Reds infielder Brandon Drury is among the more obvious candidates to be traded in the coming weeks, as he’s having an excellent year and is an impending free agent on one of the worst teams in baseball. He was placed in the 13th slot on MLBTR’s recent list of top trade candidates. Andy Martino of SNY took a look at some trade candidates that make sense for the Mets, listing Drury among them, but noting that the Dodgers and Giants are “showing more interest” in Drury right now.
The Dodgers have long had a tendency to covet versatile players and Drury certainly fits that mold. With Cincy this year, Drury has moved around the infield to fill in as needed, depending on the injury status of his teammates. He’s played 51 games at third, 20 games at second, five at first and a couple at short. He hasn’t played the outfield this year but has manned the corners in previous seasons. The advanced metrics differ as to the quality of his glovework overall, but he’s generally viewed as a passable defender wherever he plays on the infield. Along the way, he’s hit 18 home runs and slashed .276/.334/.536 for a wRC+ of 136.
The Dodgers recently placed their incumbent super utility man Chris Taylor on the injured list with a fractured foot. Though he’s going to be out until after the All-Star break, it seems possible he returns before the August 2 trade deadline. The larger issue might be that some of their veteran infielders aren’t living up to their potential this season. Gavin Lux is having a great year but is playing a lot of left field lately to cover for Taylor’s absence. Justin Turner was ice cold to start the year but has gone on a tear of late to get himself back above league average for the year. Max Muncy, on the other hand, hasn’t gotten into a groove yet this season, currently sitting on a batting line of .161/.313/.309, wRC+ of 86. He seemingly hasn’t been himself since injuring his UCL late last year, spending some time on IL due to that issue this season. Hanser Alberto is on the bench and hits right-handed, making him a theoretical option to platoon with Muncy or just give him time off in general. However, he’s hitting just .222/.232/.346, producing a wRC+ of just 61, making Drury a sensible upgrade there.
As for the Giants, they’ve also been fans of the versatility model, hardly surprising given the fact that president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi came over from the Dodgers. Evan Longoria and Tommy La Stella are currently on the IL but neither is expected to be out for an extended period of time. Longoria is having a nice season but has played in just 44 games due to injuries, with La Stella similarly playing just 35. The oft-injured Brandon Belt has played just 48 games and has been DHing often due to knee issues, manager Gabe Kapler tells reporters, including Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. That’s left Wilmer Flores playing a lot of second base and rookie David Villar covering the hot corner, while LaMonte Wade Jr. has come in from the outfield to play some first base, along with Darin Ruf as well. Thairo Estrada is in the mix but has also been playing some shortstop to give Brandon Crawford some days off. There’s a lot of moving parts there, which will likely keep moving, based on how the Giants operate and based on the health of the players. But with Crawford, Longoria, Belt, La Stella and Ruf all over 33 years old, it makes sense to keep rotating them in and out as much as possible to prevent wear and tear. Drury’s ability to play all over could make him a sensible add, with his role changing over the coming months as these situations change.
Given Drury’s ability to move around the diamond, there’s very few teams that couldn’t fit him in somewhere. His 136 wRC+ is 27th in the majors among qualified hitters, making him better than at least a few regulars in most lineups and certainly better than each team’s bench options. The Dodgers are the best team in the National League with a record of 56-30, making them clear deadline buyers. In a recent conversation with Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman downplayed the possibility of another headline-grabbing deal like last year’s acquisition of Max Scherzer and Trea Turner. But it stands to reason they will at least look for complementary pieces like Drury. As for the Giants, they’ve fallen on hard times recently and are currently outside of the postseason picture. Their 44-42 record has them two games back of the Cardinals for the final National League Wild Card spot.
If the Mets want to “flex their financial might” then the Reds are a logical fit. Their ownership is cheap and would take next to nothing for Drury if some team is willing to absorb most of Mooses contract.
To begin with, you’ve never known what it’s like to be a lifelong fan of a small market team. The pandemic crippled SM teams in ways the mega-city teams never felt, so don’t be talking smack about Castellini being cheap. He’s thrown around damn good money in the past to get better, things just haven’t worked out as they wanted. SM teams don’t have the luxury of buying championships by doling out multiple 300 million dollar contracts. The teams they field actually have to earn one. That being said, If I were Krall, I’d refuse to ever do business with a NY team. I’d much rather pump up teams within the same division.
Castellini is the definition of cheap, owners like him need to sell the team and be gone from baseball for good.
