4/19/14

Reese Kaplan - Trader Sandy Rolls the Dice

Well, much to the flummoxed reaction of Mets fans everywhere, it turns out that Sandy Alderson does know how this thing called a “trade” works after all!  Despite allowing the whole 1B logjam to linger much longer than necessary, the team finally resolved the situation with Friday’s surprising announcement of transaction of the Mets peddling the erstwhile slugger Ike Davis to the Pirates (one of two teams allegedly with interest in Davis during the off-season) for relief pitcher Zack Thornton (plus a player to be named later). 

On the surface it seems like fair value, though it is a little puzzling that someone with numbers as relatively gaudy as those posted by Thornton never resulted in his promotion to the majors.  He’s struck out better than a strikeout-per-inning (285 in 252 minor league frames), kept runners off based as evidenced by his impressive 1.12 WHIP, and features a career minor league ERA of just 3.03 while compiling a 20-3 record.  Even stranger, the Pirates had left him off their 40-man roster and he was available in the Rule V draft but not taken by the Mets or anyone else.  Granted, his last season in AAA he pitched to a 3.91 ERA but still struck out 31 while walking only 4 batters. 

Going forward this move has several ripple effects.  First, it solidifies the rejuvenated Lucas Duda’s hold on the first base position.  Hopefully this vote of confidence resonates well with him and he continues to produce.  It’s possible, too, that with Eric Campbell, Zach Lutz and Allan Dykstra tearing things up in AAA, the Mets felt they had alternatives should Duda’s health or talent betray him.

In the bullpen the Mets do have some problems, including the heretofore very wild Jeurys Familia and the suddenly nerve-wracking Jose Valverde.  The AAA squad has some interesting relief pitchers, including a now healthy Vic Black getting people out (but still walking too many), non-roster players Miguel Socolovich (1.35 ERA) and Joel CarreƱo (2.84).   As of this writing it’s not clear whether or not Thornton will get his first shot in the majors or not, but trading Ike Davis does open up a slot on the 40-man roster and thus creates some interesting possibilities. 

Earlier in the week I had advocated demoting Ike Davis to deal with the return of Chris Young from the DL, but this permanent solution really caught me off guard.  Should Ike Davis rediscover his swing, then the second guessers will be out in droves, but for now I tip my chapeau to Sandy Alderson for showing both heretofore unseen common sense and a gambler’s icy blood to roll the dice, ending the 1B circus and addressing the still-problematic bullpen.   It was the right call.  His bosses have to love the fact he’s saving over $3 million in the process.  Without knowing who the player to be named later is, we don’t know the full magnitude of this transaction’s impact.   Considering it’s likely a minor leaguer, the full evaluation may not be made for a few more years. 


I’ve criticized the team for constantly going back to the well time and again for what has not worked, hoping that it will produce different results.  This move shows the team may have finally gotten it into their heads that a new direction needs to be tried.  In the scheme of things, trading someone who had become a bench player for a guy turning 26 next month and never having pitched in  the majors normally wouldn’t raise very many eyebrows, but it’s front page news for a team with roster composition issues and raises the possibility they are looking to solve them.  Maybe Alderson was serious about that 90 win projection after all.

12 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

Maybe they get LHP Blake Taylor, who was 51st in draft last year, from Pirates as the player to be named later. This organization needs real lefty prospects.

Taylor is very young, and gave up just 7 hits in 21 innings in GCL last summer. 9 walks, just 13 Ks.

Ike had to go, but there is always the risk he will come back to haunt.

Rousing performance last night, as Mets nearly get no-hit. How do Braves get so lucky, that when they have an injury they just go out and sign a guy Cleveland just cut and he is in the early running for the Cy Young award (I know, I'm getting carried away).

Granderson a frankly very tiring and disturbing 0-4 with 2 K's...if this guy ever hit, like say last night, maybe they win a game like that. Maybe I overdo the stat references, but going back to spring training, the $60MM man is 13 for his last 96, with about 34 Ks. Uggh.

Tejada .178 - time for the next move, with Flores or another trade to get Franklin. Sorry, everyone, I want offense - I for one am tired of seeing stuff like "Yanks hitting .277, Mets hitting .219." Get hitters. When Lagares returns we have lethal OF defense. If the IF defense is not-quite-average, but we hit, I will gladly take it.

D'Arnaud should sit today after another 0-fer. Receker has earned more playing time. Chris Young left all his hits in AAA.

Anonymous said...

I noticed the Pirates #6 prospect is a SS at the AA level - rated #76 by Baseball America. His name is Alen Hansen. His career BA/OBP/SLG/OPS is .290/.356/.458/.814. Sounds good to me!

Reese Kaplan said...

To be fair, no one was hitting last night. You can't pin it on any one player. However, your point about Curtis Bay (Jason Granderson?) is well taken. Why is no one holding his feet to the fire? He seems to get a free pass based upon past accomplishments and salary when he's striking out at a Nieuwenhuisian level.

When you say the Mets outfield defense will be spectacular when Lagares returns, I can't agree with you. Lagares won't play as long as Terry's speedy lap dog is hitting .240 or better.

