Trade Bait

With the Mets well under .500 and with few indications of a turnaround, it's no shock that GM Sandy Alderson would like to trade some of his pending free agents for prospects. No surprise, there -- except for the ways he's showcasing Asdrubal Cabrera.
Last year's shortshop has shown far less range in 2017, and hasn't supplied the extra base power that made him so valuable a year ago. Recently, Cabrera was publicly unhappy about being moved to 2nd base -- and even demanded that in exchange for switching positions, the club pick up his option for next year. He's also asked to be traded. With his batting average under .250, it looks like he picked a bad time to press the issue.
The former Indian and National could soon be changing positions again. The Mets want to try him at 3rd base, apparently to impress a contender that might want to bring a veteran utilityman for the stretch fun.
In 10 days, we'll know if Sandy's strategy with Cabrera paid off -- or whether the Mets will have to deal with an unhappy veteran as 2017 heads toward a disappointing conclusion.

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