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With spring training right around the corner, the New York Mets will have a number of sleeper prospects for fans to watch throughout February and March.

Last week, I wrote about five prospects that are dark-horse candidates to make the Opening Day roster. This list consists of players who have less of a chance to make the roster but have been invited to big league spring training and could make an impact for the Mets at some point in the near future.

These are sleeper prospects, so they aren’t players who are undoubtedly going to make impacts in the major leagues. They are absent from most of the prospect rankings being released, so players such as Brandon Nimmo and Kevin Plawecki are not included. Also, the only players eligible are members of the 40-man roster or non-roster invitees (which are listed here), as fans will be unable to watch players outside of this categorization.

Often the term “sleeper” indicates that a prospect is unknown but has a high ceiling. For this article, the sleepers are likely recognizable to many fans but have lower ceilings, unlike some of the Mets’ younger prospects who could become elite.

Here are five sleeper prospects for Mets fans to watch in spring training.

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Alex Rodriguez finally learned his fate when arbitrator Fredric Horowitz dropped his suspension from 211 games to 162 games, first reported by USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. In the process, it has given the New York Yankees salary relief for the 2014 season by wiping A-Rod’s money off of the books. 

Now is the time for the Yankees to release Rodriguez.

The Yankees are faced with the date of February 14. That’s the date when pitchers and catchers report to spring training. ESPN’s Jayson Stark says that it is unlikely that Rodriguez would attend spring training or be allowed on the major league fields by the Yankees.

At this point, A-Rod might want to come to camp and make the Yankees squirm. There doesn’t seem to be any love lost between the player and the entire organization. Even after losing his arbitration hearing, A-Rod has moved on to filing a lawsuit, detailed here by the AP’s Ronald Blum and Larry Neumeister, against the MLB and the player’s union.

It’s the last thing the Yankees and manager Joe Girardi need to deal with, answering questions and dealing with a huge media presence for a player who won’t even play one game for the Yankees this season. While New York could stash him at the minor league complex, it still seems like it would be a giant distraction and impact the ability of the Yankees prospects to conduct a normal spring routine.

New York needs to make a clean break and avoid the circus that would likely come to spring training this year or next. A-Rod’s suspension covers the regular season and the postseason, but he might still be allowed to work out with the team and go to spring training.

The Yankees need to take it a step further and spend the next two weeks trying to find a resolution to make the A-Rod headache go away. New York must make it clear to Rodriguez and his representatives that he will never wear pinstripes again. The Yankees might be able to broker a settlement with A-Rod’s camp, giving him a year to rehab and pick his next opportunity.

If the sides can’t come to an agreement, the Yankees must release A-Rod immediately. While New York will be frustrated by eating the remaining three years and $61 million left on his contract, this is still an ideal time to cut A-Rod loose and be done with him. 

A-Rod might have some right to claim that MLB and commissioner Bud Selig are out to get him, but he is unlikely to find anyone sympathetic to his cause. Nobody knows what the truth is, and no one believes that A-Rod is completely innocent here. A-Rod is not the victim here, he is simply part of the problem. 

The Yankees need to do the right thing and remove the headache. They saved millions when A-Rod’s suspension was upheld. Sure, eating the remaining $61 million will be difficult to swallow, but it would be worth it just to get A-Rod as far away from pinstripes as they can. Maybe they feel they can get some of that money back in court, but again, they have already recouped roughly $24 million. Whatever additional money just might not be worth it.

This figures to be a huge transitional year for New York. The organization will already be dealing with the defection of Robinson Cano as well as the retirements of Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte while welcoming newcomers like Masahiro Tanaka, Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann into the fold. 

The last thing the Yankees need is A-Rod bringing a black cloud over all of that and causing even more drama than he has already brought to the team. 

Rodriguez seems like he is only motivated at this point by money and his legacy. A-Rod will never get into the Hall of Fame. The suspension being upheld guarantees it. It is unlikely that A-Rod will even play in the majors again.

