During the Sandy Alderson era it became apparent that other
than salary dumps mid-season, he eschewed the trade as a means of changing the
personnel on the roster. Whether it was
an unwillingness or inability to judge talent on other clubs, or a failure to
establish trust and communications, the fact is that the Mets pretty much went
the free agent route almost exclusively during his tenure. Sure, there were a few notable exceptions
like the Yoenis Cespedes deal, but even the R.A. Dickey and Carlos Beltran
deals that became net positives were really salary dumps.
So with Brodie Van Wagenen now in charge it’s possible the
Mets will once again uncover this forgotten avenue and seek to see whether or
not favorable deals can be executed with other ballclubs. As I’ve stated many times, I feel the Mets’
biggest need overall is fortifying the bullpen, so I thought today we’d take a
look at some ballplayers under contract to other clubs who might be worth
targeting. For this exercise I looked
at people whose ERA of 3.00 or less, and who appeared in more than 50
games. Surprisingly it was quite a big
list with a great many lesser-known players having hit these targets. I left out the within-division options as it’s
unlikely to convince the Braves, Nats or Phillies to help the Mets (and the
Marlins don’t have anyone that qualifies).
The Oakland A's improbably run to the post-season was built
surprisingly on a rock solid bullpen made up of mostly no-name players. Five of them met the criteria. They include:
L/R Name Age ERA WHIP Salary Notes
L Ryan
Buchter 31 2.75 1.19 earned
$555K; arb eligible
R Yusmeiro
Petit 33 3.00 1.01
$5.5 million with $5.5 option/$1
million buyout
R Blake
Treinen 30 0.78 0.83
$2.15 million; 2nd year
arb eligible
R Lou
Trivino 27 2.92 1.14
Rookie in 2018, pre-arbitration
The Los Angeles Angels have one qualifying pitcher:
L/R Name Age ERA WHIP Salary Notes
L Jose
Alvarez 29 2.71 1.16
$1.05 million; 2nd year
arb eligible
With Lance McCullers, Jr. having just had Tommy John
Surgery, it’s highly unlikely the Astros will be looking to deal away relief
pitching, but they have one enticing choice:
L/R Name Age ERA WHIP Salary Notes
R Ryan
Pressly 29 2.54 1.11
$1.6 million; 3rd year
arb eligible
The post-season bound Brewers got a season for the ages out
of veteran Jeremy Jeffress and he’s very reasonably priced. Consequently it would be very difficult to
pry him loose:
L/R Name Age ERA WHIP Salary Notes
R Jeremy
Jeffress 31 1.29 0.99 $3.175 with a 2020 option for $4.3
One could argue that the Chicago Cubs need starting pitching
badly and as a result they may be tempted to part with one of their many
quality relief arms:
L/R Name Age ERA WHIP Salary Notes
R Steve
Cishek 2.18 1.04 $6.5
million; FA 2020
R Carl
Edwards 27 2.60 1.31
$5.95 super 2, 1st year arb
eligible
R Pedro
Strop 33 2.26 0.99 $6.25 million; FA 2020
Unlike the xenophobic Mets, the Arizona Diamondbacks
ventured across the Pacific to get a veteran arm to help them and got way more
than they could have hoped:
L/R Name Age ERA WHIP Salary Notes
R Yoshihisa
Hirano 34 2.44 1.09
$3 million, second year player
The NL champion Los Angeles Dodgers having lost the World
Series might be inclined to make some moves but a couple of the relief pitchers
they have that would be desirable make very little money:
L/R Name Age ERA WHIP Salary Notes
R Pedro Baez 30 2.88 1.22 $1.5 million; 2nd year arb
eligible
R Dylan
Floro 27 2.25 1.25
Rookie, pre-arbitration
In addition to the hypothetical Mark Melancon for Jay Bruce
deal discussed previously, the San Francisco Giants have four supporting arms
worth considering:
L/R Name Age ERA WHIP Salary Notes
R Sam Dyson 30 2.69 1.08
$4.425 million; 2nd year
arb eligible
R Reyes
Moronta 25 2.49 1.09
$545K; pre-arbitration
L Will
Smith 28 2.55 0.98
$2.5 million; 3rd year
arb eligible
L Tony
Watson 33 2.59 1.03
$3.5 million, $2.5 option/$500K
buyout
While Edwin Diaz got all of the headlines for the Seattle Mariners
in 2018, there was another arm worth considering who just missed the arbitrary
limit by a hair:
L/R Name Age ERA WHIP Salary Notes
R Alex
Colome 29 3.04 1.18
$5.3 million; 2nd year
arb eligible
According to most pundits, the San Diego Padres have one of
the richest farm systems in baseball. I
can personally attest to the AAA El Paso Chihuahuas’ dominance over the past
several years:
L/R Name Age ERA WHIP Salary Notes
R Craig Stammen
34 2.73 1.04 $2.25 million
R Kirby
Yates 31 2.14 0.92
$1.062 million; 2nd year
arb eligible
One of the few teams with whom Sandy Alderson seemingly had
a good relationship, the Pittsburgh Pirates have a few young pitchers who would
be assets if they could be obtained:
L/R Name Age ERA WHIP Salary Notes
R Kyle Crick 25 2.39 1.13
Rookie, pre-arbitration
R Richard
Rodriguez 28 2.47 1.07
Pre-arbitration
The Texas Rangers suffered a big blow when they lost
fireballer Matt Bush to surgery, but a few people stepped up to fill the setup
void:
L/R Name Age ERA WHIP Salary Notes
R Jose Leclerc 24 1.56 0.85 Rookie, pre-arbitration
