Category Archives: Jose Bautista

Phantom GM Part 3: Exporting Young for Young Guns

The Trade Deadline is quickly approaching, and the Mets, thankfully, are looking more like sellers as each loss piles up. While Sandy Alderson and his personnel were looking for pieces to buy as recently as three weeks ago, the abrupt struggles by the Mets leave them little time to work out trades with the still-contending teams.

For help that nobody in the Mets’ organization will ever see, and mostly for my personal amusement, I’ll be developing a trade a day until the trade deadline. Each one makes sense on paper and will help the Mets for a run next year. If the other team’s prospects don’t get traded to another team within the next three or four hours.

Without further ado, the final trade suggestion:

Mets send RHP Chris Young, RHP Collin McHughOF Juan Lagares, and a roll of duct tape to the Toronto Blue Jays for OF Jake Marisnick, RHP Danny Barnes, and RHP Noah Syndergaard.

OK, this isn’t really realistic. The Blue Jays are ultra-conservative when it comes to their prospects and aren’t true buyers. But if they want to make a run, they need starting pitching, and though they can do better in quality, the Jays flat-out need quantity.

Chris Young, when healthy, is an above-average big league pitcher with below-average stuff. His command makes him a fighter, and though he may not have the stuff to dominate the AL East, he has a chance to wade the waters. The roll of duct tape would be included to keep Young’s right shoulder attached to his body.

Collin McHugh is a whole other story. Undrafted out of high school, and a mid round pick out of college, McHugh has put up a 2.95 ERA over two levels of the minors this year, including AAA. The AL East is not the International League, and there’s a good chance that McHugh and his below average peripherals will get eaten alive by the cutthroat division. He’d still be a better option than the in-house starters Toronto has called up this year though.

Juan Lagares projects as a corner outfielder and has the potential to be a .300 hitter with some pop in his bat. He has above-average speed and could develop to be a LF that hits 10-15 HRs a year and plays solid defense.

As for the return, Jake Marisnick is prize 1a. The Blue Jays already have fellow CF prospect Anthony Gose, who is way more developed at this point. They also have Jose Bautista and Colby Rasmus as their other two outfielders, and would have no room for Marisnick. His floor is being average with all five tools (hitting, power, speed, defense, arm), and his ceiling is being a five tool player with a good all-around game. The Mets could use a true CF.

Righty Danny Barnes is dominating AA ball as a reliever averaging 10.6 strikeouts per nine innings, with a 2.38 ERA across two levels. He wouldn’t join the Mets immediately and would probably be a summer call-up. The Princeton product, and Long Island native sits at around 93mph with some cutting action on his fastball, and is developing above-average off-speed offerings. If he reaches his ceiling, it would be that of a really good closer.

And finally, prize 1b: Noah Syndengaard, a RHP from Texas. Syndengaard has good command of a dominating fastball that can break 100mph, and easily sits at 95mph with it. While still raw (he turns 20 in late August), his curveball and changeup flash above-average potential. He’s projectable at 6’5 and, if developed properly, has the potential to be a future ace. He’s years-and-years away, and may not pan out as anything more than a flame-throwing reliever, but he’d be a fantastic get for the Mets.

So why would Toronto trade a future ace, closer, and centerfielder for two months of Chris Young, an average AAA pitcher in McHugh, and an average OF prospect? Well, I mentioned this offer was unrealistic, but it can make sense if everything fell into place.

The first step is Toronto becoming buyers. The second is that the incredible depth of their farm system, and the pressure facing Blue Jays’ GM Alex Anthopoulous force him to make a fairly bad trade. Toronto is dying for a winning franchise to bring back the excitement of the early 90s, and right now, they’re on the cusp of getting some starting pitching back, and their slugger back. They only sit 4.5 games behind the second Wild Card, and solidifying a woebegone-rotation at the expense of your second best centerfielder, your 4th or 5th best pitching prospect, and a minor league reliever would please the fans. Besides, Toronto has quality to go along with it’s quantity, and there won’t be enough room for all of those prospects on the big league roster.

—–

As an aside, I can’t wait to see one of these three Toronto prospects traded to a different team like San Diego or something.

Posted in Absurd Minor League Depth, AL East, Alex Anthopoulous, Anthony Gose, Chris Young, Colby Rasmus, Collin McWho?, Danny Barnes, Duct Tape: The Universal Adhesive, Jake Marisnick, Jose Bautista, Juan Lagares, New York Mets, Noah Syndengaard, Phantom GM, Toronto Blue Jays, Trade Deadline | Comments Off on Phantom GM Part 3: Exporting Young for Young Guns

Phantom GM Part 3: Exporting Young for Young Guns

The Trade Deadline is quickly approaching, and the Mets, thankfully, are looking more like sellers as each loss piles up. While Sandy Alderson and his personnel were looking for pieces to buy as recently as three weeks ago, the abrupt struggles by the Mets leave them little time to work out trades with the still-contending teams.