Barry Bonds was unable to find a job in the majors after leaving the San Francisco Giants, even though it would have required only a one-year deal on short money. Bonds was still a productive player and wasn’t coming off of a one-year suspension. 

Rodriguez should take a look at Bonds and realize that it’s over now. Would the Miami Marlins, Tampa Bay Rays or Houston Astros take a shot at him next year? I think it is doubtful that the interest in A-Rod would be enough for those franchises to add a player like Rodriguez to the team. He’ll basically be a 40-year-old designated hitter with bad hips and enough baggage to fill an entire clubhouse. 

It’s hard to see anyone interested in bringing that aboard. 

Information used from Bob Nightengale/USA Today Sports, Baseball Reference, Jayson Stark/ESPN, Ronald Blum and Larry Neumeister/AP

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There are a number of dark-horse prospects who could make the New York Mets’ roster on Opening Day, and with pitchers and catchers arriving to Port St. Lucie, Fla., in the next few weeks, it’s easy to get excited about them already.

While many fans want to see star prospects, such as Noah Syndergaard and Rafael Montero, make the Opening Day roster, they are less likely candidates and will probably begin the season in Double-A. This list lacks potentially elite prospects such as Syndergaard, but fans should care about these players, as they will be making an impact on the major league roster sooner rather than later.

Because of the bullpen competition that will occur during spring training, most of these prospects are pitchers who are either already relievers or starters who could end up in the bullpen eventually. I have only included prospects who have yet to make their major league debut, so prospects such as Wilmer Flores, Jeurys Familia and Wilfredo Tovar are not present.

Here are five dark-horse prospects who could make the Mets’ roster out of spring training.

All statistics courtesy of Baseball Reference.

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While the 2014 season will not make or break Gavin Cecchini’s career, the young shortstop is one of the most important players in the New York Mets‘ farm system. It may take time for Cecchini to reach his potential, but if he can make strides at the plate this season both he and the Mets will be in a better position moving forward.

Cecchini has the potential to be a very valuable asset to the Mets because of his ability to play shortstop, but until he starts to make strides with his bat, his progress will be limited and his value diminished.

The Mets drafted Cecchini with the 12^th overall selection in the 2012 MLB Draft, which was an interesting decision at the time. Cecchini’s biggest appeal as a prospect coming into the draft was not his potential tools or high ceiling but instead his baseball instincts and projected ability to stay at shortstop—a valuable trait considering the dearth of quality shortstops around the majors.

On the surface, it appeared as though the Mets were overcompensating for their first round selection in 2011 of Brandon Nimmo. Nimmo was a projectable athlete with a smooth swing and raw instincts while Cecchini lacked the ideal projection of a first-round pick, but excelled when it came to his baseball instincts. Former Baseball Prospectus writer Kevin Goldstein wrote (subscription required) following the draft that many teams liked Cecchini and were impressed by his baseball acumen, but felt that he “had a price tag that was seen as a bit ahead of his talent.” 

Since Cecchini entered the Mets’ farm system in 2012, he has failed to look like a first-round pick on the field other than the fact he is still playing shortstop. In 2012, he hit a meager .246 with an unimpressive .641 OPS in the Appalachian League. Injuries slowed down his 2013 campaign with the Brooklyn Cyclones where he improved slightly at the plate with a .273 batting average, but showed even less impact potential, slugging just .314.  

As of right now, it is hard for fans to be excited about Cecchini. He doesn’t have massive power, he doesn’t make supremely athletic plays at shortstop and has made little improvement at the plate in his two years playing professionally. His lack of tools will never allow him to become an elite prospect for the Mets, something fans could hold against him because he was a first-round pick. Also, many fans are upset because the team passed on right-hander Michael Wacha in the 2012 draft, evidenced in the tweet below.

Wacha dazzled the baseball world while pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals at the end of the season and in the playoffs, while Cecchini disappointed fans with his uninspired play in the New York-Penn League. Fans should not hold this against Cecchini or the Mets, however, as the MLB Draft is one of the hardest to evaluate players correctly among all sporting leagues.