The Harang thing does puzzle me a bit. His good 2013 performances were somewhat overshadowed by Dice-K's great performances (after a horrific start), but he was never this dominant (nor this wild). Ironically, despite the no-hit bid, all the walks are indicative of the man heading for a major crash and burn.

I don't buy into the notion of giving Recker more starts. He's a career .200 hitter and over 30. It's not likely he's suddenly morphed into Johnny Bench. All giving him more starts will do is make d'Arnaud press more. Hey, I'm as happy as anyone that they're surprisingly .500 with no offense but I don't buy into the 90-win hype. They can't do that and remain 29th out of 30 teams in offense. Towards that end I will live with the long term solution in d'Arnaud and not hit the panic button because Recker has had a handful of good games.

A parallel situation would be Wilmer Flores in the minors. A lot of people with whom I regularly converse on this topic wrote him off due to his Mendoza-line start with the 51s. I said be patient and you will see him return to the offensive force he has been. In the past 3 days he's had a few multi-hit games and is now up to .244. Somehow these same people point that out as a positive trend when Eric Young does it but not so when Flores does it. There is a difference, however. Flores has hit well over prolonged periods of time throughout his minor league career and was doing so at the major league level last year until the ankle injuries hit. Eric Young has never done it over 419 career games which prove his hot streak is just that -- a temporary thing.

Christopher Soto said...

Jon Heyman has confirmed that the PTBNL is a significant 2013 draftee and is the centerpiece of the deal.....not Thornton.

Mack Ade said...

Steve Carhart · Old Dominion University
I noticed the Pirates #6 prospect is a SS at the AA level - rated #76 by Baseball America. His name is Alen Hansen. His career BA/OBP/SLG/OPS is .290/.356/.458/.814. Sounds good to me!
Reply · Like · Follow Post · 47 minutes ago

Al Tamkus · Works at I don't work anymore
two prospects for Ike,when it seemed like we couldn't get one at the winter meetings for him, I think is good?

Mack Ade said...

Pittsburgh 2013 Drat Picks:

2013 1 9 June-Reg Austin Meadows CF
1 14 June-Reg Reese McGuire C
2013 2 51 June-Reg Blake Taylor P
2013 3 87 June-Reg JaCoby Jones CF
2013 4 119 June-Reg Cody Dickson P
2013 5 149 June-Reg Trae Arbet SS
2013 6 179 June-Reg Adam Frazier SS
2013 7 209 June-Reg Buddy Borden P
2013 8 239 June-Reg Neil Kozikowski P
2013 9 269 June-Reg Chad Kuhl P
2013 10 299 June-Reg Shane Carle P
2013 11 329 June-Reg Erich Weiss 3B
2013 12 359 June-Reg Beau Wallace 3B
2013 13 389 June-Reg Danny Collins 1B
2013 14 419 June-Reg Nick Buckner CF
2013 15 449 June-Reg Max Rossiter C

Mack Ade said...

Chris Cotillo ‏@ChrisCotillo 25m
No idea who the PTBNL headed to the #Mets from PIT is. Doubt it's Meadows or McGuire. Taylor, Jones, Dickson seem more likely to me.

Herb G said...

If, as rumored, the centerpiece of the trade is a "significant" 2013 draftee, I have to say that Sandy, once again, pulled a rabbit out of his hat. I personally think he traded the wrong 1B, but that is water over the dam. If Ike excels in Pittsburgh, more power to him. I wil be rooting for him.

As far as the PTBN goes, I guess Meadows would be too much to hope for, but wow, would he be great. And I don't want another C prospect (McGuire) although that may be short sighted. However, I really like several of the Pirates Class of 2013. I would do back flips for any one of Taylor, Jones or Dickson. They were playing Jones at both CF and SS last year, but he is exclusively at SS this year. (plus a few games at DH to get him ABs) He could wind up being a better prospect than Hanson.

A long shot, unlikely because he is down on the list and relatively obscure, is Chad Kuhl. I like Kuhl. He did nothing but improve in his 3 years at Delaware, and then he looked sharp in the NYPL last year. They promoted him to high A this year and he may be a little over his head, but I think he will handle it.

Herb G said...

BTW, I wonder if this announcement has all the Pirates 2013 draftees shitting in their pants. It is kind of unfair to them.

Michi L. said...

Short question. If a player is injured is the team allowed to trade him?

Mack Ade said...

That Adam Smith

I'll give Sandy credit. He's unlikely to be here 3-4 years from now under any circumstances, yet he trades a guy who could hit 25+ HR's this season for someone (assuming the PTBNL is really the centerpiece) who is unlikely to ever help the team under his watch. Agree or disagree with his individual decisions, the guy seems committed to leaving the organization in better shape than he found it, even if it costs him some heat while he's here.

Mack Ade said...

Michi - yes you can...

Also... I removed a comment by a reader that said he knew the name of the PTBNL.

Mack's Mets is not one of those sites that allows for guesses and speculation to be worded in the form of a concrete truth.

No one other than the GMs of both teams know the name of that player and everyone is welcomed to guess who it will be, but please do not state here that you know who the player is. You don't know who it is and we're not going down that road.