Mets Trade Jon Niese To The Pirates For Neil Walker

I’ll take it. This trade happened with a quickness after the fallout from the Zobrist deal, which shows you how little the Mets wanted to deal with the possibility of a Daniel Murphy return. Neil Walker is exactly what the Mets needed. A solid 2nd baseman. Nothing spectacular, but hes a huge defensive upgrade from Murphy’s glove and his bat is probably gonna be pretty similar. Similar pop. Almsot exact same OPS over the exact same number of PAs -Daniel Murphy: 111 OPS+ in 2,912 PA since 2011. Neil Walker: 113 OPS+ in 2,917 since 2011. Plus hes a switch hitter. No long term commitment. Projected to make about $10 million in arbitration, which is about appropriate.  If you’re a WAR guy, 2011-15: Murphy 1.9 WAR per season. 2011-15: Walker 3.0 WAR per season. Hes not a huge splash by any means but he’s a solid 2nd baseman that didnt cost much. I feel like hes similar to a JV Zobrist. Not quite as good but not nearly the cost either.

Jon Niese was a solid asset for a lot of years as the Mets bridged the gap between the Johan days to the stellar staff of today. What he did for this team when all the young guns arrived was peak professionalism. He dealt with 6 man rotations, he dealt with the move to the bullpen. He proved very valuable in the postseason. There were times you wanted to never see him again when he had his patented 5th inning meltdown but there was also times where he was a serviceable Major League arm. When I look back on Jon Niese I will remember two things:

1) That this:

Was his nose AFTER getting plastic surgery! I guess its better than this:

but not really. Carlos Beltran offering to pay for that nose job is still the best thing ever. Like dude whatever it costs, just do it. I’ll pay for it. Just FIX that thing.

2) His wife saying she wears a lucky blue thong when he pitches.

Hey nowwwww.

Losing Jon Niese is kind of like his nose job. Yea, I guess its different now. But not really. Cant really even tell.