In a trade that has been widely expected since last night, the Athletics have officially acquired right-hander Jeurys Familia from the Mets. In exchange, the Athletics have sent a pair of minor leaguers back to New York: third baseman William Toffey and right-hander Bobby Wahl. The Mets will also receive $1MM in international bonus money, while the Athletics will take on all of Familia’s ~$3MM remaining salary.
With Familia set to reach free agency at season’s end, and the Mets suffering through a miserable 40-55 season thus far on the year, the closer’s ticket out of Queens has been all but purchased for weeks. Familia earned the number two spot on our Top 75 Trade Candidates At The All-Star Break list owing in part to the above factors as well as his excellent start to the 2018 season. Thus far, Familia’s managed an excellent 2.88 ERA and 17 saves to go along with 9.52 K/9 and a 50.5% ground ball rate.
Familia’s excellence goes beyond the common surface stats, too. His peripherals have earned him a 2.54 FIP, for one. He’s also been excellent at limiting homers, with a minuscule 2.8% homer-to-fly-ball rate on the season. An even deeper dive reveals that Familia has allowed hard contact at just a 26.8% clip during a season in which hard contact is up on the whole, and he’s also managed to induce swinging strikes on 12% of his pitches. According to Statcast, the batted ball profile of hitters against Familia gives him an xwOBA of just .289, which is only a few points above his actual wOBA (.273).
The excellent figures above are a well-timed bounce back from a miserable 2017 season for Familia that began with a 15-game domestic violence suspension and got even worse when it was revealed that the righty had an arterial clot in his right shoulder that would ultimately require surgery to repair. By the time he was finally able to return on August 26th, he looked nothing like himself, posting a 4.70 ERA while walking 4.11 batters per nine and not even notching a strikeout per inning. His 2018 comeback not only allowed the team who signed and developed him to capitalize on his success and reap a prospect return, but it also earned Familia a trade to a contending team, and the promise of pitching in meaningful games by which he can boost his free agent pay day.
That team, the Athletics, didn’t look like a serious player for the American League West crown early on in the season. But thanks to a torrid stretch during which they’ve gone 21-7, the Athletics have vaulted themselves into contender status and currently sit just four games out of the second AL Wild Card spot currently owned by the division rival Mariners. A breakout season from third baseman Matt Chapman, a career year from infielder Jed Lowrie, and the continued success from young core players such as Matt Olson and Sean Manaea are all contributing factors to the A’s owning an impressive 55-43 record at this juncture.
Familia will join an elite-level A’s bullpen that’s already 38-0 this season when leading after seven innings. That group includes breakout closer Blake Treinen along with other excellent 2018 performers such as Lou Trivino, Chris Hatcher, Ryan Buchter and Yusmeiro Petit. There’s no word on who will handle the closing duties in the Familia era in Oakland, but it seems quite possible that Familia could supplant the incumbent Treinen in order to suppress his saves, a stat that holds an inordinate amount of weight in baseball’s arbitration process and would therefore help to drive up Treinen’s price tag in future seasons.
As for the Mets, it signals the waving of a white flag on the 2018 season. It’s not clear yet, however, whether the move signals a short retooling phase or a longer-term, larger-scale rebuilding process that could drive them to ship out players with longer-term club control such as Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Michael Conforto. With the meteoric rises of the division-rival Braves and Phillies, and the Nationals unlikely to go south anytime soon, the NL East doesn’t figure to get any easier in the ensuing seasons. Add to that uncertainty surrounding the future of the injured Yoenis Cespedes (who will likely require surgery and a nine-month rehab period), and the development of young players like Amed Rosario and Dominic Smith not working out as planned, it’s possible the Amazins could be motivated to tear down the major league roster and start from scratch.
Though manager Mickey Callaway stated this morning that the Mets would go with a closer-by-committee approach in the post-Familia era, it’s worth noting that he made the exact same comment at the beginning of the season before proceeding to use Familia as his 9th-inning hurler almost exclusively. During times when Familia was unavailable, Callaway turned to multi-inning workhorse Robert Gsellman, who’s earned five saves on the season (including one last night when Familia was kept on the pine amidst trade discussions).
