more palatable.  It could also reduce the perspective prospect cost.  Right off the bat, you could offer Alonso, Gimenez, and Dominic Smith.  That’s a pretty decent haul, and it could prevent the team from having to have to part with another big piece.  If the Mets did this, they ultimately become World Series contenders next year with that lineup:

CF Brandon Nimmo
RF Mitch Haniger
LF Michael Conforto
1B Robinson Cano
3B Todd Frazier
2B Jeff McNeil
SS Amed Rosario
C Kevin Plawecki

Looking at that lineup, and the fact it would be cost neutral for a team potentially trading away Bruce and Vargas, you have to wonder why the Mets wouldn’t do the deal.  And if the answer is Cespedes, you can make McNeil a utility player and move Cano to second.  Really, if you think about it having a deep bench is not an excuse to make a deal which could win you a World Series.

This is the deal big market teams make to win a World Series.  The Mets should start pretending to be one of those teams instead of trading Noah Syndergaard and heading towards another rebuild despite having a young talented core.