The Marlins have traded right-hander Jordan Yamamoto to the Mets in exchange for minor league infielder Federico Polanco, the Mets announced Monday. In order to open a spot on the 40-man roster, the Mets have designated infielder Robel Garcia for assignment. Yamamoto was designated for assignment last week when Miami inked reliever Anthony Bass to a two-year contract.
The 24-year-old Yamamoto joined the Marlins as one of four players acquired in the lopsided deal that sent Christian Yelich to Milwaukee. Yamamoto showed promise in a 15-start debut in 2019, notching a 4.46 ERA through his first 78 2/3 MLB frames while striking out a quarter of the hitters he faced. While that strikeout rate sat above the league average, he also walked a greater-than-average 11 percent of the hitters he faced.
Despite that promising debut, Yamamoto’s 2020 season was an utter disaster. In 11 1/3 innings, he was clobbered for 23 earned runs on 27 hits — including an astonishing eight home runs — and seven walks. Clearly, giving up nearly a homer per inning isn’t conducive to success, but it’s worth noting that there may well have been some physical reasons for his struggles. Yamamoto’s 2019 season ended with an IL placement due to a forearm strain, and his 89.8 mph average fastball in 2020 was down nearly two full miles per hour.
Yamamoto may not factor into the Mets’ immediate rotation plans, but he’ll be a nice piece of optionable depth behind top starters Jacob deGrom, Carlos Carrasco, Marcus Stroman and David Peterson. At present, Yamamoto and fellow trade acquisition Joey Lucchesi might be the favorites for the fifth spot in the rotation now with Steven Matz now a Blue Jay, but the Mets could yet add another veteran starting pitcher to their Opening Day group.
In exchange for Yamamoto, the Marlins will get the 19-year-old Polanco — a versatile, left-handed-hitting infielder who has yet to advance beyond the Dominican Summer League. (He’d likely have done so in 2020 were it not for the absence of a minor league season.) Polanco signed as an amateur out of the Dominican Republic in 2017 and most recently appeared with the Mets’ DSL affiliate in 2019, hitting .299/.383/.418 in 231 plate appearances. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen ranked him outside the Mets’ Top 30 prospects earlier this year, noting that he lacked power projection and has a contact-oriented offensive profile.
Garcia, 27, made his MLB debut with the Cubs in 2019 after after a highly unusual path to The Show. The former Indians farmhand was out of affiliated ball from 2014-18 before the Cubs caught a look at him playing for a professional team in Italy. They brought him in on a minor league pact, and Garcia showed off light-tower power at Triple-A in 2019 — 21 homers in 296 plate appearances — before being called up.
The Cubs gave Garcia 80 plate appearances in 2019, and he responded with a tepid .208 average and .275 on-base percentage, but he still slugged .500 thanks to five homers, two doubles and two triples in that short time. Garcia also punched out in 35 of those 80 plate appearances, so while the raw power he possesses is plain to see, there’s some obvious work to be done on his approach at the plate. He still has a minor league option remaining, so a team in need of some right-handed-hitting infield depth could roll the dice on his considerable raw power. The Mets have a week to trade him, attempt to pass him through outright waivers or release him.
first
…to post a meaningless comment. Just like yesterday. Good work.
This tool was doing it yesterday, too.
@hashtahj Shouldn’t there be a better slang term to describe Web? A tool implies that there is some utility; scrap metal is less catchy but implies some use of completely changed.
Pardon the overanalyzing.
followed by even meaningless comments, group effort everyone!
It is never meaningless to ridicule people who make “first” comments
The first shall be last and the last shall be first.
Baseballpun….:
I love the comment and the origin thereof. Excellent, sir, excellent.
If you aren’t a 9 year old I’m disappointed.
Yes, officer, this man right here…
This isn’t youtube 8 year old lol
Fine risk
Yep, depth is good.
Cohen’s knowing of the importance of depth is a big improvement from where the Mets were previously.
Exactly. I was confused by the Matz trade. Not that the Mets didn’t get good pieces back, but because a win-now team traded a starter. This move makes up for that.
it sounds cliché at this point but I think they’re winning the 1 man race for Bauer.