Despite all this, he has the potential to be a key part of the Mets’ future. While 2014 isn’t a make or break season for him, the strides he makes this year could accelerate his ascension to the major leagues.

The key for Cecchini to maximize his potential lies in his bat.

Even as a first-round pick, scouts didn’t project him to hit for significant power. Prior to being drafted, Kevin Goldstein ranked him as the 17^th best prospect and saw almost no projection for power, but believed he had “a smooth line drive stroke,” which could make him an asset in a batting order if combined with a solid approach at the plate.

Mets Vice President of Player Development and Scouting Paul DePodesta told Toby Hyde of Metsminorleagueblog.com the organization’s view of Cecchini’s offensive potential heading into the 2013 season:

“Offensively, we think he’s a guy who is going to hit first or second in a lineup and be a very tough out, hit for average, get on base, hit for a little power. We’re not expecting him to go and hit 30 homers, but he’s not going to hit three either. There’s some strength in there, and there are going to be some doubles. He does everything well.”

The organization is obviously going to present their prospect in a positive fashion, but DePodesta does a good job of explaining the best-case scenario for their young shortstop.

Mets fans should remain patient and optimistic with Cecchini, as John Bernhardt of Metzmerizedonline.com pointed out today that even future Hall of Famer Derek Jeter struggled in his first two years in the professional ranks.

Also, by many accounts and evidenced by the comments from his coaches in the above video, Cecchini is a very hard worker. This is an attribute that cannot be overlooked when evaluating baseball prospects, as almost nobody enters the minor leagues good enough to play in the majors; it is up to the prospects to work and capitalize on their talents.

If Cecchini can improve his offense significantly in the 2014 season through hard work and staying healthy, he could be an option for the Mets at shortstop sooner rather than later.

Because of his early struggles and lack of improvement in his career thus far, scouting websites this offseason believe that he is far from the big leagues. Fangraphs’ Marc wrote that he thinks Cecchini could make his debut in late 2016 but more likely in 2017, while Baseball America thinks (subscription required) “he’s likely four full years away.”

I would agree with these scouting assessments, but Cecchini has the ability to change these beliefs in 2014. He already has the solid defense most still believe will allow him to play shortstop, and if his bat shows a marked improvement as well, he could be the type of prospect to accelerate his own advancement to the majors.

Teams tend to be more cautious with promoting high-ceiling prospects with raw tools (a la Brandon Nimmo) because they usually need to refine their raw abilities before getting exposed at higher levels, which could set them back. If Cecchini figures out how to approach professional pitching, he could reach his ceiling faster than other prospects and fill a gaping hole on the Mets’ big league roster as soon as late 2015 (although 2017 is still a more realistic target).

Cecchini will likely never play on an All Star team or marvel fans with his physical gifts, and right now his bat is holding him back from moving up the ladder in the Mets’ farm system. Despite this, fans should pay close attention to him in 2014, because if his hard work and baseball instincts translate into success, he could be an important part of the Mets’ future.

Shortstops are hard to come by in the big leagues. Cecchini’s success in 2014 will help indicate to fans whether he can be a key cog in the Mets organization at some point down the road.  

All statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.

You can follow Sean on twitter at @S_CunninghamBR.

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The New York Mets currently have a number of prospects on the cusp of making the major leagues, creating the question as to who will ascend in Mets system and become the next exciting young star.

The Mets have a number of prospects in the lower minors who have the tools to rise and become star talents but who have yet to harness their physical gifts and produce in the minors.

The prospects listed in this column are worth keeping an eye on during the 2014 season to see if they can turn their tools into production on the field.

These prospects are currently considered outside of the team’s top 10 prospects because they have failed to produce on the field yet, so statistics will hardly be used. They are not exciting because of their minor league production yet but because they have the physical tools to become stars.