For help that nobody in the Mets’ organization will ever see, and mostly for my personal amusement, I’ll be developing a trade a day until the trade deadline. Each one makes sense on paper and will help the Mets for a run next year. If the other team’s prospects don’t get traded to another team within the next three or four hours.

Without further ado, the final trade suggestion:

Mets send RHP Chris Young, RHP Collin McHughOF Juan Lagares, and a roll of duct tape to the Toronto Blue Jays for OF Jake Marisnick, RHP Danny Barnes, and RHP Noah Syndergaard.

OK, this isn’t really realistic. The Blue Jays are ultra-conservative when it comes to their prospects and aren’t true buyers. But if they want to make a run, they need starting pitching, and though they can do better in quality, the Jays flat-out need quantity.

Chris Young, when healthy, is an above-average big league pitcher with below-average stuff. His command makes him a fighter, and though he may not have the stuff to dominate the AL East, he has a chance to wade the waters. The roll of duct tape would be included to keep Young’s right shoulder attached to his body.

Collin McHugh is a whole other story. Undrafted out of high school, and a mid round pick out of college, McHugh has put up a 2.95 ERA over two levels of the minors this year, including AAA. The AL East is not the International League, and there’s a good chance that McHugh and his below average peripherals will get eaten alive by the cutthroat division. He’d still be a better option than the in-house starters Toronto has called up this year though.

Juan Lagares projects as a corner outfielder and has the potential to be a .300 hitter with some pop in his bat. He has above-average speed and could develop to be a LF that hits 10-15 HRs a year and plays solid defense.

As for the return, Jake Marisnick is prize 1a. The Blue Jays already have fellow CF prospect Anthony Gose, who is way more developed at this point. They also have Jose Bautista and Colby Rasmus as their other two outfielders, and would have no room for Marisnick. His floor is being average with all five tools (hitting, power, speed, defense, arm), and his ceiling is being a five tool player with a good all-around game. The Mets could use a true CF.

Righty Danny Barnes is dominating AA ball as a reliever averaging 10.6 strikeouts per nine innings, with a 2.38 ERA across two levels. He wouldn’t join the Mets immediately and would probably be a summer call-up. The Princeton product, and Long Island native sits at around 93mph with some cutting action on his fastball, and is developing above-average off-speed offerings. If he reaches his ceiling, it would be that of a really good closer.

And finally, prize 1b: Noah Syndengaard, a RHP from Texas. Syndengaard has good command of a dominating fastball that can break 100mph, and easily sits at 95mph with it. While still raw (he turns 20 in late August), his curveball and changeup flash above-average potential. He’s projectable at 6’5 and, if developed properly, has the potential to be a future ace. He’s years-and-years away, and may not pan out as anything more than a flame-throwing reliever, but he’d be a fantastic get for the Mets.

So why would Toronto trade a future ace, closer, and centerfielder for two months of Chris Young, an average AAA pitcher in McHugh, and an average OF prospect? Well, I mentioned this offer was unrealistic, but it can make sense if everything fell into place.

The first step is Toronto becoming buyers. The second is that the incredible depth of their farm system, and the pressure facing Blue Jays’ GM Alex Anthopoulous force him to make a fairly bad trade. Toronto is dying for a winning franchise to bring back the excitement of the early 90s, and right now, they’re on the cusp of getting some starting pitching back, and their slugger back. They only sit 4.5 games behind the second Wild Card, and solidifying a woebegone-rotation at the expense of your second best centerfielder, your 4th or 5th best pitching prospect, and a minor league reliever would please the fans. Besides, Toronto has quality to go along with it’s quantity, and there won’t be enough room for all of those prospects on the big league roster.

—–

As an aside, I can’t wait to see one of these three Toronto prospects traded to a different team like San Diego or something.

Posted in Absurd Minor League Depth, AL East, Alex Anthopoulous, Anthony Gose, Chris Young, Colby Rasmus, Collin McWho?, Danny Barnes, Duct Tape: The Universal Adhesive, Jake Marisnick, Jose Bautista, Juan Lagares, New York Mets, Noah Syndengaard, Phantom GM, Toronto Blue Jays, Trade Deadline | Comments Off on Phantom GM Part 3: Exporting Young for Young Guns

Lets Go Nats!

The Mets are in the midst of playing 20 games in 20 days and open up a three game series at Citi Field against the NL East-leading Washington Nationals today. This is the crucial stretch of the Mets’ free-falling season.

As the Mets entered July, R.A. Dickey had a  June that brought comparisons to Cliff Lee’s epic month last year, and the Mets were 43-36, riding a four game winning streak after sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers on the road. It looked like this could be one of the most surprising Mets teams in memory. Not 1969 Miracle Mets surprising, but 1999-2000 surprising. And, the Mets are celebrating their 50th season of existence! It was a storybook season–you couldn’t write this!