Trading matz makes sense when you have 2 lefties that are equivalent or better in Peterson and Lucchesi. Saving 6 million bucks on Matz made a lot of sense to me.
Good point, jbigz. Have to agree with that. Peterson and Lucchesi do seem at worst, on the same level as Matz if not better. I would lean towards better myself.
@jbiz oh for sure. and matz has struggled. i just meant in a season where depth is more crucial than usual, the Mets traded away a SP. But it was worth it, and this is another depth option.
Another Cold Day and another Day where the Atlanta Braves have refused to do Dick to their Roster. What in the Hell are they waiting for??
They’re waiting to see if the DH comes to the NL so they can pay Ozuna or Cruz and then see how much they have left for Greene.
yeah, Charlie Morton and Drew Smyly are nothing.
They literally started the off season, already have a top 5 team in the league, with tons of high end prospects in the pipeline. This dudes probably in high school
Oh my god. I swear, Braves fans are the worst.
Sigh. People who take an entire group of fans and make broad, sweeping statements about all of them are the worst.
Agreed. Except for Jets fans. Jets fans are the worst.
Several years of control with minor league options. Same with Lucchesi, Diaz, and Reid-Foley. Need minor league arms after Brodie.
Corey Oswalt drops further and further down the depth chart (a good thing!)
Had an odd feeling the Mets would trade for him
Yay, but dangit, but yay, but dangit… I like the Mets, but I wanted him on the Rangers… Mini-crisis.
Looks like Bauer will have to lower his asking price. Sure does look like the Mets have no interest.
I wouldn’t say no interest. All the pitchers the Mets have acquired besides Carrasco have minor league options.
I think he was being sarcastic.
they already made an offer…
All these moves are, are depth. Good depth pieces too. This is what you do when you run a competent franchise.
Based on them picking up Yamamoto?
86KMets: Yamamoto is the latest in that type of philosophy. He put up decent #’s as a rookie in ’19 but struggled mightily in ’20. He’s still young and is under team control for a handful of yrs. He could wash out but he could turn into a solid #3 starter.
After the GME nonsense, Bauer may have no interest in playing for the Mets owner. I know it seems like nonsense, but this is BauerOutage, the people’s champ. I can see it coming into play.
Waiting for Marlins Fan Base to comment.
Might be a waiting for a long, long time
Keep waiting… I’m not sure if either of the two fans know how to use the internet.
Hey
Hey I can totally internetz
He’s typing up a condescending reply about Bill Pulsipher as we speak.
I’ll comment below.
And yes, this trade begs for comment from me and @MetsFan22.
[see below]
Yamamoto was seen getting his finger measured for the World Series Ring he’s been told will be coming his way by MLBTR’s Mets fans.
I was just thinking about a ring for him lol
Looks like a pretty good deal for both teams. I still think the Marlins don’t really have the depth to be losing a pitcher like Yamamoto though.
They absolutely do have the depth which is why he was DFA in the first place. Big League rotation shaping up to be Alcantara, Lopez, Hernandez, Sixto and one out of Castano/Neidhart/Rodgers. Behind them is Edward Cabrera, Braxton Garrett, Max Meyer, Jorge Guzman and Jordan Holloway… not to mention that they drafted 5 additional arms besides Meyer this past draft. Losing Yamamoto will not hurt.
Just saying if I were the Marlins I wouldn’t be dumping a 24 year old arm who can generate strikeouts and had a bit of success in his initial big league action. It seems like they wrote him off over 4 games in which he was likely hurt.
Honestly JD, I agree with you. I think Marlins had other guys that should have been DFA before Yamamoto (specifically, Jeff Brigham comes to mind).
Someone is uninformed.
Someone will still be watching a last place team.
The Mets? Yeap
Anyone else thought he was going to be claimed by Pittsburgh?
If he was placed on waivers I would’ve been shocked if they passed on him.
Not that it makes much if any difference, but Robel Garcia is a switch hitter. The article suggests he is a righty hitter.
I respect your attention to detail.
