Despite shaky defense, Wilmer Flores will remain the Mets starting shortstop, reports Ken Rosenthal in his latest video for FOX Sports. However, one alternative is to trade Daniel Murphy, shift Flores to second base, and promote shortstop prospect Matt Reynolds. The move would instantly upgrade the Mets’ infield defense. Per Rosenthal, the club may prefer to promote Reynolds once David Wright returns to action.
As for trading Murphy, the club may look to acquire a prospect or reliever. Aside from Jeurys Familia and a couple role players, the Mets bullpen has been a little shaky. However, strong starting pitching has allowed the club to hide that shortcoming. New York relievers have thrown the fewest innings of any team. Conversely, their starters lead the league in innings pitched. Here’s more from Rosenthal:
- Cubs second base prospect Javier Baez is on an 11-for-22 streak, leading to speculation that he could be promoted. The easiest way to insert him into the lineup would be to move Kris Bryant to the outfield and Baez to third. Since the club is juggling several important future pieces, they’ll want to be careful about how they handle the logjam.
- The Orioles are built to sell with eight players on the 25 man roster set to reach free agency after the season. Don’t expect a fire sale anytime soon. Baltimore is just four games back in a shaky AL East. Owner Peter Angelos is loathe to throw in the towel. He famously nixed a couple trades involving Bobby Bonilla and David Wells during the 1996 season. The club later clawed its way into the postseason. It would seem the Orioles’ woes would have to get a lot worse before Chris Davis and others were shopped.
- Many speculate that Mark Trumbo will be available this summer, however the Diamondbacks have publicly resisted the idea. Per Rosenthal, the club believes they will contend next season once Patrick Corbin and other youngsters solidify the rotation. Trumbo is signed to a $6.9MM contract and has one year of arbitration remaining. Arizona could replace Trumbo with a platoon of David Peralta and Yasmany Tomas.
Baez is still striking out at a 25% rate. I wouldn’t promote him until he figures something out. A 25% rate in the minors isn’t gonna translate well to the MLB.
I don’t know how value Chris Davis would be. He hasn’t hit for BA or OBP in 2 years now, he has no defensive value and is almost striking out at a 40% rate.
I think there is reason to be optimistic about Baez. He has been dealing with a lot, especially since his sister passed just recently and they were very close.
Following Friday’s game, Javier Baez told Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register, “I think I found my swing. Well, I don’t think, I know I found my swing. I’m feeling what I was feeling when I was doing good. When I was in Double-A. I haven’t felt like this since I’ve been here.”
In 16 games, Baez is batting .311/.382/.443 with two doubles, two home runs, five walks and 17 strikeouts for a .825 OPS. Baez has stolen five bases.
Taking out his first game of the season in which he was 1-for-6 with a double and three strikeouts, Baez is hitting .327/.403/.455 with a double, two home runs, five walks and 14 strikeouts for a .858 OPS in 15 games.
If he’s only striking out once per game, he might actually help the Cubs’ percentages!
It will be interesting to see what the cubs do at the deadline, do they go all in to trade some of their top prospects for another starter or do they wait till next year to go after another ace.
If the Cubs deal top prospects, I’d expect it to be guys like Vogelbach or McKinney, not a Russell or Bryant. Baez will be the wildcard in the whole thing. If he lives up to potential, he’s a great fit in the Cubs lineup. But if he busts, he’s not worth the high-end return that his name is usually associated with. He’s kind of an all-or-nothing guy at this point.
If the cubs wanted hamels, I think the phillies would be asking for Schwarber as the main piece over Baez or others.
Pretty sure they’d take either as a headliner, though, and Baez would definitely accelerate the rebuild. I know I would personally rather have Baez than Hamels in my org.
schwarber still can’t be traded bc he was drafted less than a year ago
I agree, there’s room for optimism but I would still wait and see. He was hitting well in the minors last year, came up and struck out more than anyone else. Give him time, see the strikeouts drop more, hopefully, then proceed with Bryant in LF and Baez at 3B.
