11:56am: The Mets will receive cash in the deal, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times tweets.
11:47am: The Angels have acquired outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis from the Mets, Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com reports on Twitter. Nieuwenhuis had been in limbo after being designated by New York last week.
The 27-year-old was off to a terribly start in his first 40 plate appearances, hitting just .079/.125/.132 while striking out 17 times and walking only twice. He’s shown more in the past, though Nieuwenhuis has never received much in the way of consistent playing time at the big league level. Over parts of five seasons at Triple-A, he owns a .260/.345/.468 line.
For Los Angeles, the out-of-options Nieuwenhuis represents a low-risk turnaround candidate who may offer an alternative to the struggling Matt Joyce. It’s unclear as yet how the Halos will structure their roster, which includes Joyce and the right-handed hitting Collin Cowgill (himself a former Queens-to-Anaheim trade piece) as corner outfield options alongside the well-entrenched Mike Trout and Kole Calhoun.
Wow! What a great pickup by the Angels! He’s been up 38 times and struck out half of them. His average is .079 …so excited. :-/
Yea he’s had a frustratingly high K rate both in his MLB and MILB career. He does have a decent glove though.
Got to replace Hamilton’s production somehow.
that will cover hamilton and joyce
I don’t understand this move, he’s Collin Cowgill 2.0
But he’s LH. Maybe we swapped?
It’s actually strange, because they picked up Cowgill after the Mets DFA’d him in 2013 following a slow start, and look at what they did with him. Niewenhuis..I don’t know if they can help him much. He looked like he was going to be a respectable bench bat, but it wasn’t meant to be. Best of luck to him, and to Angels fans..just don’t look at his stats from this year.
Which would mean 2 seasons of good utility production.
I would have liked for Captain Kirk to come to Charm City…
Drat.
This actually might be a good move for Kirk N.
I think he needed a change of scenery.
And a change of Managers.
What a terrible pick-up. This move is a head scratcher.
Yeah, I would stick with the struggling Joyce is this is the alternative.
I liked Kirk. Wish he realized the potential that he demonstrated in the minors and yearly during Spring Training.
How hard do you think Dipoto tried to find the one major league outfielder that is hitting worse than anyone on the Angels? I mean that’s talent, Dipoto should get a raise….
Collin Cowgill made a big turnaround when we got him from the Mets. Hopefully Kirk can be his platoon mate in LF.
That’s one of the Angels’ MO’s over last 15 years. They take these failed prospects and make them into full time role players and manage to get maximum value out of them for as long as they can. Wouldn’t be surprised if they get something good out of this guy for at least the remainder of this season.
I think the Angels just like sending cash to other teams.
Why?
They got him for nothing. I’m sure if they’re able to trade for an outfielder Nieuwenhuis will be gone.
Nieuwenhuis never got 400ABs from Mets to see what he could do in a Season !
Because he was just not good enough to be a starter.
I know he’s having a horrendous start to the year, but he was a pretty good career hitter in the minors and had a solid, small sample sized year at the majors last year. Hope a change of scenery and more playing time gets him on the right track. Always nice to pick up another lefty bat. For cash, i think this is a pretty good buy-low (literally haha) risk. Maybe this also puts a fire under Joyce’s a$$. Nieuwenhuis is only 27
Kirk definitely needs to be in SoCal
I wonder if the angels are going to be make an even bigger trade, they need to get ben revere and either howard lind or pedro alverez. this team on offense needs to turn it around quick because this not the same team that scored the most runs last year, the pitching has been great but the offense is like gone
Anaheim fans ,what you’re getting is a gritty ,nose in the dirt football player who happens to be pretty good at baseball . Forget the stats for now as it would be difficult for any player to produce when called to hit once every three games when you have set on the bench for the first 7 innings. Captain Kirk as he is fondly called , had a great spring and should have been given at bats early on. He plays all 3 OF positions well ,don’t let his size fool you,CF can be his home and he’ll remind you all of Jim Edmonds . Obviously I’m a fan and dont see what the Mets got out of letting him go. He was a great teammate and clearly a clubhouse favorite based on all the player tweets. Cecilliani is nothing more than an inexperienced version of Kirk with options. Hope the Angels give him a shot and he enjoys playing in Southern Cal. Will miss you Kirk
Man you are so right on! He never got a real chance with the Mets under the nervous manager. I expect that the results will be better under a solid manager like he has now.
I hope so. He deserves a real shot. Maybe not a starter but a helluva 4th OF. Time for Collins is up. I hate what he’s doing lately with starters ,giving them an extra 3rd of an inning. Almost wasted deGroms performance and the repeating it with Syndergaard the next day
Believe that Angels in for a big and pleasant surprise. He got a glove, speed, arm and power. If he can resurrect his hitting ability you have a 5 tool gem.