News: Three days ago: Angels team with huge need for a no #1 option not in on best pitcher available in FA because their pitching coach hates him.
News: Today: Pitching coach involved in rumors of possible misconduct which could get him fired?? HHHMMMMMM
Metsfan22, thoughts? I think there were a lot better options for the Marlins to DFA other then Yamamoto.
This dint make sense, & at the same time it did….. u would think they would try let him rebond to regain some value. But on the other hand he lost like 2 mph off his fb and is only 24. He never really looked in shape doesn’t seem to care to add some muscle. Something tells its related to conditioning or lack of.
He has good stuff I like him. Marlins have a lot of pitching depth so they should be good. This was good for us bc we didn’t have a lot of depth.
Be happy Metsfan22; this is a guy I’ve liked ever since he came up and I expect good things with the Mets. Way better than Ariel Jurado.
Yamamoto 2019 highlight reel: youtube.com/watch?v=OfMp39-7sqw
You two are such hypocrites.
@MetsFan22 Oh, here it is!
Wait, you mean that the Marlins prospects that you bashed for so long actually are good? Because Yamamoto was surpassed on our depth charts.
Or, are you going to get amnesia again about how you bashed our prospects, even as I stated you’ll see what we have?
Yawn
@Marlinsfanbase
Are you calling me a hypocrite? I’ve never said anything about the Marlins.
@Mrtwotone
I was referring to MetsFan22 and Rangers29. They’re both hypocrites as proven here.
@MetsFan22 made it clear over and over and over again that the Marlins prospects sucked. I even said that he’ll see. Now, he’s trying to give props to one that we DFA’d? The shoe fits.
This is one of those trades, that unless you have seen the dude play, there’s almost nothing that can be said. So I’m guessing the marlins had prior interest in this guy at some point. But hopefully the marlins give Monte Harrison a shot this season. If him & isan diaz don’t preform this season the yelich trade will go down as THE WORST. With him, Cooper and Herold I don’t understand why they are even looking for another outfielder. There’s also still brinson aswell.
Agreed. And I don’t think they need another outfield as well. Dickerson and Marte will be getting consistent playing time. That leaves Brinson, Sierra, and Harold taking up the remaining 3 outfield spots. These 3 deserve to get a look. If they don’t perform, at least they were given a chance. They then have Monte, Sanchez, Bleday, Encarnacion, and maybe even Mesa.
I would like to think Dickerson gets back to his career norms in offense. He was looking good at the end of the season. Marte was not but he was very clutch delivering some big hits. Then for RF they want a lefty bat off the bench. Sierra looked great before he was hurt. When he went down the fish were like 7 games above 500 (yes I know with like 19 games played) and after his injury they went on a losing streak. Just saying. Ramirez hasn’t shown me anything but the team seems high on him so ok. Harrison has all the tools but has to put it together and I’m not opposed to giving him another shot. Kinda like with Brinson, one final month or two before you’re gone. And then the big elephant in the room for me, Cooper. I love Cooper and if he can stay healthy I think he can be an above average bat. But can he stay healthy in RF? It’s looking more like we might have a DH so that would solve that issue quick.
I want JJ to get a little more seasoning. I’ve heard bad rumors of his attitude and conditioning. Now obviously they are rumors so who knows. But there being no minor league season hurt him very badly. I am also very high on Peyton Burdick. Keep and eye on him. And if Misner can figure it out in the box then forget it. We could be saying JJ who? There’s some excitement there….but as we all know prospects come and go….
I too agree that we don’t need another. We can stick with what is to let these guys battle and perhaps open up the opportunity to trade the vets at the deadline if a couple of the OFs do the job.
Now if the NL has a DH, I’m up for another bat added then at that spot. I know people like Coop, but bigger bats can be found.
@Marlinsfan05
I think Isan Diaz will perform, I have a good feeling about him for some. Well, good in the fact that I think he will become a decent player, I like seeing young players come up and succeed. But also bad, because I think he spear in the side of the braves in the upcoming future. Lol
No Bauer for the Mets
Marlins prematurely brought this dude up. 82 innings in AA with promise and rattled on a bad team. Hopefully Mets can give this dude some reps either in the pen and let him develop a bit more/bring up the confidence. His minor league stats are great.
