Both the Yankees and Mets acted rationally with their approaches in trades this summer, opines Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The Yankees showed a willingness to deal from the middle range of their considerable prospect depth to avoid luxury taxation, as they did with the Jaime Garcia trade and reportedly tried to do in their pursuits of Jay Bruce and Neil Walker. Sherman writes that the Yankees asked the Mets to eat $2.7MM of the remaining $3.7MM on Bruce’s contract in exchange for two prospects. The Mets clearly didn’t deem the difference between that pair and Ryder Ryan (whom they acquired from the Indians for Bruce) to be sizable enough to eat that cash. While many Mets fans chastise the organization for not spending, Sherman points out that the Mets have taken on salary (Bruce, Addison Reed, Yoenis Cespedes) in recent years. They’ve also already begun spending for 2018, Sherman adds, pointing to the acquisition of AJ Ramos. In that sense, saving money in trades to better stock the team’s offseason war chest could have relatively immediate impact on the team’s fortunes. Of course, it remains to be seen how their offseason plays out.
A bit more from the game’s Eastern divisions…
- The Phillies announced tonight that outfielder Daniel Nava has been placed on the 10-day disabled list due to a lower back strain. The veteran Nava’s injury is especially noteworthy given the fact that he seemed a logical August trade candidate for the Phils. The 33-year-old switch-hitter hasn’t done much against left-handed pitching this year — he’s always been weaker as a right-handed bat — but he’s clubbed righty pitching at a .347/.427.492 clip through 143 PAs and could’ve been a solid bench addition for a contender. There’s still time for Nava to get back and demonstrate his health to interested parties, but his back injury clearly diminishes the chances of a trade.
- Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com writes that Orioles GM Dan Duquette has a long history of making August deals — six in the past five years — but opines that there’s not much worth pursuing for the O’s this summer. Baltimore’s greatest need is starting pitching, but the remaining available arms are mostly fringe fifth starters that don’t represent a clear upgrade over the Orioles’ current options. Nonetheless, Connolly states that he does find it likely that Duquette and his staff make some kind of move, noting that the Orioles have “always had a little interest in” Derek Holland and are quite familiar with Miguel Gonzalez — both currently pitching for the rebuilding White Sox. I’d agree with Connolly that neither seems to represent an upgrade, though the O’s could probably acquire either pitcher primarily in exchange for salary relief.
- Rays right-hander Jose De Leon is on the minor league disabled list for the third time this season, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. De Leon, who has previously dealt with forearm/flexor issues, now has tendinitis in his right elbow, per Topkin. It’s been a frustrating first season with the Rays organization for De Leon — a highly touted pitching prospect that was acquired in a straight-up swap that sent Logan Forsythe to the Dodgers. De Leon has appeared in just one big league game with the Rays and has only 38 1/3 minor league innings under his belt, though he’s logged a 3.05 ERA with 44-to-16 K/BB ratio in the minors when healthy.
Well Logan Forsyth hasn’t exactly been a prize either
He’s been fine, would’ve been a key piece for a TB team on the fringes of contention. Obviously blaming them for De Leon getting injured is hindsight bias, but that was always a weird move IMO given that the Rays seemed like contenders from the outset
Forsythe really hasn’t been fine. The power went down to the level it had been before his 2 season breakout. His BABIP sits at .333 and his average is about 100 points lower. He’s been walking an insane amount but striking out a whole bunch too. Defense has been his saving grace this year. Not sure the rays seemed like contenders from the outset. Not sure anyway expected LoMo, Dickerson, and Souza to have career years. They’re fringe contenders as they stand now, so I have to disagree with that one.
The Beckham trade is the far weirder move. Getting a top 100 prospect for Logan was a solid move.
Soon Tim Beckham will revert back to himself when something doesn’t go his was. Super talent….too bad that he can’t keep his head at the same level for long. Enjoy while it lasts.
The Rays are rostering Plouffe, who is worse than Beckham in every facet of the game and his season numbers this year show he is very much “keeping his head in the game”.
if Showalter can’t keep Beckham’s “head in the game”, well,there no hope for the kid
Tim Beckham being himself is still valuable. Before his hot stretch he looked like a 2 win SS or 1.5 win UIF who could handle SS. Both of those scenarios are very valuable, especially at a salary <$1 million. It's unfortunate that the Rays felt the need to trade him away for a 45 FV low level RHP while in the middle of a playoff run. Especially considering that their other MLB SS is one of, if not the worst hitter in MLB.
Ha ha…..in no wau will I defend Plouffe. He’s probably done. Most Rays fans…yes, they’re out here….will agree that it was time.
I was just thinking the same thing…the early returns on that trade haven’t been great for either side yet
I just wish they sold higher on De Leon. The deadline last year he had very high value. At least they got Forsythe before De Leon lost all of his value
Why? They sold pretty high tbh.
