Josh Edgin is getting Tommy John surgery, and the left side of the bullpen is in shambles so far this Spring, but while Mets fans see this as more reason to trade Dillon Gee for a left-hander, Sandy Alderson sees it differently, especially with the now uncertainty of Zack Wheeler‘s elbow.
“This possibility or a possibility of something like it is probably a reason we’ve been hesitant to trade pitching in general,” Alderson said to Mike Vorkunov of the Star Ledger. “This is 
what happens with pitching. You see guys going down all over the place. I think it’s why we’ve been hesitant to trade away any of our pitching depth.”
Sandy Alderson and company have been hesitant to dip into their rich pitching well in order to make a trade for an outfielder in the past, and more recently a shortstop and left-handed reliever. While you can understand their uneasiness, especially after ace Matt Harvey had to get Tommy John Surgery at the tail end of 2013 and Jon Niese‘s reoccurring shoulder issues, I’m not sure it’s fully necessary.
I get it, but now there’s a roster imbalance, an awkward situation with a pitcher clearly out of place in Dillon Gee and the uncertainty whether he could thrive in that situation.
Not to mention, it’s not as if the Mets don’t have depth when it comes to starting pitching. Even if you take Wheeler and Gee out of the equation, you still have Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Jon Niese, Bartolo Colon and Rafael Montero who all have big league experience, all while having Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz waiting in the wings.
The Mets acknowledged there were four needs entering this offseason: A starting outfielder, a shortstop, a left-handed reliever and a power bat off the bench. They addressed two of these needs, signing Michael Cuddyer to play a corner outfield spot and John Mayberry Jr. to come off the bench.
It’s the shortstop position and the left side of their bullpen, which needs help now more than ever, that have yet to be remedied. Both of these situations, presumably, could be improved with the Mets trading from their strength–starting pitching–in order to strengthen their weaknesses. Let’s face it, with no one pitcher in their crop of lefties in the pen this Spring–Scott Rice, Dario Alvarez, Sean Gilmartin and Jack Leathersich–having an ERA under 9.82, trying to solve this issue internally is an even bigger gamble than trading away one of your starters.
I understand the argument that you never have too much pitching, especially these days, because, as we’ve seen, pitchers break. However, in the same respect, it all depends on what kind of pitching depth you have and while the Mets may be loaded in the starting pitcher department, they have yet to find any semblance of acceptable depth for left-handed relief.
Just Mets 