David Wright’s last game was on May 27, 2016, which means that over a year has passed since the star third baseman has taken the field for the Mets. As Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News writes, Wright’s absence is heavily felt both on the field and inside the Mets clubhouse. Since Wright was recently shut down from throwing during his recovery from a shoulder impingement, it doesn’t look like Wright will return any time soon. Wright played in just 75 games in 2015-16 thanks to spinal stenosis and neck surgery, and given the seriousness of these injuries, it’s no surprise that there has been retirement speculation, though Wright himself has said that he enjoys the process and is hopeful of a return.
Here’s the latest from around the NL East…
- The Nationals are one of many teams who have interest in Padres southpaw Brad Hand, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports (Twitter link). Reports from earlier this week indicated that that Padres were getting a lot of trade buzz about Hand, who has posted a 2.00 ERA, 11.7 K/9 and 3.18 K/BB rate in 27 innings this season. It isn’t surprising that Washington is one of the teams in the mix given the Nats’ bullpen issues this season — Nationals relievers entered the day with a cumulative 5.17 ERA, the highest bullpen ERA in baseball.
- The Phillies haven’t seen much return on their offseason strategy of adding veterans on short-term deals, Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes. Joaquin Benoit, Clay Buchholz, Jeremy Hellickson, Howie Kendrick, and Michael Saunders have all been either injured or largely ineffective in the season’s first two months. While this isn’t a huge competitive concern to the rebuilding Phils, Gelb notes that if these veterans continue to struggle, it could lead to questions about the evaluation process used by GM Matt Klentak’s front office to pursue these players.
Hey Mark (or anyone from MLBTR)… what’s your opinion on a return for Wright?
hey Mark (or anyone from MLBTR), what’s your opinion on Wright?
I’m not Mark but I believe this going down the route of Chris Bosh, I doubt he plays again
Not Mark either but David Wright doesn’t play 80 games combined the rest of his career including comeback attempts. He’s not produced in so long I don’t know why we even talk about him anymore.
Because he’s the longest-tenured player in baseball right now. His retirement literally signals the end of an era.
By longest-tenured I guess you mean with original team? Joe Mauer has him beat there.
In any event I don’t see him as relevant to the wider MLB anymore either. He’s newsworthy in NY and on sites like this, but he’s never had a wide effect on the game or been the elite superstar Mets fans wanted. Sadly his injuries may have ended his career early too.
This may be a dumb question but could Wright get a trade to the AL? Mets would have to keep the salary but they have to pay him anyway when he will likely never play. Would an AL team trade a decent prospect for the chance that Wright can return to hitting form at DH and be a clubhouse leader. Mets are my team and I would like to get something but I also would like to see Wright get another shot instead of ending a brilliant career in such a frustrating way. Thoughts?
No. No one would give up anything for a guy who probably won’t play again.
By Wright not playing, the Mets recoup 75%of his contact. I doubt he’s going anywhere.
Insert terribly lopsided Nationals fan trade proposal to be responded by terribly lopsided Padres fan trade proposal
Hand for Trea Turner and Bryce Harper, plus a 20% share in Lerner Enterprises..
how about seriously .. Hand to Washington and Fedde and Dido to SD? Seems legit and could help both franchises
Difo
I’m glad he said terribly lopsided
Trading Fedde to SD for Hand would be trading one bullpen piece for another; I doubt the Nats do that. But that would seem to be a decent return. The Nats system is a little barren so it’s hard to see unless it’s a three-way trade, which seems feasible.
Lmao u delivered
A little early to call Fedde a bullpen piece, no? The only reasons they moved him to the bullpen were to limit his innings and hopefully get him in a position to help the big league club this year…
That being said, I don’t see them giving up Fedde either way. They gave up 3 of their top 4 pitching prospects for Eaton, so I highly doubt they’re looking to deplete the farm’s top pitching any further.
Nats have enough. Fedde Kieboom and Tyler Watson can get a Hand deal done. Its a decent return other teams can beat, but it is a deal that can get Hand.
Also, unless Fedde can get righties out the Nationals could use Hand. Their bullpen hasn’t been the best against righties.
Here are their relievers splits
Shawn Kelley
R: .290/.353/.742 and L: .130/.286/.391
Koda Glover:
R: .241/.267/.276 and L: .179/.207/.222
Blake Treinen:
R: .352/.417/.472 and L: .371/.463/.588
Oliver Perez
R: .400./429/.842 and L; .238/.304/.381
Enny Romero:
R: .255/.305/.436 and L: .364/.432/.576
Matt Albers:
R: .152/.188/.289 and L: .208/.296/.250
Jacob Turner:
R: .222/.325/.400 and L: .321/.379/.509
Sammy Solis
R: .375/.500/.875 and L: .125/.222/.125
Hand’s .186/.263/.261 against righties is something the nationals will need.
