While the rest of the teams in the National League either retooled for the playoff run or went into "seller" mode, the New York Mets simply stood pat by keeping their roster unchanged at the July 31 trade deadline.
Playoff contenders weren't exactly beating down the door to make a deal for Scott Hairston, Tim Byrdak or Daniel Murphy, but the team could have at least gotten some prospects back in return for players that won't be a part of their immediate future.
Lefty Specialist Has Some Value
38-year-old Tim Byrdak is a marginal player, so it's no surprise that he would only bring back a low-level prospect. However, getting anything of value back for a guy that has a 4.45 ERA out of the bullpen, has to be considered a win.
Byrdak's contract is up at the end of 2012, so it's pretty unlikely the Mets will bring him back. There are plenty of other lefty specialists around the big leagues that could do better than an ERA in the mid-fours.
As for Scott Hairston, he's having a career year and his trade value was at an all-time high. The Mets missed a valuable opportunity to retool for the future by getting rid of a guy who has never tallied more than 64 RBIs in a season.
Hairston's Value
He's having a great year, but let's be honest here: Hairston is a fourth outfielder and not an everyday player. If he played a full 162 games, his bat would be exposed. The Mets could have cashed in on his superb season by shipping him to a playoff contender in return for some mid-level prospects.
"Without getting significant help for 2013, we were not going to move players simply to move them,'' Mets GM Sandy Alderson said on a conference call. "We were not looking for some small, incremental improvement to the overall player-development situation. If we were going to get a quality player, then we would strongly consider doing something as a seller. But absent a strong effort by another club, we weren't simply going to make a move just to make a move.
"We didn't need to dump salary. And we were not interested in the types of prospects that were offered to us and would have had a very marginal impact on our system.''
Is Valdespin The Mets' Second Baseman Of The Future?
Alderson's explanation was fair enough, but it's tough to buy the explanation that Daniel Murphy wouldn't bring back some high-level prospects or an MLB-caliber talent.
Murphy is hitting .299 in 378 at-bats this season, and he's a legit .300 hitter. He may lack some pop in his bat, but this is a guy that puts the ball in play and delivers in clutch situations. His versatility in the field always should have made him attractive to playoff contenders, and the emergence of Jordany Valdespin, on paper at least, made him expendable.
The Mets are 12 games behind the Washington Nationals in the NL East, and slipped to 9.5 games back in the Wild Card race. It's clear that Alderson should have gone into "seller mode," rather than standing still with the current roster.
Did the New York Mets miss a golden opportunity to rebuild for the future by not making any moves at the trade deadline? Let me know in the comments.
Eric Holden is a lifelong New York Mets fan. Follow him on Twitter @ericholden.
Sourceswww.mlb.com, MLB, player stats
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