This list also excludes prospects such as Dominic Smith, Brandon Nimmo and Gavin Cecchini because they are already considered high-end prospects within the system.

As most prospects fail to reach their ceilings, the Mets would be lucky if just one of these prospects becomes a top prospect. However, that is part of what makes prospects so much fun as it is impossible to know for certain what to expect.

Here are prospects in the Mets system who could be among the best in the system by the season’s end.

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The New York Mets currently have a number of their top prospects on the verge of making the major leagues. Whether they make the team’s Opening Day roster or are called up later in the season is another question.

For prospects who haven’t made their major league debut yet, their chances of making the Opening Day roster are diminished. With the Super Two rule that allows teams another year of service time if they wait to call players up, clubs have little incentive to call up their star prospects for financial reasons.

The team has a stable of relief prospects who should compete for opening day roster spots (like Cory Mazzoni, Jeff Walters and Jack Leathersich) but have been left off of this list because they aren’t considered among the team’s top 10 prospects.

The Mets also have a number of highly-regarded prospects in their system who are further away from the major leagues (Brandon Nimmo, Dominic Smith, etc.) who have also been left off of this list as they have no chance of making the club.

With spring training just around the corner, it’s time to get excited about baseball again and whether the top Mets prospects will make the team out of camp. Here are the odds of the team’s top prospects making the club out of spring training.

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The New York Yankees made a big splash during the early stages of free agency by signing free-agent center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury to a seven-year deal worth $153 million. It was a deal that was first reported by the New York Daily News‘ Mark Feinsand with the financial information later confirmed by Feinsand.

Ellsbury is a good player, but he is unlikely to be productive enough to give the Yankees a good return on their investment over the course of the entire contract. Ellsbury is being paid like he is a $20 million-a-year player, but his production over his career doesn’t warrant that type of investment. 

The Ellsbury signing is made all the more curious due to the fact that the Yankees already had a comparable player on their roster in Brett Gardner. While Gardner may not be the exact equal of Ellsbury, the gap between the two players is not vast. New York is going to pay a ridiculous premium for a slight player upgrade, more than five times more than the player it already had under team control. 

The 30-year-old Gardner is only 18 days older than Ellsbury. Both players are used to playing in the competitive AL East. Gardner’s career slash line of .268/.352/.381 is not too far off from Ellsbury‘s line of .297/.350/.439, as Ellsbury‘s higher slugging numbers are somewhat inflated by his near-MVP season in 2011 when he hit 32 home runs.

On the basepaths, Gardner has an 80 percent success rate stealing bases while Ellsbury is closer to 84 percent. Defensively, according to Fangraphs, Gardner has a career UZR/150 of 23.0, while Ellsbury sits at 10.2. 

Ellsbury is scheduled to make $21.1 million in 2014, the first season of his new seven-year deal. Gardner is projected to make $4 million by MLB Trade Rumors’ Tim Dierkes next season. Ellsbury had a 5.8 WAR last season while Gardner had only a 4.2 WAR. But Gardner actually has a higher WAR over the past four years, coming in at 15.7 over Ellsbury‘s 14.8. 

Injuries have obviously had a big impact on Ellsbury‘s career numbers with the Boston Red Sox and injury concerns can’t be discounted moving forward. Ellsbury has shown that he is a tough player, but he has played in only 59 percent (384-648) of Boston’s schedule over the past four years. 

The numbers for both players are very comparable across the board and that’s the problem: New York reached for a player when it didn’t need to. 

In retrospect, the Yankees would have been better served looking at extending Gardner to a contract that would have paid far less than what New York just spent on Ellsbury. New York could have then taken the money that the team just spent on Ellsbury and improved other areas of the roster, specifically the pitching staff and infield. 

Ellsbury was the shiny new toy this winter, and New York has struggled recently when it comes to signing the right big-name free agents. It has repeatedly placed name recognition over value in its decision-making process. Gardner is a good enough player to have provided New York with the production it needed short-term and long-term.

