Should the New York Mets Consider Making a Trade For Joba Chamberlain?
A lot of people look at the New York Mets and the New York Yankees as rivals, but I don’t. Clearly my point-of-view doesn’t matter in the big picture, but to me, the New York Yankees vs. the Boston Red Sox is a rivalry; the New York Mets vs. the Philadelphia Phillies is/was a rivalry. When the New York Mets and New York Yankees meet it’s more of a hype machine than anything. Anyway, that’s just my personal rant on that topic and it serves as a segue into what I want to discuss here. Even though the two teams rarely come together for trades because of the “rivalry”, I think the New York Mets should make a call at some point and ask about the availability of Joba Chamberlain.
It appears the Yankees have made up their mind in terms of Chamberlain’s role as a relief pitcher. However, one potential snag is that they already have Mariano Rivera, David Robertson and Rafael Soriano holding down the back end of the ‘pen. Now, that may not necessarily be such a big problem for them. As you’ve probably heard 583 times, there is no such thing as too much quality pitching. Not only that, but Chamberlain won’t even contribute to the traffic jam until June as he works his way back from Tommy John surgery. Either way, could the crowded relief corps be enough of a reason for the Yankees to listen to a proposal or two? I think it might be and I think Sandy Alderson should make the requisite call(s) to find out.
Some fans out there might be thinking “why the hell would we want that overrated fatso?” I suppose that is a fair enough question. Joba rocketed through the minor leagues with a decent amount of buzz and then took the world by storm in 2007 and 2008 as he mostly dominated his competition. Since then we’ve seen a level of production that is solid, but well below the level of hype and attention that he’s received. Despite the inconsistency and the ever-changing role, I still think Chamberlain has plenty to offer as a starting pitcher and at 26 he still has a significant amount of time to improve his game. In 2008, Joba was considered one of the top prospects in all of baseball. Granted, a lot of top prospects never deliver on their potential, but there is a reason he was consistently ranked as one of the top five minor league players in the game. He’s got a world of talent and he may just need a full opportunity in a starting role to completely harness it.
There is plenty of risk involved in this type of deal, but now is the perfect time for the Mets to roll the dice. The fact that he’s recovering from an elbow operation and has spent the past 1.5 years pitching in relief should be taken into consideration, but I don’t think it is something that should give the Mets too much pause. Recovering from TJS is no insignificant matter, but ironically the injury could serve as a tiny blessing in disguise as it would allow the Mets to “rebuild” Chamberlain as a starting pitcher. Perhaps this is a stretch, but I think Chamberlain could end up becoming a cheap option for a top three spot in the rotation if given the opportunity – and cheap production is definitely something that the Mets’ front office would/should be on board with.
Aside from a top-of-the-rotation starter (which the Mets don’t have) I don’t know what Brian Cashman would ask Alderson for in this hypothetical scenario. That’s not my job to figure out, but I will say this: if it was my job, I would have no problem trading Mike Pelfrey for a broken Joba Chamberlain right at this very millisecond. I keep beating this dead horse, but the Mets have absolutely nothing to lose this season. They’re probably destined for a last place finish in the division and maybe even a top five draft pick in the 2013 draft. Why not get creative if the opportunity is out there?
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Only if the included a Catcher prospect (Sanchez)
The Mets could definitely use some catching prospects in their system, but I doubt the Yanks would be willing to move Gary Sanchez in addition to Joba Chamberlain.