With Familia headed to Oakland, the market figures to focus its attention on Zach Britton, who earlier today was deemed “the next Oriole out the door” by beat reporter Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. In a concurring report, Buster Olney of ESPN tweeted that Baltimore is expected to move Britton as soon as this weekend. Joakim Soria, Raisel Iglesias and Fernando Rodney represent some right-handed alternatives to Familia who could now garner increased attention from the Cubs, Diamondbacks, Indians, Red Sox and Braves (Jon Heyman of Fancred reports that those clubs were all players for Familia). Meanwhile, Zach Duke and Felipe Vazquez could earn the focus of clubs looking for a southpaw.
The trade of Familia marks the latest development in a surprisingly fast-moving trade market for relief pitchers. The Mariners acquired Alex Colome from the Rays back in May, the Nationals landed Kelvin Herrera from the Royals in June, the Indians pried Brad Hand from the Padres before the All-Star break came to a close, and the Cubs traded for Jesse Chavez later that night; and it’s still ten days in advance of the actual trade deadline. It falls in line with a trend we saw this past offseason in which teams are aggressively pursuing reliable relievers, perhaps because they seem to be more valuable than ever before.
Toffey, 23, is a left-handed-hitting third baseman who came to the Athletics by way of their fourth-round pick in the 2017 draft. In 197 plate appearances at Class A Advanced this season, he’s hit .244/.357/.384. Baseball America ranked him as Oakland’s 19th-best prospect headed into the 2018 season, noting his excellent plate discipline. Though he doesn’t possess any serious raw power, scouts believe it’s possible he’ll be able to hit some bombs simply by virtue of his ability to wait and swing at his pitch. Toffey’s best tool, perhaps, is his glove, though his fringe-average speed may prevent his defense from reaching its true ceiling.
Wahl is perhaps the better of the two prospects in this deal. Though his September cup of coffee last season was average at best (four earned runs, eight strikeouts and four walks in 7 2/3 innings), Wahl’s been mowing down opponents at Triple-A Nashville so far this season. Across 39 2/3 innings, the right-hander owns a 14.75 K/9 figure against 3.86 BB/9 and has posted a 2.27 ERA that’s not too far below his 2.52 FIP. If he’s able to produce something close to those numbers at the major-league level, he could be a fixture in the Mets’ bullpen for years to come.
Despite the interesting upside for Wahl, the general consensus in the industry is that the prospect return in this trade isn’t particularly impressive, especially considering the trade value of Familia. It could be that the $1MM in international bonus money is the true prize in this deal, and if that’s the case, we could see the Mets come to terms with one of the top remaining international prospects in the coming days; high-upside Cuban righty Osiel Rodriguez currently tops the list of unsigned players.
Jane Lee of MLB.com was the first to report that two sides had come to an agreement involving two prospects and international bonus pool money. Shortly thereafter Joel Sherman of the New York Post revealed which prospects were headed back to the Mets. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle first noted that the international bonus pool amount was $1MM, and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic made first mention that the A’s were taking on all of Familia’s remaining salary. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Good thing the Mets are losing right now lol
Mets lost 7-6 to Yankees today.
Wasn’t it 7-3? What happened to that bullpen?
Chapman throwing ball after ball after ball.
Chapman couldn’t find the plate if he had a map. Looked like he would have had a better chance of throwing strikes if he was blind folded.
Wow, okay return for the Mets. Wahl hits triple digits and could be called up today.
Is he a rental? If not, this doesn’t seem like the A’s had to give up much
Free agent at the end of the year
He’s a rental but this still isn’t much. Maybe a middle reliever and a 3B with no pop.
Wahl could become a setup guy.
Is he a rental? If not, it doesn’t seem like the A’s had to give up much.
What do you know about what the A”s gave up?
I see nothing in the article other then the players names and links to their stats.
That guy who plays third base is listed amongst the Mets top 30 prospects now. If you got to their website look for roster you can find him at #20 of the top 30 prospect list.
There goes all the Mateo, Lazarito, Beck, and Murphy hype.
It’ll be back. It’s no fun to guess about guys like Wahl and Toffey.
No way! Didn’t see that coming!
That escalated slowly.
Leave it to the Mets to get a 23 and 26 year old minor leaguers for one of the most coveted relievers still on the market lol
Not sure what you were expecting for a 1 inning guy with an expiring contract… Hand came with control, so the Mets weren’t getting anything similar to that.