Baez is going to strike out a bunch though. It’s part of who he is as a player. 25-30% is probably being optimistic, and that’s fine. He does other things well and that makes him valuable. But if you’re waiting on him not to strike out, you’re gonna be waiting a long time.
they obviously don’t care about SO rates given that Bryant’s sporting a 30% SO rate and is on pace to look like Mark Reynolds in the SO dept
If he keeps up the .400+ OBP and .900 OPS, we can live with the Ks.
exactly, which is my point, I don;t think they’re concerned over SO rates at all
Baez and Bryant strike out in very different ways.
Baez swings at pitches way out of the zone. Bryant doesn’t.
Bryant gets rung up on borderline pitches.
Heck, the OB could drop down to .340-.350 and he’d still be well above average offensively with the power. At .400, the offense is elite/exceptional.
Well, the K rates might be similar but Bryant has drawn 22 walks in 27 games this season, while Reynolds has drawn 9. I think the Cubs would take a TTO player who hits 30 homers every day of the week.
Bryant is not like Reynolds. Dunn, LaRoche, Reynolds all strike out or hit a home run. Bryant does everything, including SO. Remember when Sosa use to strikeout over 200 times a season? Did anyone really care? No! As long as Bryant continues to do what he is doing…the strikeouts don’t matter
To be fair, while Sosa did strike out a lot, he never struck out over 200 times in a season. His career high was 174.
Remember: Chris Davis plays 1st Base….and plays it average at best defensively.
Javy Baez is a SS by trade and probably has an above average glove at worst when moved to 2B.
Very, very different situations.
Besides, Chris Davis is…like….a good hitter. Inconsistent. But overall, his career has been a success.
I don’t think Brixton was directly comparing Baez and Davis. He was simply making a separate comment on different things.
I wasn’t comparing them. I was tackling 2 points of the original article separately. Davis has had a nice career, but in terms of trade value, he doesn’t offer anything other than power.
Baez was striking out at a 50% clip.. 18.7% in his last 10 games. He is trying to improve. We will find out what happens once he is back in the majors if that happens.
what would it take for the angels to get trumbo back?
A pitching prospect or two not named Heaney I’d imagine, that came out wrong any pitching prospects not named Heaney.
more like not named heaney tropeano and newcomb, I don’t think they would bring trumbo back, they need a lefty bat, I was thinking about adam lind or maybe get both ben revere to play left and then adam lind to dh and split time at first.
You are undervaluing Trumbo by quite a lot right handed power has a lot of value. Look at trade value Cespedes has had.
He does have a lot of power, but right now the angels want a lefty bat to cover the loss of hamilton because joyce is not getting it done right now
I got ya now. Just a not a fit for angels
He would be a fit but if the angels have to give up tropeano heaney or newcomb to get him then its a no deal, other rumors were that the angels are linked to blackmon , dickerson , ben revere , cargo , adam lind . and possibly ryan howard. all lefty bats.
La Russa/Stewart seems to want pitchers that are on fast track to the majors, I imagine he wants a rotation that is going to age together with Bradley/Shipley
Yea well I don’t see the angels trading Newcomb/Heaney/Tropeano to get trumbo, maybe another arm that they have. those three guys are more valuable then trumbo. imo I think their best bet is either revere or adam lind or both. a power dh from the left side and a speedy left fielder who can bat 9th and be another lead off guy lower in the line up.
Cespedes, however has a bit of defensive value while Trumbo has none.
Cespedes would be awesome with the angels, should go after him in free agency lol, imagine an outfield of trout/calhoun/cespedes
Seems like a good fit for that park. All it would cost them is money. He’s more valuable than Trumbo.
Yea he is but right now, I think the angels should look at ben revere to play left
I hate ben revere as a hitter but his play in left has been pretty good this year; as long as he doesn’t play center…
I mean as a hitter he can hit singles and doubles steal bases batting 9th be another lead off guy, just like when they had bourjos. And then for the power bat they could look at adam lind and could use another bullpen arm.
