Tony Plate - Mets GM Makes More Trades

New York Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen was very busy during the last two days. He did some wheeling and dealing and the result was three trades completed. They were not trades of huge impact, however the trades were made to add depth to the parent team and to the farm system.

He acquired Keon Broxton who is a superb defensive centerfielder with good speed and can hit 18-25 homeruns from the Milwaukee Brewers for minor leaguers Bobby Wahl, Felix Valerio and Adam Hill. If the Mets do not go with Juan Lagares in centerfield, then Broxton becomes an option to be the starting centerfielder. 

Wahl, a right-handed pitcher came to the Mets at the trade deadline last season from the Oakland Athletics for Jerrys Familia and had a 10.31 ERA in seven appearances with the Mets. He went on the disabled list and missed the final month of the season. Hill, a right-hander, pitched for Single-A Brooklyn last season and Valerio played second base for the Mets’ Dominican Summer League team.

The Mets also acquired infielder J.D. Davis and minor league infielder Cody Bohanek from the Houston Astros for minor leaguers Ross Adolph, an outfielder who played at Single-A Brooklyn last season, second baseman Luis Santana who played at Rookie League Kingsport and catcher Scott Manea who played at Single-A Columbia. 

Davis, who is a third baseman, split time with the Astros and Triple-A Fresno and hit .175 in 42 games with the Astros. 

In the Pacific Coast League, he won the batting title with a .341 average in 85 games with Fresno in 2018. Bohanek who played at three minor league levels hit a combined .214 in 120 games. He played in 11 games at Fresno, 65 games at Buies Creek and 44 games at Quad Cities. He is a versatile infielder who played 70 games at second base, 31 games at third base and 15 games at shortstop and committed only three errors overall for the season.

The Mets weren't done.  They traded Kevin Plawecki to the Cleveland Indians for minor league right-hander Walter Lockett and minor league infielder Sam Haggerty. Plawecki was expendable when the Mets signed Wilson Ramos to a free agent contract and named Travis d’Arnaud as the backup catcher. 

The reason why the Mets chose d’ Arnaud over Plawecki as the backup was because they felt that d’Arnaud had a higher ceiling and Van Wagenen said that d’Arnaud can be a potential utility player who would play at various infield positions. 

Plawecki had improved his defensive play, but hit just .210 with seven home runs in 79 games. 

Lockett spent most of last season in Triple-A and had a 4.73 ERA in which he started 23 games. Haggerty mostly played in Double-A and hit .243/.373/.393 and had a stint in Triple-A last season. The Mets may not be done trading, because they are still looking for a left-handed relief pitcher.