Early Monday morning, it was reported that the Milwaukee Brewers are open to listening to trade offers on star reliever Josh Hader. While Hader proved to be human in 2019 with rising home runs allowed, he’s still known as one of the better relievers in all of baseball.
Still, he’s had an incredible three year career. For instance, he boasts a 2.42 ERA alongside a 0.85 WHIP with 349 strikeouts in 242.2 innings pitched lifetime. Therefore, he’s a big prize on the trade market and could command more than most guys of his stature.
What’s not known is why he’s available. However, the New York Mets are already whispered as the team to keep an eye on, should Hader be on the move.
Mets are 'team to watch' with Brewers open to trading Josh Hader https://t.co/UKCKx8OWGt pic.twitter.com/3wbjPFFXMV
— SNY (@SNYtv) December 2, 2019
The source on this is SNY, and it goes back to direct report from Ken Rosenthal on why the Mets could be the team to watch in the Hader sweepstakes.
Rosenthal cited the Brodie Van Wagenen connection — he represented Hader before taking the Mets GM job — and went on to speculate that even though the Mets’ farm system isn’t percolating with high-impact talent, they could try to entice the Brewers with players off the big league roster such as Davis or McNeil.
Certainly J.D. Davis and Jeff McNeil are nice players. However, is that a fair return for the game’s most dominant reliever if that ends up being the package? Remember, the Mets sent prize prospect Jered Kelenic last off-season to Seattle for Edwin Diaz. Thus, this would be the second straight year the Mets dealt for a big-time bullpen stopper.
Finally, the Mets are clearly saying for right now that they’re built to win right now. They should be very good in 2020, but one wonders what it will cost them in the long-haul with some of the prosects they are giving up to put a great team on the field at the present.
