Every few weeks, Mets fans are panicked (or excited, depending on the player and the fan) by a new set of articles speculating on whether or not the Mets will trade David Wright. Realistically, nothing changes over these few weeks - its not as if all of these new articles contain credible rumors with actual suitors - but, there is this moon cycle of articles nonetheless. 

Following Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings the past couple weeks, there has been a new set of articles stating that the Mets would move Ike Davis or Jon Niese in the right deal. 

If you haven’t already - PANIC NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE METS ARE EXPLORING ALL THEIR OPTIONS OF POTENTIAL WAYS TO IMPROVE. THE HORROR!!!

Obviously, the Mets are better with Ike Davis and Jon Niese on the team than not on the team. Furthermore, it is enjoyable to watch two home grown talents succeed. Davis and Niese are young, talented and still under team control for a number of years. Trading them does not seem to make too much sense - they are affordable and good, a commodity any team, especially the cash-strapped Mets, need. 

But, it is also clear this front office is calculating. As good, young, and cheap Niese and Davis are, the front office is all about value. If I could peer into the mind of Sandy Alderson and his brain trust, I would guess this is their logic for any trade discussion, whether it is for Wright, Niese, Davis or any other player on the team:

Player X has a value of Y to the Mets. Y is based on their assessment of his talent, contract situation, how he fits into the team, how much money he will generate for the team (Wright, for example, might be more valuable than his skill because he sells more jerseys and tickets and whatnot) and so forth. For the players on the Mets roster, the front office knows Y for a given player - they know, based on their assessments of the player, how valuable he is to them. If a team is willing to offer a package of players whose value exceeds Y they will do the trade…regardless of the name on the back of the jersey. 

Niese and Davis have a high value to the team as talented, homegrown players who will remain cheap for a long time. Still, if a team is willing to send a package of players over who the Mets perceive to be more valuable than Niese/Davis - the decision is easy, do the trade. 

The Mets are not stupid - Sandy Alderson didn’t wake up one morning and think, “Man, you know what I could do today? Get ride of Ike Davis, Jon Niese and David Wright. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do.” But, if a team is willing to offer a collection of players worth more than Niese, Davis or Wright, in order to acquire one of them, should he really say no? 

Negatively reacting to the mere fact that the front office is listening to offers on a player seems silly to me. Should Alderson hang up the phone immediately before hearing what is offered? Or should he examine if it might make the team better? 

I imagine that’s all these discussions are about - making the team better based on their value assessments, even if it’s difficult for us to see how trading some players does that.