Cespedes doesn’t move like a sack of lard and he has stayed healthy
Trumbo to the Pirates has been speculated for years, even when he was an Angel. What would it take to get it done?
That would be a nice bat behind, probably a nice pitching prospect not named tailon glasnow and kingnam
I think McGuire and a B level prospect would get it done.
Where would he play? 1B is taken and he’s not displacing Marte or Polanco.
Well I remember the angels tried to put him at third when they had trumbo morales and pujols, but that didn’t work out that well for trumbo
That was a disaster. Trumbo is a born DH/part-time 1B who is in the wrong league and the absolutely wrong team for his skills. I don’t understand why Arizona has said they are unwilling to trade him. He’s an awful fit for that team.
because they think they will be contending in 2016 when they have a healthy patrick corbin to go with bradly and shipley. and then have a line up of goldy , trumbo and tomas. But trumbo belongs in the AL. if they do look to trade him the pirates could be a good fit, and maybe another is to bring him back with the angels but they want a lefty bat.
I don’t know that the Pirates are a great fit either; he and Alvarez are basically the same player, and ALvarez is a bit younger and a bit cheaper.
Well speaking on the angels , they need a lefty bat. Adam Lind for dh and maybe ben revere to play left. But if they did get adam lind, the brewers might ask for cron in return.
Can’t imagine what Milwaukee would want with Cron – they’ll need to move Braun to first eventually and Cron has been terrible this season. And Cron can’t even play first.
I’m just thinking like a GM, if they traded lind, they wouldn’t have a first baseman and Cron would be the obvious choice I guess but who knows what the angels will do. other names have been linked to them, Cargo , dickerson , blackmon , revere , adam lind and somehow somebody said michael brantley
I wonder if the Angels would have to give up anything to get Howard? He’s not any worse than Cron. Or maybe if the White Sox fall out of contention Adam Laroche?
I would still take adam lind over Laroach and Howard. Howard needs a change of scenery but only if philly eats 50 mill of the contract, they already said they were willing to do that.
Lind signed as a free agent, right? Because if he was he can’t be traded until June, I think…oops, never mind, he was acquired in a trade. Would be a good fit and probably cheap.
I think he has an option for 2016 I think
brewers need pitching or an athletic infielder (3B, SS, 2B)
Out of curiosity, where does Tomás play?
I have said it and I will say it again. Wilmer Flores has positive defensive grades according to fangraphs and baseball reference. Who is to say Matt Reynolds would be a significant upgrade?
Watching the games would you give Flores a positive review as a SS?
I would
So far this year he’s been no worse than Ian Desmond
No, but he is a guy that will get better with time. It’s not like he’s the worse in the league and trading Syndergaard and Matz to acquire another slightly above average SS does not make sense for the Mets.
He’s not an SS in 2016 but if he can hit exactly like he has since the end of August last year, he’ll be one of the best offensive threats at the position. He has 11 homers in 235 PA from 8/27 onwards; that’s a 30 homer pace over 650 PA. Sure, he probably isn’t a 30 homer guy but even 20-25 is tremendous for a 2B/SS. Heck, Ruben Tejada has 7 homers for his entire career.
Yes, there is no question that the guy can swing the bat a little bit (for a SS). Hopefully he can prove everybody wrong and play passable defense
If Baez is picking up steam wouldn’t trading him make more sense than moving Bryant off 3rd? He could bring back a nice haul and I am not sold on his bat. Castro is proven to be solid and has a set contract. Maybe Baez to the Yankees for Severino and Lindgren, or to the Blue Jays for Norris, or perhaps part of a Hamels package?
Baez for Severino and Lindgren? I think you are dreaming. That sort of proposal would have made sense before last year, but right now I don’t see the Yankees taking Baez for Severino straight up, let alone adding Lindgren to the equation.
Severino has a small build for a power pitcher.. He just screams future elbow trouble and Lindgren is expendable because of Miller. Baez is a power hitting up the middle guy. He will figure things out in the majors in a year or 2. I would take Baez over Severino any day.. I threw Lindgren in so I wouldn’t offend Cubs fans. I seem to remember another can’t miss Yankees pitching prospect with a small build from a couple of years ago.. His name was Manny Banuelos. How did he turn out for the Yanks?