You know nothing about the Reds franchise other than seeing them as a farm team…go back to sleep. When the Spankees are flying to Japan in 15 years to play a three game set because Tokyo is in the AL East, remember that baseball was born in Cincinnati…
Yes, Titanic but I’d gladly give up a couple months control on Drury to offload Moose. The Reds would be in great financial shape in 23 with Moose gone, but the Mets owner is rich, not stupid.
Votto’s $25m would still be on the books
I can’t disagree with that ksoze..
The Reds would jump all over that offer. No reason for
The Dodgers not to offer it, they are basically printing money these days anyway.
What offer?
Drury has Mariners written all over him.
Drury for Trammell
Dodgers, Yankees, Braves have more to offer..
titanic struggle – Out of those teams only the Dodgers have a considerably better ranked farm system than Seattle’s. Atlanta’s farm system is bottom 5. Seattle has plenty of prospects to offer, and a few good on roster options. They have the deepest bullpen in the MLB. Good relievers are always in demand.
This Dodger fan in Grants Pass, OR (his hometown) would approve of this trade.
If Aaron’s the Judge, then Brandon’s the Drury.
Wouldn’t that make Aaron the “Jrudge”? I think this is an Eye-gor/Igor situation we’ve gotten into.
Can’t… take…. anymore… puns… aaaagh
Sound familiar? LOL
What? Never in a million years would I….
ISWYDT
I hope some people on this site are finally able to admit they were wrong about Brandon Drury. Last year, I said Drury was one of the best hitters on the Mets and that they were stupid for dessignating him for assignment for Robert Gsellman, who then got DA’d a month later. Some people said Conforto was a better hitter than Drury. Conforto struck out whenever there were runners on past year, Drury was clutch. Some people don’t believe in clutchness, I disagree. I will list the names of the users that told me I was wrong and stupid last year under this comment
The users that said I was a moron essentially: iverbure , Orel Saxhire, Metsman22, Kirk Nieuwenhius for MVP, Cosmo2, and VonPurple Hayes
Never change, LFGMets
@metsfanina22 Those that can’t admit they are wrong are only hurting themselves, its a sad world we live in
Drury is 29 year old with a career OPS+ of 91. Conforto is 124 at the same age. Have you any actual stats to back up YOUR point or should we expect more nonsense and victory laps from you even though you’ve never actually backed up anything you’ve said? Self-awareness doesn’t seem to be big with you.
What about Justin Turner, tough guy?
What about Turner? I’ve no idea what you are talking about. If you are gonna jump into the convo at least make some sense.
Conforto is a better hitter than Drury career-wise. Period. Yes Drury surprised some of us this year but let’s see who teams value more come contract time, eh? (And Ive admitted I was wrong here plenty of times. I’m just never wrong with you. Your notion that Drury is the better overall player than Conforto is wrong. Here’s an idea: try backing your ideas with stats just once, rather than ranting like a petulant child about who can’t admit they’re wrong. It is baseball, you know. BRef is pretty accessible.)
Did he sleep with your wife?
Michael Conforto isn’t even in the majors anymore, he is finished. It’s ok to admit you were wrong, it happens to the best of us sometimes. Not me though.
Conforto is a better player. Obviously right now he’s useless. Him getting injured proves nothing. I’m not wrong on this. Drury is better than I thought he’d be but I never said he was bad, just not as good as Conforto. Stats back me up.
LFGMets (Metsin7):
Most of us are correct about some things, and wrong about others. None of us is right about everything. Gloating about the times you are right is bad form.
He wasn’t really even right though. They’ve been saying Drury was better than Conforto for a while now without any statistical basis and it was more based on the absurd insistence that Conforto sucks than anything. I’d give them credit for at least predicting Drury’s rise if they’d backed up his assertions just once. I never thought Drury would be doing what he’s doing now but until LFG can produce a shred of the logic to his thinking it seems to me we’ve got a broken clock situation. I don’t know if they’re a young kid or drunk or what but they’re turning into a mute candidate. Theyre nothing but terrible takes and false victory laps. Never seen one stat from them.
Sorry, bro; he did.
Did what? I’m starting to think you are just LGFM with a different account name. Trolling.
Anybody is better than Hanser
A classic having a great year but will tail off the min he’s traded type guy.
See Adam Frazier and Joey Gallo
Donovan Solano might be more likely to go from the Reds to the Giants. He has a higher salary and was injured until very recently, so the acquisition cost should be much lower than Drury.
He’s also a former Giant, of course. The legend of Donnie Barrels.
He was a great Giant, but probably not the spark plug the team needs to chase the wildcard.
I don’t see the logic of the lower acquisition cost making Solano more likely for the Giants. Why? The Giants have a ton of salary space, and a highly ranked farm system that they can deal from. If they prefer Drury, as the article suggests, why would they settle for a lesser player in Solano, just because he’s cheaper?
