The Mets sent Class-A pitcher Casey Meisner to the A’s for relief pitcher Tyler Clippard. This is the fourth minor league pitcher traded this year by Sandy Alderson. Clippard will fit in nicely in the back of the bullpen and he has plenty of closing experience. No word yet on who will be removed from either the 40-man or 25-man rosters to make room for Clippard.
DFA Alex Torres?
I would.
I thought it was a foregone conclusion…..
Not the biggest fan of what they gave up for a rental of a reliever, as I said in David’s post, but he certainly bulks up the back end of the bullpen. Hopefully this keeps Familia from those 4-5 out saves.
While i am ok with the trade the benefit to the ballclub is marginal.
The Mets have a team bullpen ERA of 2.86. Clippard’s ERA is 2.79
They are 41-4 when leading after 7
The reliever with the worst ERA is Hansel Robles at 4.00. Assuming that’s the type of production that is replaced and that Clippard throws another 30 innings the majors for the Mets, the marginal benefit is 4 runs saved. Even if we assume those are all late inning runs, would that even translate to 1 extra win?
i agree with Rob – hopefully this means the end of the 8th inning appearance for Familia.
While that is true I think Alderson is mostly trying to plug the hole that Mejia leaves if the team makes the playoffs since he is ineligible to play in them.
I could have sworn I read Goeddel was moved to 60-day DL to make room.
That does appear to be the case.
It doesn’t make sense because Goeddel is supposedly close to a rehab assignment. Not sure why they would move him to the 60-day and not Leathersich.
it’s retroactive I believe – he is reported to be able to return August 11
Folks, Mariano Rivera made a career of coming in early. Totally agree with Name as Familia is young and doesn’t have enough miles on him that this move is a must. It’s a luxury move for a starter that didn’t have big expectations.
The need is still the bat. Cespedes, Gomez or Tulo is my preference, but the price will always be a consideration.
Cespedes is my preference. Because of his funky contract he won.t cost a lot. Alderson has got us two major league hitters and a great bullpen arm for AA arms and not even our best. Kudos to Alderson, lets see what the rest of the week brings,
I feel Clippard will help but I think Meisner was too much to give up for him.
Billy Beane sure picked a good one. Meisner projects as a mid to backend starter but there are others that are ahead of him and much closer to the bigs. Marc Craig said that Meisner was a key player in the almost Parra trade so that is probably a real dead deal now. I think Sandy may have overpaid but it was a smart move to add another proven arm to the bullpen.
The remaining question is, can the Mets trust a “rejuvenated Kirk” /Lagares platoon or try for the prize of Carlos Gomez or a solid Will Venable?
I was very pleased that Sandy at least inquired about Simmons.
A strong starting rotation, solid bullpen and a strengthened bench along with a
weak schedule and being only 2 games back should make for some good late season baseball. LGM
Yeah, I was really excited about Meisner. It seems like a lot to give, but he’s far down the pipeline. As for Simmons, it’s impossible to believe that was more than window dressing to get us all believing he’s thinking “b. i. g.” after they signed him for 7 years.
Tulo apparently traded to the Blue Jays. Unreal.
What about Reyes?
Reyes to CO. Maybe we need to get talks going again with Bridich.
While I was in favor of getting Clippard — and Meisner aside, for the moment — I would like to add a cautionary note.
This season, Tyler Clippard has been a lot like Alex Torres. He’s walked a sh*t ton of hitters.
My concern is usage. Thanks to his fabulous .100 BA against LH-hitters, I imagine that TC will feature Clippard as a LOOGY-plus. Meaning that he’ll come into tight situations to face LH bats and then, presumably, stay on against whoever comes up next. The problem is, it could be that he’s going to walk some of those guys.
As a manager, TC has to realize that & plan accordingly, an adjustment he failed to make with Torres. While Torres was mostly terrible with the Mets, I do think that TC’s poor usage contributed to it, leading to an overall loss of confidence.
I like that Clippard is a veteran who has been there, done that. I do think that’s huge. Mejia won’t be around for the playoffs, Parnell is a question mark, and everybody else is inexperienced.
Anyway, lastly, Meisner was one of those names that seemed especially promising. Beane did extremely well for himself. Also, Meisner’s timetable was actually a good one for the Mets, 2-3 years down the road when an influx of young, cheap pitching talent will be needed.
I’m in favor of the trade but, sigh, this one hurt. A heavy price.
I guess my final point is that this one is on Sandy. It’s essential for an organization to identify its assets and not trade away future all-stars. Somehow through a combination of craft and luck, you want to retain the guys who you believe will be really, really good. Not untouchable, but . . . you don’t want to be the guy who traded away David Cone.
This comes back to the point we’ve been talking about for years. It is very, very easy to trade Marlon Byrd when your team has no interest in winning games. You are always going to win that deal. But when you are trying to win now, and facing that pressure, these are much more difficult trades to make — and it could look really bad five years from now.
Great post. Insightful. Thanks for putting this out there.
Brian Joura, who would you rather have: Montero or Meisner?
We’re all friends here – call me Brian.
While not pitching up to his potential, Montero has a 3.29 ERA in his last seven starts with a 2.4 K/BB ratio. That’s pretty close to a #2 SP and he’s got room to improve with both his BB and HR numbers. Meisner excelled in Lo-A and has seen his numbers take a fall moving to Hi-A. He’s still a solid prospect but I think it’s a giant leap to put him in Montero’s class. The only thing that could be an equalizer is if Montero’s shoulder becomes a chronic thing. That’s certainly a potential outcome at this point.
Brian,
I think there is a lot to agree with you on that. One question though, assuming that the rotation as is has some legs on it for health (I know, I know), isnt Montero more or less blocked at this point? One big thing for Meisner was that he was far enough down the pipeline that when Harvey leaves the timing was solid to fortify the staff (under the assumption Meisner delivers on the arc of improvement he is on).
My guess is that once the 2015 Mets season ends, the 2016 rotation is Harvey, JDG, Matz, Syndergaard and Niese. But assuming that Niese is healthy and reasonably productive the rest of 2015, he’ll be viewed more favorably in the trade market in the offseason.
It seemed like the Mets at least tried to get Montero looks in the rotation, so I don’t think they view him as a lost cause as a starter. Trades and injuries happen, so I would consider him being blocked right now as a temporary and not a permanent thing.
I guess I would view a trade of Montero or Niese as more likely than not to happen this upcoming offseason.
Wheres Wheeler in ’16 rotation? (sort of like Wheres Waldo!)
Not supposed to be back before June, maybe later.
And if he is, expect a Matt Moore-like performance.
I love the move. This is what teams in contention do. He not only replaces Mejia should we make playoffs but he’s better at getting lefties out than Gilmartin or Torres. Any update on Blevins?
These are now trades where the Ceiling going out is higher than the reality coming back.
Why isn’t the Chatter up yet? Can’t wait to get there.
The Rockies made out; the Tigers not selling, yet; if the Padres wait til last minute are going to be left holding the bag and too many pieces to move; way too many sellers, great for the buyers!
And just in time. Mejia re-suspended for PEDs, suspended 162 games. I hope never to see him again as a Met.