Yams is supposed to be more or a control artist. Last year he couldn’t get his fastball to 90. He has 2 breaking balls and a changeup. No plus pitch but all are about average. When he can throw all where he wants, you get the Yams who for his first 3 starts looked like an ace in the making. Then reality came crashing down. And then when covid hit he was given every opportunity to do something and didn’t (like that Jays game we won like 13-12 or something after we gave up I believe 3 3rHRs to the Jays and Yams gave up a bunch of runs by the second and we were up at least 4).
I’ll be rooting for him because if you check out his social media he seems like a cool guy. Someone you would want to grab a beer with and hear some stories. He seems to have a positive attitude. If he gets more in shape, maybe some driveline, get to a consistent 92 then he could be a good #3/4. Like how Elieser looked last season.
The other problem is just about everyone BUT Yams throws 94+ I think Elieser might be the softest tosser at a 92 avg (Braxton Garret pre surgery could hit 95). I hope the team isn’t just judging everyone on fastball strength. While we have that in spades it doesn’t matter how hard you throw it if it’s straight.
@ludafish
So true about throwing hard meaning nothing if it’s straight. Remember Matt Lindstrom? For a man that threw as hard as he did, he didn’t miss bats when the game was on the line. Whewww…you gave me a flashback!
Yeah I agree, I imagine its extremely hard to get thru a lineup even just 2 times with an 89 fb. Let’s not forget its not like its sinker with movement & control like that of Kyle hendricks. Good look to him tho!
He is worse than Matz.
matz trade will come back to haunt the Mets, just like Andrew Miller did the marlins and brad hand….
Andrew Miller took awhile to get good. I agree that Matz could turn out good as well but it might take awhile. I was hoping he would go to the Red Sox because they seem to have the ability to coax performance out of talented lefties like Miller, Hill, Erod, Moyer, etc.
I wish they had concentrated on making him a reliever but at $5mil+ it was too much risk for that sort of experiment so the trade is understandable, specially since they seem to have received a decent return.
Matz, when he’s healthy, is incredibly inconsistent. I hope he achieves sustained success, but based on his entire career so far, I don’t think the Mets will regret the deal one bit. Even at his best, he’s been league average.
After looking deeper into his stats you guy did right by letting him go, but he could probably be a above avg reliever. Best case scenario would have been for him to go to pittsburgh, they seem to have amazing luck getting pitchers on track. Also the atsros but their homeballpark is a kfc box.
Actually, Marlinsfan, if you’re talking about Matz, the word in NYC was that he took too long to warm up in the bullpen, otherwise the Mets would have considered him for a spot there.
An Admiral move.
The trade from the Mets standpoint is not meaningless. Jordan Yamamoto has the chance to become a valuable late inning relief pitcher. He can miss bats and should have the opportunity to work his way into the role by pitching in AAA or middle relief to start.
My thoughts:
Yamamoto is talented and can certainly be a good acquisition by the Mets. Curious to see how the kid the Marlins got in return works out, but at his age, that a few years away. The down side for Yamamoto that led to this trade is that we Marlins fans saw the questionable work ethic since his solid MLB start. As we saw last year with Villar, Jeter and co (people forget that Michael Jordan is in the background) have very little patience for the players that aren’t putting in the work all the time. It’ll be interesting to see how Yamamoto turns out. He’s got the talent, and just needs to put in the work. It says a lot that the Marlins did not hesitate to trade a player his age to a division rival, without it being a blockbuster in which they are getting a primed stud. Usually that type of trade indicates a team has no concerns about a player rebounding. Stay tuned.
As for the fun part of this, Yamamoto gets a dream come true. He gets to pitch for a team that has one of his heroes broadcasting for SNY. And we know that hero, Ron Darling, is going to use…ahem, I’ll use Ron’ exact term for it…that “Mets hyperbole” to describe Yamamoto. And I guess this means that the NY Mets PR team, media, and fan base will automatically anoint him as an Ace.