Flash forward to July 23rd, and the Mets have won four games since sweeping the Dodgers. They’ve lost nine of their last 10 contests, most recently being swept by the Dodgers at home. R.A. Dickey has had a July to forget and the Mets are 47-48, the first time the team has been below .500 all year. They currently sit 8.5 games behind the Nationals, and five games behind the rival Atlanta Braves for the 2nd Wild Card spot.

Ah, the 2nd Wild Card spot; the game-changer. Why shouldn’t the Mets go for it? Five games over two months isn’t a huge deficit (the Mets and Braves each have 67 games to go), and if the Mets win the one-game series against the other Wild Card winner, they sneak their way into the playoffs–anything can happen there! The Mets don’t need much help in the way of starting pitching or hitting, but add a few solid relievers, and suddenly they’re a formidable team. Hell, what am I saying? Lets sell the farm and win the World Series!

The above was how a optimistic fan would look at things (read the byline of the blog). That whole scenario brings us back to the title of this post: as a Mets fan, I hope the Nationals sweep the Mets in this coming series. Bury them, kill them, I don’t care. I don’t want the Mets to win a single game of this series. If Washington can take the Mets out into the backyard, put the shotgun to their head, and pull the trigger, I’ll be grateful.

The 2012 season has been a fun one, but it needs to die. The worst thing that can happen to the Mets franchise is hope. Following the brutal 2006 NLCS, the Mets have been a disaster. As Fred Wilpon so eloquently put it: “We’re snakebitten, baby.” Two years of being eliminated from playoff contention on the last day of the season, followed by three years of mediocre, uninspiring baseball has all led up to this season.

The Mets are on the upswing, there’s no denying that. Of their eight regular position players, only the LF (Jason Bay/Scott Hairston) and CF (Andres Torres) have come from outside the Mets farm system. They have two of the most exciting pitching prospects in the minors (Zach Wheeler, and Matt Harvey (making his first start on Thursday)), and some electric bullpen arms (Jenrry Mejia and Jeurys Familia) that will graduate to the majors in the upcoming year or so. A Mets fan can start to hope, but not for this year.

You can’t let something as tantalizing as a one-game playoff to get into the actual playoffs, throw the franchise plan off course. It took the Mets years to get out of the ruins former-GM Omar Minaya left them in. Yes, they’re five games back of a Wild Card spot, but there are five other teams all within five games of that second Wild Card. Even if the Mets get past the Braves, they still have to get by the Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals, and also hold off the Arizona Diamondbacks to claim that Wild Card. Why trade four-to-six years of a future asset for a two-month rental? It’s an uphill climb the Mets just aren’t ready for yet.

It was an uphill climb in 2004 when the Mets were six games back during the trade deadline, and those damn Mets had hope. On that day, the Mets made two trades that altered the course of the franchise into what they’ve become today. First they traded their best pitching prospect, Scott Kazmir, to the now Tampa Bay Rays, for journeyman starter Victor Zambrano. Then, they traded future MVP-candidate Jose Bautista to the Pirates for another journeyman starter, Kris Benson. The Mets finished that year 71-91, 25 games out of first place, and 21 games out of the Wild Card. Meanwhile, Bautista has hit 124 Home Runs through the last two-and-a-half seasons, while Kazmir was a good pitcher from 2005-2008 before flaming out.

Just think of where the Mets would be though if they had kept both and admitted defeat in 2004. Bautista would be patrolling LF where Jason Bay and his albatross of a contract is currently platooning, and Kazmir had a WAR (Wins Above Replacement) of 5.5 in 2007, and a WAR of 3.6 in 2008. Replace John Maine and his 2.2 WAR in 2007, and 1.3 WAR in 2008, and the Mets would have three extra wins in ’07, and two in ’08, enough to make the playoffs both years.

So all of this is pleading with the Mets to not repeat a mistake the franchise has made once already. Please, Washington, kill the Mets season. Make the Mets trade deadline sellers, instead of trade deadline buyers. Even the most optimistic Mets fan can’t justify trading for help when you’re 11.5 games out of first place. Next year is a time for hope, not this year.

Posted in Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Fred Wilpon, Holy Shit That's A Lot of Tags, Jason Bay, Jason Bay's Contract Is So Big It Requires It's Own Tag, Jenrry Mejia, Jeurys Familia, Jose Bautista, Kris Benson, Los Angeles Dodgers, Matt Harvey, New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, R.A. Dickey, Rants, Rants and Raves, Scott Kazmir, St. Louis Cardinals, Trade Deadline, Victor Zambrano, Washington Nationals, Zach Wheeler | Comments Off on Lets Go Nats!