L James
Pazos 27 2.88 1.24
Pre-arbitration
This year the Tampa Bay Rays employed the controversial “opener”,
a relief pitcher used to start the game rather than to come in after the
starter tired or was ineffective. One youngster
did yeoman’s work in the pen:
L/R Name Age ERA WHIP Salary Notes
R Jose
Alvarado 23 2.39 1.11
Rookie, pre-arbitration
The Cincinnati Reds may not have had much to help them
during their dismal season, but they did feature a couple of good arms in the
pen that could certainly help the Mets:
L/R Name Age ERA WHIP Salary Notes
L David
Hernandez 33 2.53 0.98
$2.5 million
R Jared
Hughes 33 1.94 1.02
$2.125 million, $3 million opt/$250K
buyout
This past off-season the Rockies made a splash when they
signed one of the big fish, Wade Davis, formerly of the Kansas City
Royals. Then they got a huge year out of
Adam Ottavino (which proved to be a lifesaver given Davis’ rude introduction to
Coors Field). There were others who
helped:
L/R Name Age ERA WHIP Salary Notes
R Scott
Oberg 28 2.45 0.97
$555K, 1st year arb-eligible
R Seunghwan
Oh 36 2.63 1.01
$2.5 million (where was Sandy
Alderson?)
Now the Minnesota Twins for many years were competitive with
one of the lowest budgets in all of baseball.
With the retirement of Joe Mauer they now have more money to spend and
their southpaw is certainly worth asking about in trade talks:
L/R Name Age ERA WHIP Salary Notes
L Taylor
Rogers 27 2.63 0.95
$565K; Super Two 1st year
arb-eligible
The Mets and Yankees seldom consummate trades, but when they
do they usually contain role players rather than stars. There is one middle reliever who’s done well
for the Bronx Bombers worth considering:
L/R Name Age ERA WHIP Salary Notes
R Chad Green 27 2.50 1.04 $570K, pre-arbitration
- Yusmeiro Petit
- Ryan Pressly
- Jeremy Jeffress
- Steve Cishek
- Pedro Strop
- Will Smith
- Tony Watson
- Craig Stammen
- David Hernandez
- Jared Hughes
- Seunghwan Oh
With two lefties in that circumstance, Smith and Watson, San Francisco might be persuaded to part with one of them. The Cubs are in a similar situation with righties Cishek and Strop. For the others, well, it never hurts to ask.
Very comprehensive, Reese.
ReplyDeleteHow do you spell relief, BVV? "Checkbook."
Very nice.
ReplyDeleteTeams will demand front line talent for most of these guys and we continue to be too thin to pull this off.
No depth equals no trades.
Reese,
ReplyDeleteFor the Mets to get anything of worth, they have to give up pitching because that is the only thing they have to trade from.
Is it worth to give up a starter in order to get a reliever? I don't think so.
You can break down the Mets situation in many different ways and the solution will always end up being "they need to spend money".
I don't want to hear how the Mets can't afford it because their prices at the gate are not cheap.
deGrom 12M back loaded to 2020 when Cespedes and Bruce are off the books.
Wheeler 2 years 20M with 10M team option. Why would Wheeler do this? because of his injury history. He guarantees himself at least 20M.
Syndergaard and Matz you don't have to do anything until after 2019 season.
Ramos 2 years 18/20M
Familia, Miller or Britton, Octtavino (back loaded contracts if possible)
The Wilpons simply have to spend now knowing that after 2020, Cespedes and Bruce salaries come off the books and the IF will be cheap with Alonzo, McNeil, Gimenez, Rosario. The OF will still be cheap with Conforto, Nimmo +
Spend money, that's the solution.
That's quite a list, as you said Reese.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, but a bunch of them look familiar from the last off season or two on free agent lists. I guess other teams
were a bit more savvy with their pick ups then we were (a disappointing trend under Sandy's guidance).
I like the idea of upgrading the bullpen by any and all means necessary.......free agency, internal options AND trades.
With what is on hand, I would like to see at least two, if not three additions to the bullpen. Of that number, I also want to see a couple of options that can close a game out if need be. BVW seems to be an outside the box thinker and the traditional closer role seems to be going away.
I touch briefly on this at 11 AM. The team's big 2 flaws in 2018.
DeleteWithout a surplus of valuable trade chips and with so many RPs on the FA market, signing instead of trading is the way to go right now.
ReplyDeleteWe have a lot of promising players in the lower minors, and in a year or two we may have the surplus that would make trades more realistic.
A team with excess relief pitching at the major league level might want some of the minor league pitching help if the player the Mets are looking to acquire is in the last year of his current deal. An Eric Hanhold and Jacob Rhame and Steve Nogosek combined might net you a Tony Watson where they figure to save money and if they hit on one of the three then it's a fair deal. Basically I'd be looking to reverse the quality for quantity deals Sandy struck out on.
ReplyDelete