The Yankees wanted Ellsbury, but he didn’t fill an immediate need on their roster. For a team looking to get back on top, spending big money on the wrong player is a surefire way for the Yankees’ long-term struggles to continue.

 Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, Fangraphs

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The New York Yankees have been on a shopping spree this winter, committing $300 million in new contracts to players such as Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran, Kelly Johnson and Brian Roberts among others as well as re-signing Hiroki Kuroda and Derek Jeter. 

What’s notable in it’s absence is that the Yankees have failed to address their biggest area of need this offseason—the pitching staff. Other than re-signing the excellent Kuroda to another one-year deal, New York has been surprisingly slow when it comes to addressing the team’s many pitching needs while focusing almost entirely on the offense to this point. 

New York’s offense scored only 650 runs in 2013, more than 200 runs fewer than the world champion Boston Red Sox. For a team that prided itself on its offensive stars like Jeter, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez, it was a startling fall for the franchise and sign of things to come. 

It seems New York has now focused all of its attention on Japanese star Masahiro Tanaka, having already made contact with the pitcher’s agent Casey Close according to Newsday‘s Marc Carig.

Tanaka represents everything New York needs and lacks right now—star power, potential and youth. The 25-year-old Tanaka would be the bridge on the Yankees staff, transitioning the staff from older Yankees groups to a newer generation. 

New York has many holes to fill on the 2014 pitching staff due to the retirements of Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte. The Yankees have also lost starter Phil Hughes and reliever Joba Chamberlain to free agency. Both Hughes and Chamberlain were once projected as the future of the Yankees pitching staff. Now both players will find themselves trying to salvage their careers in the AL Central. 

What remains of the Yankees pitching staff is in a constant state of transition and potential decline. CC Sabathia comes saddled with serious signs of decline and a minimum remaining $76 million on his contract through 2016.

Sabathia had a career-high ERA of 4.78 in 2013 with the highest WHIP of his career at 1.37. Sabathia takes the ball every fifth day and is a workhorse in every way imaginable. He may simply be showing signs of pitching 200-plus innings in each of the past seven seasons. 

Kuroda would serve as the perfect mentor for the young Tanaka. Kuroda would be able to cushion Tanaka’s immersion into MLB through his own experience of coming to America in 2008.

The downside to Kuorda is that he will turn 39 before he even throws a pitch in 2014, and he has shown signs of fatigue over the past two seasons. Kuroda has been a model of consistency for the Yankees, posting virtually identical numbers during his two seasons in New York. 

Ivan Nova has been something of an enigma over the past three seasons, but he finally seemed to find himself last season, giving the team a 9-6 record with a 3.10 ERA while pitching out of the Yankees rotation.

He finally started to resemble the pitcher who burst onto the scene in 2011 and posted a 16-4 record with the Yankees. The 26-year-old Nova is a crucial piece to the Yankees pitching staff moving forward. 

Looking at the Yankees immediate landscape, Tanaka is a crucial potential piece to the team’s future. New York needs to add a high-end starter who could potentially supplant Sabathia as the team’s ace and give the team the type of performance that Yu Darvish has given the Texas Rangers since his posting. 

The amount that the Yankees have spent this winter won’t mean much if they don’t seriously address the pitching staff, whether it is making a full-court press for Tanaka or making a push toward Matt Garza, a veteran of the AL East. 

Plenty of closer options remain on the market, allowing New York to protect David Robertson in the bullpen. New York could bring in a veteran like Fernando Rodney or Grant Balfour to augment the back-end of the bullpen. 

Adding quality pitching is the way to get the Yankees back up on top of the AL East. So far, the Yankees seemed to have forgotten that fact.

Stats and relevant information provided by Baseball-Reference.com and Marc Carig of Newsday. 

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The New York Mets still need improve this offseason if they want to compete for a playoff spot in 2014, and they can do so by trading for a shortstop.

Stephen Drew is the only legitimate option who is a free agent. Considering the Mets are only willing to sign him to a one- or two-year deal, Drew returning to Boston is more likely. Outside of Drew, the best options are on the trade market.