Maybe a bit more than a future middle reliever and a 3B without any punch in his bat.
Actually, for a team on a playoff push, or just trying to get over the hump to beat their foe (e.g the Red Sox) they could have gotten more.
Yankees got a haul back for Chapman when he was a looming free agent. Sure he was having the better year but Familia should have netted them someone in the back 25 of the top 100 prospect list. Someone who was at least in the top 10 of the A’s prospects. Yuck.
Everyone always points to what the Yankees got for Chapman but that example is the exception and not the rule. Can anyone point to any other reliever rentals that got all that?
O’s gave up Rodriguez for Andrew Miller in 2014. Rodriguez was a top 60 prospect and Miller wasn’t even a closer.
Bottom Line, Mets didn’t get e ough back.
The O’s will very likely get a top 100 prospect for Britton.
Amen. Enough with the comparisons to the Chapman trade. We may never see such an overpay ever again, absolutely unique situation
No one is saying that someone would overpay. But this is a distinct underpay. The Mets should have at least got Sheldon Neuse instead of Toffey. He’s got more upside and is closer to major league ready. Maybe they could have gotten a reliever prospect that was further away to compensate. Instead they got the worse of Oakland’s 3rd base prospects and a “major league ready” bullpen arm that wasn’t good enough to pitch on a team that needed help in the bullpen.
Why are people on here incapable of realizing the market has and can change. What rental RPs brought back 2 years ago is irrelevant and 4 years ago is even more irrelevant. News flash you people need to realize you’re all over valuing rentals right now. Oh you need me to cite examples, just look at the recent trades from this past year.
To blame the market is excuse how terribly the Mets organization is run. In the past two years the Mets have traded Jeurys Familia, Addison Reed, Curtis Granderson, Neil Walker, Jay Bruce and Lucas Duda. According to MLB.com’s top 30 rankings of Mets the best prospects they got in return are ranked #20, #23, #28,, #29 and #30. And it isn’t as if the Mets have a highly regarded farm system. Sorry buddy. A competently run organization would have pulled in a much better return for that collection of talent regardless of their rental player status. The Mets clearly prioritize saving money to bringing in worthwhile talent.
Don’t discount the value of the A’s paying the remainder of the 3m of Familia’s contract. That’s more important to the Wilpons then the prospects
Teams just don’t give up that much for relievers now. Look at what Herrera got the Royals.
Mets farm system recently received a grade of B from MLB Pipeline. There is actually a lot of talent right now that hasn’t been hyped because it us very young and in their first or second year.
kingjenrry, those guys they got for Herrera were more highly rated than the guys the Mets got. For instance, like the Mets the Royals also got 3rd base prospect in the deal. Kelvin Gutierrez Both guys are 23 years old but in all the categories (hit, run, power, arm and field) Kelvin Gutierrez was graded equal or higher. Toffey was grade 45s for hit hit tool, power and speed. Gutierrez was graded 55,45 and 50 respectively. For arm and fielding Toffey was graded 55 and 55. Gutierrez was graded 65 and 55.
So once again, its not the market. Its the team. Some teams aren’t good at negotiating or care more about saving money. That’s the Mets.
Not true. Cleveland just gave up a top 25 propect for Hand who had a NEGATIVE WAR before he was traded. The other pitcher, yes, was having a good year, but it was his first stint in MLB.
Mets got a poor return for Familia. Should have gotten more.
Herrera got back the 7th and 14th ranked prospects in Washington plus a international 17 year old just signed last year.
The mets got back the 20th ranked prospect and an unranked 27 year old.
Kansas city saved 4.4 million.
New york saved 3.1 million.
Yeah exact same returns.
Stop being a wilpon apologist
Can I get an Amen from the congregation.
O’s just got a decent return for Britton. Mets messed up this trade.
Nice return for mets. Wahl is ready now and Toffey has upside.
Upside? Can he fix the copier and show the Wilpons how to log on to their Prodigy.com email account? A 23 year old slugging under 400 in high A has no future playing professional baseball.
He’s got a future with the Mets!
But isn’t Toffey blocked at 3B by David Wright?
*The smoldering remains of David Wright
ROFL! That was funny.
Familia for who? And who??
Another horrible Mets trade. Billy Beane has been fleecing the Mets for years .