I’m sure that “can” get a deal done – seeing as the Nats would be giving up WAY too much.
Dominant relievers are expensive. We’ve been over this before. No matter what example you look at teams overpay for dominant relief pitching and have been for years. The fact that other teams are bidding drives up the price. Hand still has 2 years of arbitration left at a price all teams can afford. Its not like Hand has a contract that some teams can only take on unless the padres chip in money; no, he’s making a salary all contenders can afford. The nationals arent the only team that will be trying to acquire Hand. Nationals want Hand they are going to have to give up more than just Fedde.
You’re right. I changed my mind. The Padres shouldn’t just settle for Fedde+; they should go for Robles.
I don’ think the Nats have enough to deal for Hand without a third team being involved. Hand is a very good but not elite reliever. He was terrific last year and has been great for two months this year but before that there’s no real track record of success and he throws the slider so much that I think some teams might get scared off.
He might fetch a top-50 prospect but I doubt the Nats are giving up any of their top guys for him. Fedde is being eased into a starting role and Joe Ross looked so terrible today; I doubt the Nats have the pieces alone to deal for Hand.
Well if the padres ask and the nationals say yes kind of worked in their favor didn’t it? Won’t know till you ask. Worst they can say is no.
The best comparison for a Hand trade is Andrew Miller when he was sent from the Red Sox to Orioles for Eduardo Rodriguez given half a year of Andrew Miller. There have been similar results of Brad Hand compared to Miller’s 1st 2 years of relief pitching. Hand doesn’t come with half a year like Miller he comes with 2 1/2 years.
We’ve seen the fact that extra team control and more specifically cheap extra team control is expensive.
Like Miller’s slider that he throws nearly 60% of the time, scared off the Indians?
As a Padres fan this proposal is beyond outrageous. I would trade Hand for Kieboom straight up but I’m not sure Nationals do that and you have them adding 1 solid prospect and another good upside arm
Are you serious? Did you see what the Indians gave up for Miller? The Padres are going to get a top 100 prospect that is MLB ready and a couple of other prospects for Hand and the price goes up every day the Nationals pen is mired in last place and every day Hand has a sub 2.00 ERA. Kieboom is not top 100 and he is not close to MLB ready. He might be the 2nd piece in a Nats/Padres trade for Hand.
I don’t know why fans insist on symmetry in deals. Sure there is precedent of left handed relievers being traded, but looking at one deal and trying to mimic just falls short on so many levels.
Trenien is better against righties. Only letting the hot .352 as opposed to .371
It’s not one deal. Miller, Chapman, Wil Smith, all of those lefty relievers got back top 100 prospects in deals at last year’s deadline. While Cecil and Dunn got handsomely paid in the offseason. Miller is only being compared because of the control he had when he was dealt, knowing that you don’t only get one year of him increases what will come back in return, because if Washington doesn’t make it to the World Series they get to regroup in the offseason and try again next year with Brad Hand in the fold again on a super cheap contract to boot.
Shoot even if you want to compare the Wil Smith deal to a potential Hand deal, SF gave up Phil Bickford who was the games 50th rated prospect at the time Andrew Susac so seeing Brad Hand bring back more than that wouldn’t be unrealistic.
Exactly. You know Preller is going to be trying to get an Andrew miller-type return back for Hand. If the Nationals can’t do it on their own, or don’t want to, then maybe a three team trade will happen. Of course, another contending team could come in and make an offer for Hand.
I doubt either side does that, Dido is just a utility guy and Fedde has real bullpen risk with not a pretty delivery and being so 2 pitch reliant and with injury history. I think Fedde will help Nationals out of pen this year too so I doubt they’d do that.
As a Padres fan I’d do Hand for Kieboom straight up but good chance Washington won’t deal him for a reliever. Tyler Watson is very intriguing but I’m not sure he’s quite good enough to be top guy in deal for Hand, maybe if Nationals add in 2 decent prospects.
Keep in mind that Padres see little value in 45 FV guys who are safe and close to majors like Voth, they prefer lower level upside even if their prospect status is worse on lists
If you want Kieboom for Hand straight up, you can just keep Hand.
We won’t keep him but won’t deal him to nationals
Its long past time to still call Wright a “Star” third baseman.
If 1 1/2 years of Robertson + $ was nearly traded for Luzardo and Ward, I’d guess 2 1/2 years of Hand is worth Luis Garcia and Luzardo..
Both high upside, but far enough away to not hurt the Nats current competitive window.
1. Robertson is making 12 mill this year and 13 mill next year. Any money the whitesox sent would be minuscule like couple million just to clear the money off the books. Had they sent significant money to the Nats the deal would be more. Hand is making about 1/10 what Robertson is this year and about 1/4 of what robertson will make next year.
