I'd make the trade for DeGrom. Essentially what I was trying to drive at in one of my rambling, longer posts yesterday was that we're better off pushing a bunch of chips in the middle for right now, next year, and in some respects 2020 than we are continuing to slowly build. We have some good talent circling in the lower minors, and if things don't work out, we have a combination of potentially useful and valuable pieces to integrate into a new core and go for a more proper rebuild in 2020/21.
The Mets are such a shit show that who knows what would even happen. Meadows, Keller, Kuhl, Mitchell/Sanchez + a lottery ticket would be a steep price, but how much would it really subtract from the next few years? There's cost-control basically spread all around, and that deal wouldn't touch potential supplemental pieces to chip in over the next few years as well. The major problem would be figuring out who plays SS - would have to hope Newman could do it.
It wouldn't be the worst big game to try and hunt. Braves/Phillies might be a little gun shy, since it's in their interest to keep as much young talent as possible and build with free agency. The Yankees are going to press, but Cashman has historically been pretty cheap, and if you assume he wants to protect Sheffield + general Mets hatred of Yankees + desire to get mostly MLB talent, then who knows?
I imagine that this winning streak needs to keep rolling, or else something just about as good such as 2/3 here in Cleveland, and 3/4 vs the Mets this weekend. With no one seemingly in charge in New York, it seems more likely that they'll just chart a course in the offseason, but maybe their braintrust panics some. If the Pirates start a package with Meadows, Kuhl, and Keller, then you have one pitcher who has put up mid-rotation numbers and will step in, an MLB ready position player who tore it up, and a pretty shiny pitching prospect who is not that far off either. We have the capacity to add any number of organizational help with guys like Osuna, Frazier, Holmes, Eppler, etc., and/or some appealing low minors guys like Cruz, Mitchell, Hearn.
I still give it no chance of happening, but the dynamics of this deadline are pretty strange. I think Huntington has genuinely been involved in big discussions, but I still think his MO is always to err on the side of caution. The one big difference between this team and previous teams is how many positions are locked in with controllable talent. Could things fall into place such that he has an opportunity to basically utilize his top prospects and trade up from Kuhl to DeGrom? I think it's too homeristic, but crazier things have happened.