Bobby Wahl isn’t bad
You’re joking right ? He’s 26 and has about 5 minutes of major league experience . Familia is 28 and has been an all star .
A losing team doesn’t need a former all star closer in a walk year
Wouldn’t they have to QO him to get the pick? Perhaps they were afraid he’d accept the QO. Then they don’t get the pick and have to pay him 15 or 16MM for next year.
You can’t predict how successful a reliever will be based on their age. Plenty of guys have come along in their late twenties to dominate the league. Treinen being one of them. I think Hand was another…
Worse case scenario you have a power armed reliever on a one year contract that you can then try to trade again next year. Best case scenario you get a good draft pick that would net you a higher upside prospect.
The QO for 2019, I believe, will be in the range of 19 million dollars. That is a heck of a lot of money for a bullpen piece. If he’s smart, he accepts that life changing amount of money, and Mets are stuck with an overpaid reliever whose contract would discourage any trade interest in 2019.
You seem to not understand how compensation picks work. The Mets wouldn’t get any compensation picks for Familia at the end of the year.
What do you mean they wouldn’t receive any comp picks? Familia was never made a qualifying offer previously therefore the Mets could have offered him one. If he signed with another team the Mets would either get a compensatory draft pick after the first round or the second round of the draft depending upon how much Familia is signed for. If he signs for 50 million or more then the Mets would have gotten a pick after the first round. If he got a contract worth less than 50 million they would have gotten one after the second round.
They changed the compensation so as to not kill the market for free agents with qualifying offers but those free agents will still earn their team a pick if they go elsewhere.
Familia will get at least 3 years at 15 million each.
The free agency class coming up includes Craig Kimbrel, Andrew Miller, Zach Britton, Cody Allan, Kelvin Herrera, just to name a few of the relievers. All these guys I mentioned will be higher priorites for teams than Familia. So I would be very surprised to see Familia get a contract anywhere in the neighborhood of 45 million dollars.
45 million dollars, and, forgoing a number one pick (which would have happened assuming Mets had gone the route of keeping him and extending him the QO). One can ask Greg Holland how that went for him.
David C. You know what. That’s actually a very good point. The competition on the market will make this a tough year for free agent closers. The top guys are going to get paid regardless but competition might deflate contracts for everyone else.
Wasn’t he a big bonus kid?
You forgot another “And who”. $1m buys a nice IFA.
Wahl is ready made to be the Mets closer for years. I’m not sure I get why people are so upset by this trade?
Because they live in a fantasy land. They all think GMs are giving up the top prospects for rentals. The returns on guys like Gerrit Cole and other controllable guys I kept saying we’re lite. Now I realize everyone on here way over values current players compared to the actual smart people who get paid to run baseball teams
While generally I agree with you about people on here misjudging the value of players/prospects, i dont think the Mets FO are actually smart people. They do happen to run a baseball team tho
I agree about the seemingly hasty timing. Hopefully for Mets fans, their front office wanted to get this done quick in order to sign someone good with that $1MM in international bonus slot allowance.
Fair enough, I believe fan expectations are always higher then what they should be. In this case the Mets don’t have a GM. But why the urgency? Ten days still to go. Why not wait and see if some team decides to pay more. Maybe a team gets shut out of something and is willing to pony up a little bit more. Just sayin’.
Familia is injury risk with health issues the past two seasons.. Apparently Mets didn’t want to further risk it.
It is a light return. He shouldn’t be getting a Ronald Acuna’ Jr type prospect but at least a guy ranked somewhere in the top 10 of the Athletics system.
What team are you a GM for? You’re right though I’m sure the Mets shopped Familia and took the 4th best offer and said A’s you’re giving us too good of prospects how about your lower ranked guys…
And what team are you the GM for?
You see. I can play that game too.
Why would they even make this trade? There is no upside here for the Mets whatsoever. Billy Beane always wins when he trades with the Mets
They made the trade because Billy Beane is throwing in his used Lexus. You can get some solid cheadar for a used Lexus. Plus Wahl has mad crazy Excel skills which will be useful around the office in the offseason.
JP Ricciardi is also Beane’s buddy, and has either signed ex-Oakland guys or lost on trades with Oakland. This deal has Ricciardi written all over it. This trade was a handout to the A’s.
