Check this one out. What do you think of the New York Yankees and New York Mets trading Curtis Granderson for R.A. Dickey straight up?
Okay, forget what you think. Here's what's up.
The Mets need offense.
Yes, they signed David Wright and made him the highest paid Met in the franchise's history, but what else is there in Queens to excite fans?
They went pretty deep into the 2012 season as competitors before their debacle in the second half. Great play from April-June was definitely more than anybody in baseball expected.
Now, imagine if they add a hitter like Granderson? Though not expected to compete due to the stacked talent in the Washington Nationals and Atlanta Braves, the Mets could once again be a fun team to watch.
Granderson supplies defense in center field, something the Mets are looking for, while also providing the pop absent from the Mets' lineup. They were 22nd in the league with 139 homers.
Though Granderson's batting average is not the best (career .262), he has hit 40-plus homers in the last two seasons while driving in a total of 225 RBI in the same time spam.
He is owed $15 million in 2013.
This means the Yankees could free up at least $10 million as Dickey would be worth $5 million in 2013.
We all know the Yankees' offseason has stunk. Either they are going to surprise us, or Hal Steinbrenner and company are really serious about not exceeding a $186 million payroll.
The Yankees need to free up money. They need a third baseman, catcher and a left fielder, which might be Ichiro Suzuki.
Trading Granderson will give them just that.
They will give up power in Granderson for an inning eating knuckleballer who has proven effective in a tough division and an ace.
The 2012 Cy Young Award winner has pitched over 200 innings in the last two season and pitched eight complete games in the last three years as a Met.
If your offense is going to likely struggle in 2013, why not balance it out with some pitching?
The Yankees have C.C. Sabathia, Kiroki Kuroda, Andy Pettitte, Phil Hughes and Ivan Nova as their starting five. Imagine throwing in Dickey in the middle of that pitching rotation?
Kuroda and Pettitte are old. Why not go to a possible six-man rotation at some point in the season having Dickey in your rotation as insurance in case Sabathia or Pettitte go down again like they did in 2013?
Dickey is old, but the Yankees really haven't been paying attention to players' birth certificates since they also brought back Mariano Rivera.
DIckey gives the Yankees a more relevant starting rotation and payroll relief.
For the Mets, they get Wright a counterpart to smack home runs left and right in Citi Field. You can also count Ike Davis as a legitimate power threat and suddenly the Mets have a lethal middle of the order.
This trade would momentarily allow both clubs to address issues at a cheap cost.
