AUGUST 15: Milwaukee took on $3MM of Walker’s salary, per an Associated Press report (via USA Today). New York sent just under $1.7MM in the deal to cover the rest of the obligation.
AUGUST 12: The Brewers have acquired second baseman Neil Walker and cash from the Mets for a player to be named later, according to announcements from both teams. Walker has nearly $5MM remaining on his contract, but it’s unclear how much the Mets will pay. The 31-year-old cleared waivers last week and was therefore eligible to be traded to any club.
There might have been more buzz about Walker at the July trade deadline had he not just recently come back from a six-week stint on the DL with a partial hamstring tear. The Yankees reportedly had a deal in place to acquire Walker then, but it fell apart for medical reasons. Walker hit poorly in the week immediately following his return, but has had success lately, batting 7-for-18 in his past five games.
Injury aside, Walker is having a fairly typical season in 2017, batting .264/.339/.442 with his set of unspectacular but well-rounded offensive skills. He’s graded as approximately average defensively thus far this year, with UZR marking him as a bit better than most and DRS indicating he’s a bit worse. He’s making $17.2MM after accepting the Mets’ qualifying offer last winter and is eligible for free agency at season’s end.
Walker bolsters a Brewers infield that currently features Eric Sogard at second base. Sogard has batted a robust .283/.392/.405 this season, although that sort of offensive production is atypical for him, and he’s hit .108/.214/.108 in 43 plate appearances while battling injury over the past month. Another Brewers second baseman, Jonathan Villar, is in the midst of a disappointing .222/.281/.346 season after a 2016 breakout. The Brewers’ offense as a whole has been one of baseball’s worst since the start of the second half, with their 91 runs in that span placing ahead of only the Rays. That span has roughly corresponded to the team’s recent slide in the standings — the Brewers are 9-18 since the All-Star break. The team had apparently targeted second base as a potential area they might upgrade, with previous reports connecting them to Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler.
With Walker gone, the Mets will surely continue to give rookie Amed Rosario the bulk of the playing time at shortstop. Some combination of Asdrubal Cabrera and Wilmer Flores will likely man second and third.
FanRag’s Jon Heyman first tweeted that the teams had agreed to a Walker trade. FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal was first to report that a deal was close (on Twitter). Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweeted that New York would include cash in the trade. Mike Puma of the New York Post noted (via Twitter) that the Mets would receive a player to be named later. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Do it!!!
Boy I hope they give up next to nothing for him.
It probably depends on how much of his contract the Brewers are picking up. My guess: Brewers pick up the rest (it’s just this year), one middling prospect going back.
Yeah agreed
Really you are right Frank.
How many underperforming second baseman do they need?
Gotta catch em all
I’m guessing maybe Brett Phillips for walker.
Lol
You have to be trolling. Or high. Or both
One of the most consistent players on the team in 2 years, I hope they get something good for him
He cleared waivers and is a free agent as year’s end. In a deep system like Milwaukee’s, you’re probably looking at ~20th ranked prospect… just my prediction.
Milwaukee & Houston must really believe this is the Dodgers year & decided to make a run next year. A huge disservice to their fans and their current squad. Holding back all top prospects when they could be used to add a player or two that could have put them over the top. Nothing is guranteed.Dodgers could go cold, injuries, etc…bad bad decisions.
Idk about the astros but you really think the Brewers could contend this season?
The Brewers ARE contending. They are 3 games out in the Central. I think that the Cardinals will take that division in the end, but right now the Brewers are definitely still in it.
Third place, bro lol
They unfortunately are going in the wrong direction
The Cubs will figure it out and win it by 5 games.
Spoken like a man whose team traded all their prospects and has nothing to show for it.
Umm, most teams go for it when in a position to make the playoffs.
But with the second Wild Card most teams are in position to make the playoffs.
The Dodgers didn’t “go for it” the last few years. As such, they kept their top prospects Seager and Bellinger and now because of their smart decision making they are the favorite to win it all. There is “position” to make the playoffs and “position” to do damage. The Brewers knew they weren’t in the later position yet, but could be soon with Brinson, Hader et al.
And again, what did the Tigers ever win by trading all their prospects and now having to rebuild with the worst farm system in baseball?
They won 2 American League pennants in their 10 year run. That’s nothing to scoff at.
Read again. I said most teams and never mentioned the Tigers, did I?