Before he made his doyuers debut I was keeping tabs on him. He was view more as a future elite relief arm and not a sustainable starter
He was really bad when he got called up. That had to hurt his value a bit.
Where are you getting this idea that De Lean was viewed as a relief arm and not a starter last season? Going back to the beginning of this season in MLB’s prospect write up they said he was a mid rotation starter and FG said they expect him to be an above average big league starter. This makes sense since they graded him as having 2 plus pitches and a 3rd average pitch and both put FV 55 grades on him. It’s the same grade as anybody except for the top 4 or 5 pitching prospects in MiLB.
I think if the Dodgers would have sold any higher on De Leon, they’d still have De Leon.
Miguel Gonzalez had another good start tonight – 6 innings, 1 ER. He would be a good acquisition for a team needing a fourth or fifth starter. It would open a slot for Giolito in the Sox rotation.
The Orioles love them some mediocre starting pitchers.
Only if they can pass the physical …
O’s just need to get ground ball pitchers in that tiny park
Orioles should have never let gonzalez go
agreed, his not the greatest but gonzalez is consistent, and is a pitcher versus a thrower- he’ll keep a team in the game
letting him walk was a big mistake, IMO
Before the Dodgers traded for Forsythe, the other considerations were Ian Kinsler and Brian Dozier. Both of them are having down years, and would have cost much more than DeLeon. All-in-all, good deal by the Dodgers.
Who’s to say that those players would be having down years for the Dodgers though? They would be pitched entirely differently if they were surrounded by the caliber of players the Dodgers have in their lineup
How a player will perform in a different environment is always a million-dollar question, but all the statheads certainly agreed that Dozier overperformed in 2016. Almost without exception, when a veteran has one of those exception seasons, they will regress back toward their averages in the following season. In 2016, Dozier hit 42 home runs mainly because he took advantage of the dimensions of Target Field, and worked on pulling everything. That same strategy may not have worked elsewhere.
Certainly wouldn’t consider Dozier’s year as a “down year.” Outside of last year, which seems to be very much an outlier, this would be his best season.
Dozier’s 2016 year was certainly an outlier, but the Twins were valuing him off those numbers. Lots of fans believed that he had somehow become a big power hitter. The asking price for Dozier to the Dodgers was high, like Bellinger high. That’s the reason he’s still a Twin. His WAR in 2016 was 6.5. This year it’s at 2.5, so he’ll never come close to 2016. Forsythe is at 1.3, and the Dodgers still have Bellinger.
They probably would’ve actually done it for a package centered around De Leon + one of Buehler/Verdugo/Alvarez. Not quite as high as Bellinger. But still, I get your point that they wanted a lot, and even the current version of Dozier is worth a lot because there’s very few second basemen of his caliber still. He’s simply not a 40-HR player, and nobody should expect him to be. He’s more like a 25-30 HR player.
That is correct. The Twins were asking for players in that range, and the ask was too high for the Dodgers. They may be grooming Buehler for a bullpen audition in September, and possibly a spot on the playoff roster. You can expect to see Verdugo in Sept. too. He’s hitting .316 in 3A with more walks than Ks, and a cannon for an arm. They wouldn’t include him in the trade for Darvish. Alvarez is further away from the majors, but as a starter he hits 100 mph. Rates as a #2 starter after some refinement.
There is still quite a difference between being willing to trade a prospect for a 2-3 month rental (Darvish) versus someone like Dozier who had 2 remaining years of control at the time.
That’s correct. The cost of renting Darvish for the playoffs was a lot cheaper than what the cost for Dozier would have been.
Thankfully the Twins stayed away from DeLeon. Dozier has been a key to a very nice rebound season for the Twins.
Forsythe is hitting .237 with 3 hr’s and 25 RBI. The Dodgers could’ve randomly selected any of their minor league second sackers and equaled those numbers. Heck, Utley would’ve blown past those numbers alone. DeLeon is very talented and still very young. His symptoms seem awfully similar to those preceding tj surgery, but who knows. I imagine they’ll ultimately cure DeLeon’s arm issues, either through surgery, rehab or simply rest. Once he’s healthy he’ll be a solid starter for the Rays. By then, Forsythe will be playing in the Independent league or for a beer softball team somewhere. He’s certainly refined his skills for taking strikes and falling behind in the count.
The cost for Kinsler and Dozier was much higher than the cost of DeLeon for Forsythe. DeLeon’s pathway to the majors would have been difficult had he remained on the Dodgers. Pitchers better than him are being readied. He can be a valuable mid-rotation starter for another team once he solves the problems with his curve, his too-flat fastball, and his arm problems. Forsythe’s WAR this season is 1.3. In 2016, Utley played nearly full-time, and had a WAR of 2.1 at the end. It’s important to remember that offense alone doesn’t win games. Defense and baserunning can create or prevent runs and wins.
This article has the wrong Miguel Gonzalez linked.
Fixed it.