Michael Friere - Who is Josh Harrison?

After reading a couple of different articles on this blog of late, not to mention a few comments, I started thinking about a player that has been mentioned quite a bit by the name of Josh Harrison.  A lot of names get bandied about during the “hot stove” season and his has been a popular one.  It is easy to say “trade Player X and Player Y for Josh Harrison”, but what would that acquisition do for the Mets?

Taking a step backward, it is my personal belief that the biggest void on the Mets’ roster this year is at second base and an accompanying void is at the top of the batting order.  With a limited bench due to a possible eight man bullpen, it makes sense to try and fill a void with a player that can “kill two birds with one stone” so to speak.  Some folks here would prefer that Wilmer Flores get a shot at second base, or even Asdrubal Cabrera (if the Mets solve their third base issue with a different player).  I like both players well enough, but neither of them are lead off hitters and they would be adequate at best with the glove.   In 2018, I want my second baseman to be above average defensively and I also want him to be an effective leadoff hitter, which brings us back around to the original question.    Who the heck is Josh Harrison?

Josh is currently a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, where he fills an important “utility type” role for the ball club.  He is listed as a second baseman, third baseman and an outfielder, which makes him quite versatile.  Looking a bit deeper, he has played in 722 games over seven seasons for the Pirates.  Of those games, here is his positional breakdown;  2B - 310 games, 3B - 264 games, OF - 110 games, SS - 37 games, DH - 2 games and Pitcher - 1 game (interesting).  I am statistically inclined, so using percentages, Josh has played roughly 84% of his games somewhere in the infield, with 2B (43%) and 3B (37%) being the most common.

There is more, but so far, this seems to fit in very well with our current roster issues, right?

Looking at his defense, it won’t necessarily blow your socks off when compared to someone like Omar Vizquel.  However, he has more then held his own, especially when you consider he was bounced around the diamond.  All of the positive value that his versatility brings also has a negative affect on his defense, since you cannot get settled at one spot on a daily basis.  With that said, he still has a respectable 4.7 dWAR over his career and as a bonus, his best fielding position has been 2B, where he has a .985 fielding percentage and he has only committed 20 errors in 310 games (average of 10 errors per season).   I would wager that if you put him at 2B for a full season, his fielding rates would stabilize and he would be more then adequate.

So far so good, he is versatile and he fills a need on the current roster.   But wait, there’s more!

Over the course of seven seasons, he has appeared in 722 games, largely due to his first couple of seasons in the league where he was a part time player at best.  If you divide 722 games played by 150 games (an average season for most players), you get just under five full seasons (4.8) for statistical purposes.

With that said, his average offensive line looks like this;

.281/.321/.414 (AVG/OBP/SLG) and .735 OPS

9 HR - 48 RBI - 15 SB - 67 R

2.85 WAR

His 2017 season was actually above those numbers, so he is trending in the right direction and he is capable of leading off for most teams in the league, in my humble opinion.  So, he fits a need on the roster and in the lineup, by all accounts.

Hold on!  Fred is on the phone and he wants to know what Josh's contract looks like.

Josh is signed for the 2018 season at $10,250,000 before entering two additional option years, valued at $10,500,000 (2019) and $11,500,000 (2020).  They are team options that also have a buyout of $1,000,000 (2019) and $500,000 (2020), so if he was acquired and things didn’t work out, you could conceivably get out from under his contract at a fairly cheap rate.   In short, his contract is basically three years at $32,250,000 with very little downside when you factor in the option years.   That’s pretty good value for a player of his ilk and he is only available because the Pirates seem to be going “full Marlins” for the coming season.

Lastly, what will be the cost of obtaining him in a trade?   That is something I am less confident about, but if the Pirates are looking to slash salary and to add some talent to their minor leagues, then I am sure there is a match somewhere.  Brandon Nimmo’s name was mentioned in one of the articles that I saw and he would be a nice start for the Pirates.  With Cespedes, Conforto (eventually), Bruce and Lagares on the roster, Nimmo is expendable for the right player.  Yes, it would leave the roster a bit short if Conforto is delayed to start the year, but that could be addressed with a veteran stop gap type player and it shouldn’t be for long.

We also have a surplus of pitching, especially minor league bullpen arms.  So, maybe Nimmo and a couple of relievers for Harrison?  If he Mets take most of the money in the deal, I think the Pirates would be happy to move on from Josh’s contract.

In closing, I think Josh Harrison is a perfect fit for the roster and at the top of the lineup where we currently don’t have anyone capable of leading off.  He will mostly play 2B, but he is also capable of playing 3B which would come in handy in 2019 or 2020 if another prospect makes it to Flushing and takes over 2B, like Luis Guillorme.  Additionally, his contract is manageable and it also has an escape clause in the form of option years, if he doesn’t work out.

That’s who Josh Harrison is and I think Sandy needs to get on the phone with the Pirates!