Wild card teams have won pennants and the WS, but that concept escapes your line of reasoning.
They ruled their division for more than a decade, farm system is not the worst. Suarez, Travis, Knebel, Perez, Castellanos are all
Graduates. Tigers have absolutely nothing to scoff at, they go down as one of the
Best groups to never win. 2014 rotation had 4 cy young winners, playoffs are a crapshoot. And oops
My phone sucks. Apologies to everyone for the replies. It automatically keeps posting comments before Im ready
Look at all the prospect they traded. Then look at the players they acquired. Seems they made the right decision. I much enjoyed the 10 year run of competitive, entertaining and meaningful baseball.
Just like the pirates right? Prospects always hit,
Read again, I was speaking to Detroit Dave.
Hope you’ll equally enjoy the 6 year run of meaningless, non-competitive bad baseball.
So while the Dodgers were winning the NL West the last few years you would have advocated trading prospects like Seager and Bellinger to get them over the hump. That’s why you’re not running a baseball team.
Bull, based on your quotes ‘ go for it’, etc you were responding to me.
Also cut the crap with the Dodgers as a role model for roster construction. How much is the Dodger payroll? Take a look chief. Once again, beyond your level of understanding, but the Dodgers within the last couple of years were paying more money to released players than a couple of teams were paying for their 25 man roster. Maybe the luxury tax and current payroll has more to do with lost cost players than anything, but surely your explanation is the only answer.
“One of the best groups to never win” means absolutely nothing, I hate to break it to you.
Man the Brewers are really making a hard push for the wild card ! Who cares about actually building a consistent team that can compete every night when you can band-aid together a wild card team every five years
What do you think they’ve been trying to do the last two years by stockpiling prospects? Using your logic throwing money at veteran free agent pitchers like Lohse, Suppan, and Garza will surely work out for them, like they have in the past.
Lmao clearly you don’t get sarcasm , I’m not disagreeing with you it’s frustrating I’m a Brewers fan and it’s an endless cycle . We never actually properly rebuild the team just throw money at useless old veterans and trade our farm system for guys like sabathia and greinke so we can band-aid together a wildcard team . An actual rebuild takes time and losing getting prospects with high draft picks and letting them develop .. Ask the Astros .
If we would have never made the trades for sabathia and greinke we would have Michael Brantley , Alcides Escobar , Lorenzo Cain and Jake Odorizzi ..
Eh hindsight is 20/20. Both the trades for Sabathia and Greinke worked out for the Brewers. Postseason appearances in both instances and two games away from the WS in 2011. Just happened to run into a hot team in StL. As far as properly rebuilding the team, that’s what this. Instead of trading Brinson, Hader, Phillips, Ray, etc for Gray or Quintana they stood pat which I was actually perfectly fine with. Keep stockpiling the farm system, then when the time is right, make that trade for an ace that can get you over the top.
Yes, nothing is guaranteed. I’m surprised they didn’t put more metal to the pedal. But I understand that both teams are thinking long term and thus don’t want to spend their top prospects at trade deadline. It’s a very costly way to do a trade.
I am a metz fan and was just wondering is there anyone in the minors that could replace him next year or who is the top second baseman hitting the market
They could keep Cabrera or use Flores or Rivera. Cecchini is the AAA option but that don’t see hi as much more than a bench piece.
Rivera is the best internal option, but he has an arm injury that will need to heal. Flores is passable at 2B, but only a consideration bc he murders lefties. I hope Asdrubal gets traded and never sees the 2018 roster. His option is very meh given his mediocre production.
I think we pick up that option and play him at 3rd. We have to keep pretending that wright is coming back so we can’t go actually fix that hole.
I can’t tell if this question is serious or a joke. I like what Walker can do when he’s right. But in 10.5 months with this club, he’s spent 2.5 on the DL, and 3 months hitting poorly. How hard is that to replace? Meanwhile, WIlmer Flores has posted similar offensive numbers despite being shuttled between the bench and three positions around the infield.
Flores is entering his prime and getting better, while Walker is leaving his and getting hurt regularly. Flores has cost a shade over $12 million these past two seasons, wile Walker has made $27 million.
@pandaMets
Walker’s a polished professional, switch hitter, clubhouse leader who plays reliable defense and is always a threat offensively from both sides of plate.
Flores is liability defensively, and very slow – major weakness.es The bat is improving and that’s a plus.
