Can the Mets trade David Wright for Albert Pujols?

If you ask any Cardinals fan what their team's biggest hole is, they will say, "third base." The Cardinals lost Mark DeRosa and they traded away top prospect Brett Wallace, so now they are stuck with the young and unproven David Freese.  If you ask any Mets fan what their team's biggest hole is, well you will probably get a few different answers, but many people would say, "first base." Daniel Murphy doesn't have the offensive ability needed to be a solid first baseman in the National League. The Mets have a star third baseman in David Wright and the Cardinals have a star first baseman in Albert Pujols. Perhaps it would make sense to swap these two players. Read on to find out why this plan works.

What exactly is wrong with David Freese and Daniel Murphy? David Freese is going to be 27 years old in a few months and he hasn't really progressed the way the Cardinals have wanted him to. For one, he strikes out nearly 25% of the time which is not good. When he swings at pitches outside of the strike zone, he makes no contact nearly 20% more than the average Major League player does. He has decent power but he is also injured too much and he just isn't able to put the pieces together.  Some people think he can be a good player in the bigs and some people don't. As for Murphy, he has never had more than 13 home runs in a single season throughout his professional career, and his OPS is less than league average for all positions which is even more of a problem considering he is at first base. His wRAA in 2009 was almost -5 runs and his BABIP is also below average. However, Murphy is a solid defender in the infield an is known for his plate discipline so perhaps he may have a nice career. The similarity between Freese and Murphy is that both players are able to be good, but they just don't have the pieces to lock it all up and be able to pencil in stats on a consistent basis. Now that we know the problem, we can move onto the actual trade.

First off, a normal person would say, "Albert Pujols is the best player in baseball. David Wright is good but he is nowhere near being the best player in baseball. This would be a terrible trade for the Cardinals." However, the point of a trade is not for each side to receive exactly what they gave up. If each team got exactly what they gave, then what would be the point of the trade? The trade obviously occurred because each side had a problem, so they are trying to fix them. The real point of a trade is to get something that you wouldn't otherwise have and benefit in the process. Obviously this doesn't always happen and sometimes a trade is completely lopsided. However, the Cardinals problem is that they need a third baseman and the Mets problem is that they need a first baseman. If David Wright and Albert Pujols were swapped, then the Mets would have a first baseman and the Cardinals would have a third baseman. The problem that presents itself now is that the Mets don't have a third baseman and the Cardinals don't have a first baseman. But wait! They do, and they don't even need to look beyond their major league rosters.

In case you didn't know, Daniel Murphy started his career as a third baseman and from what I know he was actually pretty good there. He moved his position because he didn't want David Wright to block his way to the Majors. Now that Wright would be gone, Murphy could move back to third. Yes, I did just knock Murphy's offensive talents but he can still get on base at a nice clip and he CAN be a capable Major League hitter, just not for a first baseman. If we acquired Albert Pujols, AKA the best hitter in the world, we could afford to have Murphy playing third base for us.

The Cardinals have a guy named Joe Mather who could play first base for them. He has only played 54 games in the Majors and was hurt during 2009, but this guy definitely has power potential. From 2006-2008 he hit 62 home runs and 81 doubles. Hit OBP isn't going to be very good but he consistently has good enough Slugging to put him above average in the OPS category. Also, he strikes out more than most people, but considering he has power to boot, this will be okay especially considering that as a first baseman, the comparison points are Mark Reynolds, Ryan Howard and Adam Dunn.

In the end, Joe Mather is similar to David Freese but slightly better, and Daniel Murphy is comparable to Daniel Murphy but at third base will be more of a benefit to his club as he is not clogging up a power position and can play his natural position. The Mets get one of the best players in the game and the Cardinals get a great third baseman who plays good defense and is at an all-star level for just about every offensive stat, not to mention he brings some speed into the lineup.

And lastly, for those of you who still think the Cardinals are getting a bad deal here, consider the following:

1. Albert Pujols' contract will expire after the 2011 season and the Cardinals can't afford to resign him to the extension they want.

2. Even if they can sign Pujols to an extension, does a middle market team really want to pay one player $30 million?

3. If you trade a superstar such as Pujols, you expect to get back three or four top prospects in return. However, even top prospects have high bust rates and you will be lucky if even one of them turns out being an all star. David Wright is already a proven all star who fans love, so why take a risk with prospects?

If you really think about it, this is a pretty good trade for both sides.