Late last night the Mets finalized a deal with the Atlanta Braves that saw them acquire 3B Juan Uribe and OF/INF Kelly Johnson for pitching prospects Robert Whalen and John Gant. Despite being sardonically praised by some, it’s generally regarded as a solid move for the team. The Braves even kicked in a bit of cash in the deal. However, the trade really only makes total sense if it’s followed by an additional move or two. We’ll get back to that later.
The addition of Uribe and Johnson, both of whom are having solid seasons, adds an immediate upgrade to the roster. Just how much of an impact do these two solid-if-not-spectacular players have on the offense? Check out the very sobering table below.
| Player | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Travis d’Arnaud | 4 | 17 | 3 | 11 | .296 | .873 | 139 |
| Juan Uribe | 7 | 17 | 15 | 37 | .285 | .817 | 126 |
| Kelly Johnson | 9 | 34 | 13 | 43 | .275 | .772 | 113 |
| Curtis Granderson | 14 | 31 | 49 | 94 | .249 | .761 | 112 |
| Lucas Duda | 12 | 38 | 42 | 101 | .237 | .754 | 110 |
| Daniel Murphy | 5 | 32 | 20 | 22 | .268 | .705 | 96 |
| Michael Cuddyer | 8 | 30 | 20 | 73 | .250 | .683 | 90 |
| Ruben Tejada | 2 | 18 | 21 | 44 | .255 | .678 | 90 |
| Wilmer Flores | 10 | 40 | 13 | 45 | .249 | .662 | 83 |
| Juan Lagares | 3 | 25 | 10 | 64 | .254 | .612 | 71 |
| Dilson Herrera | 2 | 4 | 9 | 22 | .195 | .607 | 70 |
| Kevin Plawecki | 2 | 17 | 9 | 42 | .235 | .589 | 65 |
| Kirk Nieuwenhuis | 3 | 8 | 5 | 26 | .167 | .604 | 65 |
| Eric Campbell | 3 | 17 | 24 | 32 | .176 | .576 | 63 |
| Darrell Ceciliani | 1 | 3 | 4 | 25 | .206 | .550 | 54 |
| John Mayberry | 3 | 9 | 9 | 33 | .164 | .545 | 50 |
| Anthony Recker | 2 | 3 | 9 | 22 | .130 | .506 | 43 |
Note that the cutoff here was 50 plate appearances. Why so low? Well, the team has depended on so many different players due to injury and poor performance that anything higher would have cut out a swath of players the team would have depended on moving forward.
Discounting d’Arnaud only because he hasn’t been healthy, Uribe and Johnson are immediately the best performers in terms of OPS+ on the roster. Such a stark and immediate impact is a further indictment of the state of the offense this season.
It should be pointed out that Johnson is essentially a wash with Granderson and Duda in terms of OPS+, with the former working from a slow start to the season and the latter in the midst of an incredibly awful slump. Even so, the return of d’Arnaud and the additions of Uribe and Johnson means the team will have five players turning in above-average performances on the roster. That alone is a boon and, theoretically, means that the lineup thrown out there against Clayton Kershaw on Thursday may have been the low point for the season.
While Uribe can (and should) be plugged in as the starting third baseman until (and if) Wright returns, Johnson is a strong utility player that can be plugged in at various positions in the infield and outfield. He should provide the type of effective flexibility the team thought they would get with Mayberry, Cuddyer, and Nieuwenhuis on the roster to start the season. Still, he’s a utility player that ideally compliments an otherwise effective lineup.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case with the Mets in 2015. Taking into account the holes in the lineup and notwithstanding the potential of top prospect Michael Conforto, the team is still not really poised to perform at a level that is needed for a playoff push. Unless Lagares, Cuddyer (when healthy), Flores, and Murphy suddenly become league average players offensively, the team still needs another strong bat to have a chance at making some noise.