2. Robertson was coming off a down year last year. This year so far that package of Garcia and Luzardo wouldn’t come close to being enough to acquire him.
2016: 10.63 k/9, 4.62 BB/9, 3.99 xfip
2017: 13 k/9, 3 BB/9, 2.83 xfip.
As an O’s fan and having no dog in this fight, I would say that Fedde would be a nice piece of a trade for Hand. A couple of more prospects would have to be added to Fedde from the Nats to get the Padres to listen.
Robles & Turner are not going to be traded. Period!
Turner might be untouchable, but there’s no way Robles is “untouchable.”
That’s basically like saying Ronald Acuna for the Braves is untouchable…He very well could and would get “touched” for the right trade, and the same goes for Robles…
Robles is a lot closer to untouchable than Acuna, there are probably about 10-15 players Nationals would consider trading him in
Ehhhh, I definitely would not say he is ALOT more. That is really debatable, and it is pretty close, or quite a bit closer than you might think.
Ronald Acuna is just now starting to get the prospect hype and recognition he deserves. I’m not saying one is ultimately better than the other, I’m saying they are pretty similar in terms of their perceived value to others and their own respective teams..
Robles definitely is a solid player, and he’s very likely to be a future stud, but do not sleep on Acuna. Acuna really opens your eyes when you watch him play in person. He genuinely possesses 4-5 plus tools, and he also plays a premium defensive position and plays it very well. He very well could end up being a future solid average, quality CF’er with the ability to hit over 20 HR’s and steal over 25 bases. Scouts typically have glowing reviews after seeing him play, and after seeing him play several times at different levels along the way (A-Rome, Advanced A-Florida, and for AA-Mississippi) I completely understand the hype he has been getting recently.
Do not be at all suprised if he rockets up prospect sheets for the mid-season, and after the season ends….I know I won’t..
Acuna has a ton more swing and miss than Robles, He’s a lot more risky
I will give you the fact that Acuna has had some struggles with strikeouts this year, but he has been slowly improving those numbers.
Although, even with that being said, every prospect carries some red flags or risks. Robles might be the safer bet, but it is my personal opinion that Acuna also has the higher ceiling.
Like I said, it is a good debate between the two, and cases can be made for either prospect.
The one thing that is a certain though is that both Robles and Acuna will be very fun to follow and watch as they continue to develop, mature, and eventually make it to the big leagues..
Acuna has more raw power but Robles has better hit tool/defense/and more speed. Acuna walks a bit more but Robles makes up for that with the weird outlier HBP skill at a carlos Quentin level Acuna has a more projectable body which may move him over to RF as well.
There are very few, maybe only a handful or two, prospects that a team just wouldn’t trade if it clearly upgraded their roster.
Almost every single prospect that is at or below the AA level could and would get traded if the price is right. This whole [enter prospect here] will not get traded is only true, pretty much until they are in fact….traded.
GM’s say it ALL THE TIME!! Then what happens?? BAM a Dansby Swanson is traded, POW a Trea Turner is traded, KERBLAM a Yoan Moncada, Addison Russell, Noah Syndergaard, Lucas Giolito, etc. The list goes on and on!!
Exactly, nobody is untouchable. Keep in mind that Preller has also demonstrated that he prefers Quality over Quantity in prospect returns. Like the Pomeranz for Espinoza deal for example, Preller could have gotten a package headlined by Kopech and others but decided that he would go after Espinoza alone to maximize the value of that deal. Same could be said here, maybe he sets his sights on Robles and won’t blink until Washington says yes.
Personally I think that backfired on preller. Espinoza has great upside but honestly as a gm ill take a lesser deal to get 2-3 guys instead of 1. I mean if espionza doesnt pan out it was wasted.
Prime example was the peavy deal. Poreda was the centerpiece but clayton richard became the only asset they netted from peavy.
Kopech wouldve been good and and if they got chavis in the deal as well thats two vs one to justify the deal.
Poreda was not a very good prospect that deal was always known as a salary dump.
Espinoza is risky but I’d take that risk with his athleticism over getting Kopech who has never thrown strikes +chavis. Espinoza was a terrific return
well he won’t get Robles for hand of course that’s not even remotely close but he could maybe go for someone like fetty with another in low peace
Poreda was a top 100 prospect in the 60-70 range when he was dealt to the padres. Idk where you got wasn’t a good prospect from. He never lived up to his talent cause the padres messed with his mechanics delivery and pitches. But he was still a top 100 prospect at the time of the deal.
Prospects are incredibly fun to follow as they climb the ladder of our favorite team’s organizations. As baseball fans, WE ALL fall in love with these youngsters as we mentally visualize them ultimately making it to the bigs and being stars on our favorite teams.