But losing a well respected, veteran like Walker is big loss especially to the young players who need players to mirror, teach, and help them grow. That can’t be replaced by Flores to that degree.. The only remaining position player veterans that remain are Granderson, Reyes and Cabrera. Plus David Wright whenever he’s in the clubhouse.. Cespedes is in a world of his own and doesn’t count in that way. When all is said and done, Reyes may be the only one left.
Walker actually has a negative dWAR at 2nd this year, He does not have the same mobility as last year, and he is a bit slower. Flores, meanwhile, is not a liability at 2nd as he is at 3rd. Yeah, Walker’s still the better fielder. But its not as big a difference as you make it out to be.
I’m not disputing that Walker is a good player to have around. But the reality is that he was a free agent at the end of the season, anyway, regardless of whether they trade him or not. If they love him that much, they can still pursue him in free agency. But his rejection of the Mets extension offer in the off season indicates that he wasn’t going to sign for much of a discount in order to forego free agency.
3.7 WAR last season and 1.5 WAR this season. That is extremely hard to replace.
Yeah, those are nice numbers. Unfortunately, they are not Walker’s. His WAR was 2.4 last season. You were probably looking at 2015, The problem is he was 28 years old and in the midst of his prime that year. He is now leaving his prime and his health has become unreliable.
Neil Walker – fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=7539&position=2B
did the Brewers give the Mets Jonathan Villar and Eric sogard for him
No
Just Villar
Consistent? He’s hit below .200 in three of his eight months on the active roster here.
Consistent doesn’t necessarily mean good.
There’s absolutely no one that would replace Walker. Why they’re trading him is beyond me. Neil is a solid player. The only thing I can think of, is the Mets (hopefully) will try and reunite with Murphy for next year, since Murphy will be a FA
As far as this season, I imagine it’ll be a lot of Reyes and some Flores. Next season, I think Rivera will be the starter if he’s healthy. Not a great player, but he’s proven that he can reasonably adjust to major league pitching
Mets traded Walker because he can walk after this year. Save $ and perhaps get something for him.
And Murphy isn’t a FA after this year.
And the mets can still sign walker back this offseason if that’s the route they’d like to go. Or they could swing a deal for kinsler this offseason
both dumb ideas…
There’s a better chance of Murphy signing with the Jets than the Mets
Murphy is a Free-Agent at seasons end. Phillips and Villar would have to be placed on Wavier’s and Team with a worse record then the Mets might claim them.
Murphy is a free agent at the end of 2018. Look it up.
Exactly. They also can’t offer him a QO bc they did already last year. He’s too expensive to extend w. Rivera (.300 hitter with a decent enough glove) available to replace him at a fraction of the cost. Mets ownership blows and hates to spend money, so given no half of an option for cheap they are likely to take it.
Yes! That means he can’t help the Mets beat the Phillies tonight and tomorrow!
Milwaukee and Seattle are in the same predicament, yet they keep trying to acquire more offense instead of addressing their real problems, Pitching.
The Brewers have acquired nothing but pitching until this move. They weren’t willing to pay the price of a top starter and there wasn’t much else out there that was going to be a huge improvement over what they had. Up until the last couple games their rotation was pitching well, they just couldn’t score any runs.
Bruh I’m a Brewers fan and we haven’t acquired any pitching other than the guy from the white sox and guys other teams cut , we don’t even draft pitching we just keep getting center fielders in the first round
They’ve drafted a ton of pitching, just not in the first round since their disastrous string first round pitching that ended with Medrios. And yes, most of the pitching moves they’ve made have been cast offs, but who exactly did you think they were gonna go after?
Not to mention the moves to bring in high upside pitching prospects like Hader, Ortiz, Bickford, Diplan, Peralta, Pennington, etc. I realize they don’t help the big league club yet, but it’s not like they’ve avoided the position.
Neil Walker: 10-36-.264/.339/.442 1.o WAR 265 AB
Scooter Gennett 19-66-.292/.339/.539 1.5 WAR 308 AB
Of course you knew that Gennett, a notorious heavy split player, was going to have a career year.
The writing was all over the wall for scooter Gennett’s ISO to spike over 100 points over his career average. Could’ve been seen from a mile away from anyone who’s watched a baseball game before.
Uh, no. But nice try. Still can’t hit lefties. Still can’t play defense. Having a career year. Next season when his numbers decline people will be speaking of him in the same terms they speak of Jonathan Villar.i
Brewers fans are a might testy about a simple comparison that shows their club might have been better off keeping Gennett.