Does it need to be a Carlos Gomez or a Troy Tulowitzki? It doesn’t necessarily have to be, but it does need to be somewhat impactful for this trade to make complete sense. Uribe and Johnson are both free agents at the end of this year, so the Mets have essentially taken on rental role players. This was a win-now move on a smaller scale, but it was certainly with only 2015 in mind. That doesn’t make much sense unless the team is on the cusp of further improvement.
Of course, the offense was so embarrassingly bad and the noise so unbearably loud that perhaps General Manager Sandy Alderson felt the need to do something. That’s really not his style, though. This move, in combination with taking a chance on Conforto, is a nice start towards improving the ailing offense. It’s only just that, though: a start. The word is that the team still has plans to make more additions to the roster. That’s good news. This trade serves as further proof that this front office makes deals that seem to appear without much chatter beforehand. There’s less than a week until the trade deadline. Hopefully Alderson has something else up his sleeve.
So my question to everyone is this: do Mike Rizzo and the Nats need to begin worrying about this move by Alderson? My guess is no, but the rumors I keep hearing about for Washignton scare the hell out of me…namely Aroldis Chapman
It also appears, per reports, that the Mets and Nats are in on many of the same players. Who gets left behind?
The chart above is indeed very sobering and shows how other teams’ spare parts are performing better than our big guns. It’s obvious that this team really needed a spark that a managerial change wouldn’t offer. It’s too late for that.
However, the earliest returns are problematic. Obviously, the Mets staff doesn’t know how to use these players. Johnson is a former leadoff hitter that in later years learned how to drive the ball better. That doesn’t mean he is a cleanup hitter. A rebuilding team’s bench piece was put in as our cleanup hitter? How embarrassing. If anything, maybe we can put him at #2 and put ole putt-putt back in the #8 slot.
The Mets with their four young starters (a healthy Matz) are dominant on most nights. The addition of Johnson and Uribe and possibly Conforto adds some offense. Venable or Parra would allow them to rest Lagares. The dominant pitching with that one more piece may be enough to start winnng the 1-0 and 2-1 games. This is a test on Collins managerial talent. He has to break away from his” gotta get him started” philosophy and instead play the “hot hand” and best matchup.
There are so many options:
1B Duda/Johnson/ Murphy
2B Murphy/ Flores/Johnson
SS Tejada/Flores
3B Uribe/Murphy
LF Conforto/ Johnson
I would prefer that Lagares has his surgery and recovers by mid season next year. He’s actually getting worse. Let Johnson, Neuweinheis, and hopefully a pickup play CF.
Well, it’s good to hear the “hit or sit” mantra he’s been saying since the trade. We’ll see if he actually holds to it.
The real question is if the Mets pull the trigger on a Zack Wheeler trade. There are numerous reasons to do it, but a ton of reasons not to, I’m actually interested in what Alderson does this deadline.
Right now Wheeler is sell low until he can throw and demonstrate he’s back. I’m also a little hopeful that part of the reason he was more or less ho-hum is that he’s been pitching injured for some time. As a result I’m hoping a full strength wheeler might be seriously better than before. I mean if someone wants to pony up full value for him as is, I’m in, but I don’t see any GM doing that today.
Yeonis Cespedes (probably spelt it wrong) may be our answer. Because of his contract, Detroit can not resign him if he is not signed within a few days of the end of the season, screwy wording of his contract. We may be able to get him without a huge outlay. Hopefully only a small step up from the Atlanta deal. If we get him, I hope an extension could be worked out. At worst it’s a great rental.
The Dodgers only traded Juan uribe to the braves because Jutin Turner took his spot. So, in a way, this is the first positive thing to come out of his firing.
Interesting way to look at it!
This is a best case scenario type of trade for Alderson. Get value for giving up lower level prospects. Unless he can pull another deal similar to this, I don’t see the Mets doing anything else. I hope I’m wrong though.
I’m thoroughly thrown off by the various rumors connecting the team to so many players. I feel like this is something new, but all I actually remember from past deadlines is the lack of actual moves to improve the team. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.