I see your line of thinking, but it is flawed at best. For one, you are comparing Banuelos (a lefty) to Severino (a righty), simply by virtue of their organization. Severino always threw harder than Manny, Manny was just rarer being a lefty. Better comparisons to Severino would be Lincecum, Ventura or Pedro Martinez. Not saying he will have that success, but those are much closer comps based on size, velocity and arsenal.
As well, “Lindgren is expendable because of Miller”? Miller is the Yankees closer, not a situational lefty. Lindgren has “dominant bullpen arm” written all over him and we have seen how much the market values that. Prospects rise and fall based on their performance, especially once they have been around for a bit. Baez has boom or bust potential at this point. If he doesn’t learn to make contact, you are looking at a middle infield version of Chris Carter. Useful, but hardly more valuable than a potential #2/3 pitcher.
Oh and just for fun look at Banuelos’s stats since being traded to Atlanta. He has been quite good since getting healthy. Just needs to lower his walk count.
I compared Severino and Banuelos body type. Whether they are left handed or right handed doesn’t matter. The fact that Severino throws harder than Manny only increases his chance for arm trouble. Your arguments are a bit more flawed than mine because you are failing to use simple logic and are trying way to hard to make a square peg fit into a round hole. Also, didn’t Mike Trout strike out 184 times last year, or was that Chris Carter? You should look up Baez’s stats after he was given ample time to acclimate to each level he was promoted too. You wouldn’t be so harsh on his modest mlb sample size.
Your comparison of Manny and Louis is very weak since body type and organization are all that they have in common. In terms of pitching style and arsenal (i.e. how most people compare pitchers), the players I listed are better comps. Your mention of Banuelos was nothing more than a dig at the Yankees system. That’s fine, but let’s call it what it is.
And if we are talking about flawed arguments, you need to stop with the comparisons. Mike Trout makes contact. Baez does not. Please understand this. Trout can strike out 184 times but hit over .300 because HE MAKES CONTACT.
And where in our conversation was I ever “harsh” on Baez? I simply argued that Severino has more value right now. Baez could very well turn into a power hitting, middle infield force. But his stock has fallen substantially since he has major holes in his swing. You are arguing his value is near what is at the start of last season which is simply not the case.
The Yanks would trade Severino for Baez in an instant. Baez is raking in AAA right now, cutting down the Ks and increasing the walks. He was promoted too early and had some mechanical issues with his swing that were corrected. Lindgren + Severino would be pretty enticing for the Cubs but Baez is the safer choice.
Baez has Amaro centerpiece written all over him.
I think if the cubs wanted hamels and imo I think Amaro would be asking for Kyle Schwarber as the main piece, whoever they trade him to, they want a catcher in return because tommy joseph can not stay healthy.
I remember when Schwarber was drafted there were questions about whether he would be able to stay behind the plate. I see he’s played C/DH this season and C/LF prior to that. Any idea which one he’s more likely to end up at?
Well honestly if the phillies send hamels to the cubs, probably at catcher, or do they ask for baez. imo I think it comes down to the cubs dodgers and my wildcard the padres for hamels, boston I think will go after cueto.
Baez scares me as the headliner for obvious reasons, but the tools are certainly there. I know the Phillies need a young catching prospect, but I’m far more interested right now in just getting good, young talent back in trades than a specific position.
I definitely think the Cubs will be in the Hamels race. The Dodgers could be, but I don’t see what package they’d give up because I don’t see them moving either of Seager/Urias nor do I really blame them (I’m leaving out Pederson because there is no shot he’s going anywhere). I don’t think the Padres have what it takes in the farm to pull off a deal.
I agree that I think Boston ends up going after Cueto, but they definitely have pieces I like in a deal. I don’t see the Cardinals making that big of a splash. I guess you can never count out the Yankees either.
