The Mets acquired first baseman Allan Dykstra from the Padres for righty Eddie Kunz in a swap of former first-round picks, tweets Darren Smith of XX 1090.
Dykstra, 24 in May, hit .241/.372/.438 in 469 plate appearances at High-A last year. He was drafted 23rd overall by the Padres in '08. Two years ago, Baseball America ranked him eighth among Padres prospects, praising his "plus-plus raw power and plate discipline" while expressing concern about a hip ailment and his lack of athleticism. Dykstra did not crack BA's top 30 Padres prospects '10 or '11. He's one of Paul DePodesta's guys, tweets Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus.
Kunz, 25 in April, posted a 5.34 ERA, 5.1 K/9, 5.5 BB/9, and 0.6 HR/9 in 111 1/3 Double-A innings last year, including 12 starts. Drafted 42nd overall in 2007 as a supplemental pick for the loss of Roberto Hernandez, Kunz last made the Mets' top 30 prospects one year ago at the #25 spot. According to BA, Kunz's stock plummeted as his fastball and slider regressed and he struggled with his command and conditioning.
was taken #23 overall in 08 draft, actually right after Mets picked Reese Havens
Nice pickup for Mets!
No, no he’s not. The Padres traded him rather than release him outright. He was not going to secure a spot on their Double-A roster.
This is just a case of two organizations taking on someone else’s headache in exchange for their own.
Guy with a high career OBP for a reliever who could do nothing well? Sounds pretty decent to me.
When the Padres took him they likened him to Jim Thome. Don’t think he’ll supplement Ike Davis (from the same draft) anytime soon, or ever for that matter. We’ll see if the Padres reputation of taking other teams castaway’s and turning them into big league relievers continues. Not terribly hopefull on that front.
Sounds like a low price reclamation project by the Pads and a low risk/high reward potential trade for the Mets. Don’t know much about the Pads farm, but a few internet searches and I couldn’t find Dykstra’s name on any top 20 or 30 list of Pads prospects. So I’m guessing no one currently considered this guy a future star or even a future major leaguer.
But as you said, Pads can turn any reliever on the ropes in his career into a star. Maybe Kunz just requires a little action in PETCO park.
Even as a Mets fan, I think it’ll be hilarious if Kunz becomes the second coming of Heath Bell.
when I saw this trade, all I could think of was Heath Bell for Ben Johnson. I didn’t think anything of that trade at the time.
I wish Eddie Kunz well, but let’s just say I’m not rooting for a renaissance in SD.
I wouldn’t say potentially failed minor leaguers are “headaches.” But sometimes a change of scenery can push a prospect in the right direction.
Even though the entire player development regime has changed since he was drafted, there absolutely is pretty significant pain for an organization having to explain how they so badly misjudged a guy that he’s out of the organization after just two years of playing. By trading him for another imploded first-round pick, the organization can at least say they’ve picked up someone with some underlying talent but significant question marks. (And the Mets can do likewise). That’s what I meant by headache.
It’s not hard for a new regime to admit the previous regime made a mistake…..which is what is happening in both cases here.
As a Mets fan, i’m likely biased, but I think Dykstra is more interesting then Kunz though…he’s a year younger and has shown good patience (extremely high walk rates) and power (IsoP near .200 last year)…..just needs to make some more contact, which could still happen. Kunz throws one pitch (a sinker) and doesn’t even have command of that one.
Kind of….the Mets folks (Alderson and Depo) picked Dykstra in the first place.
He was probably 4th or 5th on the Padre 1B chart as it stands. There honestly isn’t much there considering the hip problems.
Someone with great plate discipline or a reliever who can’t pitch…
with great discipline in single-A ball, where he also strikes out almost 30% of the time without power*
no power? ok. 16 homers in 350 ab’s
what is ISO and why does a .175 in A-ball suck
It would be nice if he wasn’t trapped behind Ike Davis…Kunz was a putz (no pun intended), but i do like the .372 obp
have they given up on kunz? I thought he was supposed to be the future closer before parnell came into the picture
he was, until he started sucking 2-3 years ago
He never developed in any way since those projections.
seems like there is a run on Dykstras these days
Allan is not as intimidating as Cutter though!