No, they just think second guessers are a bore.
Walker 1.5 WAR – fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=7539&position=2B
Gennett 1.5 WAR – fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=10339&position=2B
RBI is a team stat and has no bearing on a discussion of individual performance. Gennett had 50 more at bats with men on base and 82 more baserunners.
If you want something that is applicable, look at BA with RISP or % of baserunner that scored. Those are individual stats.
Walker hit .393 with RISP and Gennett hit .360.
Yes, however, Gennett did it in Cincinnati and Walker did it in New York. I’m not trying to cause a ruckus. I said when the Reds signed Gennett that it was a wise acquisition. It’s nice to have been right about that one.
Are you trying to say that Gennett did it in a hitters park and Walker did it in a pitchers park? Gennett was no doubt a good signing for the Reds. The Reds had Peraza and that was it, no depth. The Brewers had Villar coming off an incredible season and Sogard.
Scooter had lost his job to Villar and was not supposed to see much time even on Villar’s off days due to Perez. He had a terrible spring and was probably going to be optioned down and start the season in AAA. Easy to second guess the decision now, but it was the right move at the time.
In all seriousness scooter hasn’t had a full season of ABS either his numbers could’ve fell of a cliff with a full season of ABS. Regardless there was nothing in Gennett’s profile to see this coming. But sometimes a guy needs a change of
Scenery or a new hitting coach to help fix some flaws and you get a result like this. Part of the game.
Who’d the Mets get in return?
A Trek bike.
Hey, is that a Huffy? That’s a nice lookin’ bike, boy!
Then the brewers overpaid imo
It better be a trek madone
Meh
Walker seems like a cool kat, will def do work for the Brewers. a true pro, his numbers aren’t bad at all
That’s what I’m saying !
Wish Walker nothing but the best when healthy he’s a solid player. I can’t stand these wilpigs please do mets fans all a favor and sell the damn franchise already.
Amen !
I completely agree they have no business owning this team anymore. Biggest market in the United states and they still run it small. I know that there payroll has slowly increased over the years but not good enoufh
HUGE MISTAKE
Walker is not a difference maker that the Brew crew need !
The Time has pasted
What is it “pasted” to?
I hope the Brewers do to the Mets what the Mets did to the Brewers a couple of years ago….Pull out of the trade after it was agreed upon (Carolo Gomez). I know some Mets fans will say that Gomez was hurt, but that was not the case. He was traded a week later to Houston and went on to play the rest of the season. I just don’t think Walker is the way to go. Villar has been hitting really well the past three games, and even Sogard is hitting again. Plus, I like Brandon Phillips (who just cleared waivers) better than Walker. Phillips is hitting .285 on the season.
Phillips wouldn’t waive his no trade clause to come to Milwaukee. And Gomez was hurt that year, he had a bad hip that was well known about. Mets didn’t like the look of his medicals, Houston decided it wasn’t bad enough to worry about. Bad move by Houston.
allegedly thats alreayd been done to the mets via the yankees…but now that its official you just sound like sour grapes..
Gomez was actually hurt though. That’s why he sucked in Houston and eventually got DFA’d.
mets trade dilson herrera for jay bruce for an uninspiring pitcher…keep in mind that dilson was the justification for not resigning danilel murphy…mets are idiots if that player to be named is not a position player…
Herrera only hit .264/.312/.397 for Louisville this year. He’s probably a MLB player, but he’s not exactly a sure – fire regular anymore. It could be that the Mets just soured on him before everyone else did
Wilpons better open up the checkbook this offseason (Machado and Cain would be a nice fit)
Machado not a free agent yet but they definitely need to pay for Cain. Is Eduardo Nunez a free agent? He seems like he would fit well for us at 3rd
good luck in milwaukee!! hope you make the playoffs!
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So are they using PTBNL to get around revocable waivers?
No, because it is in all likelihood a minor league player. The team agrees on two possible minor league players that could be traded, then the acquiring team scouts the two until they make a decision on which one they want.
Thanks for that bit of info. I knew PTBNL was used with recently drafted players, but now that it isn’t needed, wasn’t exactly sure why it would happen.
They gave us 1.7 mil which could be reimbursement for the signing bonus of Lemon or lutz our 2nd and 3rd rounders who may not be able to be traded yet.