We also all over value our own teams prospects, and we all really like to think they are untradeable. BUT the reality is that just about 99% of all prospects are looked at as nothing more than assets, and those assets will be moved if the organization feels like it betters their chances at improving their team…
About 1 in 5 1st round draft picks become regulars in the majors. A 2 WAR player. About 50% have at least a cup of coffee, but the percentage of those that become above average players and produce even a single season with a WAR over 3.0 is very, very small. All fans overestimate the value of their prospects.
Serious question…
When you say that roughly 1 in 5 1st rounders become regulars in the majors, is that solely including the first 32 picks, or does that 20% include the supplemental 1st round picks as well…
I know that is kind of a nit-picky question, but I am just asking out of curiosity. It definitely sounds like you have done some research or reading up on the topic, so just wondering if you know whether that minor tidbit was included or not…
Thank you in advance..and I do appreciate the passed on knowledge. Being a fan of a rebuilding team, that is relying mostly on the draft and developing their prospects, those are some pretty scary and eye-opening numbers. Mainly because I am sure that 20% probaby drops pretty dramatically as each round passes..So yeah, here is to some luck and exceeding expectations for my beloved Braves..Because we all know they are going to need it!! Lol
Baseball America is where I got that info. It is for players taken from 1969 through the 2012 draft and it includes compensation picks for free agents and supplemental picks for the loss of free agents. They talked about that in relation to the record 64 1st round picks in 2007 and the 60 in 2011 and 2012.
If you are talking about those supplemental picks the teams get for being in small markets I am not sure.
Something else to keep in mind is that the numbers for top 100 prospects is just a touch less that it is for 1st round picks. 17% make it to the majors as regulars and only a handful put up a single season of 3.0 WAR or higher.
Prospects have huge value because even if they turn out to just be like Adam Duvall they are extremely valuable to the team when they are cheap.
I love David Wright, but he’s made his money and I think if he cared about the Mets more than his own career he would retire.. and no, I’m not a Mets fan.
It’s not about the money to some players.
It’s the Wright time to call it quits….and go out with some dignity….great career….but it’s been over for a few years now….
As far as Hand being mentioned insane sentence as Miller….there is no comparison as Miller is an elite reliever who can close for several teams….whereas Hand is just having a good run for a year and a half….but has no track record of success….yes he has been pitching good but way above his norm or skill level….just as Jason Vargas is as a starter….it’s a matter of time before Vargas regresses and as far as Hand goes….say the Nats give up 2 prospects for him….then he pitches at a 4.00 or higher ERA since the trade….not good for the Nats….most of u are right when u said prospects rarely succeed….no guarantee on top prospects and so forth….there are also no guarantees that Hand pitches for his new team…the way he is now….I say 2 prospects but nothing too high….otherwise go out and get Wilson from Detroit or Watson from Pittsburgh if u want a lefty with a track record of success….
Hand is exactly like Miller from his time in Boston
Lets play a gane.
Reliever A was a starter, became a swing starter, then became a full time reliever. Here are the results of their 1st 2 years as a reliever.
Year 1: 11.38 k/9, 4.46 bb/9, 43.2% GB, 3.37 xfip
Year 2: 14.87 k/9, 2.45 bb/9, 46.9% GB, 1.56 xfip
Reliever B was a starter, became a swing starter, then became a full time reliever. Here are the results of their 1st 2 years as a reliever.
Year 1: 11.18 k/9, 3.63 bb/9, 46.7% GB, 3.34 xfip
Year 2: 11.57 k/9, 3.54 bb/9, 54.8% GB, 3.17 xfip
Wanna guess which one is hand and which one is miller?
So, what you’re proving is that Hand should bring back a similar return to what Boston got from the Orioles for Miller (a highly ranked prospect that was struggling in AA that year), not what the Yankees got from Cleveland… There’s a GIGANTIC difference between the two…
Seems your reading comprehension failed you again priggs.
You seem to forget miller was dealt with half a season of team control. Hand has 5x that amount of team control miller had.
Also, I never said hand would get the padres what the yankees got from miller. I did say theyll get a top 100 prospect and maybe some other talented pieces in the low minors.
Keep trying priggs.
So you just proved hand should net 5x the worth that boston got for miller.
Thanks Priggs. 5x the worth of eduardo rodriguez is gonna be a top 100 prospect at least.
Justin Wilson has the 1 year of team control less. Also the tigers are 23-27 and only 5 games back in their division. No guarantee theyll be sellers.
Tony Watson has never had 10 k/9, has had 4 xfip years of 4+ in 7 years includinfmg this year and last.
Youd be buying a lesser reliever in watson. Ks are down walks are up this year for him.
In the same sentence as Miller*
Hand for Ross and turner