Andrew Gould | Amazin Avenue- The Mets have named Dick Scott their new bench coach. He takes the place of Bob Geren, who had been in the position until he recently accepted the same one with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Although this marks his first role in an MLB team's coaching staff, Scott has spent decades around the game. Among other past positions, Scott was a minor league manager for the Athletics and Diamondbacks. With the Mets, he previously worked behind the scenes as the Mets' director of player development, a position he had held since 2013.
(Chris Soto: Very interesting choice here as I thought for sure that 3B coach Tim Teufel or Binghamton's Manager Pedro Lopez were the primary candidates. Dick Scott is no slouch however as he is very highly regarded within the baseball circles. When times were really bad for the Mets, there was a lot of talk about Scott taking over for Collins. Scott is a true J.P. Riccardi guy as he is heavily into the analytics side of baseball. As good as Geren was at understanding statistical matchups, Scott is viewed as just as good or even better. This is a worthy replacement.)
Michael Baron | Just Mets- On Tuesday, Terry Collins said he would like the Mets to procure a left-handed complement to Juan Lagares in center field, and also some right-handed depth for the roster as well. One of the right-handed bats the Mets are connected to is free agent Ryan Raburn. He hasn’t been a full-time player since 2011, serving mostly in a super-utility role capable of playing in the outfield as well as first base, second base and third base. He has been up and down over the last couple of years but he’s a disciplined hitter who gets on-base and has some pop, although he doesn’t have much speed.
(Chris Soto: Raburn is certainly an interesting target. He is a guy who is very versatile with the ability to play every position except SS, although his IF play is shoddy at best. Offensively, he is a guy who doesn't have significant L/R splits so he could be used in any situation. He does produce more power against Lefties though. His AVG between L/R is only a 14 point difference but his SLG carries a 91 point difference. There could be some lost cost value here.)
HOT STOVE REPORT (courtesy of mlbtraderumor.com)
(Chris Soto: Raburn is certainly an interesting target. He is a guy who is very versatile with the ability to play every position except SS, although his IF play is shoddy at best. Offensively, he is a guy who doesn't have significant L/R splits so he could be used in any situation. He does produce more power against Lefties though. His AVG between L/R is only a 14 point difference but his SLG carries a 91 point difference. There could be some lost cost value here.)
HOT STOVE REPORT (courtesy of mlbtraderumor.com)
- The Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox, and LA Dodgers executed a 3 team trade yesterday that involved star 3B Todd Frazier. Reds will send Frazier to Chicago, the White Sox send SP prospect Frankie Montas, AAA speedster 2B Micah Johnson and OF prospect Trayce Thompson to the Dodgers, and the Dodgers will send speedster 2B prospect Jose Peraza, AA utilityman Brandon Dixon and OF prospect Scott Schebler to the Reds.
- The Washington National are expressing interest in former Mets 2B Daniel Murphy. However, at this point he seems like the back-up option, as the club is also discuissing a potential trade with the Cincinnati Reds for 2B Brandon Phillips. Phillips could be on his way out after the Reds acquired the MLB ready 2B prospect Jose Peraza from the Dodgers.
- The market for top OF'ers Yoenis Cespedes and Justin Upton seems to be very quiet right now. The Angels are one such team that is in need of corner OF help, but owner Arte Moreno indicated that his club hasn't made any offers to them nor are they even in discussions.