Credit ALL, judging Mets’ “3 headed monster”
JP Ricciardi? Isn’t he the guy that signed Vernon Wells to that horrendous contract. They say he’s the reason Rogers doesn’t go over five years on any contract. (Anymore)
How does that guy (still) have a GM job?
I like this trade for the Mets. Wahl has great numbers in AAA and looks to be a solid bullpen piece, while Toffey has decent upside. Not bad for a rental.
Will Toffey is 24 years old and is still in single A where he’s batting .245
Maybe he will make it to the bigs in about 10 years …
If he had enough AB’s his OBP would be Top 10 in the league. And he’s 23, which is close to the average age of the league.
yes, he’s in high A, where most good college players drafted last year are playing.
of9376 is right on the money. Turning 24 and not even in AA is a bad sign regardless of how many years you played in College.
He’s in AA now. Does that make it better?
Nope. Also won’t make it better for the O’s dealing Britton. Herrera deal feels like it went down ages ago.
Nah. The O’s will get a haul for him. They have a real GM and crushed that Machado trade. Mets have a sentient lightly used shoehorn running the show. I mean, It went to wharton and everything, but c’mon, its a shoehorn. They should have hired Kim Ng.
They should have hired Kim Ng when?.2010 offseason?
He’s an OBP guy, BA is a trash stat anyway
.357 obp playing against teens is a trash stat. Turning 24 and still playing in A ball is a trash career. Mets just traded a legit top 10 closer for a bartender at Applebees who will have a “ cool story about playing baseball”. Beyond pathetic.
Sortve disappointed we gave up Wahl, Mets got a pretty good return in this one
Sortve? oh dear…
You can have him back in 9 months when his “ baseball career” is finished. Very good at taking dication and is a real people person. Is a fast learner and is proficent in receiving email. Has experience with interweb browsing.
Sincere cograts though. If it was any team that fleeced us, I’m glad it was the A’s. Huge fan of Beane and Oakstradam. Also, “ Jack the Bear “ took place in Oakland and is an underated flick.
Dude enough with the office worker jokes that’s like 5 on this thread. We get the joke.
Wahl has to be hired to be an office worker. Right now he is an office hopeful. Besides, Toffey wants to be a family chain restaurant barback, not stuck in some silly office whee people give him crap about his ironic t shirts and where he parks his Vespa.
Mets must have gotten that key salary relief component. They need it for Jeff’s college tuition.
As a big Mets fan. I would’ve taking a bag of balls for him.
Seems like you got it.
Neither player is listed on Fangraph’s Oakland prospect list.
At least your getting Peanuts (that’s wahl’s nickname according to the mlb page)
Another greedy Mets fan who thinks every closer should be as good as Mariano Rivera.
that’s not a good trade for the mets lol
I don’t know much about Wahl but if he is a solid bullpen guy why didn’t the A’s just use him as a setup guy? isn’t that basically what Familia would be with Treinen closing?
because familia is a solid bullpen guy now and Wahl can potentially become one
I guess the A’s think Wendelken will be better than Wahl! Great move. Now if the A’s add say perhaps Felipe Rivero, we’ll be talking about the greatness of this bullpen for years..
Felipe Vazquez lol
Why trade for a known malcontent with injury history and domestic abuse issues? Why not just call up Bobby Wahl and be done with it?
If recent history has taught us anything, it’s that you never know who’s going to come out of nowhere to be an elite bullpen arm
That photo of Familia is him thanking god he’s off the Mets.
I vaguely remember Wahl from his college days, should be a halfway decent bullpen arm.
This 3B prospect is gonna need some time, tho. Might be ready by the time Frazier is a free agent…
Did you choose the photo attached to this piece, Kyle? If so, ‘twas a fine inspiration to capture Familia’s immediate response to the trade.
Toffey is slotted in as the #20 Mets prospect now. He has a chance, but probably utility guy upside, not super utility, non modified utility.
great for the Mets! they get a guy hitting .240 in the Cal League and even though I loved Bobby Wahl in Hollywood Knights (Volare!), I think they should’ve let Familia walk and get the draft pick….unless they re-sign him in the off season.
Draft pick? That would mean paying Familia $18 million QO. Nobody would pay him even close to that much. He is not a pitcher you would do a QO to so there was no chance at a draft pick.
Not going to be draft pick compensation.
