The day after the Mets rejected the San Diego Padres’ overtures to acquire Dom Smith for Chris Paddack, Emilio Pagan, Eric Hosmer and money, the Mets remain motivated by the same issue that led them to entertain that idea: A concern about rotation depth after the injuries to Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer.
As a result, the team is still engaged in conversations, both internal and with other clubs, about how to address the problem.
Here are a few notes:
-- According to a rival general manager, the Oakland Athletics remain in active conversations trading starter Sean Manaea. Manaea -- whose name autocorrects on my phone as Minaya in honor of the great Omar -- is set to become a free agent this year.
As of Sunday morning, there was nothing hot between the Mets and A’s on Manaea, per sources. The Athletics would wind up trading Manaea to the San Diego Padres.
-- The Yankees, too, have been looking for starting pitching this spring. According to a source with direct knowledge, the Yanks proposed a Luke Voit for Paddack trade last month, which the Padres rejected. The eventual trade brought pitching prospect Justin Lange to the Yankees.
-- Within the Mets on Saturday, discussion revolved around whether Paddack had a serviceable third pitch. Many evaluators saw Paddack as a fastball/changeup guy, with a curveball that, per one scout, graded as a 30 on the 20-80 scouting scale.
But that evaluation was not unanimous. The Mets scouted Paddack this spring and found the curveball to be an average pitch. This debate formed a part of the larger discussion about whether the trade was worth making.