While every team in the league would love to have a shortstop to build around, the Arizona Diamondbacks have an excess of major league-ready shortstops who should be impact big leaguers for a long time. After acquiring Didi Gregorius for Trevor Bauer in a three-team trade last winter and drafting Chris Owings in the supplemental first round in 2009 out of high school, the Diamondbacks have the happy problem of having too many young shortstops.

Arizona also has been in search of established starting pitching all offseason, as Buster Olney tweeted earlier this offseason.

With the Diamondbacks’ trade for Mark Trumbo it is clear they want to win now. Both Gregorius and Owings can’t play shortstop simultaneously, so it would be wise for the Diamondbacks to trade one of their young studs for starting pitching.

That’s where the Mets come in. New York has a number of established pitchers either in the prime of their careers or on the cusp of promising ones, many of whom would appeal to the Diamondbacks.

The two teams match up on for a trade very well, with the Mets having no legitimate options at shortstop other than Ruben Tejada and the Diamondbacks in need of a starter to solidify their rotation.

This article will focus on Owings rather than Gregorius, as the Mets should target Owings for his greater offensive upside. Arizona general manager Kevin Towers also compared Gregorius to Derek Jeter, so it’s pretty clear he values Gregorius more than the rest of the league, therefore making Gregorius less likely to be dealt.

I will first explain why the Mets should want Chris Owings, and then present three realistic trades that the Mets could make to acquire the young shortstop.

Why the Mets should want Chris Owings

Although Chris Owings has limited experience at the major league level, he should be an impact shortstop for a long time.

The Topps 2013 Pacific Coast League Player of the Year has plus bat speed that allows him to hit balls with authority and gives him the potential to hit for extra-base power. He combines this with a great feel for hitting, which should allow him to be a perennial .280 hitter.

Owings isn’t the most patient at the plate, but considering the lack of impact hitting shortstops across baseball, Owings should be well above average offensively at the position. Owings‘ extra-base hit potential is evident in the below video.

As a 21-year-old in the hitter-friendly PCL, he had a concerning walk rate of just 3.8 percent, but at the same time showed off his hitting prowess with a .330 batting average and .482 slugging percentage. In Ruben Tejada’s single quality season in 2012 in which he hit .289, he had a walk rate of just 5.4 percent and slugged only .351.

Owings‘ fielding is a concern, as he has over 20 errors per season since 2011. However, he displays impressive instincts at shortstop which imply that the high error totals could decline with more experience and could be inflated by the poor quality of minor league infields. Owings was especially impressive defensively in the futures game, making a number of solid plays, especially when he went back nicely on a pop-up.

Acquiring Owings would give the Mets a young shortstop who could be a cornerstone of the resurgence of New York Met baseball, as he has the ability to be an impact hitter at a premium position.

Now, with the Diamondbacks not having a place for Owings to play every day, the Mets need to figure out what packages they would need to put together in order to get the young shortstop as well as decide if making the deals would help both their long- and short-term goals.

Mets trade SP Dillon Gee to Diamondbacks for SS Chris Owings

Dillon Gee established himself as a solid mid-rotation starter in 2013 who is an integral part of the Mets’ 2014 playoff chances, but they need to give something to get something.

Last year Gee came just one inning short of 200 innings and pitched a 3.62 ERA. A mid-rotation starter may not be the sexiest trade piece, but Arizona’s best pitcher, 2013 All Star Patrick Corbin, had an ERA only slightly better than Gee’s, sitting at 3.42.

The Mets have plenty of reasons not to trade Gee. Right now, the Mets’ top four starters are their most dependable assets (outside of David Wright), with the fifth spot likely occupied by a young starter with promise or a cheap veteran yet to be signed this offseason. If the Mets trade Gee, the 2014 team will be forced to be more reliant on young and unproven starters, changing the team’s strength into a potential weakness.