They wouldn’t have gotten a pick
We’re talking about a league which gave Mark Melancon a 62 million dollar deal and people here are suggesting a proven, flame throwing closer under 30 years old wouldn’t have received a good enough multi-year offer to turn down a QO. Riiiight. SMDH,
He’s not going to get a Mike Trout type deal but he certainly would have gotten a good amount of money from someone this offseason. Now that he doesn’t have draft pick compensation attached to him he’s guaranteed to get a big money deal. That’s why the return the Mets got was so light. The A’s aren’t going to be able to afford to resign him so they weren’t going to give up high end guys. Why sell to the paupers when teams like Houston, Boston and the Cubs are still looking for bullpen help and would be able to afford Familia.
Of all the teams buying at this deadline the A’s didn’t strike me as the team that would pull Familia out of NY but since this yrs SP trade market is so weak it makes complete sense. I wish Dipoto had hijacked this deal ha! Gonna be a great race for the division A’s fans, I’d love to see my Ms or your A’s surprise the Astros by winning the West- why not? About 1/3 of our remaining games are v Hou and the A’s
Wahl looks a lot like the guys the Mets spent last year’s deadline acquiring, relievers with supposedly good stuff who were near the majors. That didn’t turn out so good.
Toffee isn’t nearly as bad as the comments above would make it seem, but as prospects go he seems like he has a fairly low ceiling.
Callahan, if he can stay healthy is still a possibility since he was finally converted to relief. Nice FB and a good slider.
Callahan’s probably done due to the shoulder injury
That’s a reach. Conjecture. It’s a long recovery but no reason he can’t get healthy and pitch well.
A’s solid with Treinen, Trevino and Familia. Wahl is great but you have to give a little to get a little. Billy Beane is an amazing VP…
Fair deal for both sides. Why were people projecting Machado-returns of a top 100 prospect plus? So weird. It was always going to be a couple of decent mid-range guys. Wahl is ready now, Toffey will probably hit MLB at some point. A’s making a splash now really changes things, and going after high-end bullpen.
I personally wanted them to go after Familia for weeks, as well as deGrom and Cespedes, in return for a lesser prospect package in exchange for taking all $70M or whatever is left on Cespedes deal. One down, two to go? 🙂
He should have netted them someone in the top 75-100 prospect range.
hahahahahaha oh man
youre joking, right?
The only team that has the prospect haul to get DeGrom is the Yankees( or maybe the Braves) and neither is happening.
Braves with thumb up their…………………………………………., so cheap a organization now.
So the Mets were just dumping money.
Those two are not even close to being prospects unless they were sent to the Long Island Ducks.
Mets prospects must be real bad since Toffey is listed at #20. Not sure why anyone is expecting a top prospect for a reliever with no team control next year? Wahl is a good reliever prospect so this is about the best Mets could do in a trade like this.
“Mets prospects must be real bad ”
Yes, a barren farm system is a feature of the Mets under Fred Wilpon.
Actually the farm system has rebounded very nicely this season. Expect 4 to 5 top 100 prospects to be named this coming winter.
Lol. 4 or 5 top 100s? Mmm no.
Lol, how has it rebounded?
A bunch of one dimensional fringe, older prospects?
Are you jeff wilpon?
Build around degrom! Lol clueless
Alonso, Gimenez, and Kelenic were already named to mid-season top 100 by BA. Mauricio stands an excellent chance to join them. That’s four. There are a few candidates that could sneak in 90-100.
Alonso, Gimenez, Dunn, Kelenic are locks. McNeil, Kay, Maurico are close enough that one if not all make it. That could be as much as 7. At that rate, in a few years the whole list will be Mets prospects or future Mets prospects.
I take it you don’t pay attention –
Kelenic, Jiménez, and Alonso are already Top 100 and Alonso probably will be. That’s 4.
McNeils not a top 100 guy
They cant ignore 360 in aaa forever.
Wahl has a 65-17 K/BB ratio and 2.27 ERA in 39 IP this year and is 26. He will be good for the Mets in very short order. Why would you act like a prospect is better than that? I don’t think that’s anything to sneeze at.
Toffee is a high OBP type and those types nearly always hit MLB.
That is the profile of futre Long Island Ducks.
Ridiculous the Mets held Familia out of the game when that’s all that was coming back.
