It appears the Mets are about to trade Angel Pagan to the Giants for Andres Torres and reliever Ramon Ramirez:
The trade makes a ton of sense for the Mets.
In Torres, they are getting a hitter just a year removed from posting an OPS+ of 122 while playing an extremely good center field. His offense dropped precipitously in 2011, just like Pagan’s, but Torres’ defense remained stellar. And after making just $2.2 million last year, he’ll probably check in around $3 million in arbitration; Pagan will get more like $5 million.
So it isn’t clear that Pagan is a better bet than Torres in 2012, both come with one-year commitments, and Torres is much cheaper.
Pagan is four years younger in terms of seasonal age, so his upside is higher than Torres, who will play 2012 as a 34 year old. Ramirez is a solid pitcher out of the pen. This strikes me as a stop-gap deal, one to keep the roster full cheaply while Sandy Alderson waits for the Mets owners to get their financial house in order.