The Mets made two deals for guys who are on the Quad-A/MLB edge and gave up guys who might actually be useful in order to do so. The one that will get everyone’s attention is shipping Kevin Plawecki to the Indians for two org fillers. But the one that might end up biting them in the bottom was dealing three players to the Astros for J.D. Davis and an org filler.

The signing of Wilson Ramos made a catcher expendable and the Mets decided to part ways with Plawecki. A supplemental first-round pick back in 2012, Plawecki always had his fans. His main asset seemed to be – “Well, at least he’s not Travis d’Arnaud.” But in parts of four seasons in the majors, he has a .638 OPS. His first two years were dreadful but he looked like perhaps he turned a corner in 2017. But he was unimpressive last year in his most playing time to date.

It wouldn’t be a huge surprise if Plawecki turned into something better than the .685 OPS hitter he was last season. But the Mets are now committed to Ramos and if anything they’re doing Plawecki a favor by sending him out of town.

In return they get Walker Lockett, who will be rotation depth, and infielder Sam Haggerty. Lockett made it to the majors last year with the Padres and surrendered 4 HR in 15 IP. Before that, he had a 4.73 ERA in the Pacific Coast League. He’s 6’5, throws in the low 90s and has a curve and change. Haggerty, um, um, um – maybe he’s a poor man’s Will Toffey. Supposedly Haggerty can play 2B and SS, too.

The Mets’ other deal they acquired J.D. Davis, who loves to hit in Fresno and has played parts of two seasons in the majors. But if you want to be excited about him, concentrate on the Fresno part. Last year in 85 games in Triple-A, Davis collected 44 extra-base hits, including 17 HR. He didn’t have quite the same success versus AL pitchers, who held him to a sub-Plaweckian .471 OPS in 113 PA. He’s a corner infielder, one who seems poised to get a shot to replace Wilmer Flores. The Mets also received Cody Bohanek, a 22-year-old middle infielder who was overmatched in Hi-A last year.

The Mets sent three players to Houston in this deal – Ross Adolph, Scott Manea and Luis Santana. Adolph was ranked as the club’s 43rd-best prospect by David Groveman in his recently completed series. Santana was ranked 14th. Last year Santana made his U.S. debut at age 18 and put up a .348/.446/.471 line in 242 PA.

The Mets have a ton of middle infielders in their system and it makes sense to trade a couple of them. But even though Santana is three or four years away – in a best-case scenario – this seems like selling low.

There’s a pretty good chance that Santana never amounts to anything. But there’s a pretty good chance that Davis doesn’t amount to anything, either. Personally, my choice would be to gamble on the teenager with a .918 OPS rather than the 25 year old who just put up a (-0.7) fWAR. It would have been a better play to keep Santana and pick up Derek Dietrich, who was released by the Marlins. While it seems some of Davis’ appeal was his ability to hit LHP, Dietrich has a track record of MLB competence and also can play the outfield, as well as the corner infield spots.

So, kudos to the Mets in giving Plawecki a better shot and picking up a half decent rotation depth starter in Lockett. And a disgusted shake of the head for not getting more for Santana.

20 comments on “Kevin Plawecki and Luis Santana sent packing

  • MattyMets

    I’m not a big Plawecki fan but he’s a young, controllable, serviceable MLB catcher. I was hoping we could package him for a better return.

  • Arturo

    From polo ground to city field wow wasting our time $10 million $500.000 sad but I’m used to it lest go Mets

  • David Klein

    Man giving up Santana, who Fangraphs has as a top ten prospect for the Mets, who killed it as a 19 year old for a depth piece makes no sense. I also like Manea and Adolph too. The Mets really got nothing back for Plawecki, who has been around a league average hitter the last two years and is far more durable than Travis is.

  • Eraff

    A bit of a head scratcher….. they seem to have added close to mlb depth, but they now seem thin at C. Has Travis d thrown a ball?… he couldn’t throw before the injury

  • Edwin Pena

    Plaw had to go. No room at the Inn for him. If Mets need a catcher for a day or two, doubleheader, etc, Nido is a phone call away. JD Davis may be a player. There are videos of him being very versatile, and his AAA numbers are terrific. Losing Santana may have been a gamble, but he is 3-4 years away and JD could help this year and the next few. The other cats are all fodder for the org system, would not expect much from either of them. JD Davis could be Mets 3B after this year when the Mets get riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiid of Frazier and his contract.

    • David Klein

      I disagree with all of this. McNeil is way better than Davis and Davis is more likely a platoon bat and getting rid for of a guy because he’s 3-4 years away is why the Mets never had sustained success.

  • Artie

    I like both the Broxton and Davis pickups. Low risk big ups with a chance of good return.

  • John Fox

    I’m beginning to wonder if BVW has a tendency to make deals just for the sake of making trades, a bit like a latter day version of Frank Lane, perhaps.

    • David Klein

      Or Jerry Dipoto

    • Artie

      Change is good?

  • JimmyBX

    Omar Minaya is in charge of scouting. No worries. He will repair the lousy system Balderson left behind.

    • Brian Joura

      Well, this engages in two myths.

      • David Klein

        You might wanna get rid Jimmybx he was banned from Metsmerized and Metsblog for spewing racist garbage about Wright and Granderson.

        • José

          How can anyone say anything bad about Wright and Granderson? Racist? Huh?

          Regardless, I sincerely hope that this blog doesn’t stray into politics, race relations and so forth. I view this place as a sanctuary, far away from the hostility and rancor ubiquitous in this cesspool commonly called “the internet”.

          • David Klein

            I wanna stay away from that too but that’s the guy’s history and why he’s been banned from numerous blogs.

          • TexasGusCC

            Jose, while I like giving everyone a chance and understand that some people feel more passionate about a certain cause, Jimmy does overdo it and many times it feels purposeful and blindingly inappropriate.

            David, I have a funny feeling Brian knows about Jimmy. But, Brian has shown to be patient in some opinionated areas. As you saw above for the 62MetsFan, however, the law is the law.

    • David Klein

      Lol when Alderson came in the farm was ranked 26th and Omar was a terrible gm most responsible for the 2007 collapse by surrounding three elite players with crap.

  • Brendan Vachris

    Acquiring depth is certainly a refreshing event for a Mets team that has tried to compete the last few years. I don’t recall many depth moves since the trade for Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe, which was an underrated factor to the run in 2015.

  • Artie

    Uribe,Johnson pickups were huge, two run of the mill bench players upgraded the batting order greatly.

  • John Reynolds

    Plawecki is an OK MLB backup catcher. He had a great chance this year to seize the job once and for all and that did not happen. I know he had an injury but he did little to elevate his case. I’ve always rooted for him but in all honesty his departure means little in the big scheme of a playoff run. Will the Mets not having Plawecki affect their chances for playing in October? Did they get enough in return? What do you really expect for this level of player ?

Leave a Reply to JimmyBX Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The maximum upload file size: 100 MB. You can upload: image, audio, video, document, spreadsheet, interactive, text, archive, code, other. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop file here