.357 in A ball at 24 is in no way a high on base. Add the pathetic slugging percentage and you have not even a future Duck, but a future overbearing little league dad.
He is 23.
He’s not 24.
Long Island Ducks. That’s merely Mets bashing motive but not reality based.
Toffey was drafted in 2017, just 13 months ago and is now in AA with the Mets. That’s rather quick pace.
Scouting reports praise his mental make up, defense and plate approach with possibility of developing power.
If Wahl was as good as people said he would be on the A’s now. They needed bullpen help. Instead he was shipped away in a deal to acquire bullpen help.
That’s like saying good players should never spend time in the minors ever.
Begamin, you’re clearly not the brightest bulb in the shed. I don’t hate Wahl and Toffey and nothing I said was inaccurate. My problem isn’t with them as players its with the overall return package. These guys aren’t anything special. Toffey wasn’t even the A’s best 3rd base prospect. If Sheldon Neuse came to the Mets instead I wouldn’t have had a problem with it. As for Bobby Wahl. I don’t have a problem with him. He’s the secondary piece in the trade and its a good thing that he is close to the majors. If the Mets want to bounce back next year they should get guys who are going to be ready to help out. So as a secondary piece I don’t have a problem with it. What I do have a problem with is people here talking about him like he’s major league ready right now. If that were the case he would have been pitching on an A’s team that needed help in the bullpen NOW and not dealt for that help.
Then you got the people who try to excuse the mediocre return by saying well the Royals didn’t get much for Kelvin Herrera. Like the Mets the Royals also got a 23 year old 3rd base prospect in their trade. But based on mlb.com’s prospect grades the player the Royals got better grades on 3 out of the 5 criteria and equal on the other 2. Two of these criteria where the Royals guy was graded better it was 10 points higher.
So I don’t hate Wahl and Toffey. I just point out that the Mets could have and should have gotten better.
LongTimeFan1, what are you talking about? Nothing I said could realistically lead someone to that conclusion.
The $1M International Bonus Pool money is worth more than the players coming back. Wahl will start at AAA but has power stuff and is MLB ready. Mets liked Toffey in the draft last year before the A’s grabbed him. Love his patience and make up. Extremely hard worker. Will report to AA.
The 1 million must have been the deciding factor in the deal Omar Minaya will work magic with that amount. I expect all the deals made from here on out will involve some sort of int money coming back that’s why the Mets brought Omar back for his international scouting
With a move like this I can definitely see the Mets selling DeGrom & Thor in the off-season & go full rebuild I as a Brave fan didn’t want to see a deal like this because it tells me they are going to bite the bullet and build for the future.
Gain as much international bonus money and build with strong drafts.
I know Coppy is suspended for life but how long before he could really apply for reinstatement??? I could see him interested in going to the Mets in some capacity to try and seek revenge on the Braves
Mejia had a lifetime ban but he just got reinstated so maybe Coppy can too
I’m betting the Mariners counter. Dipoto said he’s looking for a right handed, and a left handed reliever. He tends to shy away from rentals, so controllable relievers. I’m thinking he gets Kirby Yates, and Adam Conley because he likes multi innings guys as well.
The biggest part of the deal is one million in international signing money.
Either the value of “the rental” has diminished, or the value of a player’s controllability has increased.
both really
We can’t judge this deal until we see what the Mets do with the bonus money but knowing the Mets, they’ll blow it.
I like Wahl enough though as a solid set up guy.
Mets have done extremely well signing IFA talent the past few years. The Rookie Leagues and DSL have tremendous talent.
Word. The Wilpons also have a private reserve in Great Neck where the prospects run free and are fed by hand.
People are underwhelmed by the return for the Mets, but rentals don’t cost that much these days. And the Mets are delusional anyway to not want to blow it up, so getting 2 okay prospects is pretty good for them
Amazed by people dumping on this return back. Familia is a good pitcher, but makes $8M this year and is a free agent at the end of the year. If the Mets are going to rebuild, there’s no sense in devoting $10M+ to a closer, so there wouldn’t be any reason to re-sign him; and if you’re not going to give him a contract at 10, why would you risk qualifying him at $18M just on the off chance he rejects it and you get a post-2nd round pick back? Oh, and he probably wouldn’t reject that, because I don’t see anyone giving him that much on the free market.