If forced to pick a dark horse, I guess I’d learn towards a surprising team like the Astros if they are still in the hunt a month from now. Not a huge dark horse since they’ve been mentioned already, but not the Cubs/Red Sox/Dodgers/Yankees either.
I agree , I am an angels fan I would love for the angels to pony up to get hamels but at the time right now they don’t need pitching, as we speak they have the best starters era in the AL, and 4th in the league. they need a left fielder and a lefty power bat, I said how about they get revere and maybe adam lind.
Very reasonable targets who shouldn’t an arm and a leg. I’ve always felt Adam Lind is vastly underrated. And despite the current putrid OF in Philly, I could definitely see them moving Revere.
Revere would fit nice with the angels , him in left , trout in center and calhoun in right, and then add adam lind to dh. they are missing that key lefty bat since hamilton is gone, joyce is not getting it done right now
As an Angels fan, what kind of trade value do you see Revere having?
I don’t think It would take much to get revere unless Amaro will over value him and be asking for one of tropeano/heaney/ or newcomb if he does that for revere then dipoto will hang up, I think maybe a reliever prospect and a lower level prospect can get the trade completed for revere.
I’ve said this countless times, but if Amaro asked for anything close to one of those 3 then he should be fired..but let’s be honest, he should be fired anyway. I’m not familiar with the Angels prospects outside of their top ones, so I really don’t know who would match up in a Revere trade. I imagine it wouldn’t take much more than a B-level type of prospect.
Yea nothing more but if he asked for tropeano/newcomb/heaney for revere then he needs to go, I mean I can see him trying to ask for one of them for hamels but not revere.
Almost no scouts think he can stick behind the plate. I live in Bloomington so I watched him play a few times; I can’t say anything to his game calling skills, because pitches in college are called from the bench, but he wasn’t good at controlling the running game. Teams ran on IU quite a bit with Schwarber catching. I think the Cubs are hoping he can stick there, maybe as a Ryan Doumit bat-first catcher, but I bet he ends up in the outfield.
Thanks. I’ve heard similar things and appreciate the insight.
Wherever hamels goes and whoever the phillies get in return it better be the right deal because amaro can not mess up this deal like he did in the past. I’m crossing off boston and the cards for hamels, it’s down to the dodgers and the cubs depending on how they are doing come the deadline, my two wildcards are the m’s and the padres. the m’s only if they are willing to give up alex jackson. I think the cards go after harang or kazmir. Boston I think will make up a package for both cueto and possibly chapman
Man, a Cueto/Chapman package would have to be huge even with Cueto being a rental.
Think the Dodgers have what it takes to get Hamels without parting with one of Seager or Urias? That’s my biggest question with them.
I actually think the dodgers will have to part away with one of them to get him, then maybe 1 or 2 lower level prospects, I said how about zach lee and then a player on the roster
If the Dodgers were willing to part with Seager or Urias then it’s a totally different ballgame.
I see it this way as well, they have to think about if greinke opts out, they have to have insurance and ryu might be out for the year, he might be getting shoulder surgery.
Trumbo is an American League,player he really limed Defensively in the field !
At 86 years old, how much of a grip could Angelos possibly have on the Orioles. His son, John Angelos, seems to be mostly involved and it’s looks like Duquette and Showalter has the most control over player transactions. How relevant is it to bring up Wells and Bonilla in 2015?
86 years old kinda explains why he is loathe to throw in the towel.
A topic about the rays, I saw somebody wrote that the rays should trade Longoria to the cubs for some of their prospects.
That’s a great idea. Because the Cubs don’t have anybody at third and would rather spend money on infielders than on pitchers.
Oh. Wait. The exact opposite of that.
Yea I was watching High Heat with chris russo and somebody sent in a tweet about that since the rays traded myers away
Just want to point out that your link to Matt Reynolds’ baseball-reference page goes to the wrong Matt Reynolds.. the Mets prospect is an infielder with no ML experience.. your link goes to the page for the pitcher who has played for the Rockies and Diamondbacks. 😀