Guess I don’t buy the premise that Solano’s that much lesser a player. I’d rather buy low on a known quantity than give up good prospects to rent a guy coming of the best few months of his career.
The salary matters because the Giants have payroll space. They can probably get Solano for almost nothing just by offering to take on his salary. Other teams with luxury tax concerns won’t want to do that. Drury’s low salary has extra value for those teams and that drives the acquisition cost even higher.
I do buy Solano as the lesser player. He’s 5 years older than Drury, and for some reason has played only 19 games this season. There’s probably a reason why, as the article states, the Dodgers and Giants are both interested in Drury, and apparently not Solano. Since he’s a rental, it isn’t going to cost a lot in prospects to acquire Drury.
Solano is makes about 5 x as much as Drury for the rest of the year.
I like Donnie Barrels but can’t see an ex Giant going BACK to the Giants.
Don’t think that’s gonna happen.
Now that the Mets beat the Braves and their fans into submission IN THEIR OWN BALLPARK, we can turn our attention to the trade market. Sleep tight, Braves fans.
Nobody is worried about the Mets, YCPIITB. But it makes sense you’d be celebrating a July series win, having accomplished very little the last few decades. (I’m not a Braves fan btw.)
It’s July 13…
It’s crazy to brag when the Mets have blown a 10-game lead in the past month. Yikes!
July 30, 2021- AA brings in talent that led them to the World Series.
@you can put it in the books needs to remember that.
Reds selling him while his value is at a all time high would be smart .
He is also a FA in two months
Dodgers are interested in every player with 2 legs. Shocking.
And they always get the best players I’m a Met fan they will wait till the last minute to do something like last year
If the Dodgers are interested in Drury it says less about the injury to Taylor than it does about the struggles of Muncy. Whether Taylor is back before or after the trade deadline is really of no consequence since very likely it will be not long before or after that date. Muncy is just a hole in the lineup. He needs to sit more, especially against lefties until he gets well.
BlueSkies – I will forever have respect for Muncy, but your take is warranted. Roberts is trying his best to get Muncy out of it, but, to your point, he is a mess at the plate. Drury will help balance out the lineup. I was very perplexed when Muncy got the call with the bases loaded last night (against the RH) instead of the red-hot Lux or Lamb.
We still have half a season remaining, so there’s still time for him to get his swag back. Keep in mind, we still have Rios too. That will be another LH bat in case Muncy doesn’t find it. I haven’t heard anything about him NOT coming back at some point, so I am going to assume he’s anticipated back for the stretch run.
Management still has confidence in Muncy (and few better options). He is getting quite a bit of hard contact, just not enough, and he’s missing too many fat pitches that he used to crush. They need to get him back to something closer to his old self, but better he should work out his issues in a platoon situation.
Absolutely spot on take. There’s no doubt Muncy is still bothered by that elbow injury, and I highly doubt it’s going to improve without serious rest at least. He’s battling through it, to his credit. But he’s a negative in that lineup right now.
Muncy needs surgery on the elbow he hurt last season. If they aquire another infielder. I can see him on the DL for extended period to rest or added to playoff roster. He could try getting out in front and having the surgery and be ready for next season. What his contract status? He either walks Ks or hits into a DP or a HR..but hitting .190…just cant happen.
Buyer beware! Check out his home/away splits. Outstanding at the Reds bandbox stadium. On the road, no better than ML average
Good catch, Socal!! Sadly, his road splits are still better than Muncy and Alberto : (
I’m sure there aren’t any FOs that aren’t aware of the home/road splits. And, that 136 wRC+ is park adjusted. It might be slightly skewed, the 130 OPS+ might be a better reflection, but Drury is still having an excellent year. It’s worth noting that Drury has a 1.o30 OPS at Dodger Stadium, and a 1.222 OPS at Oracle Park this season.
Giants have no reason for acquiring Drury. Maybe Faidi is baiting Dudgers to overpay for him
I totally disagree. The Giants played very good ball from season start to the 3rd week in June. They were on pace to win 94 games after the first 64 games of the season Over the last 3+ weeks or so they’ve been mediocre to terrible.
Given the rash of injuries over that span I’m not so sure what we’ve seen recently defines the team. Maybe they aren’t the team they appeared to be in the first 64 games, but I’m not sure they’re the team defined by the last 23 games either. But they certainly aren’t out of it.
time to take hanser out behind the barn and put him out of our misery
Gavin Lux is lost in the OF. I think the Dodgers will acquire a true OF before they acquire Brandon Drury.
Taylor will be back before very long, so I don’t see them making any big OF moves.