Losing Gee would hurt the Mets’ pitching depth, but because of the multitude of promising young starters New York has on the horizon, risking the 2014 rotation’s stability could be worth it if it could acquire Owings.

Mets Trade SP Jenrry Mejia to Diamondbacks for SS Chris Owings

Jenrry Mejia has the upside as a starter that the Diamondbacks desire, and the risk that comes with Mejia could make the Mets comfortable with letting him go.

Coming into spring training, Mejia is the front-runner for the fifth starter position in the Mets rotation. Last summer he burst onto the scene once after years of being forgotten, coming back from injuries. He looked like a young Pedro Martinez on the mound, both in appearance and as a pitcher, with Mejia’s size and afro, along with his devastating changeup, reminiscent of the former ace.

Mejia was truly amazing in his short 2013 stint. In 27.1 innings, he allowed only 28 hits and four walks while pitching to a 2.30 ERA.

The great talent Mejia put on display in 2013 is why the Diamondbacks would consider parting with Owings, but Mejia comes with a lot of risk. In his career in both the major and minor leagues, he has yet to pitch more than 100 innings in a season and has only eclipsed the 90-inning mark twice.

Mejia’s small frame has always brought up questions about whether he would ever be able to pitch enough innings to be a starter, and the time he’s missed due to injury just adds to those concerns.

The Diamondbacks may prefer the more predictable pitcher in Dillon Gee, but Gee lacks Mejia’s upside. If the Mets were willing to sacrifice their 2014 rotation and make both Gee and Mejia available for Owings, the Diamondbacks could choose between the upside of Mejia or the stability of Gee.

Mets Trade SP Rafael Montero, OF Brandon Nimmo, SP Jake deGrom and SP Gabriel Ynoa to Diamondbacks for SS Chris Owings

This is by far the least likely of the three scenarios present. The Mets would need to create a prospect package around Rafael Montero to acquire the Diamondbacks shortstop.

The prospects in this deal are interchangeable, but the point is that the Mets would need to give up a number of assets other than Montero to acquire Owings. Montero is not highly valued around the league despite his impressive minor league numbers because of his small frame and lack of overwhelming stuff. Montero’s most optimistic projection is as a No. 3 starter at best, but he could be destined for the bullpen.

Unless the Diamondbacks are as high on Montero as most Mets fans, the team will need to include a number of other pieces. Nimmo, deGrom and Ynoa are just examples of a combination of lower-level minor league talent with upside and talent close to the majors it would take to get a deal done.  Deals exclusively involving prospects also rarely happen, making this scenario less likely.

If the Mets are unwilling to trade Mejia or Gee in a deal for Owings, they could turn to this option, however. If the Mets think Montero is destined for the bullpen in the future, they could try and sell high on him in a package to get Owings. They should be careful in considering this deal, however, as Montero’s superb feel for pitching bodes well for his future as a potential mid-rotation starter.

The Mets should be pursuing Chris Owings aggressively and be willing to sacrifice their starting pitching depth if necessary. If the Diamondbacks assert they want additional players than Gee or Mejia, the Mets should back out, but considering the Diamondbacks’ need for starters, both pitchers should be more than a fair price.

Sacrificing starting pitching depth is always tough to do. However, with the chance to acquire a shortstop with an impact bat combined with the promising young pitchers on the horizon for the Mets, Sandy Alderson should look into these different trade scenarios.

All statistics courtesy of FanGraphs and Baseball Reference.

Propose your own trades in the comment section below, and follow Sean on twitter at @S_CunninghamBR.

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Perhaps nothing in sports is more motivating than having to watch your archrival succeed.

That’s just what the New York Yankees spent this past October doing, though, as the Boston Red Sox won it all after dominating the Yankees and the rest of the American League East during the regular season.

While the Yankees decision-makers would almost certainly never admit it, the fact that the Red Sox did what they did this year in such surprising fashion—remember, they finished last in the division in 2012—has to be motivating and even inspiring the Bronx Bombers this offseason.