And of course, since this trade begs comment from both me and @MetsFan22, I too look forward to his comment about getting Yamamoto and giving up Polanco for him. I wonder if he still feels that the Marlins got nothing for Yelich and the Marlins had a bunch of bust prospects…or perhaps he’s going to use this moment to get his conveniently, selective memory and amnesia. This will be fun.
@MetFan22? You’re up!
Why are you so bitter about hyped up prospects? Is there something in your past you still can’t work past? Every team, every fan base does the same thing. It’s not even current prospects you go and on about. I’m sure the name Preston Wilson is about to pop out in the next comment or two
The vast majority of fan bases do not hype their prospects up like the Mets do.
There is no bitterness. Actually for me, it’s just me enjoying the crash and burn of your team’s prospects after your team’s PR team, media, your fan base hype your prospects up and tell everyone else how your prospects are better than their team’s prospects, but then your prospects fail at one of the highest rates (probably because of the pressure) in all of MLB. If there’s anything with me, it’s why doesn’t your fan base just temper the narrative until your prospects actually earn the respect? If anything, you all wouldn’t suffer as much every single time your team crashes and burns because you’d just be like the majority of fans instead of the fans of a team with historical failure, that runs the mouth all the time only to have to have crow feast every year, while opposing fans like me (especially in the NL East) ridicule you all for it because of the obnoxiousness displayed before it happens.
I hope this clarifies this. But feel free to continue with the hype-fest. Just accept when you do that, the ridicule is coming afterward.
Kinda silly the Marlins gave up on this kid already. Yes I know he had an absolutely brutal season last year, but gosh… got to think he has some untapped potential. Marlins made the playoffs last year, but I think we can all agree that was because of the shortened season and expanded playoffs more than they actually improved. They are still in the later part of rebuild. It’s a small move ultimately, but a questionable one at the end of the day
It is questionable, especially trading him to a division rival, but the Marlins were questioning his work ethic ever since his solid start to his MLB career.
I’m surprised they traded him, but it’s similar to when they traded Villar last season at the deadline. There were issues about him too.
Jeter and co (which Michael Jordan is also in the background) have been preaching hard work and buying in to their system. There have been times when he, MJ and some of the other Marlins ownership have also consulted with the Miami Heat about the culture Pat Riley built. There is a chance that trading Yamamoto is the result of this atmosphere they’re trying to build.
I’m assuming he has minor league options remaining? If so, then nice pick up.
Teams are going to need a lot of depth if they play anything close to a full schedule. Starting pitchers with options may spend the season bouncing back and forth so that teams can be sure none of their top starters pitch too many innings after not pitching much last season.
I still say Marlins come out and surprise this year. Everyone’s thinking the other four teams but they leave out the Marlins. Derek Jeter is a proven winner.
deGrom
Carrasco
Stroman
Peterson
Yamamoto
put Lucchesi in Long Relief and add a guy like Rich Hill to the fifth spot, Yamamoto just needs some time getting his arm readjusted
Since they wont let anyone comment on this story Ill place it here. Funny isn’t? Really think about it. A rich hedge fund guy buys the Mets. In today’s climate and administration he is evil already. The allegations against Porter was from 5 years ago and multiple organizations ago. Not a word about it even though ESPN knew about it until Cohen takes over. Cohen wasn’t even an owner when Calloway supposedly did what he did. (minority owner but not in the day to day operations) And again this was known quite a while ago.(yes they are allegations right now) The Gamestop issue is all the Socialists want to talk about even though nothing illegal took place. The report says this was brought up while Calloway was the manager. Why didn’t these people press the issue then? You mean to tell me they were easily dismissed at that time but now everyone is appalled and reporting the story. If Porter and Calloway did these things without the female’s consent or involvement and were harassing women then they are creepy bastards and of course I don’t condone any of that. Its just really questionable timing. But I guess you have to remember what the #Me Too movement preached to everyone…Believe ALL women…unless those women have opposing political views and are accusing say…I don’t know… a former Vice President.
What was the point of that word soup?