Instead, they get back a 3B prospect who was a 4th rounder last year with great on-base skills, and a hard-throwing righty reliever who’s striking out almost 15 batters per 9, and has given up all of 2 home runs in 39.2 IP in the PCL. Plus getting a ton of extra international money makes this a de facto 3 prospects for 1 rental type deal.
You didn’t get any prospects. Toffey is not a legitmate prospect, he was ranked #20 in the system as a zero tool player struggling to make contact as a 23 year old/4 year SEC player in a super hitter friendly environment in Single A. That is the definition of a distant lottery pick, one with a low upside with little power or contact skills.
The second guy is a dude pitching AAA as a 26 year old. Lot of AAAA guys at that age that can figure out AAA but are worthless in the majors. He has no secondary pitches. Not ranked at all in the A’s system. We have no idea whats there, but a middle reviler is the best case.
Middle reliever floor, high-leverage reliever, best case.
bobo5555
That’s an ignorant comment showing an obvious lack of facts in what amounts to laziness on your part to respond on assumptions.
The second dude (Wahl) throws upper 90’s with good secondaries but has been slowed by injury including Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and subsequent surgery- not talent.. Has the stuff to perhaps close or set up down the road.
Toffey was drafted just 13 months ago and will be playing now in AA. He’s good defender with good plate approach who has power potential. He was once drafted by the Yankees in 2014 but opted not to sign.
Jeff McNeil of the Mets, 26, isn’t ranked and is tearing up the minors having developed power after several lost seasons due to injury.
Oh, he was drafted by the Yankees.. Forget my comment then
You didn’t state any facts. No prospect analysis ranks him as a legitimate prospect. Keith Law said he doesn’t really have any tools at this point. Again, he is struggling to make contact in a super hitter friendly environment and ballpark against younger competition. Thats a nothing. But I guess, as you said in “AA”, due to the overnight promotion from the Mets even after struggling to the point he would have been demoted in the majors for the same batting line.
Wahl doesnt have a secondary pitch bro. There is a reason he ceased to be a prospect years ago and has sat in AAA. It requirires more than speed to be the mlb, there are plenty of dudes doing that in A that never make the majors.
You got two entirely non entities, not ranked in the A’s system for a high end closer. Well done.
So many people saying fans over value their players but I’m a Braves fan and I expected a little more than that too. In light of what Machado drew I wouldn’t have expected a top 100 prospect but maybe one player somewhat close to it and THEN a player of Toffey’s ilk. I wonder if they didn’t get that though because the Mets are only doing a short retool and so insisted only players ready to contribute in 2019. Thus you get Whul.
Even if that’s the case, I still question the return for Fam. But maybe it’s nothing the Mets could have done. Maybe the market has changed even more. I’ll reserve judgement until we see another high end reliever rental traded.
Look at what Herrera brought back. This is a better package than that.
No it wasn’t.
I would have to agree. At least Wahl is likely to be a major leaguer
Yet again another salary dump. Really wish Manfred would do something about this garbage.
Yes the Mets achieved their goal. Salary dump. What a bunch of losers. Why didn’t they wait till the end of the month?
tonysdog01
Injury risk. He’s battled injuries in 2017 and 2018. Mets shopped around, liked enough of what they got to pull the trigger before another injury derailed trade value.
I assume that the Mets are motivated by Familia’s off field behavior.
Makes sense. Jeff Wilpon has such a stellar history with women himself. Firing them because they got pregnant and such.
We won’t know until later Werther’s Oakland made a sensible move or not. With the A’s looking uphill to Houston and Seattle(and Boston/NYY), their backs are kind of against the Wahl… Jeurys out on this trade until October.
High upside/downside rental closer? I’ll give you butterscotch candy and a used hair trimmer for him!
This screams Vic Black all over again….
If the Mets were good at identifying the right RP prospects to acquire in rental deals, we’d have the deepest bullpen in baseball history.
It’s usually best to just ask for 1 prospect in rental deals. The best deadline deals for sellers almost always involve a 1 prospect return package. Even the Mets got Wheeler for Beltran. And, of course, dealt Fulmer for Cespedes. When dealing with a budget conscious team like the A’s you’re really going to reduce the return by using the Wilpon approach of refusing to pay the balance of the player’s salary.