The Pads have Rizzo and even Blanks ahead of him at 1st base, so I think Dykstra was the odd man out. Hopefully this is Heath Bell pt2
While you’re right about the top of the depth chart, moving him is about the fact that he’s fallen behind Cody Decker and Nate Freiman, and wasn’t close to overtaking Matt Clark. (For Mets fans, if you don’t recognize these names… that’s kind of the point.)
Really no comparison between the two, aside from being hard throwing relief prospects in the Mets system. There were always underlying signs of Bell’s success, be it an 8.8 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 with the Mets in the big leagues, and a 10.4 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 in his minor league career. He just could never turn those impressive K/BB ratios into Major League success for the Mets.
Kunz has never been nearly as impressive…..his career K/9 is 5.9 and his career BB/9 is 5.1…in the minors. Last year he actually walked more batters then he struck out….and that was as a 24 year old in AA.
kunz hasnt thrown hard in 3 years
Even worse…
keeps dreaming. never happen. kunz is garbage. heath bell was never garbage
They also have Cantu and Hawpe who can play 1B. Allan is also related to Lenny.
No he isn’t. Cutter is related to Lenny not Allan. Allan has no relation to Lenny at all.
Allen is, however, related to James, who was a late-round pick by the Rockies last year and is off at Yavapai JC burnishing his credentials as a power hitter himself. Rumor is that both of his hips are functional.
He’s going to be the best player they ever had but first he needs a little loan, just temporary, to pay the bill on his jet. Some mixup with the credit card company, he’ll pay you back tomorrow.
Dykstra was useless. A huge guy with some power but can’t hit the ball and has hip issues. Best case, he becomes a Jack Cust clone, but he has a long, long way to go to get there.
just getting rid of dead weight like kunz is worth it. getting a guy with some power and good obp with still some upside makes it even better
This is a trade of two guys who quite likely career minor leaguers! The Padres don’t think that Dykstra has a big league future and the Mets don’t think Kunz has one . . . both teams are probably right.
dyks for kunz
sounds like some type organization.
seems fair lefty’s hit better at citi while pitcher pitch better at petco, of course if they both make it to the majors.
I wonder if the Mets will be acquiring Rafael Santana’s son soon…now that was a ballplayer. Nobody could hit .218 and play a sub-standard shortstop like Raffy?!?!
Dykstra’s BR page says he is 6′ 5″ and has a only 2 full years in the minors. His BA is low, but with a .388 OBP and 28 homers he has some potential whatever his current flaws are.
The Padres fleeced the Mets on this one. There farm system is now stocked with future studs, but the east coast media refuses to acknowledge it.
How did the Padres fleece the Mets? Kunz has a long ways to go before he can even be considered big league material. As primarily a reliever his W/BB, WHIP, and ERA totals are terrible. To make matters worse, he regressed in performance from ’09 to ’10, and he moved DOWN levels from AA to AAA. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a Padres fan and am ecstatic that we got rid of Dykstra, but to say we fleeced the Mets in this deal is just bogus.
Additionally, the “east coast media” has acknowledged the improvement in our farm system. Baseball America (who probably is the most credible source for this info) ranked us No. 8 in the entire MLB. Pretty big jump when you consider that at the beginning of the ’10 season we were at 19/20.
BA ranked you as No.8??? I suggest you check again. No. 20.
link to baseballamerica.com
Maybe it’s a misunderstanding on my part, but this is what I’ve seen, which was re-posted on MLBTR not too long ago. Nonetheless, if it is different than organizational rankings, being No. 8 in “Organizational Talent” and “Impact talent and overall depth” just reinforces what we’re talking about earlier. The Padres system has dramatically improved, and we have some studs who could turn out to be solid to potentially all-star big leaguers.
My apologies. I thought you were talking about the Mets. My mistake.
Eh, I thought the same about Joey Devine. Announcer were raving about his potential… then he gave up a game losing grand slam in his first outing. Gets traded to Oakland, a major pitchers park, and suddenly he’s an ace set up man. Maybe Kunz just needs a fresh start.
Of course my argument would make sense and hold the slightest bit of relevance if Devine had pitched in the last 2 years.