Motivating because, well, when a team you play 19 times a year and have a long, long history against gets the better of you, it’s only natural to want to strike back. 

And yet inspiring because of how Boston was able to turn things around so quickly by reloading and restocking via free agency—in came Mike Napoli, Koji Uehara, Shane Victorino, Stephen Drew, Jonny Gomes, Ryan Dempster and David Ross—which is what it seems the Yankees themselves are intent on doing this winter.

While there are certain, shall we say, ongoing distractions and that whole $189 million luxury-tax threshold that the Yankees have to be aware of as they attempt to remake an aging roster that experienced an injury-riddled 2013 campaign, it’s become quite clear that general manager Brian Cashman and managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner have a desire to address a great many problems and issues this offseason.

“The only thing I can confidently tell you,” Cashman told Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News back in October, “is when the last name is Steinbrenner, the effort is going to be there in terms of making a full push for having the best team on the field you can possibly have.”

Already, in fact, we’ve seen what seems to be the start of a return of the Yankees of old, as they handed out the largest free-agent contract so far in giving catcher Brian McCann $85 million last week. In one fell swoop, that move more or less announced that the Yankees mean business.

And in case you haven’t noticed, they’ve been linked or tied to or mentioned as suitors of just about every big name on the open market, from outfielders Jacoby Ellsbury, Shin-Soo Choo and Carlos Beltran to starters Masahiro Tanaka, Ubaldo Jimenez and Matt Garza to infielders Stephen Drew, Omar Infante and Jhonny Peralta (who has since signed with the St. Louis Cardinals).

And of course, there’s also Robinson Cano, the second baseman who’s grown into one of the best players in the sport over the past handful of seasons with the Yankees. The latest, from Wallace Matthews of ESPN New York, is that the two sides remain far apart, with Cano’s camp still clinging to the 10-year, $300-plus million pipe dream of a contract.

But as Mike Bauman of MLB.com wrote following the McCann deal:

The McCann signing should be just the beginning for the Yankees. They have their own incumbent second baseman, Robinson Cano, to sign, and he will doubtless be the most expensive free-agent signing, the only question being how expensive. It is difficult to imagine another club prevailing in a bidding war with the Yankees over Cano’s services.

Of course, there is the potential Alex Rodriguez problem alluded to above, as the Yankees may not know for sure how much, if any, of the third baseman’s $31 million contract (including incentives) will count toward their 2014 payroll until a decision is handed down—perhaps as late as January—on Rodriguez’s 211-game suspension for his alleged involvement in the Biogenesis scandal.

But even that doesn’t seem to be stopping the Yankees from enacting their plan to go big or go home. As Andrew Marchand of ESPN New York pointed out, the club’s proposal to Cano may not stay on the table forever, especially if it precludes the team from going after and signing another top target or two:

While the Yankees want Cano to stay, they have already agreed with Brian McCann on an $85 million contract and are engaged in talks with a number of other free agents, which is chipping away at their goal of lowering the 2014 payroll to under $189 million to cut their luxury tax burden.

If some of the Yankees’ targets agreed to deals before Cano decides, then Cano — who most believe wants to remain in the Bronx — runs the risk that the Yankees could lower their offer or move on.

While a source emphasized there is no “ultimatum,” the Yankees feel they only have so much wiggle room above their initial seven-year, $160-plus million offer to Cano, in the context of their $189 million goal.

If that’s true, Cashman and his cohorts appear to be executing a selectively aggressive approach toward this offseason. And that’s because this offseason is perhaps the most important for the Yankees franchise in the past two decades, as the holdovers on the roster are dealing with age and/or injury issues and the team is coming off a playoff-less season for just the second time in the past 19.

As if that weren’t enough, the Yankees also have a bad taste in their mouths from sitting home in October and watching the Red Sox win a championship after an offseason of roster maneuvering the Yankees can only hope to match this time around.

Whether you want to call that motivation or inspiration—or both—it seems to have brought the Yankees back to life.

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